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The following is a list of tropes applying to characters from the 1995-2000 NBC series Hang Time.

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    Characters appearing in all seasons 

Julie Connor (Daniella Deutscher)

  • The Ace: Shares her excellence at anything basketball-related with Michael Manning starting in season three.
  • Action Girl: She shows a lot of physical strength and agility on the court. She also punched out a guy for knocking out Josh in "Fake ID-ology".
  • Acquired Situational Narcissism: She has a cocky phase after receiving attention for being the first girl on Deering's boy's basketball team in the season one episode "Full Court Press".
  • Afraid of Doctors: In "Superman Brodis," Julie reveals that she hates going to dentists, stating that when "you want to go for a simple cleaning, they find a jillion cavities and some early sign of gum rot". As Amy tells Josh, after she took Julie to see her dentist about a toothache, he found three cavities and an abcess in Julie's mouth and informed her that she needs a root canal... on the bright side, he noted that Julie's teeth were pearly white.
  • Birthday Hater: Julie reveals in "War of the Roses" that she has some mental scars from her 8th birthday, in which she passed out and hit her head when everyone surprised her with a party and ended up inadvertently getting a tonsillectomy after being rushed to the hospital. When the gang throws her a surprise party for later in the episode, Julie walks in and gets creamed by a cake that Mary Beth meant to throw at Vince.
  • Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: The blonde to Mary Beth's brunette, and Sam and later Kristy's redhead.
  • Closer to Earth: Compared to most of the other characters after season one, she is less prone to getting into poorly-conceived plans or viewing things overly dramatically.
  • Cute Bruiser: Julie is very athletic and can defend the ball like it's nobody's business. This serves as a plot point in season six's "The Enforcer," in which she causes a player on a rival team to get injured while slapping the ball away from him in mid-air, and becomes filled with guilt over it that it causes problems with her defense. In "Fake ID-ology," she even punches out a guy who hit Josh during a Curb-Stomp Battle, and is the only one of her friends to get involved in the fight not to get their butt kicked – unlike the guys.
  • The Determinator: She showed she was good enough to get Coach Fuller to let her try out for the boy's team in the pilot. In "A Whole New Ballgame," Julie becomes determined to get it across to Coach Katowinski that he shouldn't treat her differently because she's a girl.
  • Dude Magnet: Julie has had a fair share of love interests in the series, three of whom (Chris, Josh and Michael) were main characters along with a fourth who briefly had a crush on her (Danny, although this ended when he realized Sam liked him).
  • Establishing Character Moment: Julie meets Danny after she picks up one of his schoolbooks whilst he is tying his shoes.
  • Green-Eyed Monster: Becomes jealous of Josh's co-worker Nicole in the aptly titled "Green-Eyed Julie". She even participated in his interviewing process out of concern that he'd hire an attractive girl who'd steal him away. Justified somewhat in that her last boyfriend, Chris, cheated on her.
  • The Leader: As the longest-lasting cast member, The Ace at basketball and someone Closer to Earth, Julie gets a lot of deference from her teammates.
  • New Transfer Student: Julie transferred to Deering after moving from Chicago in the pilot episode, so she's not any newer to the audience than the rest of the characters. Mary Beth considered Julie to be a threat in a few first season episodes, to her popularity and for the affections of original boyfriend Chris Atwater, before evolving into her friend.
  • Not So Above It All: She's usually somewhat more reserved and reasonable than the guys on the team, but Julie can lose it when something specifically bothers her and she's not above being a goofball like the guys.
  • Official Couple + Relationship Upgrade: With Chris during late season one, with Josh during season two, and with Michael from late season three to mid-season four and early season five to season six (their relationship ends later in season four but restarts in season five's "Beer Pressure").
  • One of the Guys: Julie gets along well with her male teammates, however "Just One of the Guys" touches upon her issues with being considered this.
  • Opposites Attract: With Chris in season one, which is also the reason why he and Mary Beth breakup in "Let's Get Ready to Rumble". With Vince in seasons two and three.
  • Tomboy and Girly Girl: Tomboy to Mary Beth's (and later Amy's) Girly Girl and Kristy's Other.
  • Tomboyish Ponytail: Subverted. While it's inferred that she may be a tomboy, Julie is seen wearing her hair down quite often, and primarily just wears the ponytail during games.
  • Town Girls: The Butch to Kristy's Neither and Mary Beth's Femme.
  • Two First Names
  • Verbal Tic: Julie develops a Speech Impediment when nervous in "Fake ID-ology" and "Son-in-Law".
    Julie (in a scene from "Fake ID-ology"): "I'm so nervous, I could barely spleak.. uh, schpeak... talk!"
  • You Go, Girl!: She was pretty determined to show that she can handle herself on the court as much as the boys.
  • You Know I'm Black, Right?: The focus of the season two episode "Just One of the Guys". As much as Julie tried to prove she can be just as good a player as the guys can when she first joined the Tornados, Julie becomes self-conscious when Mary Beth and Amy break to her that she needs to act more feminine. Her attempts to impress Josh by acting more like a girly girl (as part of an Unnecessary Makeover, complete with a midriff-barring top) fail. She then decides to quit the team, out of concern that Josh won't notice her until a talk with Olympic track-and-field legend Florence Griffith-Joyner (arranged by Coach Fuller) sets her straight that she can be an athlete and still be a woman.

