WHO'S WHO
Starring
Amanda Bynes (Holly Tyler)
Jennie Garth (Valerie Tyler)
Simon Rex (Jeff)
Wesley Jonathan (Gary Thorpe)
Guest Starring
Kyle Howard (Evan)
Co-Starring
Alex Solowitz (College Guy #1)
Ashley Jensen (Stephanie)
Rachel Shumate (Becka)
Drew Sidora (Angela)
Story by
Jake Farrow
Teleplay by
Ethan Banville and Sung Min Suh
Directed by
Shelley Jensen
SYNOPSIS
At Copy That, Holly meets an older boy, Evan, who turns her head.
Their cellphones get switched, and Evan calls Holly to come to his dorm
and swap the phones during a party. Holly is shocked to see that Gary's
there...she protests his presence at the party, thinking that she can
take care of himself. At the party, Holly pretends to be a college girl
to get closer to Evan, but while talking with other coeds Gary discovers
that Evan romances girls, gets what he wants from them, and then dumps
them. After Holly refuses to heed Gary's warnings, Gary tells Evan that
he is Holly's boyfriend. Fearing the worst, Evan backs way off of Holly,
and into the arms of another coed. Holly finds them both in the bathroom
making out in the bathtub, and sees for herself what a cad Evan is.
Holly has seen enough and asks Gary to take her home, secure in the
knowledge that he was looking out for her all the time, and that he was
right.
Jeff and Val have alone time again, and they
play Scrabble. Val always wins, and it's during this night that she
learns that Jeff's been letting her win. Jeff is pleased that she found
this out because it just makes Val more endearing to him.
SHOW NOTES
More or less turning the halfway point of the season, "What I
Like About You" starts 2003 (coming off exemplary performance of
three repeat episodes) with brand new competition. NBC offers
up the political drama "Mister Sterling" and Fox slots fellow
WB series "Fastlane", putting Jennie Garth in competition with
husband Peter Facinelli. Its two fallen competitors were
"Firefly" on Fox, and "Providence" on NBC, which
shut down early this season due to star Melina Kanakaredes' pregnancy
and may or may not return in 2003.
The producers have sagely let Holly keep her
job at Copy That (the episode that preceded this one in the production
list), so she can meet a wider variety of guys and have more
misadventures.
This episode was known during casting as "Older Boyfriend".
HIDING BOB
Jennie Garth taped this episode roughly a month
before she gave birth. She opens the show seated on the sofa, reading
The New York Times. Giving her a board game subplot affords her the
opportunity to sit on the floor behind the coffee table, as she does when Holly
leaves for the party. Valerie is again clad in basic black.
NEXT LINE, PLEASE
HOLLY: I really like your ringtone, and I was thinking maybe you
could program mine!
EVAN: You like the Notre Dame fight song?
HOLLY: Like it? I'd like to make out with it!
EVAN: What?
HOLLY: I just mean, that football is like my favorite sport of all time,
and um, Notre Dame is my favorite college! Go Hunchbacks!
OUR REVIEW
It's almost as if Holly Tyler were
saying to young America, "I'm back! Did you miss me?"
Yes.
It was a long and cold holiday season...it
always seems to go that way after the November sweeps. But now it's
January, and "What I Like About You" has come back after a bit
of a firstrun layoff, and they basically gave Amanda Bynes the ball. And
she ran with it. If tonight's show is any indication, every show will
have delights for Amanda watchers...and if there are (especially) guys
who are watching who aren't mad for this young woman yet, they will be.
Soon. Amanda's natural flirtiness, unsurpassed beauty and winning charm
are enough to carry even the more lightweight episodes of "What I
Like About You", such as tonight's installment. Submitted by a trio
of first-timers (Ethan Banville and Sung Min Suh from a story by Evan
Farrow), "The Party" treads familiar ground, while sanitizing
the typical college dorm mixer into more or less a cold-cut gala (with
Gary initially having bigger eyes for a six-foot sub than any woman in
the room). The script does address another Holly Tyler infatuation, this
time an older guy who pops into Copy That to get work done.
