NBC (Saturdays, check local listings)
What do you call the rerun season for high school sitcoms? Summer session. City Guys, sandwiched between episodes of Saved by the Bell: the New Class in NBC's Saturday-morning teen lineup, starts its sophomore year in September. But it can't hurt to study up now. The show focuses on two dissimilar classmates at a school called Manhattan High. (Geography quiz: What city is it in?) Jamal (Wesley Jonathan) is likable, working-class and black. Chris (Scott Whyte) is snotty, upper-class and white. "You're lucky you're rich, because you're really stupid," Jamal said to Chris in one episode. Give him an A for character analysis. In the July 25 repeat, Chris's controlling mother (guest star Susan Anton) throws a fund-raiser for the school, featuring a piano performance by Jamal. Chris disrupts the party to get Mom's attention. In the Aug. 1 rerun, a top scholar-athlete is killed by a drunk driver. Jamal is devastated; Chris is unmoved (or pretends to be). If there's a bright light at Manhattan High, it's Marcella Lowery as the principal, a nice combination of strictness and warmth.
Bottom Line: Some potential, but needs remedial work
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