Mary Beth Pepperton (Megan Parlen)

  • Action Girl: If the self-defense class scene in "Assault and Pepper Spray" is any indication, she probably the most capable fighter in the series. Hell, she was prepared to smash a guitar over a guy who tried to sexually assault her in "Secrets and Lies".
  • Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: The brunette to Julie's blonde and Kristy's redhead.
  • Characterization Marches On: The first season shows Mary Beth as more of a Lovable Alpha Bitch. As time goes on, what few negative traits we see in her begin to die off and starting in season two, she evolves into more of the semi-competent goofball that she is for the rest of the series (although she still had a few serious plotlines); it's easy to pinpoint exactly when she started to fully evolve into the latter, the season two finale "The Best Game of the Season".
  • Cute Sports Club Manager: Is assigned as the Tornados' team manager in season two.
  • Daddy's Girl: Mary Beth was implied to be this in season one. However, the following season's "Son-in-Law" states that Mary Beth rarely gets attention from her father because he's so busy with his job, which is what leads to the situtation in the below trope.
  • Dating What Daddy Hates: Vince makes a bad first impression on Mary Beth's father in "Son-in-Law," by accidentally running over his foot and destroying a model of a planned wing of the mall. To get her dad's attention, she pretends Vince is her boyfriend; Vince finds out he's being used and dresses like a punk at a fancy restaurant in front of her and her parents, and acts boorish to teach her a lesson. Mary Beth and her dad come to an understanding and try to build their relationship, then she apologizes to Vince, which also begins their relationship.. a real one.
  • Dude Magnet: Mary Beth comes close behind to Julie in regards to this; she's dated three main characters (Chris, Vince and Hammer), however there have also been guys who were attracted to her who were less than savory (two of them – Tom in "Sexual Harrassment" and Brett in "Secrets and Lies" – were slimeballs, and one – Todd in "Fuller's Camp" – was a pre-teen).
  • Establishing Character Moment: Mary Beth walks in with Chris and goes to give Sam the sweater she wanted to loan, and then tells Chris she has to do three extracurricular activities that evening.
  • Extracurricular Enthusiast: Maybe not an enthusiast, but she does juggle many of them in "Restless Mary Beth" in order to improve her chances of getting into California University. She also states she's going to do the same thing in the pilot, hoping to be rewarded with a new Porsche from her father.
  • Girly Bruiser: Mary Beth is very much feminine, but a mugger would be wise to stay away from her as she can kick serious butt, as shown in a scene in "Assault and Pepper Spray" illustrates. In it, she, Kristy and Julie attend a self-defense class after Kristy gets mugged; when Kristy fails to disarm the class' defense dummy, sumo suit-clad Silk, during a lesson on what to do when one gets attacked by a mugger, Mary Beth steps in and proceeds to wallop him.
  • Good Is Not Nice: She truly is a well-intentioned person. Her occasional selfishness, ignorance and materialism, though.. well, that became less of an issue as time went on.
  • Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Kristy.
  • I'll Kill You!: Said after an "I love you" to Vince in "Twister," upon him telling her the whereabouts of a valuable coin of Coach Fuller's, only to find out he put it in the camp's soda machine.
  • Improbable Age: The show's Comic-Book Time timeline (coupled with the season five episode split into two separate seasons) inevitably puts into question how Mary Beth stayed on the show after season three. The season three episode "Mary Beth's Parents" features a throwaway line during a talk with Vince about her parents' divorce in which she confirms that she is 17-years-old (implying she would have been 15-16 when the show started). However, she remains a student at Deering High during seasons four, five and six without any explanation, considering the character would have been around 19-20 during season 5.1 and 5.2 (i.e., season six).
  • Lovable Alpha Bitch: Subverted. While she's popular, and the first couple of episodes and a couple of later ones definitely portray minor Alpha Bitch traits, later episodes show quite a few sides of Mary Beth that an Alpha Bitch would not possess, including the fact that she is never particularly mean to any of the characters (other than ribbing Kristy about her clothes and at least once, her thick curly hair). The most telling of which is the fairly broad mix of people in her circle of friends, which includes some (such as Danny, Sam, Teddy and Vince) that would otherwise fall somewhere in the middle of the high school popularity chain. Not to mention that elements of the plucky comic relief she would be in later seasons are visible early on, but whatever negative traits there were gradually eroded.
  • The Matchmaker: She and Vince help Michael and Julie get together in "Midnight Basketball". Mary Beth tries to be one for Kristy and Hammer in "Love Triangle," but she ends up involved with him instead.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Among other things, she's destroyed the gym scoreboard after washing it with soap and water as well as a skeleton used by Kristy's doctor grandfather; spilled Yoo-Hoo on Coach Katowinski's computer and blew up his hard drive; accidentally dropped an Alka Seltzer in his fish tank, causing Katowinski's fish to explode; and punched a hole in Katowinski's office with his NBA coach of the year trophy while startled. Whatever screw-up she does make, if correctable, Mary Beth will try very hard to fix.
  • Official Couple: With Chris during the first half of season one.
    • Beta Couple: With Vince in seasons two and three, and with Hammer in season four.
  • Opposites Attract: With Vince. Played with in regards to Chris in "Let's Get Ready to Rumble".
  • Plucky Comic Relief: Evolves into this during season two. However, she has had a handful of serious storylines as well.
  • Relationship Upgrade: Mary Beth's treatment of Vince softened over the course of season two; compare "War of the Roses," when they ended up in an Escalating War over her decision to paint the locker room pink to "Son-in-Law," when she came to regret using him to get her dad's attention and became his girlfriend at the end of the episode.
    • Hammer became Mary Beth's boyfriend in "Love Triangle," although she had intended on setting him up with Kristy.
  • Rich in Dollars, Poor in Sense
  • Those Two Girls: With Kristy, beginning with season three.
  • Town Girls: The Femme to Kristy's Neither and Julie's Butch.
  • Twitchy Eye: Mary Beth develops a really nasty one in "Midnight Basketball," saying that guilt causes it. In "Easy Credit," it happens again when she and Michael try to keep a secret that Julie is being given the "Basketball Player of the Month" award at the school dance.
  • Ultimate Job Security: The many screw-ups Mary Beth has made as team manager (especially those in "The Best Game of the Season" and the ones mentioned and the one seen in "Team Players") would have gotten her fired many times over in Real Life, but she manages to keep her job anyway.
  • Unlimited Wardrobe

