The Last Episode: Alf: The Finale that wasn't supposed to be

The Flashback Classics 

     May is the month that is usually the home of season and series finales, since it's the end of the TV season. Many shows never have a chance to have  a planned finale since most most shows fail in catching on in the first place. This month we take a look at some examples of how shows made their ends.

     Unlike the last show we looked at where it had a finale that they had planned this show didn't have that chance , but even more their finale left loose threads and this is a finale that wasn't supposed to  be one. We look at "Alf"  Consider Me Gone.   Though that would a good title for a finale.

        "Alf" had ran for four seasons on NBC from 1986 to 1990 and was popular where when the show wrapped up it's fourth season they had some well something, something to make sure that the fifth would start off fun but, plans changed.

      The episode  starts with Alf being his normal self  when eventually he picks up a signal that he thinks is from someone from  his home planet ,Melmac. His friends apparently have bought a planet and they want Alf to join him.  Alf is considering if he wants to leave or not. (Should I stay or should I go?) Meanwhile, the alien task force is also getting the signals and they wonder if it is aliens. (Insert picture of  guy on History Channel saying aliens here)  If Alf wants to leave he has only one chance to do so. He gives his answer  he decides that he wants to leave. The task force also captures Alf's signal back to his friends and know it's from Earth but not where it's from.

     The Tanner family is un happy that Alf is leaving (Well not Kate) at his going away party. They give him some gifts.   [Cutting away from the episode for a minute]  This scenes here would have actually made a good series finale, with Alf deciding to leave and the family saying goodbye. It has all the great workings of being a series finale and a fine one.  [more on that later]  So, Alf say his goodbye to the house as the family is going to drive him to spot where he's going to picked up.  The Alien Task Force finds out about the space craft is coming down and they of course, are going to do their thing. The aliens come done to pick up Alf when the Alien Task Force come from behind and his friends fly away in fear. The Task Force surrounds Al, and the original cut of the episode ends with to be continued.

       My personal note about this episode: When I was watching the series on repeats as a kid, I never knew the show ended  so when this episode came on and I saw the line to be continued, apparently the channel I had watched on it didn't use the cut where that doesn't appear (Amazon Prime Streaming's version for example doesn't have that message) and I  thought the next day when they were airing the first episode , i  thought I had somehow missed it or the channel messed up. I didn't know for years that this was how Alf ended.

    As said above, I feel the episode before the alien task force comes in and Alf's friends leave would  have actually made a great series finale for Alf.  Though, I will add the build up with the task force was also hinting to more than just a finale.  The people working on this show didn't know this was going to be the last episode and they had  made a two parter as an insurance policy and sadly, it ended  up being the last episode.  It is kind of funny how this show ended though , Alf crashes into  the world causes  a stir makes messes and the end of the whole thing it's a mess.  Many series do get unexpected or unplanned finales, because maybe the show was getting expensive or the network was trying a different direction or 892 other reasons.  Alf's finale is remembered because of the cliff hanger and it wasn't supposed end here it's like reading something in a book or something and it just.

       Alf did get some sort of reprieve  in 1996 thanks to ABC. We have written about that  HERE   

    Next time, some series don't get a chance to choose their finales, but what if a series never really had a chance to end and it's final episodes weren't even for the series?  That's Next time.

 Tune in next time,  after we get picked up by a space ship, we just got a call and we are going!  

The Last Episode : Leave it To Beaver. Saying Goodbye by looking back

The Flashback  Classics  Essay 

   May is the month that is usually the home of season and series finales, since it's the end of the TV season. Many shows never have a chance to have  a planned finale since most most shows fail in catching on in the first place. This month we take a look at some examples of how shows made their ends.  

   We start with "Leave it To Beaver"  this series is a classic sitcom that's still being rerun today even though it aired starting in 1957.  Funny enough, the finale episode we are looking at aired in June of 1963 so June not May.  "Beaver" had 234  episodes  and ran a span of 6 seasons.  It was running well , but some of the actors wanted to move on and so they got their wish. This episode is called "Family Scrapbook".     

