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)
Production 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.

Synopsis

The series centered on the exploits of the Deering Tornados boys' varsity basketball team of the fictional Deering High School. 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) was the Tornados' team manager, and 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, 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 blunderous 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 back to normal of all boys. Later on, Coach K has transferred to a new university to coach for a men's basketball team and succeeed. 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

Main cast

• Daniella Deutscher as Julie Connor
• David Hanson as Chris Atwater (season 1)
• Chad Gabriel as Danny Mellon (seasons 1–3)
• Megan Parlen as Mary Beth Pepperton
• Hillary Tuck as Samantha Morgan (season 1)
• Christian Belnavis as Michael Maxwell (season 1)
• Robert Michael Ryan as Earl Hatfield (season 1)
• Reggie Theus as Coach Bill Fuller (seasons 1–3)
• Kevin Bell as Josh Sanders (season 2)
• Michael Sullivan as Vince D'Amata (seasons 2-3)
• Anthony Anderson as Teddy Broadis (seasons 2-3)
• Paige Peterson as Amy Wright (season 2)
• Adam Frost as Michael Manning (seasons 3-6)
• Amber Barretto as Kristy Ford (seasons 3-6)
• Mark Famiglietti as Nick Hammer (season 4, guest star season 5,6)
• Dick Butkus as Coach Mike Katowinski (seasons 4-6)
• Danso Gordon as Kenny 'Silk' Hayes (seasons 4-6)
• James Villani as Rico Bosco (season 4)
• Jay Hernandez as Antonio Lopez (seasons 5-6, recurring season 4)
• Phillip Glasser as Eugene Brown (seasons 5-6)

Notable guest stars

• Shareef Abdur-Rahim as himself ("Blood Drive" from season 3)
• Willow Bay as herself ("Full Court Press" from season 1)
• Muggsy Bogues as himself ("Short Cuts" from season 2)
• Elizabeth Bogush as Taylor Reese ("Lend a Helping Hammer" from season 4)
• Kobe Bryant as himself ("The Hustlers" from season 3)
• Cedric Ceballos as himself ("Harvest Moon" from season 2)
• Dustin Diamond as Samuel "Screech" Powers ("The Hustlers" from season 3) and as "himself" ("At The Movies" from season 6; Diamond portrayed a fictionalized version of himself in the latter episode using mannerisms of his "Screech" persona during his period on Saved by the Bell: The College Years)
• Shannon Elizabeth as Nicole Barrett ("Green-Eyed Julie" from season 2)
• The Atomic Fireballs as themselves ("Shall We Dance?" from season 5)
• Florence Griffith-Joyner as herself ("Just One of the Guys" from season 2)
• Grant Hill as himself ("Will the Real Michael Maxwell Please Stand Up?" from season 1)
• Jennifer Holliday as Charlotte Hayes ("The Gospel According to Silk" from season 6)
• Lisa Leslie as herself ("The Best Game of the Season" from season 2)
• The Moffatts as themselves ("Managing Michael" from season 5)
• Alonzo Mourning as himself ("Pilot" from season 1)
• Drew Pinsky as himself ("Shall We Dance?" from season 5)
• Gary Payton as himself ("Not a D'Amata" from season 3)
• Ahmad Rashad as himself ("Full Court Press" from season 1)
• Mitch Richmond as himself ("Winning Isn't Everything" from season 2 and "SAT Blues" from season 4)
• Glenn Robinson as himself ("Julie's Guy" from season 3)
• Biker Sherlock as himself ("Extreme Eugene" from season 5)
• Damon Stoudamire as himself ("Playin' with Pain" from season 3)
• Sheryl Swoopes as herself ("Twister" from season 3)
• Bree Turner as Gail ("The Tall and the Short of It" from season 4)
• Mark L. Walberg as Chick Storm ("Fuller's Rival" from season 2 and "That '60s Show" from season 6)
• Scott Whyte as Joey ("Fighting Words" from season 3)
• Alan Young as Mr. McHenry ("That '60s Show" from season 6)
• Constance Zimmer as Lisa ("The Tall and the Short of It" from season 4)

Episodes

Main article: List of Hang Time episodes

	Season		Episodes	First air date	Last air date
	1	13	September 9, 1995	December 2, 1995
	2	13	September 7, 1996	November 30, 1996
	3	26	September 6, 1997	December 6, 1997
	4	26	September 12, 1998	December 5, 1998
	5	14	September 11, 1999	March 11, 2000
	6	12	September 23, 2000	December 16, 2000

International broadcasts

	Country		Network
Australia	Seven Network
Canada	NBC (without simsubbing) Global
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)

External links

• Hang Time at IMDb
• Hang Time at TV.com