    Original Season 1 characters 

Danny Mellon (Chad Gabriel)

  • Beta Couple: With Sam during the second half of season one.
  • Bewarethe Silly Ones: Danny may be a good guy jokester, but when he learns martial arts in "Fighting Words"... well, his bully in that episode, Tony, gets really scared at the end of their bout. Imagine what would have happened if Danny didn't show restraint when it looked like he was going to hit Tony. The entire scene and the speech that follows:
    Danny: "I could hit you. But what's the point: to prove that I got you this time? And, what about the next time and the time after that? No. This ends now. I got better things to do. Get out of here!"
  • Cannot Spit It Out: Danny liked Julie early in the first season. He had a hard time telling her until he told her they "should see other people" in "Will the Real Michael Maxwell Please Stand Up," when he discovered that Sam was interested in him.
  • Deadpan Snarker
  • Establishing Character Moment: Danny's daydream in the pilot in which he plays one-on-one with NBA superstar Alonzo Mourning, before tripping over a janitor's bucket.
  • The Funny Guy: Though we knew he was a witty snarker, his sense of humor serves as a plot point in "The Laugh Riot," when he and Teddy perform in a comedy festival in Aspen.
  • Green-Eyed Monster: He turns into this in season three's "Blood Drive," when Kristy becomes friendly with a handsome doctor helping out at the school blood drive. Danny "volunteers" to help during a live television interview about the drive, breaking a blood pressure cuff that he puts on Kristy's arm as part of a demonstration when he overpumps it. He makes things up to Kristy by arranging for NBA player Shareff Abdur-Rahim to appear at the drive. Also serves as a Ship Tease and Aborted Arc, as there was no mention of Danny having a romantic interest in Kristy before or beyond that episode.
  • The "I Love You" Stigma: He has trouble saying it when Sam says "I love you" to him in "Game Day," but had no problem telling Michael Maxwell that he loved his mom's tuna sandwiches, irritating Sam. Danny musters the courage to tell Sam he loves her over the play-by-play microphone during the team's season finale game.
  • Informed Judaism: When asked by Coach Fuller if he has unresolved baggage in "Son-in-Law," Danny reveals that he feels Hanukkah isn't as cool as Christmas, since he never got to sit on Santa's lap. Josh argues that Hanukkah is the cooler holiday since you get presents for eight days, instead of just one.
  • Lovable Jock
  • Love at First Sight: How Danny felt when meeting Julie for the first time.
  • Put on a Bus: After season three; Chad Gabriel lasted longer than most of his season one castmates who played the Tornados players, with the exception of Daniella Deutscher and Megan Parlen, who outlasted him on the show.
  • Romantic False Lead: A gender-flipped version in the first season, as Danny had a crush on Julie during the first few episodes. He ended up dating Sam beginning with "Will the Real Michael Maxwell Please Stand Up" and ending off-screen a few episodes into season two, in "Harvest Moon," after Sam was already written out of the show.
  • Those Two Guys: With Teddy.

Chris Atwater (David Hanson)

Michael Maxwell (Christian Belnavis)

Earl Hatfield (Robert Michael Ryan)

  • Country Mouse: Earl comes from a more rural background than his friends, and it shows in his mannerisms.
  • One Head Taller: Earl (and by association, Robert Michael Ryan) is the tallest of any of the teen charaters in the series, and is at least half a foot taller than the other season one cast members.
  • Put on a Bus: He was dropped in the season two Retool.

Sam Morgan (Hillary Tuck)

    Season 2 additions 

Theodore "Teddy" Brodis, Jr. (Anthony Anderson)