      This episode is considered the first episode (ha) in a prime time series have an episode expressly written to be a finale, other series ended like normal.  Through this  process I will be looking at different kinds of series finales so this kind is called the finale that looks back at the series as away to say goodbye.

  

         It starts with June doing some cleaning and she finds a box with some old stuff . The stuff in the box brings June and Ward some memories then they find the scrapbook the episode is named after. It's full of old pictures and they decide to have the kids look at the book with them.   If you ever wondered by Theodore is called the Beaver this episode explains that.  The episode uses the pictures as a way to guide into clips of past episodes of the series. It shows  memorable events from the past six seasons. Yes, this episode is a clip show with the wrap round segments being the new content.  There's not much to say on what happens in the episode because of that.  Going to the last couple minutes of the episode Ward and June talk with each other and are talking about how they've grown  up while it cuts to Beaver and Wally laughing at a toy.  

       Over the time of watching this series, viewers watched for 6 years as the two boys grew up and the wondered what the family would do the next week. I consider this episode to be a thank you episode to the viewers for sticking by and enjoying the moments put together.  Clip shows aren't much of my thing but I like it used for the last episode more than say random episode in season 4 when a show needed something to fill time.  Beaver had grown up and was on his way to high school and Wally was on his way to other things  so it's a good time to end the series.

    

   This was also one of the first family sitcoms to look at things from the kids' point of view not Mom and Dad (Father Knows Best) and so the audience could identify as either currently a  child or remember their own childhoods.   Since Beaver was moving on to high school and we've done pretty much the high school plots with Wally it was good time.  To  get a little dark as an analogy  think of this episode as like when someone dies  and people look back the person's life this episode was that a look at this series as Beaver won't be on the air (as new episodes) anymore here's  the show's life and moments we were glad to share it with you. 

         Is this a good series finale? Yes, it has things you want in a finale a way to say goodbye to a series you love and one way is to remember what it brought you over the years.  

      Next time,  what happens if you  planned a whole big 2 part episode where one episode was the season finale and next was to be the new season premiere, but then you find out the show was canceled? That's what we talk about next in our journey of season finales with  Oh What? Damn you network!  

  Tune in next time when we shut down the blog and reminiscence about our episodes.  

Also on the Blog: 

   You know this thing that's been happening where they make continuation series of a series that ended like years before ?  (Fuller House, Raven's Home, Girl Meets World, etc..)  Beaver had that in the 80's I've written about that before.  HERE

A Look at Craig of the Creek

CARTOON NETWORK 


           This is kind of our first look at a Cartoon Network series, something we really don't do much so, this is a moment in Joshuaonline history.  The series we are looking at is called "Craig of the Creek" it premiered just in March of this year.

   As an example I will be using the first episode as our reviewing episode so that if it sounds interesting there's room to check out the other episodes. Join us.

       The episode starts with Craig doing some drawing in the kitchen when his older brother , Bernard, tells him to move because he has some English work to do.  So Craig moves to the living room but then gets booted out because his sister Jessica wants to watch CNBC. (Not literally but you know one of those stock market things)  He travels to the room where his father is exercising and that gets ruined because of the air from the bike.

Draw! Copyright Tuner 

      Craig then goes to the creek part of the show's title. There are his two friends Kelsey and J.P. Craig is working on an atlas of the known parts of the creek where legendary kids have been .  (ooh an Atlas)   There's an area that's filled with poison ivy. (I'm itchy thinking about it)  The three of them decide to go there wearing protective clothing pass through it to be come 'legends'. (or die trying.) They notice a rustling the poison ivy something is there.  J.P's suit gets a tear in it and they have lost their calamine lotion and there's something in the poison ivy still rustling.  They try to evade  it   but they've run out of trees.  Craig decides to run into the poison ivy to get help and risking his own not itchiness. He jumps down but then bounces back on the tree (because he is a witch, what? don't look at me like that.)  and he suggests they gotta jump that they found a trampoline under the ivy.  All 3 of them jump up and down then a kid wearing just shorts comes out of the ivy in mysterious fashion.

