Hang Time was an NBC network sitcom series created by Troy Searer, Robert Tarlow & Mark Fink, airing as part on NBC's "TNBC" Saturday morning line-up.
The show aired from September 9, 1995 to December 16, 2000, lasting for six seasons & 104 episodes.
It was produced by NBC Productions (in 1995), Peter Engel Productions & NBC Studios (from 1996 to 2000).
Plot[]
The series centered on seve teenagers (three girls and four boys) trying to make it through life as members of the Deering High School basketball team.
Cast[]
- Daniella Deutscher as Julie Connor
- Megan Parlen as Mary Beth Pepperton
- Chad Gabriel as Danny Mellon
- Reggie Theus as Coach Bill Fuller
- David Hanson as Chris Atwater
- Hillary Tuck as Samantha Morgan
- Christian Belnavis as Michael Maxwell
- Robert Michael Ryan as Earl Hatfield
- Kevin Bell as Josh Sanders
- Michael Sullivan as Vince D'Amata
- Anthony Anderson as Teddy Brodis
- Paige Peterson as Cindy Amy Wright
- Adam Frost as Michael Manning
- Amber Barretto as Kristy Ford
- Mark Famiglietti as Nick Hammer
- Dick Butkus as Coach Mike Katowinski
- Danso Gordon as Kenny "Silk" Hayes
- James Villani as Rico Bosco
- Jay Hernandez as Antonio Lopez
- Phillip Glasser as Eugene Brown
Production[]
For the second season, "Saved by the Bell" executive producer Peter Engel was appointed as the series' showrunner, 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; and Theodore "Teddy" Brodis (Anthony Anderson), Coach Fuller's godson and the son of a professional basketball player.
Meanwhile, 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 initiating her position's responsibilities that Mary Beth often attempted to fix).
The show's 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 the show until the series finale.
The characters serving as the students featured in the fifth and sixth seasons all graduated and went to different colleges; however, since Eugene's future college was not mentioned, that character was offered a job.
Coach Katowinski's future plans were also not mentioned, but he remained in his position as Deering High's boys' basketball coach, which returned to a roster of all boys.
Accolades[]
"Hang Time" won a Prism Award in 1999 for its accurate depictions of drug use in the season four episodes "High Hoops" and "Breaks of the Game".