  • Acrofatic: An Anthony Anderson specialty. Anderson was much heavier in the late 1990s than he is today. Still, playing an athlete (especially, a basketball player) requires some agility, and he shows quite a bit of it; in season two's "Just One of the Guys," he manages to do a split that doesn't seem to hurt at all while cheerleading with Danny and Vince. In season three's "No Smoking," Teddy does backrolls to try and get some cigarettes he hid during a meditation session with Danny, Michael and Vince to get him to quit smoking.
  • Acquired Situational Narcissism: In "The Laugh Riot," Teddy starts to take over the act in an unintentional comedy duo with Danny, he later realizes he let it go to his head and convinces Danny to go on stage instead of him.
  • Berserk Button: God help you if you tell the lunch lady not to pay him attention to get your point across that cheerleading is a sport, or else he'll break down like a little baby when he can't get his extra meat loaf.
  • Big Eater: This comes up as a plot device in the season three episode "Twister," as he is surprised that he has no appetite just as he's about to participate in a pizza eating contest! for tickets to a rock concert, so the considerably smaller Kristy steps in for him.
  • Big Fun: Teddy's girth, friendliness and sense of fun are equally large.
  • Fat Best Friend
  • The Funny Guy: Made into a plot point in "The Laugh Riot," when he helps a stage fright-stricken Danny during a comedy festival audition.
  • Large Ham: He has his moments.
  • Like Father, Like Son: Also Like Godfather, Like Godson, Teddy is a basketball player just as his biological father Theodore Brodis, Sr. and his godfather Bill Fuller were.
  • Lovable Jock
  • Nice Guy
  • Parental Abandonment: In season two's "Superman Brodis," Teddy meets the father who left him and his mother as a little kid to pursue his basketball career. Teddy is disappointed to find that Theodore, Sr. is strict and critical, and even evokes You're Not My Father in one scene ("you may be my father, but you are not my dad!"). Theodore, Sr. later attends a free-throw competition his son is participating in to make amends and forge a relationship with Teddy, who decides to give it a shot.
  • Put Me In, Coach!!: Does this in "The Curfew," when he gets benched from the first game of the state championships, after getting caught breaking curfew to attend a fraternity party where a college girl he's interested in is attending. After following Coach Fuller's advice to look for a way to support the team instead of complaining, he decides to sub in as cheerleader just as Kristy has to leave the game after contracting laryngitis. His spirit helps raise the team's enough to rally back to a win.
  • Put on a Bus: After season three.
  • Those Two Guys: With Danny.
  • Wacky Guy

Vince D'Amata (Michael Sullivan)

  • Accidental Pervert: Vince pulled up a woman's skirt, mistaking it for part of the table he was looking under (in fairness, she was standing next to it and the table had the exact same pattern) in "The Hustlers," as he was helping the others find a wallet belonging to Mel Gibson that he lost at a Hollywood party, getting him smacked twice over the head by the woman's purse.
  • Beta Couple: With Mary Beth from mid-season two to season three.
  • Book Dumb
  • The Casanova: At least he paints himself as one in "When Loss is Gain," by asking out multiple girls for dates throughout the hallway.
  • Cloud Cuckoo Lander: He has his moments. Originally, Vince was just kind of klutzy, but is flanderized a little bit into this trope in season three. His Uncle Toomsey is implied to be one in "Kristy Connor".
  • Crazy Jealous Guy: In "Fuller's Camp," Vince becomes jealous of Todd, one of the kids at the basketball camp, who develops a crush on Mary Beth – barely taking into account the fact that he's a 12-year-old, who clearly doesn't have a legitimate shot with the teen-something Mary Beth. He ends up being challenged by Todd to a game of Horse for a date with Mary Beth, which Vince loses on a bricked hook shot.
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: In season three's "Fighting Words," Vince manages to learn how to break a board with his head when the guys take a martial arts class. He knocks himself delirious afterwards:
    Vince: "Vince? I'm not Vince. I'm Batman! (collapses on the mat)"
  • Hypocrite: In "Team Captain," Mary Beth tells Vince that she kissed another boy while at space camp over the summer. After briefly breaking up with her, Teddy tells Vince that he is in the "bonus house" and needs to milk the guilt for all its worth. Lying that he got the advice from watching an episode of Frasier, Vince tells Mary Beth that she as the "guilty party" should perform acts of kindness to the "suffering party" (himself) to help him heal. At the movie theater, as she comes back from getting him nachos, Mary Beth catches a girl he kissed over the summer kissing Vince. Later, the two decide that it's best just to be honest with one another if they're going to be in a relationship.
  • The Klutz: He's nearly injured Mary Beth while trying to dance with her in "Green-Eyed Julie," ran over Mary Beth's father's toe in "Son-in-Law" and even driven himself into the porch while trying to pull and drop a soda machine that had an expensive coin of Coach Fuller's in it (that he put in) in "Twister".
  • Lovable Jock
  • Love Interest: To Mary Beth.
  • Malaproper: This actually serves as a plot device in "War of the Roses," when Vince writes a letter to Mary Beth slamming her for painting the locker room pink... he signed it as "unanimous" instead of "anonymous." Danny actually has to translate "impulsively" to him in this way (rewording it as "impuntively") when Vince doesn't get what Coach Fuller meant when he used the correct word in "Fake ID-ology".
  • Nice Guy
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: He accidentally destroyed a building model of Mr. Pepperton's in "Son-in-Law" and bent Mary Beth's lucky golf putter while trying to kill a bee (during the middle of winter) in "Superman Brodis".
  • Opposites Attract: With Mary Beth.
  • Put on a Bus: After season three.
  • Relationship Upgrade: Mary Beth didn't like him that much early on, but she softened towards him and became his girlfriend at the end of "Son-in-Law".
  • Remember the New Guy?: Vince was introduced in the season two premiere "Winning Isn't Everything," as having been part of the Tornados during the events of season one, albeit as an alternate who spent most of his time on the bench.
  • Sibling Yin-Yang: Season three's "Not a D'Amata" centers on this, when his younger brother Nicky returns to the States, he finds out he is more cultured than he used to be... and has even started writing poems. An attempt to help Nicky get in touch with his "inner D'Amata" fails, when Nicky manages to get Teddy, Michael and Danny interested in poetry while on a camping trip. After an argument over how Nicky has changed, Vince realizes that their differences don't deter the fact that they're brothers. The both of them then end up performing a piano routine at the school dance.

