When A.J. Michalka's sister Aly was on "Phil of the Future," The Disney Channel decided to promote the two of them as a family-friendly non-lesbian version of The Indigo Girls. I have to admit, their performance on the theme song from "Ice Princess" was as haunting as Amy and Emily's "Prince of Darkness," if not more-so. So it's only fitting that A.J. Michalka gets to do a spot on version of their best known hit. Perhaps it also helps that this episode followed an above average episode of it's prequel "The Goldbergs" on the same night.
The episode doesn't start out like this; It involves our heroine narrating how dress codes at schools were being tested throughout the country during the 1990's, including at William Penn Academy. Principal Glascott (Tim Meadows) isn't standing for any of these violations, and neither is Coach Mellor. In one scene, Glascott spots a girl wearing a skirt that's too short, only to find out it's Miss Lainey Lewis. "You're not a student, you're a Lainey." That line reminds me so much of the scene from "Up the Down Staircase," where Sylvia Barrett is kept from using the school elevator which is reserved only for teachers, despite being a teacher herself. Later on, Glascott finds so many kids violating the dress code they've run out of monogrammed T-Shirts with the school name on it to replace them with. As he discusses the "crisis" with the teachers, he decides not only to ban Lainey's microskirts, but funny ties like those worn by C.B., and T-Shirts with rock band names. If he thinks "The Butthole Surfers" is an offensive name, he hasn't heard of some of the bands I know about.
In some of the more recent episodes, we see Mellor in a relationship with one of the kid's aunts, who is hired as the new school nurse. In this episode he finds out she's not a sports fan! This makes him feel their relationship is threatened. On a day when Mellor wants to go see the Philadelphia Eagles play the "New York" Giants, she wants to go to Lilith Fair. Needless to say, Mellor doesn't understand this, and needs help trying to do so in order to better relate to his girlfriend. So Ms. Wilma Howell (Haneefah Wood) gives him some lessons starting with trying to get him to learn the Indigo Girls' bigger hit "Closer to Fine," claiming it's a siren song among women everywhere. Sure enough, she starts out by singing the song herself, suddenly joined by Ms. Lewis on acoustic guitar and Liz Flemming on tambourine. Unfortunately, Mellor gets spooked by the song, and fears his relationship is doomed. Speaking of Lainey and Liz, it's the issues over the dress code that creates tension between the two teachers. Ms. Flemming has had a long standing grudge against stylish and popular girls like Lainey because she believes that they're also stuck-up b*tches, and Big Tasty's girlfriend is genuinely crushed by this.
Hearing Bryan Callen murder the Indigo's most famous hit in an attempt to woo Nurse Julie is a bit hard to stomach, but A.J. Michalka's cover is worthwhile, with or without Lennon Parham and Haneefah Wood. It's too bad Aly Michalka couldn't be there for this.
And for the record, Lilith Fair came out a decade after The Indigo Girls' first two albums.
The episode doesn't start out like this; It involves our heroine narrating how dress codes at schools were being tested throughout the country during the 1990's, including at William Penn Academy. Principal Glascott (Tim Meadows) isn't standing for any of these violations, and neither is Coach Mellor. In one scene, Glascott spots a girl wearing a skirt that's too short, only to find out it's Miss Lainey Lewis. "You're not a student, you're a Lainey." That line reminds me so much of the scene from "Up the Down Staircase," where Sylvia Barrett is kept from using the school elevator which is reserved only for teachers, despite being a teacher herself. Later on, Glascott finds so many kids violating the dress code they've run out of monogrammed T-Shirts with the school name on it to replace them with. As he discusses the "crisis" with the teachers, he decides not only to ban Lainey's microskirts, but funny ties like those worn by C.B., and T-Shirts with rock band names. If he thinks "The Butthole Surfers" is an offensive name, he hasn't heard of some of the bands I know about.
In some of the more recent episodes, we see Mellor in a relationship with one of the kid's aunts, who is hired as the new school nurse. In this episode he finds out she's not a sports fan! This makes him feel their relationship is threatened. On a day when Mellor wants to go see the Philadelphia Eagles play the "New York" Giants, she wants to go to Lilith Fair. Needless to say, Mellor doesn't understand this, and needs help trying to do so in order to better relate to his girlfriend. So Ms. Wilma Howell (Haneefah Wood) gives him some lessons starting with trying to get him to learn the Indigo Girls' bigger hit "Closer to Fine," claiming it's a siren song among women everywhere. Sure enough, she starts out by singing the song herself, suddenly joined by Ms. Lewis on acoustic guitar and Liz Flemming on tambourine. Unfortunately, Mellor gets spooked by the song, and fears his relationship is doomed. Speaking of Lainey and Liz, it's the issues over the dress code that creates tension between the two teachers. Ms. Flemming has had a long standing grudge against stylish and popular girls like Lainey because she believes that they're also stuck-up b*tches, and Big Tasty's girlfriend is genuinely crushed by this.
Hearing Bryan Callen murder the Indigo's most famous hit in an attempt to woo Nurse Julie is a bit hard to stomach, but A.J. Michalka's cover is worthwhile, with or without Lennon Parham and Haneefah Wood. It's too bad Aly Michalka couldn't be there for this.
And for the record, Lilith Fair came out a decade after The Indigo Girls' first two albums.
