Starring
Amanda Bynes (Holly Tyler)
Jennie Garth (Valerie Tyler)
Simon Rex (Jeff)
Wesley Jonathan (Gary Thorpe)
Guest Starring
Michael McMillian (Henry Gibson)
Anicka Haywood (Jill)
Cameron Mathison (Noah Gibson)
Co-Starring
Lauren Cohn (Clinic Nurse)
Kelly Nagasawa (Rachel)
Leah Harrison (Girl #1)
Hollie Hommel (Waitress)
Brian Peck (Guy #1)
SHOW NOTES
Henry's surname is revealed on this episode, it's
Gibson. Brian Peck, the show's dialogue coach, makes a second appearance
(after "Spa Day") as a flaky restaurant patron. He's also
pictured in a handful of the behind the scenes shots.
For more information about blood donation, visit The
American Red Cross Website.
NEXT LINE, PLEASE
NOAH: Looks like we have a little wait...can I buy you juice and a cookie?
VAL: Sure! What's good here?
NOAH: Orange juice, we have lemonade, and (holding up a pitcher of V-8)
what I hope to God is tomato juice.
VAL: Yeah. Are you staring at my nostril?
NOAH: No, no, no, no. Let me ask you something. Would it be weird if I
asked out my younger brother's girlfriend's older sister?
VAL: No, I think your younger brother's girlfriend's older sister would
love to go out with her younger sister's boyfriend's older sister! Oh wow!
I think I just asked myself out!
OUR REVIEW/SYNOPSIS
One of the most
interesting aspects about "What I Like About You" in the latter
part of the first season is how much Holly, despite being a full 12 years
younger than sister Valerie, works as almost an equal partner in their
relationships. Whether the scripts deal with Val's Harper and Diggs
career, either sister's love life, or their own personal relationship,
Holly seems to have developed mature philosophies about every facet of her
life. Call it blossoming, maturity, or just being worldly-wise after
living in New York City for nearly a year, but the continuing development
of the character of Holly Tyler -- especially in contrast to the type-A Val
-- has been one of the standout themes of the
second half of the show's first season. Next week we see an outstanding
example of this in "Tyler v. World", but tonight "The Fix Up",
scripted by Hayes Jackson and Stacy Traub after a story from Nahnatchka
Khan (one of the writers for ABC's cartoon series "Pepper Ann"), continued the string of scripts with Holly helping
Val.
Holly meets Henry's older brother Noah Gibson, who's a
doctor, at B-91. To keep her sister from being perpetually
dateless, Holly decides to fix her up with Noah (played by onetime soap stud Cameron
Mathison). But
Henry bristles, saying it's not a good idea for the two to link up. Holly sets
up the initial meeting of Val and Dr. Noah at his clinic office under the pretense that Holly is
going to give blood. The clinic scene where Holly asks for a different
attendant -- namely, Dr. Noah -- is an absolute hoot. The interaction
between Noah and Val synchronizes perfectly with Holly's bedside manner.
She is not having a good time of it as blood is drawn from her body
(including a needle prick causing her to wail, "Damn, dude!"), and
Holly's reactions, half dreamy romance set up by her and half delirium,
are priceless. When Henry
finds out Val and Noah have hooked up, he gets angry at her for betraying
his wishes. The two go to Noah's house, and he shows her a room full of
stuffed animals -- a virtual plush "Noah's Ark". Without
explanation as to why he has so many stuffed animals, Henry begs Holly to
try to "unfix" Val and Noah. But without being able to tell why
she shouldn't go out with Noah, Holly cannot achieve this, so they go on
their date.
Val comes upon the room full of stuffed animals in Noah's house and
presumes that he's gay (which is what Holly was trying to tell Val, but
she was real wrong). But in denying that, Noah has to explain his fluffy menagerie to
Val...every time Dr. Noah adds to his list of romantic, shall we say,
conquests, he adds a stuffed animal to his collection, a gift from the
girl. He's done it ever since college, and in his room is the proof --
turns out each animal represents one and only one sexual encounter, and
no two are from the same woman! So Holly apologizes to Val for trying
to fix her up with a guy based on looks, and Val assures Holly that being
alone sometimes is OK.