Josh Sanders (Kevin Bell)

Amy Wright (Paige Peterson)

  • Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: She was never seen or mentioned again after season two.
  • Genki Girl
  • Naïve Everygirl: Amy is very peppy and helpful, but not always good at understanding how difficult some people have it.
  • Satellite Character
  • Serious Business: Amy takes cheerleading very seriously, to the point of memorizing the "Cheerleader's Oath," as shown in "The Best Game of the Season":
    Amy (to Danny): "Clause #7 of the Cheerleader's Oath clearly states that no 'rah-rah' shall be uttered prior to the occurrance of said 'rah-rah'-inducing incident. Look it up."

    Season 3 additions 

Kristy Ford (Amber Baretto)

  • All Guys Want Cheerleaders: Subverted. Kristy had a few love interests, but none were interested in her simply because she was a cheerleader.
  • The B Grade: A variation in "No Smoking" within its superstition "B" plot, Kristy gets a 66 on a biology test, acknowledging it was the first time she's ever scored below a 95. However, she later finds out that the test was so tough she had the highest score and gets an "A" anyway since her teacher grades on a curve.
  • Beta Couple: With Antonio, beginning in season four.
  • Big Eater: Despite her small size, in the season three episode "Twister," she manages to down three plates of pizza during a competitive eating contest for tickets to a rock concert, willingly stepping in for an unhungry Teddy. Needless to say, her friends are astonished, but she feels full and awful afterwards... especially after a now-hungry Teddy asks if anyone wants to split a pizza.note 
  • Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: The redhead to Julie's blonde and Mary Beth's brunette.
  • Burger Fool: Kristy works at the Corn Dog on a Pole cart at the mall in "Assault and Pepper Spray," a job complete with an ugly multi-colored uniform as Mary Beth notes (and later has to wear when she asks her to substitute after Kristy is mugged).
  • Buffy Speak:
    • When Kristy manages to shoot a basketball into a goal in "Kristy Connor," she says that she made a "pointy-thingy".
    • Done again by Kristy in "The Curfew" when she and Mary Beth are invited to be part of a team unity yell: "my first hands-in-the-middle-pile-up-and-yell thingy!"
  • Butt-Monkey: Atypical for her type, poor Kristy has been on the receiving end of some misfortunate incidents – primarily from season four on – most of which is brought on by others, including Mary Beth. Just to name a few, she ends up locked in the trunk of a car she, Mary Beth and Michael are working on for an autoshop project while repairing a radio and is temporarily deafened by the stereo after it is turned on by the car's owner who drives off in it without knowing she was stuck inside (in "High Hoops"); she sits on a cactus given to her as a peace offering by Antonio (in "Shoot Out"), who lied to her about being an English-speaking American (two episodes earlier in "Texas Rose"); gets squirted by a pen by Coach Fuller after a failed attempt to spray ink on Coach Fuller as part of her and Mary Beth's diversion to give him a "thank you" present (in "Goodnight, Vince"); writes a letter in frustration about a teacher that gets lost and informs him of it, not realizing he never read the letter (in "Let Them Play") and gets a trophy stuck on her head after Antonio twirls her during a dance (in "Shall We Dance"). Her misfortune can be traced back to the season three episode "No Smoking," when she gets beaned by a basketball (twice), is hit in the head by a canned ham and in the toe by a bowling ball after crashing into her mom (off-screen), accidentally gets squirted with ketchup by Danny and gets a 66 on a biology test (although she stops believing she's cursed when she finds out she got the highest test grade of anyone in the class).
  • Character Catchphrase: "Ooh, I could just shake my finger at [him/her]," when a character does something bad or mean.
  • Character Tics: In "Fuller's Big Offer," she explains that her skin gets puffy when nervous and she swells when she panics. The latter makes matters worse when she gets her fingers stuck in a bowling ball autographed by Dan Quayle.
  • The Cutie
  • Drives Like Crazy: Justified to an extent in "Julie's Guy," in that she hasn't even passed her driver's test yet, and her plot begins with her having failed her latest one. Teddy volunteers to teach her how to drive in the gym using a golf cart, only for Kristy to back into a cardboard cutout of a mom carrying a baby stroller. Teddy then decides to have Kristy practice on the road one night, Danny, Michael and Vince burst into the backseat and ask her to tail a car carrying Julie and Jason Redmond (a player on a rival team that Julie's on a date with), causing a harried Kristy to speed and make very hard turns; after she slams the brakes when they reach a red light, Teddy – happy that he's still alive after the debacle – passes out. She tells Teddy later on that she passed her driver's test this time around with his help.
  • Einstein Hair: Invoked during an argument between Kristy and Mary Beth in "That '60s Show," about Kristy's red curls (which were thicker at that point than in earlier episodes):
    Mary Beth: "It's too bad that brains aren't hair, 'cause if they were you'd be Albert Einstein."
    Kristy: "Are you saying I have big hair?"
    Mary Beth: "No. I'm just saying you're a toupee factory for Bozo the Clown!"
  • Expy: Arguably of Kelly Kapowski, except a redhead.
  • Fiery Redhead: Inverted, in that this side only comes out at certain times later in the series; Kristy herself is even surprised when this side comes out in "That '60s Show":
    Kristy (to Eugene): "Get your lazy, slacker butt in gear or you're gonna have two cranky chicks all up in your face! Huh, wow, where did that come from?"
    • Mary Beth even points out that Kristy's evolved into this trope later in that same scene when she decides to drench Eugene with water after he gets them detention for skipping class following a failed lottery scheme, and sticks them with having to clean the locker floor.
      Mary Beth: "You know, when you first came here, you were such a sweet girl. Now you have this total bad side. (Kristy nods in acknowledgement) Hug!"
    • The closest we see of it earlier in her run is when Julie points out that Kristy has to know how to play basketball to pretend to be her in "Kristy Connor," when Kristy curtly says "well, I will when you teach me!," eliciting a surprised look from Julie and Mary Beth before she sheepishly asks, "please?".
