Saturday Mornings Forever: City Guys

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CITY GUYS
(NBC, September 6, 1997-December 15, 2001)

Peter Engel Productions, NBC Enterprises

MAIN CAST:

• Wesley Jonathan – Jamal Abdul Grant
• Scott Whyte – Christopher Robert “Chris” Anderson
• Caitlin Mowrey – Dawn Tartikoff
• Dion Basco – Alberto “Rocket” Ramos
• Gina McClain – Tina (pilot)
• Marissa Dyan – Cassidy Giuliani (episode 2-on)
• Steven Daniel – Lionel Hezekiah “El-Train” Johnson
• Marcella Lowery – Principal Karen Coretta Noble

City Guys was another attempt by NBC to duplicate the success of Saved by the Bell for their Teen NBC programming block. Created by Bell creator Peter Engel and Scott Spencer Gorden, the series was set at the fictional Manhattan High (aka Manny High) in an unspecified area of New York City. Unlike their previous TNBC offerings set in sunny California, City Guys was delivered with a decidedly more urban flair.



The series began with Jamal Grant (Wesley Jonathan) and Chris Anderson (Scott Whyte) transferring into the school at the beginning of the school year. Jamal came from a working-class background and was suspended during his first two years at his previous school before being expelled. Chris came from a wealthy family and was kicked out of two prep schools and dishonorably discharged from military school. The two got along like oil and water until they were forced to work together on the school’s video yearbook by their principal and homeroom teacher, Ms. Noble (Marcella Lowery). They would eventually become friends, though still had a tendency to bicker and compete with each other mirroring the relationship between Zack Morris (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) and A.C. Slater (Mario Lopez) from Bell.



During their time there, Chris and Jamal managed to gain a group of friends. Dawn Tartikoff (named after former network president Brandon Tartikoff, who tasked Engel with developing Bell, played by Caitlin Mowrey), was initially a relentless activist (emulating Elizabeth Berkley’s Bell character Jessie Spano) until that was eventually downplayed into her being more the smart girl of the group. Cassidy Giuliani (Marissa Dyan) was an aspiring actress who became a recurring love interest for Chris. Before they ended up together, one of her boyfriends was Nick Lachey of the vocal group 98 Degrees, who all made a guest-appearance in an episode. Al Ramos (Dion Basco) was the resident cool guy who always had a scheme under his sleeve, and for a time was Dawn’s boyfriend. Lionel “El-Train” Johnson (Steven Daniel) was a lovable goof who was held back seven times. El-Train initially started out as a typical bully character before that he was miraculously reformed between episodes; however, he did still have some bully tendencies towards others and almost reverted back a few times. When not in class, the gang usually hung out at the diner owned by Jamal’s father, Virgil (Ivory Ocean), or on the school’s rooftop (safety regulations be damned).



Appearing in the pilot was a girl named Tina (Gina McClain), a stuck-up model that Chris initially had an interest in even though she did nothing but show disdain for him; especially after Jamal tried to sabotage Chris’ efforts by revealing to her that they had bet Chris could get a date with her. She ended up being replaced by Cassidy for the remainder of the series.



City Guys debuted on NBC on September 6, 1997. Like other TNBC offerings, each episode was designed to deliver a prosocial message to the audience to learn along with the characters. Said characters were often engaged in schemes and plots that often had to be curtailed by Ms. Noble, like ditching assignments to go to sporting events/show tapings or setting up a swimming pool on the school’s roof to beat a heatwave, as well as encountering typical life troubles like sexual harassment, gang and gun violence, drugs, bullying and racism. The series was written by Gorden, Ilunga Adell, Paul Corrigan, Brad Walsh, Tom Tenowich, Kenneth Nowling, Barry Gurstein, David Pitlik, Robert Illes, David DiPietro, Brett Dewey, Leslie Eberhard, Paul Ciancarelli, Todd J. Greenwald, Kurt Taylor, James Dutcher, Barry “Berry” Douglas, Al Sonja L. Rice, Bernie Ancheta, Jay J. Demopoulos, Jeffrey J. Sachs, Jesse Collins and Josh Goldstein, with Nowling, Walsh, Corrigan, DiPietro and Ciancarelli serving as story editors. The series’ theme was composed by Joey Schwartz, Eric Swerdloff and Michael Muta-Ali Muhammad, with the rest of the series’ music composed by Schwartz. Dr. Karen Hill-Scott served as the educational consultant that ensured the series was meeting FCC requirements.



The series ran for five seasons, culminating in the graduation of the students and retirement of Ms. Noble. However, the series finale didn’t end up being the final episode. “Al’s in Toyland”, which dealt with Al having to promote toy guns against his better judgement for work, was initially slated to air during October of 2001. It ended up being taken out of the rotation due to its content as a result of the September 11 terrorist attacks that occurred the month prior. It finally aired that December after the finale.



From September, 2001 to September, 2002, the series was sold as a syndication package alongside fellow TNBC series California Dreams to help networks fulfill their educational programming requirements set by the FCC. The series briefly aired on BET for three weeks in October 2010 before disappearing from the airwaves. While various episodes were uploaded to YouTube, the entire series wouldn’t be seen again until Tubi made it available for streaming in 2022.