Smart Guy aired from April 1997 until September 1999 on the WB.
Smart Guy was set in Washington D.C., where cute 10-year-old T.J. ( Tahj Mowry) was a sophomore at Piedmont High School. He had skipped six grades and was trying to fit in at the school where both his older brother Marcus ( Jason Weaver) and his sister Yvette ( Essence Atkins) were students. Marcus, a mediocre student who was more concerned with girls than with grades, resented T.J.'s presence, while sexy Yvette , who was more studious, didn't seem to mind. Mo ( Omar Gooding) was Marcus' trouble-prone best friend. In the fall T.J. got a job as the school's team mascot because he was small enough to fit into the penguin costume. Floyd ( John Marshall Jones), their dad was a widowed roofing contractor. Late in 1998 the guys formed a band-Mackadocious-with T.J. on keyboard, Marcus as lead singer and Mo on bass.
Here are the theme song lyrics
Season 1 & 2 lyrics
Another slice of the life of Master T.J. Henderson,
Super intelligent, a fine young gentleman,
A ten year old whiz kid bustin high school,
A pugnacious little shorty with a thousand IQ.
He's got a way with the ladies, and he's keepin it real,
Your favorite little study buddy, he knows the deal.
That he's still just a kid, on the ball, very clever,
You could say that he's bright, brainy, gifted, whatever...
(Mo's Voice) Yo brother is smaaaart!
He's a Smart guy doot doo doo dadoodadoot Smart guy, Smart Guy
He's a smart guy, doot doo doo dadoodadoot
An Article from The New York Times
TELEVISION/RADIO; When the Alecks Are Too Smart, Their Gags Pall
By CRAIG TOMASHOFF
Published: May 2, 1999
LIKE a lot of parents with young children, I've done my share of hand wringing about the youth of today growing up too fast. But I've only recently realized that by the time my son's voice breaks, he may be ready for open-mike night at Bob's Chuckle Hut. At least that's the impression I've developed in the 19 months since he was born, as I've started paying closer attention to the smart-mouth comebacks of preadolescent sitcom characters.
With few exceptions, sitcom preteen-agers seem capable of the same shoot-from-the-quip attitude as the grown-ups on ''Friends'' or ''Frasier.'' Take a recent episode of NBC's ''Jesse'' in which the 10-year-old son of Christina Applegate's single- mother character is being picked on by a bully. She says she'll talk to the bad boy's parents, but the son (Eric Lloyd) protests, ''It's just not done.'' And when she insists, he throws up his hands and announces with a sigh, ''And so it begins.''
Meanwhile, over on WB's ''Smart Guy,'' T. J. (Tahj Mowry), a preadolescent genius teaching a high school math class, elicits a wrong answer to a math problem from a friend. ''Amazing,'' he announces with a grin. ''You could have said the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and been closer.''
This sort of attitude isn't new. It dates back at least to the irrepressible Ricky Nelson on ''The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet'' (1952-66) and is evident in ''The Brady Bunch's'' Henny Youngman-like approach to childspeak. (When a boy lies that he can't come to Peter's party because of piano lessons, Peter says, ''I didn't know you could play the piano,'' to which the friend responds, ''That's why I'm taking lessons.'') The time-honored tradition continues through anything broadcast between 8 and 10 P.M. on Fridays on ABC.
These portrayals may be routine, but it's a bit unnerving to realize that being a pre adolescent on a sitcom means being the verbal, if not intellectual, equal of your parents. These preteen-agers are precisely what keep the pro-corporal-punishment argument alive and well.
The assumption seems to be that anything out of the mouths of babes has to be funny, so the more grown-up their dialogue gets, the more amusing the contradiction between age and words becomes. But the gag wears thin when it's used as often as my son now uses the word why.
''It's supposed to be surprising when a child uses sophisticated innuendo,'' explained Cheri Steinkellner, a veteran television writer and producer who, along with her husband and writing partner, Bill, introduced Frasier and Lilith's hyperintelligent son, Frederick, while working on ''Cheers.'' ''However, now we see that done so often, it becomes expected. On a sitcom, the laughs have to come so fast. You like to have certain cues for the audience to laugh. The surprise of a child talking like an adult is one of those.''
D. L. Hughley, the creator, producer and writer of ABC's sitcom ''The Hughleys,'' says, ''When I started writing the pilot for my show, I became very aware of how children sounded'' on television ''and none of it rang true.''
''The shows were entertaining,'' he added, ''but not very realistic.''
Children tend to become contrivances rather than characters. And whether audiences love them or want them grounded for a month, they weren't created by accident. They often seem to be wish-fulfillment devices for writers: a second chance to make the wisecrack they dreamed of but couldn't pull off when they were Danny Partridge's age.