  • Flanderization: Kristy starts out as just the Nice Girl with traits of a Kelly Kapowki-esque all-American girl; by season four, she becomes a rare Butt-Monkey for her type of character, only in that she has a lot of moments of misfortune, during physical comedy scenes that involve Mary Beth (although the fact that she remains reasonably popular and does catch the attention of Antonio in season four saves her from being The Woobie).
  • Florence Nightingale Effect: Kristy is established partway through the third season as studying to eventually become a nurse. This serves as a plot point in the apropos titled "Kristy Nightingale," when her friends try to convince her not to quit her dream when she fails to perform proper procedure in treating Rico's bumblebee sting, not knowing that he's allergic to beestings; her friends pretend to have ailments in order to help change her mind, though she later finds out about the plan. When she treats Michael's arm after it is fractured when a tree branch falls during a storm, her worries about being a good enough nurse are alleviated.
  • Gamer Chick: Kristy in the B plot of the season three episode "Teen Mom". She becomes addicted to an arcade game at The Stadium called Klown Kombat; so much so, that she misses a cover photoshoot for a sports magazine that Julie booked for her, Kristy and Mary Beth to appear, which Julie manages to have rescheduled.
  • Gene Hunting: In "Kristy's Other Mother", Happily Adopted Kristy is given the phone number for her biological mom by her adopted mom. Julie and Mary Beth are surprised to find out that she is adopted, and try to help her through it. While in Los Angeles, she proceeds to track down her real mother, whom meets her at a restaurant, where they get along very well. Kristy turns down an offer, after much consideration, by her bio mom to move to L.A. in order for her to get to know the daughter she gave up at age 18.note 
  • Genki Girl: Kristy is an excitable, sweet person who loves laughing and can move past a lot of misfortune.
  • Happily Adopted: Established in "Kristy's Other Mother". Kristy is given the phone number for her biological mom by her adopted mom, who lives in Los Angeles (where the team is playing in a tournament), she meets her real mother at a restaurant, where they get along very well. Kristy turns down an offer, after much consideration, by her bio mom to move to L.A. in order for her to get to know the daughter she gave up at age 18. In season five's "Tolerance," it's revealed that Kristy learned she was adopted at age 10.
  • Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Mary Beth.
  • Hiccup Hijinks: In season four's "Phenom Blues," Kristy suffers a hiccup attack while competing in a pool tournament, with Coach Katowinski as a competitor. One hiccup was strong enough to cause her to launch the cue across the student union's common room. Most of Mary Beth's efforts to cure Kristy's hiccups fail, until she decides to use a scare tactic by smacking a tray on the table, but gets distracted as the coach walks in and hits Kristy in the head instead... but it cures her.
  • Hidden Depths: About the only sport Kristy doesn't stink at, "Phenom Blues" shows that she is a crack-shot pool player; this leads to Mary Beth to come up with the idea for her to compete in a pool tournament to win a bike as an end-of-the-season "thank you" present for Coach Katowinski, after his was stolen.
  • Mistaken Identity: After she is mistaken for Julie by a handsome boy named Jordan while wearing Julie's team jacket in "Kristy Connor," in order to keep up appearances, the gang teaches her how to play basketball. She gets startled when Teddy passes her the ball and deflects it with her wrist; resorts to tickling Danny as a way to "steal" the ball and then skips off with it saying "I got it! I got! I got the ball!"; loses the basketball when learning how to dribble and chucks the ball when trying to pass it. She manages to learn well enough to shoot a ball into the goal. She later confesses to the guy about who she really is, but it ends well for her (even though we don't see him again).
  • Nice Girl
  • Only Sane Woman: Played with. Kristy questions whether she is this in "A Whole New Ballgame," only for a student in a werewolf mask to ask her for directions to the drama club, she then to says to herself that she really needs to get out of Deering.
  • Quirky Curls: Although depicted as a normal girl, Kristy's only defining quirks are her nerd aspects and her tendency to get in misfortunate situations.
  • Relationship Upgrade: She meets Antonio when the Tornadoes visit San Antonio in season three, who lies to her by omission about being from Mexico. Antonio's attempts to apologize don't go over well, until Mary Beth and Julie help him hatch a plot to get her to listen by throwing him and Kristy in the elevator. By the end of their conversation, Antonio and Kristy kiss. The two become an Official Couple when Antonio moves to Deering in season four.
  • Remember the New Girl?: Kristy is introduced as head cheerleader in the season three premiere "Team Captain"; the characters got along with her as if she had been there the whole time, and there's no indication she had replaced Amy. She's the only prominent main character not to get a proper introduction in any of the season premieres.
  • The Smart Girl
  • Straight Man: Or "Straight Woman", which she's thus to Mary Beth. However, she does suffer at times from their wacky schemes.
  • Those Two Girls: With Mary Beth, beginning with season three.
  • Totally Radical: Her rare use of slang usually ends up as this, even if it is fairly contemporary. Kristy's use of phrases like "all that and a bag of chips" and "rock-and-roll, baby, yow!" come across a little awkward.
  • Town Girls: The Neither to Mary Beth's Femme and Julie's Butch.
  • The Ugly Guy's Hot Daughter: Played straight and subverted. When they appear in "Extreme Euguene," we see Kristy's father is husky and balding whereas her mother is decent looking and a somewhat closer match to Kristy looks-wise. However, "Kristy's Other Mother" establishes that Mr. and Mrs. Ford adopted her when she was a baby, and her biological mother is an equal match in appearance to Kristy, although we don't know what her biological dad looks like since he died around the time she was born.