Copyright Turner 

       He was the one following them, he's called "The Scatch less one" . (That's the name of my band) Unlike most people he's immune to poison ivy.  He explains that didn't have anywhere else to go and has six brothers and sisters at home so this was the one place he couldn't be bothered. Craig decides not to be legendary and puts on the map a warning to keep out. (awww)

copyright Turner 

   That's the first episode.   more after the jump

A Garfield Lookback: Garfield's Babes and Bullets

The Flashback  Garfield 


         We did the Garfield related holiday specials as Lookbacks but much like "Peanuts" , "Garfield" did branch out into  TV specials. So we are starting another sub-series for a look at "Garfield" specials.   (Yay)  Much like the Peanuts specials reviews we aren't going in order of appearance we are going  just kind of in a flow.  Let's start with "Garfield's Babes and Bullets" (What?)

           This special came out in 1989 on  guess what network?  Yeah CBS. (The Charlie Brown Specials network , but we also have Garfield too)  On May 23rd to be exact.  Voice casting is as expected  with Lorenzo Music as the voice of Garfield, there's also Law Rawls singing.  Directed by Phil Roman like most of the specials.  It won an Primetime Emmy for Oustanding Animated program (One Hour or Less) in 1989.   Let's begin.

            Garfield is bored. So  of course he finds a trench coach and fedora  and ends up in a noir movie. (Just like real life)  The special turns black and white (saves on the coloring budget)  and Garfield plays  a private investigator  named Sam Spayed (Really? Double Checks. Oh oh my) who like classic noir movies,  narrates.  Of course since this a private detective  special a woman has to appear asking for for our hero's help. (They did another spayed joke too)  The woman says her husband was murdered and needs Sam's help.  (We are going with Garfield's character name here) The woman's name is Tanya O'Tabby.

Hey! She's not a tabby. /Copyright Garfield 

      Even the intro of the special is in black and white and Low Rawls sings the theme because of course.  Sam decides to take the case and look for who murdered Tanya's 23 year old college professor husband.  So Sam decides to go the morgue to look at Mr. O'Tabby's body.  I love the morgue guy ,Burt Fleebish, he's kind of  off but seems to enjoy his job.    Sam drives to the scene of the crime and runs into Tanya  who says that she's trying to figure out a clue of why her husband was there in the first place. They have coffee together and I think Sam has a thing for her.

Burt Feebish a Man of the town. 

     A big guy beats up Sam because you can't have a private detective thing without them being beaten up right ,Richard Diamond?   Sam goes to the college to ask another professor some questions.  This special mentions the world coffee alot.

Coffee so hot it seems from the side. 

        Sam starts to put together the clues  and we get an Odie appearance (first time this special) and he figures out who the murderer is , I won't reveal it so not spoil it , in case you want to see the special yourself.    Tanya shows up at the agency and they talk but their love will never be. (Saddest part of the special) Garfield tells his secretary , Kitty, how he figured out the case .  Also I think Kitty has a thing for Garfield. (So Happy  ending after all)

       My Review: First oh the jokes, they kept going in this special I didn't write them because that's would be a lot  and again watch the special to see the fun.  Yes Sam Spayed. They did about 3 of those jokes based off his name. It is funny the used the Sam Spade character name with their own twist.  The special did a good job of using the standard things you see in old detective movies having some twists on them and really being as fun as they could be with them.  I really had fun watching it.  The music fits very well , where they went with retro styled music then the background music really fit the mood.    You can also try and piece the clues together yourself and figure out who did the murder.    I can see why it won an Emmy in 1989 beating another Garfield special.   If you like noir films , noir parodys, or both this is your special, and if you like Garfield it's a bonus.  Well timed, well paced, funny, affectionate to what's parodying , has some good twists with it's parody, great animation, and wonderful music and acting give it try.

   That's our look back , tune in next time (as we put on our fedora and trench coat) after we solve this case.   

The Loud House: Season 2: Change of Heart /Making The Grade

Nickelodeon 

       We've done  a couple season 1 episodes halves of the Loud House  (which you can read here) so, It's time to do a couple season 2 episodes halves.  First there is a  rule that I didn't do in the first one for a good reason.   Since , season 2 has a few specials ( 2 holiday episodes and an hour long episode)  those wouldn't be counted for this. We'll maybe touch on the holiday specials around their respective holidays. 