Amanda Bynes seems to be turning her eyes
toward older guys. She made a bit of a crack about being drawn to
80-year-old men a few weeks ago in "TV Guide", and now as
Holly on this new episode of "WILAY" she has a thing for a guy
named Evan (played by "Grosse Pointe" and "Orange
County" star Kyle Howard). who's always getting work done at
Copy That. So she decides to do something about it. She deliberately
swaps their cell phones, and Evan invites Holly to come to his place to
drop it off. But he's a college man, and his place is a dormitory. And
not surprisingly he invites her down on the night of a dorm party. Lots
of dynamics are at work here at the party. Gary befriends some women
who've been dumped by some rogue at the party, and they identify the
snake as Evan, who's drawing closer to Holly as the night goes on. Gary
then intercedes, claiming he's Holly's boyfriend. Word then gets around
that both Holly and Gary are high schoolers, and Holly winds up finding
for herself what a lout Evan turns out to be when she discovers him and
another young lady making out in the bathtub (empty, of course -- what
kind of show do you think this is?). The real lesson, if there is one,
is that a strong friendship can withstand lapses of trust every so
often. Although Holly is quite repulsed to the claim that Gary's her
boyfriend, there is no way she'd trade in the same guy -- her best
friend -- for even the coolest college man. Meantime, while Val and Jeff are waiting for little sister to come home,
they engage in spirited Scrabble battles. Valerie is getting beaten
continually (challenging at the worst times, like when Jeff plays
"BOOBIES"), but at one point in the game Jeff is called down to
the restaurant and has to leave for a few minutes, during which time
Valerie decided to peek at Jeff's rack -- and seeing that he's got the
letters E-N-Z-Y-M-E-S on his rack, spelling a bingo and another defeat for
Val. But when Jeff returns, he plays the word ME ("It's in the
dictionary, it means 'Jeff'") for four points. At that point Val tips
her hand and lets on that she peeked, and that she knows Jeff was trying
to let her win. And once the combatants have settled down, the word freaks
decide to get their freak on for a new game -- that "special"
poker game, the one Val claims she's so bad at.
It's nice to see the writers of "What I Like
About You" are starting to develop a life for Holly and (soon) Valerie Tyler outside the
apartment. The episode taped previous to this one was "Copy
That", and here she is, still working at "Copy That" with
best friend Gary. This will make it easier for Holly-Gary stories to kick
off, as will the addition shortly of a school environment for Holly. "Girls Night Out", is the first chance
since the pilot for Jennie Garth to break free and show us what she's
capable of, now that she's had la bambina. Additionally, here's hoping the producers will
give Val more stories set at her publicity firm, Harper and Diggs.
This could very well lead to some of the guests who have
"worked" with Holly and Valerie get recurring roles on the show.
The first ones to snag would be Beth Littleford, who played Val's boss
Susan in "Copy That", and Samm Levine, who in the same episode
portrayed that lovable broom-kissing nebbish Sheldon. As in "The
Parrot Trap", we get the joy here of seeing moony eyed fool-for-love
Holly Tyler, a role Amanda looks to be really getting more comfortable
with playing -- and should get more of with "Girls' Night Out".
And admit it...you can't take your eyes off of her now. Why fight it?
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EPISODE GALLERY: Main Story
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Holly has it real bad for Evan, a
very cute guy who's always getting work done at Copy That. |
Holly wonders
out loud why he's tormenting her. |
Gary thinks Holly should go for it,
strike up a conversation. |
He also recommends relaxing the old
"Copy That" dress code somewhat. |
For lack of a better topic, Holly
marvels at the similarity of their cell phones. |
Evan marvels at the advances of cell
phone technology, and all Holly can do is laugh. |
Evan reprograms Holly's phone, adding
the Notre Dame fight song. |
Holly gives Evan back a phone. That's right, "a"
phone. |
Of course, it's Copy That company
policy to always tell the customer to have
a nice day. |
Looks like it'll be a real nice day
for Holly...she's got Evan's cell phone! |
Holly calls him back on
his phone.
|
She calls herself "the Hunchback
girl", wincing at her choice of words. |
Evan recommends they meet so they can
exchange phones.
|
He invites her to his college dorm
room for a party, so they can make the cell phone swap,
and...you know.
|
...you know.
|
Gary asks Holly what he should wear
to the party, but Holly doesn't even want him there.
|
Holly believes she should go alone,
and proves that she has the maturity to be able to handle
herself there.
|
Look who's ready for the party and
dressed to kill! (Like she's showing up in that royal blue
vest.)
|
Still wildly engrossed in her Scrabble game, Val
sees off Holly as she leaves for her party.
|
Holly shows up at the dorm room...
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...and is greeted by the designated
doorman, one Gary Thorpe.
|
Holly doesn't want Gary doing
anything that would jeopardize the romance.
|
And mainly she doesn't want Gary
there because...well, he's Gary.
|
Gary of course knows why he's there
-- THAT SANDWICH!
|
Once they exchange the phones...
|
...it's time for the two smitten
kittens to get to know each other a little better.
|
Holly claims she lives off campus
with her sister in the Delta sorority house.
|
Evan excuses himself as two guys are
remodeling his room with sledgehammers.
|
Gary breaks in, appalled that Holly's
passing herself off as a coed, and Holly tells him to get
lost...
|
...because Holly's not, err, cool
enough yet.
|
Gary takes pity on Stephanie, a girl
who has just been dumped.
|
Evan returns and proclaims that Holly
is smoking.
|
Smoking is usually hazardous to your
health, but not this time. Try to set the night on fire.
|
Gary has all the girls of the college
around as he offers the coeds romantic advice beyond his years.