Michael Manning (Adam Frost)

  • The Ace: Shares this with Julie Connor.
  • Alliterative Name
  • Big Man on Campus
  • Competition Freak: He gotten in trouble for this a few times. Particularly in "The First Game of the Season," when he became crazy determined to beat his old school, Lynwood High, in the team's next game that he ended up getting his teammates detention for skipping class and gets suspended from playing in the game by the episode's female Hot Vice Principal. Coach Fuller convinces the vice principal (who was also his ex-fiancee) to let Michael play and have him learn his lesson another way. After Fuller takes him out following four fouls, he scolds Michael for his behavior. With the team's help, he realizes that winning isn't as important as teamwork.
  • Distaff Counterpart: To Julie, in some ways.
  • Hot-Blooded: See Competition Freak and Trash Talk.
  • I Can't Dance: As "Blood Drive" illustrates, Michael may be a hotshot on the basketball court but he cannot dance to save his life, even with proper instruction. His dancing resembles Steve Urkel's jerky body movements pre-transformation chamber when he comes into and out of his Stefan Urquelle persona.
  • The Lancer
  • Love Interest: To Julie, though they break up sometime in season four before getting back together the next season.
  • New Transfer Student: Michael was introduced as a transfer student in season three, which becomes a plot point in "The First Game of the Season," as Deering plays against Michael's former school, Lynwood High.
  • Official Couple: With Julie from late season three to mid-season four and late season five to season six.
  • Trash Talk: Michael has insulted referees for what he perceived to be bad calls, and have gotten ejected from games because of it. This counts as Aesop Amnesia as he supposedly learned that keeping your cool is important in "Fuller's Rival," when he gets ejected (costing Deering the championship trophy in the process as they lost) after Coach Fuller's trash talking of the same referee gets him taken out of the game.

    Season 4 additions 

Rico Bosco (James Villani)

  • Book Dumb
  • Cloud Cuckoo Lander: He has a lot of moments.
  • The Ditz: He has his moments. For example in "And Then There Were Nuns," Hammer has to inform him, when he sees Antonio have Kristy try on his sister's wedding ring, that men don't sell wedding rings to their fiancees. His reaction: "now, you tell me?!"
  • Expecting Someone Taller: "The Tall and the Short of It" involves Rico dating a girl several inches taller than him (played by Bree Turner (later of [[Series/GRIMM GRIMM]] fame)).
  • Put on a Bus: Dropped after season four.

Nick Hammer (Mark Famiglietti)

  • Beta Couple: With Mary Beth during season four.
  • Hell-Bent for Leather + Good Luck Charm: Most episodes have him clad in the same leather jacket... except, obviously, during game and practice scenes. Hammer explains in "The Tall and the Short of It" (whose "B" plot has Mary Beth, Michael, Julie and Kristy search for it after it gets lost) that it's his lucky jacket.
  • Last-Name Basis: Most of the characters call Nick by his last name, Hammer. The only main characters to have called him "Nick" on at least an alternating basis are Coach Katowinski and Mary Beth.
  • Lovable Jock
  • Love Interest: To Mary Beth.
  • Nice Guy
  • Put on a Bus: Nick's the only character in the show to be given a proper send-off; in season five's "Hello and Goodbye," Hammer is accepted into the pre-admissions program at Duke University in that episode and has to be convinced to move to North Carolina by his friends since it's a major opportunity that could get him into the university.

Kenny "Silk" Hayes (Danso Gordon)

  • The Casanova
  • In-Series Nickname: Kenny prefers to be known by his nickname "Silk," because as he explains in "A Whole New Ballgame," he's "smooth on the court, and even smoother off the court... with the ladies."
  • Ladykiller in Love: With Rose in season four's "Texas Rose".
  • Large Ham
  • Those Two Guys: With Eugene, beginning in Season Five.
  • Token Minority: Subverted. He was this in season four, as Coach Fuller left shortly beforehand; this changed when Antonio became a main character in season five.

    Season 5 additions 

Eugene Brown (Phillip Glasser)

Antonio Lopez (Jay Hernandez)

  • Angst Coma: When Antonio injures his knee and feels he ruined a chance to perform for a recruiter from the University of Kentucky in "Fighting for Your Dreams".
  • Beta Couple: With Kristy.
  • Gratuitous Spanish: How we meet Antonio in "Texas Rose". Kristy assumed he didn't speak English after seeing him and a friend carrying a conversation in Spanish. Kristy, whose Spanish is hit-and-miss (she greeted him goodbye by telling him to "lick a cow" and resorted to using hand gestures and shouting to ask him out to dinner). She finds out the truth that he's from America and is bilingual, and refuses to accept his apology attempts in "Shoot Out" until Mary Beth and Julie intervene and get her to hear Antonio out.
  • Love Interest: To Kristy.
  • Long-Distance Relationship: Implied to have kept one up with Kristy after the tournament in San Antonio ended, his move from Texas to Indiana in "Hello and Goodbye" removes the "long distance" part.
  • Mistaken for Cheating: In "Extreme Eugene," Kristy's parents Mr. and Mrs. Ford – who believed Eugene was Antonio, the result of a run-in he had with Kristy's parents when they park their car in a parking space he wanted just before he was supposed to meet them – catch Eugene at the mall with his Girl of the Week and tell Julie after they run into her to tell Kristy about it. Antonio clears things up during a break in the game later in the episode; Mr. and Mrs. Ford then see Kristy kissing the real Antonio, whom she properly introduces. As smart as Kristy is, it's odd she didn't connect the dots that her parents saw Eugene and not the real Antonio.
  • New Transfer Student: Antonio becomes one in season five, which removes the long distance part of his and Kristy's relationship.
  • Promotion to Opening Titles: First appeared in "Texas Rose" during the San Antonio tournament storyline, becomes a regular in season five.