Then, at B-91, we get the other three regulars,
as Jeff signs on Jill to work alongside Gary, as a waitress. But Jill has
a bit of a sexy manner with her customers as she jockeys for extra tips
(beats hell out of telling a story about a dead dog!), and it doesn't sit
well with Gary. They have a bit of a fight, and they do patch things up at
the end.
This episode is full of wonderful performances,
topped by Amanda Bynes driving the storyline in her inimitable way, to
guest Cameron Mathison as the adult version of the slimeballs Holly
encountered during the "Copy That" era, to Anicka Haywood,
always appealing as Jill but even more so when she's allowed to be sexy
and alluring as in tonight's episode. And blink or you'll miss the
second series appearance of the one and only Brian Peck, Amanda's dialogue
coach, as a B-91 patron.
Next week the sisters may get evicted in
"Tyler v. World", and then "The Talk" winds the season
up, with Val giving Holly -- yikes! -- sex advice! So
we've gone from getting JC's photograph to sex advice in one season.
That'll keep this show off Nick UK.
ROLE CALL: The Other Faces
CAMERON MATHISON
Dr. Noah Gibson
Cameron portrayed charming con man and sometime
felon Ryan Lavery on the ABC soap opera "All My Children" from
1998 to 2002. More info on him can be found on his official
site.
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EPISODE RECAP |
Holly enters the apartment to find Valerie knitting. |
There's tons of marriageable, dateable or at least
friend-able guys leaving phone messages. |
Though it's been two months since Jeff and Val broke up,
Holly thinks that Val should at least dip he toe into the dating
pool again. |
Val meets guys who look like the real deal, but there's
always one foible they have that makes them utterly repulsive to
her. |
Like one guy who wasn't the neatest eater of potato chips. |
Whenever he talked, he spit the little chip pieces out. Spit
spit spit. |
Holly sees that Val is just looking for reasons not to date
guys, whether it's guys with pinkie rings or guys with
dislocated pinkies. |
So Val stays home, sitting and knitting. And Holly wonders if she's making a glove for the guy with
the special fingers. |
At B-91, Holly and Henry are marveling at Gary's skill with
the waiter tray. |
But the subject is quickly changed...
|
...as Henry's brother, Noah, comes in. |
She watches as he slips his little bro some gratis prescription
medicine. |
It's a pretty good deal, since the pills are expired. But
they still work. Side effects include being real cheap. |
In passing, Dr. Noah gives Holly a pamphlet for a blood
drive. And Holly's interested...not so much in the blood drive, but
in Dr. Noah. |
She wants to fix Val up with his brother... |
...but Henry doesn't think that's a good idea. He just won't
tell her why, is all. |
Holly returns from lunch to find Val nestled on the couch
watching a documentary on prairie dog mating behavior. |
Holly drags Val over to the mirror so she can see what a
lifeless, dateless wretch she's become. |
Instead of participating in the mating
rituals, she's
watching them on Animal Planet.
