Retro Television Review: Malibu CA 2.4 “Chasing Stads”

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https://unobtainium13.com/2025/03/06...chasing-stads/

Posted on March 6, 2025 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!



Bye bye, Stads!

Episode 2.4 “Chasing Stads”

(dir by Gary Shimokawa, originally aired on October 30th, 1999)

After getting fired from her lifeguarding job after she follows Jason’s advice and complains about not getting promotion, Stads proceeds to accidentally burn down her apartment building when she used a faulty hair dryer. We hear a news report that says it’s the worst “apartment building” fire in Malibu history so I’m going to guess that people died.

Stads should be going to jail on a manslaughter charge. Instead, she hops on a plane and goes to Europe for a year. This is the same Stads who, earlier in the show, was saying that she was flat broke. Stads is gone and Jason is sad so he hops on a plane and joins here in Switzerland, where he gets a job working with her in a hotel. I guess Jason’s gone now. Yay!

Oh wait. It turns out that Jason is dreaming of pursuing his musical career and to do that, he needs to return to Malibu because God knows it’s not like there are record companies in Europe. Jason promises he’ll wait for Stads. “I’m going to miss you.” Stads says. Awww!

I, on the other hand, am not going to miss Stads because the show transformed her from being a fairly interesting character — a socially awkward lifeguard who was unlucky in love but totally capable of saving lives — into a fairly annoying killjoy whose main purpose was to roll her eyes and get mad at every single line of dialogue. In the end, Stads represented the fact that the writers of this show had no idea how to write female characters. In the world of Malibu CA, you could be a ditz or a …. well, I gave up cursing for Lent but you know what I’m saying.

Myself, I’m just trying to figure out the logistics of Jason suddenly showing up in Switzerland. How did he pay for the trip? How did he get over there so quickly? Did he give his two-weeks at the restaurant? Did he tell his dad or his brother? Were they cool with him just moving to another country? This episode certainly establishes that no one’s in high school any more so is their father okay with his two sons skipping college despite not really having any of the skills necessary to survive in the real world? Seriously, this episode raised too many questions.

Meanwhile Lisa Jones tried to break Murray of his soap opera addiction. It was pretty dumb. Marquita Terry may have improved an actress since Malibu CA, I don’t know. And let’s be honest …. it’s not like the show was really giving her great material work with. That said, we are four episodes into the second season and her performance on the show is making Trevor Merszei and Jason Hayes look like Oscar winners.

Oy vey, this show.