Phenom

The weirdest happened to me today. Out of nowhere, I had this image pop into my mind about some show I used to watch in college, where there was a tennis girl played by the crazy daughter of the CTU boss in Season 4 of 24, and her coach was played by the Secretary of Defense in that same season of 24... and that's all I could remember, and it was driving me nuts! Finally, I realized it was Phenom that I had watched many years ago. I'm so glad I had this freaky random flashback, otherwise I would have forgot all about this show. The first thing I did was go to TVshowsonDVD.com, and I was so disappointed it's not out there on DVD. It was an awesome show! The ABC Family channel has many back-to-back reruns they do for the same show everyday for other 90's sitcoms, like Family Matters, Full House, and Sabrina the Teenage Witch... they have more than enough room to squeeze Phenom in there.

Remember the episode where Mary Margaret (Ashley Johnson) was sitting on her bed in her room telling Brian (Todd Louiso)how much she her Cabbage Patch Doll reminded her of him? He asked why because it's warm and cuddly? NO. Because he makes you feel safe? NO. And Mary Margaret looks him straight in the eye while she is stroking her Cabbage Patch Doll's bald head and didn't say a word. It's been 10 years and every time I think of that scene it just cracks me up! When I saw Todd in Jerry McGuire as the nanny, that whole Cabbage Patch Doll scene popped in my head! Phenom was a great show that got canceled way too soon. I'd like to see it on TVLand!

This was an awesome sitcom. If I had realized how short lived it would be at the time that it was on I would have gone to great pains to tape them all. As it is I only have two or three. It was just really well done: creative premise, very funny script, good actors, etc. > And if you ever get a chance to watch any of this great show, take it because you won't regret it! I am really surprised that some of the actors didn't go on to bigger things. I looked over their credits and they really have not done much since...except the aforementioned spots on Jerry McGuire, which I was pretty excited about when I saw :-). The little girl (Mary Margaret) especially was very good...so maybe she will pop up again somewhere. Anyway, I guess that is all. This was just a GREAT show.

It still drives me nuts that they canceled this show after a year, just b/c it didn't keep all of Who's the Boss's audience. If I'm not mistaken, it was somewhere in the early 30s in the ratings. Earl and Office didn't get that high last year and they're both considered hits. Unreal. Brian Doolan remains one of my favorite television characters of all time, right up there with Alex P. Keaton and Detective Frank Pemblemton. Weird company, I know. But I'm glad to see that he's still getting work, he was the best part of SoaP. The most memorable episode I can think of is when Brian became the security guard at Angela's tennis camp. It was one of the few episodes that focused on him, and I found it hysterical. I still laugh just thinking of it. Please, oh please, put it out on DVD!

It was a shame ABC axed this show after one season, I bet if it was on longer a bigger audience would have been built. Either way, Phenom is a gem. It's a sitcom with some good morals, and is funny without being too corny. The acting is also top notch. I am thankful I do have about every episode on tape, and I occasionally do hold mini marathons where I watch them. The series focused on Angela Doolan, a 16 year old tennis ace. She came across problems all teenagers face: family, friends, pressure and her overbearing coach. I even went to a taping of this show (if you see the episode where Coach Lou's friend dies, listen closely to hear a stupid fake laugh, that's me). I swear, if I had enough money I'd buy the episodes/rights from Columbia themselves (okay I am going nuts). Maybe the Fox Family Channel or Disney or some cable channel will somehow notice this show and buy them and broadcast the episodes. If you ever get a chance to see this show, see it and enjoy. Oh yeah, whatever happened to Angela Goethals?