Episode 102: I Don’t Do Well In Parent Teacher Conferences

Cast:
Brendon Small – Brendon Small
Jason Penopolis – H. Jon Benjamin
Melissa Robbins – Melissa Bardin Galsky
Coach Jon McGuirk – H. Jon Benjamin
Paula Small – Paula Poundstone
Josie Small – Loren Bouchard
Ronald Lynch – Mr. Lynch
Babysitter – Sam Brown
Dwayne – Brendon Small

Synopsis: After a less than great class presentation by Brendon, Paula is forced to have a Parent-Teacher conference. Meanwhile, Brendon makes a movie about a man who becomes a monster whenever he has to speak in public.

History:
· This episode is one of “The UPN 5”. Therefore, it has Paula Poundstone as Paula and is 100% retroscripted.
· This is the first episode to feature Brendon’s teacher, Ronald Lynch.

Lawn Gnomes:
· Apparently, lawn gnomes don’t appear until 103 – The Art of the Sucker Punch.

Brendon’s Filmography:
· “The Public Speaking Monster”: He’s a regular man…except when he has to speak in public. Then he becomes…A MONSTER!

The Movie-Episode Connection:
· Well, this one should be pretty obvious. In real life, Brendon is horrible at making speeches/public speaking, so he makes a movie in which he becomes a monster whenever that happens.

Song Lyrics:
· “Monster Movie Jam” Guitar Jam by Dwayne

Random Observations & Facts:
· This is the first episode with Dwayne, and the first episode to have Perry with his normal hair.
· This is the longest episode name of any Home Movies episode.
· Loni can be seen in this episode. Loni is the main focus of 105 – We’ll Always Have Tuesday. Also, Fink is quickly shown. He has about one line in 209 – Class Trip.
· The word “Jesus” is bleeped from this episode.
Paula: Brendon, Mr. Lynch called.
Brendon: Oh, je-
If you listen, you can tell it was edited out.
· Telekinesis is the moving of objects from one place to another without touching. It also refers to the bending of objects with the mind (i.e. spoons). Here's a link to some stuff about telekinesis
· This is the first episode to show the rivalry between McGuirk and Lynch.
· For some reason, the bumper from when this episode was shown on UPN was saved and is now shown on Cartoon Network. It features Josie on her swinging thing. Aww….
· The episode has a little thing at the end. Josie has a remote control, clicks it, and the screen turns off.

Movie & Other References:
· Jason makes a reference to filmmaker Martin Scorcese with shooting out of sequence. I’m not sure if this is a specific film reference. If you know, please e-mail me.

End Credits: “Season One Theme”

Reviews: WARNING: Spoilers

StrangerAtaru: I missed most of this, partially because it is not one of my favorites of the early episodes. My guess is that the whole Jason gross-out stuff (as well as similar jokes in the UPN episodes) were inspired partially in trying to make this a more intelligent version of "South Park", with wit and sick stuff. (which was sort of in when this show premiered) And there are other parts that were pointless as well (the babysitter). But luckily the intro to Mr. Lynch and Brendan's speech save the episode.

DrWeird: This was a Great episode that was brought down by several problems.

First off, Paula was just too different in this episode. When you look at Poundstone as Paula and Ditullo as Paula, you can see they are taking the character in two different directions. Since I've seen Ditullo's version so much, the Poundstone version just comes off as weird. However, Paula had a couple of good lines at the conference (OCD). Also, Jason once again was a grossout character in this episode. He had a really funny role as the monster in the movie, but then they had the eczema discussion, which was bad grossout humor. Also, the babysitter character was unneccessary and sort of broke the pace of the episode.

However, looking beyond that you have an excellent episode. Brendon's lack of effort and focus in his report was well-done, as was Melissa's attempt to "help him" (take my speech!). The ending video with Brendon talking to himself was the best bit of the episode. Even though McGuirk really had no plot in this episode, his scenes with Lynch in the Teacher's Lounge were great. Lynch was funny as well, in both his Brendon scenes and his McGuirk scenes. The monster movie was excellent. The movies in this show are supposed to: A) Be funny in and of themselves and B) Make a connection to what is currently happening in Brendon's life. The movie did both of that (it wasn't very subtle, but still).

Rating: B+

Positives: Monster Movie, Brendon's Final Speech, McGuirk vs. Lynch, Melissa's "Take My Speech"
Negatives: Paula, Babysitter, "Cradle Tap"