Episode #175-613 "The Cheerleading Incident" Taped: January 17, 2003  Original Air: January 31, 2003

WHO'S WHO
Starring
Amanda Bynes (Holly Tyler)
Jennie Garth (Valerie Tyler)
Simon Rex (Jeff)
Wesley Jonathan (Gary Thorpe) 

Guest Starring
Nancy Lenehan (Linda)
Jackie Geary (Rep)
Luciano Giancarlo (Waiter #1)
Anthony Nacarato (Waiter #2)

Written by
Kirker Butler

Directed by
Steve Zuckerman

SYNOPSIS
Over dinner at a French restaurant, Jeff invites Val to his place for the night. He lets Val go back to her apartment to quickly throw a few things in an overnight bag. But Val has to overplan when she packs, and it annoys Jeff that she's so regimented. He tells Val she needs to be more spontaneous and on less of a schedule. Even Holly sees she's too "type A", so Val decides to do something about it. She surprises Jeff at his apartment dressed as a cheerleader, doing a spicy routine which would lead to lovemaking. But Jeff shows up at the apartment with his mother Linda in tow. She's in New York to spend money and forget about her husband, and by the time all the money she brought is gone, she's in a better mood to return to him. Val is worried about what her possible mother-in-law would think about the cheerleader routine, but Jeff enjoyed the little show, and Linda approved. Linda then talks to Valerie about the episode, and she wants to do more wild stuff with Valerie. At a Greek restaurant, Val and Linda dance with waiters, break plates and drink ouzo. When Jeff stops by, Linda tells him that all the fun activity and spontaneity she's experienced this trip have convinced her not to go back to her husband. After Val thinks it's all her fault, Jeff reassures her that being spontaneous had nothing at all to do with Linda's decision. And Val tells him that she's just too type A to be changed.
     Holly's waiting on line at a movie theater, and she's informed she's the 100th person on line. She wins a digital music player called the iBop. Gary learns of this, and he claims part ownership of the item because he had been the 100th person on line until he left to go to the bathroom. Holly then relents and lets Gary have the item. But when Holly gets it, turns out she loves it. She spends the whole morning downloading songs, and when Gary shows up to claim the iBop Holly hides it (but not very well) in her back pocket and tells him it hasn't been delivered yet. In time, Gary learns she does have the device and she does like it, and Gary wonders what kind of friend could do that to her. In the Greek restaurant, Holly drops the iBop, and thinking she broke it, decides to give it to Gary. After he gets the thing to work, Holly apologizes for her selfishness and decides to share the machine with him.     

SHOW NOTES
The episode introduces a new setting: Jeff's apartment, located "across town", ostensibly on the East Side.
     There were a few early reports on this episode that cited the digital device as an iPod, which is Apple's trademark. One online review chastized the show for being a blatant plug for the iPod, when in fact they weren't plugging it at all.
     When Jeff orders at the restaurant and says he thinks he ordered "a small strawberry glove", he's right...he said "un petit gant fraises", which is indeed French for "a small strawberry glove".

NEXT LINE, PLEASE
VAL: I am just as spontaneous as the next person!
HOLLY: No you're not! You are a scheduler and an organizer! You plan ahead to set aside time to plan ahead! Just look at the pantry...you alphabetize soups!
VAL: Oh, and that's a bad thing? Last week when you were craving Manhattan clam chowder, how fast did you find it?
HOLLY: I'm not saying it's bad! If the world didn't have people like you, then the fun people wouldn't know they were fun!

OUR REVIEW
Tonight's episode of "What I Like About You", "The Cheerleader Incident", was the first to thrust Valerie Tyler into the main story while relegating kid sister Holly to the backup position. Think of it as a well-deserved night off for Amanda Bynes after taping 11 episodes of the series with a less-than-100% Jennie Garth, literally and figuratively stalled by her pregnancy. However, Amanda made every spare moment she was on camera her own.
     But we get the first episode where Jennie Garth turns up the jets and takes over. And take over she does. Val lets Jeff know that she was once a cheerleader in high school, which surprises Jeff because she seems so regimented and regulated, almost a stick-in-the-mud. Val takes Jeff's advice (which Holly also reinforces) to be more spontaneous in their relationship. To Val, this means surprising Jeff at his place by dressing up as a cheerleader and doing some "special" routines designed to rouse him, in more ways than one. Too bad his mother was there. But at the restaurant, his mom tells Val she's pleased that he's finally dating a somewhat footloose woman. Within moments, Val, Holly and Jeff's mom are dancing at a Greek restaurant, breaking plates, and having a big fat Greek ol' time. Jeff's mom then tells Jeff that she got a cue from Val to live for the moment and do thing impulsively -- which includes leaving her husband of 30 years, Jeff's dad. Val feels bad over that until Jeff reassures Val it wasn't her fault his folks broke up.
     We don't totally shove Holly out of the spotlight, though, as she and Gary hold down the auxiliary spots as an iBop comes between them. They're on line at a movie, and as Gary leaves to use the restroom, a woman tells Holly she won the digital musical device for being the 100th person in line. Gary and Holly are at odds over the thing, and Holly gets it and doesn't tell him. They then have a falling out as Gary lets Holly know how selfish she was. But back at the Greek restaurant, Holly drops the machine and, assuming she broke it, gives it to Gary. But it's not broken -- just a button jammed on it, disabling it. Holly then apologizes for letting the gizmo come between them, and work out some sort of custody agreement. 
     The first episode written by Kirker Butler, "Thanksgiving", wasn't really meant to be an episode to judge his future work by. Now that we have a sample of what we can expect from him on a day to day basis, we can say now that there really isn't a writer on this staff now capable of writing a clinker. Butler's script, like "Thanksgiving", touches on familial relationships with the crumbling of the marriage of Jeff's folks playing a critical role. It also broaches how petty things can sidetrack perfectly good friendships. If things do come to some sort of decision point in either the Holly-Gary or Val-Jeff storylines on February 14, know that if it weren't for resolutions like tonight's, they never would have happened.
     All the principal actors play their usual fine roles tonight, with Nancy Lenehan making an impressive showing as Jeff's mother. Jennie Garth in her cheerleader outfit is cute, and Amanda Bynes gets to do some choice wriggling as she conceals the iBop from Gary by hiding it in the back pocket of her tight, low-cut drawstring pants. 
     Rather than go for straight-out yocks tonight, "The Cheerleader Incident" gave us some more shading and insight into the people behind the characters, and gave us some more background on Jeff's prehistory. Episodes like this advance our knowledge of the folks we drop in on every Friday night and cause us to love them all the more.

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