After all, why tell them he's still in high school?
|
Becka positively ID's the lout that
dumped the girls... |
...and there he is, dancing with
Holly.
|
Blind to his inner lout, Holly draws
closer to Evan on the dance floor.
|
Evan really starts turning on the
charm, but Gary is trying to flag Holly down.
|
Gary warns Holly about Evan, but
Holly just wants him out of the picture because good stuff is
happening.
|
And Holly's none too pleased about
Gary passing himself off as a college man, consoling the
underclass cuties.
|
So while Holly takes a break, Gary
lays down the law, telling Evan to lay off his girlfriend.
|
Gary lets Evan know that Jealous Gary
does not play nice when jealous.
|
Evan backs off, telling Holly
he'd
like to avoid being pasted by her boyfriend.
|
But despite Holly's claims that she's
single...
|
...Evan walks off. That's not chill,
that's ice cold.
|
Holly's in the bathroom touching
herself up when...
|
...she hears activity in the bathtub.
|
Holly pulls back the curtain and sees
Evan and Angela "chilling".
|
Now Holly realizes Gary was right
about Evan...
|
...and that Copy That has one fewer customer.
|
But double disaster strikes...Holly's
stuck in the bathroom...
|
...and Holly's split her pants. |
Gary tries to ram the door down, and
has to send in reinforcements. Which gives her the opportunity
to tell off Evan one last time. |
Gary does get in and Holly explains
about Evan. |
Holly apologizes for not believing
Gary, and wants him to take her home. |
They leave the party after all their lying and duplicity,
and Holly gets an extra pair of pants out of the deal..
|
Gary walks Holly back to 34C, and in
true Gary style, Holly makes her reinforce their friendship by
continually thanking him for his trust. |
She won't be passing herself off as a
college girl anytime soon. Gary, though... |
Val notices that Holly's not in the
pants she came home in. |
She explains all the things that
happened at the college. |
Which should suffice for the acceptable explanation. She
waves herself off before Val can take it all in. |
Val
replays it all back...college party...cute
guy in the bathroom...and
Gary's pants. |
It
can wait till morning...after all, Val has a card party with
Jeff!
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THE OTHER STORY: Jeff and Val Play Scrabble |
To while away the time before Holly
comes home... |
...Valerie lugs out the equipment for
a nice game of Scrabble. |
Jeff's upset about it because Val
always wins. But then, Jeff does have his share of colorful
words that he uses during the game, such as "poop". |
Val explains why she loves the great
game of Scrabble. |
Jeff loudly proclaims, "I got
WARTS!" |
The best Val can do is "ARG",
which is an old pirate term. |
She's losing by 62 points as Jeff is
racking up the score. But now that Holly's gone for the
night, Val recommends that she score in
a different way, but Jeff will have none of that. |
Besides, Jeff has put down another
great word..."BOOBIES". |
Jeff can't believe that Val is
challenging the word. After all, it is slang word for a part of
the anatomy, right? |
Sure enough, "booby",
meaning a stupid person, is in the Scrabble dictionary. |
As is its plural variant,
"boobies", meaning...more than one stupid person, but
rarely more than two. |
Val wants a rematch!
And what a rematch it is...Val's
winning. |
Midgame, Jeff gets a call...he's
needed at the restaurant. |
While Jeff's gone, Val can't resist
the temptation to look at Jeff's rack. (Hey, is that a
seven-letter word?) |
Sure enough. How did the guy whose
words are usually "POOP" and "BOOBIES" come
up with "ENZYMES"? |
Jeff returns and makes his big play:
"ME", for four points. It pays to know those
two-letter words. |
Val knows that Jeff had a bingo on
his rack, and sees that he's letting her win. |
Jeff loves it...he feels the
relationship has progressed where they can be themselves. |
And that Val can proudly cheat at
Scrabble in the future. |
Putting away the gear, with Holly
about to return... |
Valerie suggests one more game before
she gets back. And get a load of the house
rules. |
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ROLE CALL: The Other Faces |
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KYLE HOWARD
Evan
Kyle hit the theaters about a year ago with "Orange
County" starring Jack Black. Earlier, he appeared as a
regular on the WB's "Grosse Pointe", as well as
"Opposite Sex". He has also guested occasionally on
"Providence".
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