     Like the last  TLH post we did it randomly in our episode picks so no bias in my picks  and makes it fun to go at  it raw.

         This is funny, the way the randomizer did it , this episode airs after the the other episode we are going to talk about.   This episode is the first half of episode 44 in the series over all. It aired on July 26th 2017.  Part of week of new episodes.

   
    Background of  the series and specifically the character Clyde.  Clyde has a thing for Lincoln's older sister Lori, he even the does the anime nose bleed thing around her. (gross) This episode starts with Clyde nose bleeding on Lori's shoes. (again ,gross)  It gives us a montage of Clyde doing that or the other thing he does where he's a robot and "system overloads" and still messes up her shoes with food. Lori , of course, is annoyed by this.  Clyde says he wants to act normal when  he's around Lori.


   Lincoln decides to get Leni, the 2nd oldest sister, to help with this situation. Lori sees Clyde and Leni hanging out with each other and she thinks that he's falling for  Leni. (I wonder what will happen) Lori's assumption makes her happy that maybe he's not interested in her anymore.   Lori then remembers the nice things Clyde did for her over time and this make her want to Clyde back. (what?)  Clyde  doing Leni's tips makes Lori think that he's not interested in her anymore.  Lori then over hears Clyde complementing Leni. (Who happens to be dressed like Lori at the time)

Clyde seems like he won the lottery but worried about the taxes

     Lori then decides to dress up to Leni. (If this was a different show  this would get dark)  Then she realizes  she doesn't need to do this  (very quickly too)  as Clyde comes over to try out the things he learned on Lori. Lori tells him that he's a special guy , but he nose bleeds on her shoes and passes out.  Lincoln explains the things she misheard and saw, then Clyde wakes up sees Lori and Leni (still dressed up like Lori) does his system overload thing and his nose bleed and leaves the house.

 more after the jump

The Loud House : Season 1 : Along Came a Sister/ Butterfly Effect

Nickelodeon 

      If you remember my "Arthur" lookbacks for the 20th anniversary, you know the structure of those where by random use I took an episode half from two seasons and did a look at them. Well we are doing the same here , but with a little difference. Since "The Loud House" hasn' t been on the air for 20 years (as of this writing) and only has so far 3 seasons (third just started in January)  we are going to look at two episodes from one season, in this case season 1.   So again this are random picks that  I used site to pick for me.  I had no say in which episodes would make it to this lucky lottery.

     Wait , what is the Loud House?
 
            The Loud House is an animated series about a family called the Louds  (they live in a house) they are an interesting family because the middle child. Lincoln is the only boy out of  11 kids. (Steady show) Episodes are about the characters and what ever antics bring them in a day.  This is the simplest description but the one that makes the most sense.

       For reference the sisters' names are in order of age  : Lori, Leni, Luan, Lynn Jr. (Lincoln goes between these two)  Lucy, Lana, Lola (Lana and Lola are twins) , Lisa, and Lilly.


     Season 1 premiered in 2016 on Nickelodeon it has 26 episodes (or 52 half episodes / 11 minutes )  All the episodes ran in 2016.

    Along Came a Sister   first aired on May 4th 2016 as part of a week of premieres when the show first started.   So let's take a look at the episode.   (finally , after all your yapping up there)

 

          The episode starts with Lincoln getting to watch the class spider for the weekend, he really wanted to watch it.  Lincoln takes Frank , the spider, home  and Clyde , Lincoln's best friend,  tells him that Leni , the second oldest sister, would be terrified of the spider.  Lincoln likes plans (he's the plan man) and sneaks into the house with Frank easily. He makes it to his room but we need something to happen let's see.... oh hey Lana.  Lana comes into the room to borrow something and she sees the spider and she's excited by it ,Lola and Lisa also get enamored  by our eight legged friend. (he's our friend? I don't know him)   The other sisters that aren't Leni finally all crowd in impressed by the spider repeatedly asking if Leni has seen it.   

