TV 101

I remember reading about this exciting new series in a fall preview and was instantly interested in the premise and its attractive young cast who many went on to more famous roles. The biggest star was a then unknown Matt LeBlanc (who I incorrectly assumed might be the brother of Christian LeBlanc), before he found fame on FRIENDS. Teri Polo, who started out on the same daytime soap opera as Luke Perry (LOVING), went on to star in feature films like Domestic Disturbance as John Travolta's ex-wife and the Meet The Parents films as Robert DeNiro's daughter Pam. Stacey Dash before her breakthrough performance in Clueless. Alex Desert who later was a regular cast member of another TV series about young adults that only lasted for one season, created by Aaron Spelling on the heels of the more successful Beverly Hills, 90210 and Melrose Place, titled The Heights. I wish this show had lasted longer but maybe it could live on through streaming somewhere and even spark a possible reboot.

Not many people caught this show but, it was a treat. First of all it was the debut of Stacey Dash to the entertainment world which in and of itself was worth praise. It was a smart witty show with a cutting edge theme and production style. I would like to see this show again in reruns or on DVD.

Checked out the first episode of this when I saw it was created by Kurt Schaefer, who did great shows like Eerie Indiana and Z-Nation. The few reviews are all ecstatic about it, but seeing it for the first time over 30 years after its debut it seems pretty hockey and conventional. The dialogue and acting are pretty iffy, and I just don't get it.

But maybe if you were an 80s high school student this was amazing. Anyway, I'm not giving it a rating because I don't want to bring down the score of something with so much love, but I can't see watching more of this.

TV 101 stood out from many of its contemporaries as an intelligent, culturally aware, and hip document of teenage life in the 80's. Sam Robards played Kevin Keegan, a journalist who returns to his Californian alma mater to teach an unusual journalism class: a class based around a weekly student-produced TV show. The students are what made the show: instead of the usual "cookie-cutter" thirty-year-olds playing Middle American high-school types of say "Saved By The Bell" or "90210", this show's characters were smart, stylish, ethnically diverse, and intellectually, technologically, and morally aware; not afraid to "face the issues" in their reporting, sort of a teenaged "Lou Grant", with cutting edge home video equipment. Especially interesting to me was "Holden Heinz" (Alex Désert, lately of the show "Becker"), the scooter-riding 'mod' African American student: he was an archetype of myself and my friends at the time: we liked him even though he wasn't quite as cutting-edge as we were. Also notable was Matt LeBlanc of "Friends" as "Bender". The only other kid from the series I've seen lately was Stacey Dash doing the old Thirty-Year-Old-Playing-A-Teenager thing in "Clueless".To top it all of the show's theme was written by composer Stewart Copeland, best known as the drummer for 80's #1 hitmakers "The Police. Alas, the show lasted only one season: I guess the masses couldn't relate to a cast that ethnically varied and cool. Hell, they still can't.

Ever since I was featured as a background actor in an episode (never aired)I was curious as to the reason this show only aired 14 episodes. I was working out of "central casting" at the time and holding down a job in another industry. The producers of this show wanted my image in an episode and central pleaded with me to do the show...at my convenience none the less. I was supposedly caught in a secret romantic encounter with the character played by actress Brit Thayer which was captured by one of her students with a still camera. What was unusual I was featured in a "silent Bit" that most background extra's never get a chance to do. However the episode never aired because the show was canceled a couple of weeks after I appeared in this episode.

I always wondered if I got screen credit....although it doesn't really matter anymore because that show aired more than 20 years ago.

I always liked the show even before my bit part. It was unusual and ahead of its time for sure.