Hang Time (TV series)

Hang Time
Created by Troy Searer
Robert Tarlow
Mark Fink
Starring Reggie Theus
Dick Butkus
(for remainder of cast, see below)
Theme music composer Stan Meissner
& Fred Mollin (1995)
Mark Heyes &
John Parker (1996–2000)
Opening theme "Runnin' with this Dream (Hang Time)" (1995)
"Me and My Friends at Hang Time" (1996–2000)
Composer(s) Alan Ett (1995)
Mark Heyes (1996–2000)
Country of origin United States
Original language(s) English
No. of seasons 6
No. of episodes 104 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s) Mark Fink (1995)
Peter Engel (1996–2000)
Co-executive producers/showrunners:
Ronald B. Solomon (1996–1998)
Jeffrey J. Sachs (1998–2000)
Producer(s) Roxie Wenk-Evans (1995)
Jon Spector (1996)
Javier Winnik (1997–2001)
Marco Bario (1997–1999)
Location(s) Sunset Gower Studios,
Hollywood, California
Camera setup Multi-camera
Running time 30 minutes
Production company(s) NBC Productions (1995)
Peter Engel Productions (1996–2000)
NBC Studios (1996–2000)
Distributor NBCUniversal Television Distribution
Release
Original network NBC
Picture format 480i (SDTV)
Original release September 9, 1995 – December 16, 2000

Hang Time is an American teen sitcom that aired on NBC from September 9, 1995 to December 16, 2000 as part of the network's Saturday morning program block for teenagers, TNBC. Created by Troy Searer, Robert Tarlow and Mark Fink, the series featured extensive cast changes throughout its six-season run, similar to its TNBC stablemate Saved by the Bell: The New Class. The show's title refers to a sports term referring to the length of time that a player spends in the air. Hang Time won a Prism Award in 1999 for its accurate depictions of drug use.[1]

Synopsis

The series centers on the exploits of the Deering Tornados boys' varsity basketball team of the fictional Deering High School in the Midwest.[2] In the pilot episode, Julie Connor (Daniella Deutscher) transfers to Deering High after moving to Indiana from Chicago, Illinois. Although she meets some initial resistance from the male players on the team, Bill Fuller (Reggie Theus), the team's coach and a former player in the NBA, decides to make Julie the team's first female player after she shows off her basketball skills to the other members of the team – including star player Chris Atwater (David Hanson); Danny Mellon (Chad Gabriel), who develops a crush on Julie upon their first meeting; sometimes overconfident Michael Maxwell (Christian Belnavis) and country-bred Earl Hatfield (Robert Michael Ryan). Head cheerleader Mary Beth Pepperton (Megan Parlen) – whose father is a wealthy, self-made businessman – was initially jealous of Julie, particularly where her boyfriend for most of the first season (until the episode "Let's Get Ready to Rumble") Chris was concerned. Sam Morgan (Hillary Tuck), the Tornados' team manager, became Danny's girlfriend later in the season.

For the second season, Saved by the Bell executive producer Peter Engel was appointed as the series' showrunner,[3] resulting in extensive changes to the show. About half of the main cast (with Deutscher, Parlen, Gabriel and Theus being the lone holdovers) was let go, with new characters being added in their place. Three new players were added – Josh Sanders (Kevin Bell), whom the team convinced to come out of retirement from competitive sports years after being prodded by his Little League coach to bean another player; Vince D'Amata (Michael Sullivan), a Chicago native who had previously served as an alternate on the team; Teddy Broadis (Anthony Anderson), Coach Fuller's godson and the son of a professional basketball player – while the peppy Amy Wright (Paige Peterson) became head cheerleader, replacing Mary Beth, who was promoted to team manager (a position that led to several blundering attempts at responsibility that Mary Beth often attempted to fix). Storylines also began to increasingly incorporate a balance of plotlines focusing on topical issues relevant to teenagers (such as drug use, underage drinking and sexual harassment) and life lessons about teamwork, alongside wackier comedic plots synonymous with other TNBC series.

The remainder of the series' run featured several cast changes, the most notable being the season four addition of former NFL player Dick Butkus as the Tornados' new coach, Mike Katowinski. Although the series ran for six seasons (and storyline references in earlier seasons implied or inferred that the characters of Mary Beth and Julie were closer to college age), Daniella Deutscher and Megan Parlen were the only two of the show's original cast members that stayed with the show throughout its entire run; Adam Frost (who played the Tornados' ace player and Julie's later on-again/off-again boyfriend, Michael Manning) and Amber Barretto (who played Kristy Ford, the team's head cheerleader following the unexplained departure of Amy and becomes involved in comedic sub-plots with Mary Beth later in the series' run) – who both joined the series in season three – are the other regular cast members to join the series in later seasons (and the only other cast members besides Deutscher and Parlen) to remain on Hang Time until the series finale. The fifth and sixth season students characters all graduated and went to their own colleges, but since Eugene's future college was not mentioned, Eugene was offered a job. Also Coach K's future was not also mentioned, but he stayed longer in Deering High coaching the boys' basketball team, which returned to normal of all boys. Later on, Coach K has transferred to a new university to coach for a men's basketball team and succeed. Meanwhile, since Julie graduated, one year later, Deering High has successfully created a brand new girls' basketball team and other high school followed up creating girls' basketball teams.

Cast

Episodes

SeasonEpisodesOriginally aired
First airedLast aired
113September 9, 1995 (1995-09-09)December 2, 1995 (1995-12-02)
213September 7, 1996 (1996-09-07)November 30, 1996 (1996-11-30)
326September 6, 1997 (1997-09-06)December 6, 1997 (1997-12-06)
426September 12, 1998 (1998-09-12)December 5, 1998 (1998-12-05)
514September 11, 1999 (1999-09-11)March 11, 2000 (2000-03-11)
612September 23, 2000 (2000-09-23)December 16, 2000 (2000-12-16)

International broadcasts

Country Network
Australia Seven Network
Czech Republic TV Nova
Estonia Kanal 2
New Zealand Channel 4
Philippines Studio 23
Republic of Ireland Network 2
South Korea SBS
United Kingdom Channel 4 (first-run)
Trouble (reruns)

References

  1. ↑ Nick Madigan (March 9, 1999). "Media addiction depiction". Variety. Retrieved 2016-02-18.
  2. ↑ N.F. Mendoza (October 1, 1995). "SHOWS FOR YOUNGSTERS AND THEIR PARENTS TOO; High school Hoosiers court the kid audience for NBC's Saturday morning". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2016-02-18. (subscription required (help)).
  3. ↑ "Engel reups, grows up". Variety. September 23, 1997. Retrieved 2016-02-18. Engel exec produces “Saved By the Bell,” “Hang Time” and the new “City Guys” for TNBC, the Peacock web’s self-titled block of Saturday teen-oriented programming.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/2/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.