Hey! You are breaking like 30 fire codes! / Copyright Viacom 

      Leni doesn't see it because the others did a good job at blocking the cage (container).  Frank gets out of the cage (they called it cage, leave me alone)  and so the mission is to find ole Frank before Leni does.  After trying to evade the non Leni sisters  they eventually figure out why he's acting weird after he tells them.  They join in the mission to find Frank. 

needed picture of the spider 

No they aren't disappointed by her smoothie./Copyright Viacom 

      Frank falls into Leni's cup and now she reacts to what their worries were by screaming then spraying bug spray. Poor Ole Frank is  dead.  (cries)  So the Loud siblings that aren't Leni  have a funeral. Leni overhears Lincoln defending her in the death of the spider.  Cliff the cat  coughs up a hairball that looks like the dead Frank, and they add 2+2 and well that's not Frank.  (Frank lives!)  Their father is heard screaming because spider. (He has a fear of them too)   He calls  the world's fastest exterminator ever. (Like one that is just to eager to kill) 

He seems a little too into his job/copyright Viacom

      The Louds find ways to stop exterminator while, Lincoln goes and looks for Frank.  When it looks like it's all over, there's a savior! Leni!  Leni saves Frank from the death and the kill happy exterminator leaves.  Lisa (the smartest sister)  then remarks it's strange that a girl spider is named Frank , Lincoln is surprised by that. (Hey Frank is a great girl name,)  Also Frank is pregnant.  Episode ends with Frank's babies scaring Leni. 

more after the jump 

Those PSA Episodes: Gone Wrong : Hey Kids , There are too many of you, so stop it!

PSA 
 
         You know some shows  were made to be your PSA show , like the whole show.  So that brings us to something that has been talked about by other people before, but hey we are talking about it.

                Our Show : Captain Planet
             What are they trying to tell the audience: There's too many People on Earth in 1991.


    Also fun fact : Captain Planet has two episodes about Population control! (why did we put an exclamation mark there?)

    We are looking at season 1 episode called  "Population Bomb"

          The episode starts with the Planeteers  or Kwame to me exact complaining that a city is crowded. (Which is like complaining that water is wet.)  Now a building is collapsing and they combine their powers to call Captain Planet.   He makes bad puns  and sticks the broken building piece back in.   So they have a theory on what caused this building to start breaking, there are too many people. (Forget building codes not being followed or not being checked, there are too many people instead.) The spirit of the Earth also hammers in that yes there too many people on Earth.  Linka says that everyone should have fewer children.  Gi, says that some countries "recommend" having no more than  two children.   Yes , recommend. (That's a weird way to spell force)  Wheeler says  no one can tell him how many children he can have!  ( Because of course )

   In fact, I'll start fight now! (Copyright Time Warner) 

            There was strange  awkward pause too.  Wheeler is now wind surfing and Gi tells him to watch out for a storm  and he goes eh I do what I want to do.  The storm gets bad and he ends up getting pushed into Island and gets hit in the head with his  wind board.( Guess that's the term) He says  a city and the Island is filled with rat people , who are rat sized.  They knock him out and his magic ring doesn't work because plot needs it not to work.   He meets a doctor named Piebald who stop the machine that was going to make Wheeler in to rat people chow.   Oh sorry they are mice-people, why are they mice because of  Nuclear stuff. The island is called  Miceland. (less decpetive than Greenland)    Back to our PSA message part of the show. Doctor Piebald tells him that they were simple happy folks and the island was full of food  then the mice reproduced like ummm mice.


        Apparently, the mice people built cities and cars  and things got worse and all the non mice animals were eaten or drove unto the sea. (What?)  They also tried to fish in the sea while also dumping their garbage in the sea.  The mice people keep reproducing anyway.  He once tried to tell the people that they can't keep having babies. ( Woah)  The mouse government didn't like this so he was taken away  and forced to work where  he is now not seeing his wife and child.