|
But Val's got more pressing matters on her mind. |
She's too far gone now. Holly's got to drop the bomb that is
Dr. Noah Gibson. |
Holly wants to donate blood... |
...and she encourages Val to come along for some cookies and
punch. |
The real reason Val isn't moving from the couch: too much
blood. |
Val tries to figure out Holly's motive... |
...as Holly confirms a long standing suspicion of at least
thirty minutes. |
The girls are put through a battery of questions that may
eliminate them from the donation process. |
Such as if Holly has ever used marijuana, commonly known as
"pot" or "weed". |
Holly's answer is commonly known as "no". |
Then there's the question about that trip to Europe, and
"what a girl wants". Val likes the questions, and before she can get more of
them, Holly is accepted as a donor. |
When Holly notices the nurse will be drawing the blood... |
...she asks for a slightly manlier doctor-type to take her
pint. |
Enter Dr. Noah, and watch the fix-up in action. Holly introduces Val to Dr. Noah. |
They have a quickie conversation about how lonely folks give
blood on Friday nights, and Holly senses a spark there. |
As they chat, Dr. Noah gets Holly's arm ready for donation. |
It's just a little prick...you won't even feel it. Unless
you're Holly, of course. |
Thank goodness Val won't have to do that... |
They continue to chat and talk as... |
...Holly plays with her squeezy ball and gets more and more
light headed. |
Next day, Henry's a little upset with Holly. |
He's found out that Val and Noah have set a date for
tonight! |
Henry's a bit hurt that Holly betrayed his trust. She begs forgiveness. |
And he accepts. |
But she claims they're really cute together. |
She's all cute smiling, Noah's all romance-novel handsome... |
...and Holly's pure genius. |
Still, Henry is not comfortable with the arrangement. He
wants Holly to "unfix" Val and Noah. |
He just knows that it's not going to work out... |
...and to prove it, they go over to his house. |
In his bedroom is a voluminous collection of stuffed
animals! |
It puts those three shelves Val has to shame! |
Thoughts race through Holly's mind... |
...as minor as playing with the stuffed beasts... |
...and as major as that there may be something not so manly
about this man after all. |
Henry won't confirm it...he's asked, but Noah didn't tell. |
A trip to a Broadway musical would probably confirm that
suspicion. |
And Noah singing along, well... |
Now Holly's put in the ticklish spot of dissuading Val from
her date, but not being able to tell her why. |
Before they leave, Holly wonders if there's anything that
incriminating in Henry's bedroom. |
Val's getting ready for her date with the good Doctor. |
Val hugs her little sister, thanking her for the date. |
Val's psyched for her date, and even as Holly gets set to
explain why it's not a good idea, she gets more psyched. |
Once again, Holly begs Val not to go. |
But Holly can't tell her why, and it's frustrating her! |
Time for her to pout on the couch! |
Holly then lets Val try to guess the reason. |
He's not married. |
He's not a maniac. |
Nor is he a mime. (The maniac suddenly looks pretty good!) |
Holly's got one last chance to keep Val from going, and
she's gotta make it a good one. |
He mistreats prairie dogs! Yeah, that's the reason! |
No, that's not the reason. So Val will have to find out
herself. |
Trying to pry the deep dark out of him, Val discovers only
that Noah's on call. |
Some women he dates object to him being tied to his beeper. |
But Val, ever suspicious, has other suspicions. |
She sees the room full of stuffed animals, and is absolutely
convinced that Dr. Noah is gay. |
But no, he's a straight arrow -- and every animal in his
room represents a different woman he's been intimate with. |
Val has the last word as she ends the date. |
A stuffed monkey wants to know how the date went last night. |
She doesn't think it's a real monkey, though. |
It's only Holly. |
Holly recognizes the date as a humorous story somewhere down
the line. |
But Val wants to find her own way through the romantic
jungle. |
Val professes that sometimes, alone is good. |
But together is just as good, especially with her sister. |
Val comments she's been dating almost continuously for the
past 11 years... |
...and when the time is right, Val will know when he's the
one. |
Time for the WILAY version of "The Simpsons" couch
dive. |
Holly comments on the complete set of Care Bears in a
special trophy case... |
...which Val can only guess he racked up one March weekend
in Daytona Beach. |
|
SUBPLOT: Jeff Hires Jill |
Jeff congratulates Gary on being his most successful new
waiter, with some tips reaching into the 25% zone. |
But Jeff knows there are sacrifices, and he's made it easier
for Gary to have less of them working so hard at B-91. |
So he's hired Jeff's girlfriend, Jill. |
Gary wonders about Jeff's reasons for hiring Jill. |
And Gary gets upset because Jill is tipping the scales in
her favor by pouring on the sex appeal for tips. |
Gary loudly protests Jill's floor show -- obviously, he's
the only one. |
He then announces that he'll be even sexier than she is. |
Gary, just don't let this guy hear you. He obviously wants
more than a meal. |
But with over $500 in tips between them, they're a pretty
sexy work combo, and all is forgiven. |
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PUBLICITY STILLS -- From THE
WB |
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Bonus! BEHIND THE SCENES
GALLERY
These scenes aired as part of the MTV series "Fake ID
Club" on April 15, 2003. |
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