''Writers want to be funny, and they know how to be funny their way,'' said Mr. Hughley, whose three real-life children are often catalysts for what his sitcom offspring say and do. ''They take that and push it on the child, and the lines can be so self-aware that it doesn't work.''
The loser in high school grows up to be a 30-something television writer, and the 13-something nerd on his or her show, who might have been tongue-tied, is the charming smart aleck instead. In a recent episode of ''Smart Guy,'' T. J. had to shower after gym class with all the older boys. The resulting dialogue was, as Bob Young, an executive producer of the show, puts it, ''a chance for us to say, 'Here's what I wish I would have said back then in that situation.' '' (Like one of T. J.'s comments to his coach: ''So it's one big room. Like in a prison movie.'')
This is a revenge factor that adult audiences can appreciate, and the snappy prepubescent patter provides the predominantly young audience for shows like ''Smart Guy'' with something to revel in. They are well aware of what would happen if they used similar language around their homes or at school, so they find it empowering to see young Stephanie, who aged from 5 to 13 on ''Full House'' reruns, mock her neat-freak father with a line like ''I only asked Santa for a Dustbuster because I thought you'd be proud.''
Taran Smith, 15, who played the youngest son, Mark, on ABC's ''Home Improvement'' from the time he was 7, defends that kind of dialogue. ''Children know it's just sitcom reality, that it's not quite normal life, and the goal is just to make them laugh,'' he said. ''Still, they watch these shows, and think, 'Wouldn't it be great if I could do that? Right on!' ''
It's not enough that my son will soon know more about computers than I ever will. Thanks to these shows, he'll also be more entertaining at parties.
ACCORDING to Mr. Young of ''Smart Guy,'' the father of three, there's no need to worry because it's already too late. Preadolescent precociousness is a fact of life, not something spawned by Sara Gilbert as Darlene Conner (who was 11 when the series began) on ''Roseanne.'' Sitcom children are simply exaggerations of the real thing, and that's not necessarily bad. After all, a series featuring an extra-pithy fifth grader is no less realistic than one with a witty cabdriver or a wacky police officer, and it's not supposed to be.
There's really nothing mean-spirited about the way these preadolescents joke and, in fact, some series like ''The Hughleys'' and ''Smart Guy'' make sure that while the preteen-agers smart off, the adults never sound stupid. Perhaps that's because real-life parents write and produce them. Sounding rather proud, Mr. Young recalled how he had recently walked to lunch with his son, only to find the restaurant closed and to hear his child mock him by announcing, ''Good one, Dad!''
''That could have gone into the show, and I think parents would have said, 'How precocious, but how real!' '' he explained.
Perhaps that's the problem. It's not that their dialogue is too far removed from real-life conversation. Rather, it's the way their wit and wisdom comes across as too cloyingly cute to be believed. I don't mind television children saying funny things. I just wish they didn't seem so aware of their cleverness. It would be nice to see an average preadolescent who just speaks his mind without pretense. Which, oddly enough, means that the crass crew of boys on Comedy Central's ''South Park'' may be just the role models I've been looking for.
Meanwhile, the clever children keep getting younger and younger. Fox's new animated series ''Family Guy'' has the evil-genius baby Stewie who constantly scolds his mother. ''You've impeded my work since the day I escaped from your wretched womb,'' he complains. ''Very well, then. Mark my words. When you least expect it, your uppance will come.''
This photo gallery contains pictures for sitcoms of the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and today, as well as dramas, soaps, reality shows, cartoons, game shows, variety shows, talk shows and late night tv photo galleries.
Please note that all pictures uploaded between August 6-31, 2009 were lost in a database crash. While the photos are still on the server, the information (title, description, number of views, who uploaded them, etc.) attached to each photo was lost. In addition, any photo edits, moves or any other account changes from this period were lost. Our apologies to all members who are missing photos and for the downtime. We appreciate you taking the time to share them with us. Click here for archived files by category which are no longer in the database. We would appreciate it if the original uploaders could re-upload them when they have the opportunity. Thank you.
To upload photos, please choose the appropriate category and login with your existing
message board username and password. If you are new, you will need to
register before
uploading any photos. Only ".jpg" files will upload - ".jpeg", ".gif", ".png" or any other image
format will not work. You will need to convert them to ".jpg". Please upload only sitcom
and tv related photos.
To request any photos be removed, please use the "Report Photo" link that is the bottom of
every photo if you are registered and logged in. This is the quickest and easiest method. You can also
send an e-mail with the url of the photo(s). We will also gladly credit or
link to any site that is the original source of any photos.
If you have any questions, comments, requests for new categories, etc. - please contact us.
All images, logos, and other materials are copyright their respective owners. No rights
are given or implied.
Powered by: PhotoPost PHP Copyright 2004-2012 All Enthusiast, Inc.