Stop having children! Vote for me! / Copyright Time Warner

      The mouse general finds out that there are other humans out there. Skipping unnecessary stuff.   The mouse general takes a giant net and captures  Linka and Kwame.  How do the mice have a a human sized net?  (Nobody knows)  They want the humans  to feed the mice people.  The doctor frees Wheeler.   Who does what can be done, grabs one of the army mice and threatens him.  (I am giant human, fear me!)  Again though, couldn't he just step on the mice army.   The other two are woken up  in their new spot.  Here's something , they wanted the humans for food I thought, then  why are they saying slaves?  The mice are confused, don't they need food and the humans could be ground up as food , so why make them slaves, instead of just chopping them up and getting on with grabbing more humans?   When one of the mice introduces Wheeler to their people he does mention that this would be their door to food, land, and slaves. I guess that answers none of questions.

Out of context shot/ copyright Time Warner

     The reason why Wheeler doesn't go crazy and just step on the mice all Godzilla style?  Well that's because he's trying to help Piebald.  The mice plan is to take over the Island the planeteers have.  Wheeler decides to just take Piebald run off with him while the people go crazy and riot.    Wheeler finds Piebald's wife and kid and leaves him there with them, then goes all King Kong on buildings.  Skipping stuff again.  Wheeler's ring works again  because plot and he saves  Kwame and Linka, and they unite their powers for Captain Planet. (lazy)

         C.P takes out the  mice army very easily. (duh)  More bad puns.  Wheeler gets shot by a giant beam and this causes an earthquake, and Wheeler goes to save Piebald and his family. Piebald says to Wheeler don't let this happen to you (don't let the government cause an earthquake and wipe out it's own people in the quest for hairless creatures?) don't let there more people than their world can hold.  Oh what?  This was a dream? That renders the whole episode moot.

    So episodes end with this Planeteer alert PSA thing, and it asks do you know there 5 Billion people on Earth. (hmm so this episode is a little old.)  I could count that against this episode, but that's unfair. Their message to their audience is when you have  a family : keep it small.

         Ummm, hey 8 year olds watching our show, yeah you!  There's too many people so don't have alot of children.
                 Jimmy about 25 years later: Sorry honey, but we can't have a third child.
                 Jimmy's wife: Why not?
                 Jimmy:  Because of something I saw 25 years ago.

   Let's rewind to  that part where Gi says the 2 child "recommendation" that some governments have. 
             3rd child watching the show starts crying.
             Parents walk in the room: What's wrong?
             3rd child : I'm a drain on society, I'm talking all the resources.
            Parents:  Who told you that?
            3rd :    Captain Planet.
            Parents:  Curse you Ted Turner! (Wave fists in their air  in anger)

 Alright , Jan, Peter, Marcia, and Bobby , you are cut from the bunch, can only have 2 children. 

Eight is too dang much... 

           My silly point is that this is a children's show  where children are the target audience so woah you are making this kind of awkward.    Now  this show had different information on things than we do now , so I am not going to fault it for being worried about there being more people before even more people appeared on Earth.   That'd be like attacking a show from 1955 for not  thinking people will get to be on the moon.   Again, back to that recommendation line  that was a stupid thing to say episode and you should be ashamed of that.  One country (you know)  used to have a policy where they told people are only allowed one child (which I am glad that  they didn't say 1 child , that would make more the children watching feel bad. ) and their birth rate already was falling so  when you have more older people and less younger people  umm oops.  And these "recommendations" weren't done because they cared about the Earth.

         Did it do it's PSA message clearly?  Sigh* Yes, it gave it's message  clearly with some entertainment value  trying to hammer in  it's message that there are too many people on Earth and this causes a fight for resources.  Either that, or this episode actually worked and we are living in the world post this episode that had an affect.
 
           Was it a good PSA?  No,  like anything it has to know it's audience and the audience of this show was primarily children  and it's not even the whole telling children not have so many children when they grow up thing, it's more a hey if you are in a big family or a family with more than 2 kids, you are hurting the Earth and are bad people.  Again, possibly unintentional but they should have thought that over a little.   Factually, families in the western/developed  countries have less kids than those who aren't so the message kind of loses it there.  Between 1960 to now, the average amount of kids an American family would have is three.  Yes some have more, some have enough for TLC and UP network reality series, but they aren't the average. (If it was TLC would have had a show with that strange family with only 4 kids) (Joke: Why is Ted Turner telling people to have less kids, wouldn't he want people to have more so they can grow up watching Ted Turner's TV channels, with more watching TNT than ever before?)

