Retro Television Review: Malibu, CA 1.21 “Scott’s Secret Dream”

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https://unobtainium13.com/2024/12/12...-secret-dream/

Posted on December 12, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Thursdays, I will be reviewing Malibu CA, which aired in Syndication in 1998 and 1999. The entire show is currently streaming on YouTube!



This week, I continue I wonder why I ever started reviewing this show in the first place.

Episode 1.21 “Scott’s Secret Dream”

(Dir by Gary Shimokawa, originally aired on April 18th, 1999)

This week’s episode of this terrible show revolves around the local television news. Everyone is looking for a job.

Traycee, for instance, gets a job as the weather girl and spends her time saying that she doesn’t want it to rain in Malibu so she’s decided that it will be sunny instead. The judgmental and humorless station intern is not amused by any of this. Anyone who has watched this show should have little trouble guessing that the intern is Stads.

(It’s kind of sad how, in just a few episodes, Stads went from being the fun, kooky lifeguard to being a hyperjudgmental killjoy.)

Jason is excited because the station is sponsoring a jingle contest. He wants to be a professional songwriter so maybe this could be his chance! Jason does manage to win the contest but he spends so much time working on the jingle that he keeps his brother, Scott, from getting so much-needed sleep.

Scott has a secret dream. He wants to be the station’s sports reporter. (How about finishing high school first, Scott?) Even Stads thinks that Scott would be a good sports reporter. Unfortunately, Scott shows up for his audition exhausted and blows his big chance. The station hires someone over the age of 17 to be the sports reporter.

Fortunately, for Scott, the newly hired sports reporter turns out to be a sexist pig and he’s fired after he follows Jason’s advice and hits on the station manager. (Why is anyone following Jason’s advice about anything?) So, Scott gets another chance to audition but this time, he drinks too much coffee and ends up jumping on the news desk and dancing.

(Because, y’know, that’s something you totally do if you drink a lot of coffee.)

Can Jason and Stads get Scott a third audition? Yes, they can but the way they do it is so stupid that I don’t even want to talk about it. The important thing is that Scott gets the weekend sports job and …. well, I guess he’ll just work as a busboy at the restaurant for the rest of the week.

(I’m starting to think this show isn’t very realistic.)

Meanwhile, Peter is upset because he’s single and he’s taking out his frustration on Murray. So, Murray sends Peter a note from a secret admirer and …. you know what? This is too stupid to talk about. Brandon Brooks, as always, deserves some credit for bringing a touch of genuine sweetness to Murray’s odd behavior but …. no, no, I’m not going to talk about it. This whole subplot was just too stupid. Brandon Brooks and Ed Blatchford were probably the closest thing this show had to genuinely talented actors but the show always wasted them in the dumbest B-plots.

When I first started reviewing this show, I disliked both Scott and Jason equally. As this season has progressed, Scott has grown on me a little because, unlike his brother, he’s not a total sociopath. Scott, at the very least, seems to want to be a good person. Jason, on the other hand, just seems like he’s destined to go to prison for cheating someone out of their life savings.

Thank God, it’s the holidays! This is my last Malibu, CA review for 2024. My reviews of this show will return on January 2nd. Until then, I’m free from the Collins brothers!