    The Coaches 

Bill Fuller (Reggie Theus)

  • Berserk Button: If you value your health, don't do something hilariously boneheaded and do not scuff up or damage the gym floor, or Coach Fuller will start yelling. He even forced NBA star Cedric Ceballos to clean up the marks his shoes made on the floor in the tag scene from "Harvest Moon".
  • Butt-Monkey: At the hands of the players, he has had a pineapple upside-down cake smashed in his face, been hit with an egg while teaching a cooking class (both in "The Perfect Game" alone), ended up getting caught in the crossfire when the guys toss rolls during a dinner (in "Kristy's Other Mother") and beaned by the errant misdirected basketball (in "The Hustlers").
  • Characterization Marches On: Coach Fuller starts out as just an upstanding former NBA player-turned-coach who taught his students valuable lessons in life and teamwork; by season two, he developed a periodic Hair-Trigger Temper when other characters did something comedically stupid or sometimes for the fun of it.
  • Death Glare
  • Hair-Trigger Temper: Develops after the retool.
  • Hollywood Tone-Deaf: Fuller's rendition of "Me and Mrs. Jones" in "Goodnight, Vince" needs a little more work.
  • In-Series Nickname: Teddy sometimes refers to him as "goddaddy".
  • The Mentor
  • One Head Taller: Than the younger characters, who reach no higher than his shoulders, the only exception being Earl.
  • Parental Substitute: In the season two premiere "Winning Isn't Everything," it's established that he is Teddy's godfather.
  • The Precious, Precious Car: Coach Fuller had a long list of ground rules for Julie, Teddy, Danny and Vince in taking care of his car while he's out of town in season three's "Coach Fuller's Car"; his concern about how they're caretaking of the car turns out to be founded, as the foursome tries to find the car after it gets stolen... and all because they decide to leave it at a fraternity when they drink punch unknowingly spiked with vodka. Fuller teaches the kids a lesson when a policeman informs him the car was reported stolen, putting the fear of God into them by making them think that it got smashed into a cube, but does acknowledge that the teens used good judgement in not driving drunk and tells them the truth that the real car's OK.
  • Put on a Bus: "Fuller's Big Offer" has him decide to stay on as the head coach of the Tornados, but Reggie Theus chose to leave after season three, with Coach Fuller's sudden absence being explained in "A Whole New Ballgame" through a brief mention in a letter addressed by Teddy implying that he changed his mind about taking the coaching offer at the University of Southern Florida that was offered to him in the previous episode.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure
  • Scary Black Man: When he gets angry.
  • Trash Talk: Being an ex-NBA player, Coach Fuller can do it like nobody's business... he even trash-talked a fish in "Love on the Rockies". But as illustrated in "Fuller's Rival," it can get him into trouble. With partial prodding from his rival B.B., Fuller's mouth gets him a technical and then an ejection when he throws a chair on the court.

Mike Katowinski (Dick Butkus)

  • Butt-Monkey: Coach Katowinski ends up one at times, at the hands of team members, Mary Beth and Kristy. In the episode "Assault and Pepper Spray," he gets beaned by a soccer ball being kicked around by a couple of off-screen students (after telling Hammer, Silk and Rico that his fish died, got a speeding ticket while driving teary-eyed afterward and spilled guacamole on his shirt). What happens afterward? When the three teens vie for a extra ticket to an Indiana Pacers game that Coach K bought, a electric tie rack and sock catapult Rico installed goes haywire and shoots socks at him. In season five's "Shall We Dance," Katowinski ends up being silly-stringed, hit with ping-pong balls and confettied when Eugene mistakenly rigs the coach's locker, instead of rigging Michael's for a prank for an America's Funniest Home Videos-style TV show. He was also accidentally drenched by Mary Beth and Kristy in "That '60s Show" (the girls meant to drench Eugene as revenge for his role in getting them detention).
  • Character Catchphrase: "Aw, geez," something he utters Once an Episode, usually whenever he experiences misfortune, is asked to talk about another character's relationship or sees something he wishes he hadn't.. However, in the season five finale "My Family," he (and his daughter) say it in unison after being complemented by Kristy. Mary Beth points out how weird that was.
  • Deadpan Snarker: He sometimes questions why he chose to coach high school kids this way.
  • Hates Being Touched: Coach Katowinski isn't exactly the "hugging" type. He often stops his players from hugging him or lets out an "aw, jeez" in disdain when they do.
  • The Mentor
  • Reasonable Authority Figure
  • Spell My Name With An S: Coach Katowinski introduces himself to the team in "A Whole New Ballgame" by making a joke about his name that he has to ask the kids to elicit forced laughter.
    Coach Katowinski: ''I'm your new coach, Mike Katowinski. That's Katowinski with a "K," not a "C" and coach with a "C," not a "K".
  • Trash Talk: Coach Katowinski has done this on occasion for referees made what he thinks are bad calls, and has gotten ejected from one game because of it. He purposely insults a referee to get himself ejected in "Finals Fury," to teach hot-headed Michael that losing one's cool negatively affects the rest of your team.

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