      Strangely,  of the two episodes in this series about over population, (what the?)  this one is the better of the two. That's a strange statement to say.

       
     
 

     

The Lookback: Those Freaky McGuires

The Flashback Disney 

     Since it's Friday the 13th (unless you aren't reading this on Friday the 13th , that's fine too.)  so the last one we looked at 1995 Disney TV movie remake of "Freaky Friday" you can read that here. So I think Disney really loves the idea of body swaps more than anyone else , even their TV series got into the fun , this time I head to one example from the great Disney Chanel Original series , "Lizzie McGuire"

      Silly personal story time : I remember when Disney Channel was first running these episodes they had a vote thing where you could vote for which Lizzie McGuire episode you wanted to air new first, and I was really hoping that one would.

            This episode is called "Those Freaky McGuires" get it?   It aired on TV on June 28th 2002 and was part of this series season 2.
 
    So the episode starts with Lizzie looking at shirt and seeing that it has her animated thoughts says it has last week's pizza stain.  Then she notices a lot of her shirts are messy and she blames her brother Matt and they squabble. (Which was kind of normal for this series)   In  a body swap movie or episode you have to set up the characters before they swap. Since this is a series that hopefully you've been watching  for sometime (they hope) that you should know the characters' personalities so that when the swap happens the fun comes from trying to see the characters try to be the other person.   Anyway, they swap bodies. (Also Lizzie's cartoon thought thing will be with her in Matt's body , so sadly no animated Matt.)

Ghost Swap/ Copyright Disney 

     After the theme song they are still screaming  in the surprise of being switched.   They try to figure how they switch back but we  have 20 minutes to go so no switch back.  Matt and Lizzie do the next best step : try to fake sick. (That doesn't even work)    They decide not to tell their parents because who believe them?

    Since this is a sitcom , the comedy comes from seeing two characters we know having to act like each other.  So Seeing 'Lizzie' be goofy  and 'Matt' being serious is fun. So Matt (we are going to call the characters by who they switched with so scenes with the Lizzie body we'll call Matt for now ,and vice-versa)  goes to school and Lizzie's friends Miranda and Gordo are surprised to see how she is dressed. Lizzie is dressed way out of normal for Matt and his friends tell that he put soap bubbles in the fountain. (Matt is  known as prankster.) Lizzie is surprised and knows that Matt didn't do it.

I dress the same way?  / Copyright Disney 

       Matt apparently gets along very well with Lizzie's crush , Ethan Kraft, and it's working out.  When Kate , the mean girl, confronts Matt  instead of  acting like Lizzie would  he knows how to handle her. Kate does get back but she doesn't know she's messing with Matt.  Meanwhile , Lizzie is upset she gets detention.  She tells Matt's friends Lanny and Melina  that she and Matt have switched bodies and those two believe it.

I believe it! /Copyright Disney 

     Matt warns Kate that's he's going to get back at her and does with a prank.   So Lizzie investigates who put the soap in the fountain.    Kate is upset that she's covered in chili. No one believes  her that Lizzie could have done that.  Back to the soap foot prints and apparently a boy named Clark Benson put soap in the fountain because he a grudge that Matt kept sneezing in his pudding. (gross)  Lizzie makes a promise that Matt won't ever do it again. 

So How was your day?/ Copyright Disney 

      School's over.  Matt tells Lizzie that she should be  more vicious with Kate. Lizzie tells  Matt that he has to stop sneezing in Clark's pudding.  Then it's sleep time they have a hard time resting but then guess what?  They switch back!   They do this thing were they won't ever acknowledge this happened.

      This episode didn't have the characters learn too much it's more a fun episode of what would happen if they switched bodies.  It does bring nice moments of Lizzie caring about her brother even though they fight they care about each other.  The good thing about having contrasting characters swap  bodies is that it's funny to see the characters not being their normal selves.  So Lizzie who is normally nervous around Ethan and Kate being more confident and Matt who's out going and the prankster being more reserved  is a fun touch.

   Tune in next time when we believe we have  a picture prefect plan.