Team Work

Danny and Chris have success with a comedy double act and dream of a future working together, until Chris is spotted by a film producer and offered the lead in a new movie. Chris discovers overnight success could mean leaving his friends behind, well ant friends he has left, anyway.

Meanwhile Nicole goes to stay with Holly for a month. The two friends soon discover living with a friend doesn't always work out how you plan. 

I really enjoy the girl’s story in this episode where Holly and Nicole try living together and find that it's not as easy and enjoyable as they thought it was going to be.

The whole story is played for fun and both Nia and Cynthia really seem to be having a good time. Each situation seems to get a little funnier and we end with the pillow fight which is hilarious. Although I have to question exactly how many feathers there are in those pillows? Lots of them have already come out but the pillows still look pretty plump.

I think it's interesting because Cynthia really hasn't been around very much this season and we haven't really seen Holly and Nicole together that much to build this friendship. They had a storyline in "Nothing Personal" but that's pretty much it but it still comes across as though they do have a very good friendship and I like that.

I particularly love it when the girls are in bed and Nicole is saying how much she is looking forward to them being able to discuss really meaningful things but the only thing she can think of is should Jesse get his hair cut!

I do find it weird that Holly is going to develop an eating disorder in a few episodes and quite a bit of this story centres around food; what with Nicole's gourmet cooking and Jesse eating Holly's cake but there is no indication here that Holly has any kind of eating problem. Surely living with her for a month Nicole would have noticed?

Also the lift that Holly and Nicole are in at the end takes them directly into the cafeteria. Normally this lift opens by the doors outside the auditorium so does this lift have a door that opens on both sides?

The Chris and Danny story is okay too and there are also some funny moments, particularly when they are trying to decide the billing of their names. Should it be Donlon and Amatullo or Amatullo and Donlon?

The story starts off quite light but quickly the tone changes and things become a little more serious. Chris once again finds himself in a difficult situation where he upsets people with his actions. I do find it interesting that the writers seem to use Chris in this way, quite a lot.

I found the story of him suddenly having a big movie part a little hard to swallow as it came out of nowhere. I didn't understand why he was still even at the school if he had a part and was working professionally. It was even harder to understand why the film people were using the school to take photos and things of Chris and to a certain degree seemed to be disrupting lessons. Then suddenly it's all over, the part has fallen through and everything is back to normal again.

However, the issues that the story brought with it made the story quite interesting. Lydia only has a small part but is pretty strong when she's frustrated by Chris' attitude. More interesting is how Chris lies about helping Leroy and lets Danny down. It's interesting how the issues test their friendships. Thankfully it doesn't take too long for Chris to realise the error of his ways.

Although, again it is so obvious how talented Leroy is, so I would have thought any film director would have leapt at the chance of having him on board and wouldn’t just take Chris' word for it.

I do love the look that Jesse and Leroy give Danny when he wishes he was in Chris' place.

Apart from Nicole and Holly singing "Friends" the music in this episode isn't what we are normally expect from the show. It's almost like the writers didn't want to be predictable and brought in different musical styles, although for me I don't think it works that well.

The rock number all seems a bit silly really. I assume "Rough Cutt”, whom Danny and Chris perform with, are a real band but I'd never heard of them. The wigs and costumes look silly and I find it hard to take Carlo and Billy seriously, even back in the 80s it all looked a bit weird. I can't really imagine either Danny or Chris dreaming about doing this kind of performance because there is no indication that's what the characters really want to be doing and it's a million miles away from the act they have set up together.

It's also a little weird that their dream sequence only features the cast that are in that episode! You'd think they would imagine all their friends there.

Also I'm not keen on Chris performing David Bowie's version of Fame at the end. I really don't think it's a very good song and it doesn't suit the series.

Original  air date in U.S.A 23rd February 1985

Original  air date  in U.K. 17th June 1985,  Repeated on The Children's Channel  Broadcast Autumn 1992

Original air date in Italy 06th September 1986

Original  air date in France 06th February 1996