Radar / Smart Guy

Smart Guy is a family sitcom that is primarily aimed at tweens and young teenagers. However, despite being a Disney-produced series (although it aired on a major network, The WB), it has had a few not-so-G-rated moments (more in line with the content standards of some PG-rated live-action Disney feature films of the period, than that associated with Disney Channel Original Series in later years) that involve lines, references and gags that are either still subtle enough that some would consider it to be still acceptable enough for older kids at the very least or are a little less subtle to where its suitablity for children is somewhat more questionable. Most of them occur during the third and last season.

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• The Code: While T.J., Mo and Marcus are breaking into a rival high school (as payback for a prank they did by defacing a mural for the basketball team), Mo remarks that the night vision goggles he got aren't working and after T.J. points out they are just regular binoculars, Mo asks why his dad would be using them only at night if they weren't night vision goggles, implying that his dad is using them to spy on naked women.
• "Men Working Badly": While they are working on building Yvette a bathroom, T.J. asks how Marcus would kill Yvette.^note Marcus, Mo and Floyd discover that Yvette didn't like the original design of the bathroom they built for her, forcing them to redo it; they come away thinking Yvette isn't grateful for what they did after she disapproved of the changes they made, but they later find out that Yvette just wanted to have input in the construction and design of the bathroom Marcus says that he would drive an 18-wheeler through her room and T.J. asks if he could ride shotgun (on the passenger's side).
• "Stop the Presses":
  • Marcus and Mo try to recruit girls to participate in their art class photography project. Marcus tells a girl he wants to take photos of that he'll start her off in a bikini" and take the photos in his room. It's hard not to see where he wanted the shoot to end with her wearing... or not wearing.
  • T.J. turns his upstart newspaper, The Weekly Veritas (which he starts to compete with The Piedmont Penguin, where he was formerly employed under Yvette) into a tabloid per Marcus and Mo's advice. After Yvette bribes Mo to give her a scoop for the school newspaper that was intended for the Veritas, T.J. decides to make his sister the next "model" for the paper's "Girl of the Week" page (equivalent to African-American cultural magazine Jet's “Beauty of the Week” feature or a TV-suitable analogue to the Page 3 models featured in many U.K. tabloids). Mackey tries asking out Yvette after leering over her photo, leading to this exchange:
    Mackey: Hey, I know it's cold now, but come this summer, how about you and I go swimming?
    Yvette: Why are you talking to me?
    Mackey: Because you're almost nude in this photo, look. (hands over newspaper)
• "Strangers on the Net": Done intentionally (albeit with some subtlety) for the purpose of its aesop about internet safety. T.J. and his friend Karen meet Mark, a previously convicted sex offender whom they met on a kids chat room, and find out is an adult when they meet him at a burger restaurant to buy some bootlegged games that he's selling. Later, Mark invites them to his house to test a surfing game he's "developing," but gives away the fact that he's had other kids play it at his house... and shows them a scrapbook with photos of kids whom he convinced to strip down to play the game. T.J. figures out that Mark has sinister intentions and gets Karen out before anything bad happens.
• "Love Bug": Marcus gets a date with Erica Drew, who has a reputation for sleeping with guys. Tony, one of Marcus's friends, tells him and Mo about his date with her, which ended with them going to "Mount Freaky-Deaky"... eh (nudge-nudge), heh! Later, she tells Marcus that she knows that he only asked her out because he wanted to have sex with her. She mentions that the reason that her easy reputation resulted from her losing her virginity to a 12th grade ex-boyfriend in 9th grade (who dumped her afterward), which led to other guys asking her out and claiming she slept with them. She went along with the rep placed on her because of this, which resulted in other girls at her school Slut-Shaming and ignoring her. Marcus chooses not to sleep with her since he actually began to like her, and the last scene before the tag ends with them playing a game of dominoes.
• "T.A. or Not T.A.":
  • High school senior Yvette begins dating Calvin, a handsome student who turns out to be 15-years-old. When Yvette heeds Nina's advice that age shouldn't matter when you've found love and publicly announces that she's dating someone two years younger than her, Calvin informs her that because he knew that she felt uncomfortable, he started dating a sophomore... at Howard University. Yvette calls his new relationship "sick,"^note ...and if it reaches to the point of intercourse, technically illegal in all 50 U.S. states, since no state has an age of consent younger than 16 and Nina angrily asks why he doesn't "just date Eartha Kitt".
  • Coach Gerber names Rosalinda, a female student who Marcus had went on a date with earlier in the episode in an ill-conceived method of learning Spanish by having her speak the language to him the entire night, as the new teacher's assistant for the Spanish class he's teaching. She is introduced to the class to begin her instruction, wearing an outfit that really accentuates her curves. Needless to say, Marcus and Mo find incentive to stick with the class; Mo even comments that "[he and Marcus] might have to stay after class".
• "Break Up Not to Make Up":
  • During gym class, T.J. has to climb up a rope. However, his loose-fitting shorts, that have to be pinned to stay on, are a few sizes too big. We see the shorts fall to the mat after T.J. (offscreen) rings the bell at the top of the rope, leading to this exchange that makes it pretty clear that his butt and other "personal areas" are exposed:
    Nina: Cute tush.
    Yvette: Buns of steel.
    Coach Gerber: Boy, that's gonna chafe coming down.
  • T.J. is uncomfortable with taking showers with the older students in gym class, because he doesn't want any of them seeing his "business". One scene has Mackey actually strip off his underwear while standing next to T.J.,^note J.D. Walsh (Mackey) was still wearing underwear in that particular scene, and keen-eyed viewers may notice a hint of banding was still visible on-camera as it was lowered below Walsh's waist just enough to appear as if his character had debriefed. after Coach Gerber tells everybody in the boy's locker room (who are otherwise in towels) to head to the showers; Coach Gerber describes the boys' showers as resembling the single room showers seen in a "low-budget prison movie".
  • When T.J. asks Marcus that he wants to cut a class, Marcus jokingly asks if T.J. had gotten a girl "in trouble" (i.e., pregnant). T.J. sarcastically responds, "Yes, Marcus. Yes, I did, and now I have to marry her". Later in the scene, when Marcus blabs to Yvette, Leslie and Nina that T.J. wants to cut gym so he won't take showers with the older students, they try to reassure him, resulting in this comment that T.J. is embarrassed by:
    Nina: You shouldn't worry about this, T.J. It's not your fault you haven't developed yet.
  • During a volleyball game in gym class later in the episode, T.J. asks a pretty blonde student named Jennifer (whose gym uniform includes a cropped shirt) to bend down and pretend to tie her shoe in order to allow a member of his team to make a serve. Yvette considers it morally reprehensible, until T.J. points out that whoever wins the game does not have to run laps, asking Jennifer to "do what the kid says." Mackey and another male student on the other team look in awe when Jennifer bends down, allowing the ball to bounce off Mackey's head, giving T.J.'s team the extra point.
  • This exchange occurs when T.J. tells Floyd that he's uncomfortable about his "shortcomings" compared to the other students, causing him to skip taking showers after gym class:
    Floyd: So now, why are you skipping showers?
    T.J.: I just don't like taking showers.
    Floyd: Since when?
    T.J.: Since it's public! When I'm in my own bathroom, I'm the big man on campus. (beat) But when I'm in the locker room, I'm the...
    Floyd: I get the point.
  • During the end credits, after T.J. confronts his fear head on per Floyd's advice, Floyd discovers him cooking in the nude (for more than one obvious reason, we only see him from the shoulders up). Floyd stops T.J. when before he exits the kitchen to answer the door, after someone rings the doorbell, asking him to at least put a dish towel over his "business".
  • While talking about Marcus and Mo's fight about Mo dating Marcus' ex-girlfriend Dana, Yvette remarks that "friendship doesn't mean anything to boys, especially when there's booty involved". Her friend Leslie then reveals that she dated Yvette's ex-boyfriend Todd three weeks after they broke up. It's implied that Todd went after Leslie because he was frustrated because Yvette didn't want to have sex until marriage.
• "Diary of a Mad Schoolgirl": Marcus makes himself seem more worldly than he is, as a result of looking at what kind of guy his love interest Janice wants. After Janice invites him to her house that Friday, she says goodbye through sign language. Marcus makes a faux sign gesture, really dancing with both thumbs up, leading to this:

  Janice: Whoo, you're naughty. We'll see about that Friday night.

  Marcus: Whoo! Cool! Man, what did I say? What did I say?

• "Perchance to Dream": This exchange as Yvette and Mo are about to go to the post office to mail her college application, as Mo proceeds to cop a feel:

  Mo: (as he's standing next to Yvette): Now, you know... there's another side of me that you don't even know about, a side that can be real dangerous.

  Yvette: Take your hand off my butt.

  Mo: Yes, ma'am.

• "From A to Double D": The episode has quite a few jokes relating to breasts, given that the episode's "A" plot centers on Yvette wanting to get implants after being passed over for a lead role in a play, in favor of a more developed actress. Among them:
  • Freudian Slip: Mo inverts this as he didn't actually say a breast-related word, but asked if he did since he said words that were awfully close to creating one:
    Mo (wondering whether he should ask Lisa, a co-star in Yvette's play who recently got breast implants, about getting acting tips): I was thinking of getting into the acting game, maybe she can give me some tips. (beat) I did say "tips", didn't I?
  • Later, when Mo talks to Yvette that as long as she remains the grounded person she is, it doesn't matter whether she has breast implants or not.
    Mo: So, I think you should do whatever makes you feel best. (beat) I did say "best", didn't I?
  • Curious about what sized implants she wants, Yvette has T.J. create a model of her on his computer to see what her breasts would look like enlarged. After increasing the model's chest to a reasonable size, Yvette asks T.J. to see how big he can make them. When he presses play, Yvette's breasts inflate to freakishly large levels ("I can't see your head anymore!", T.J. then exclaims). Floyd walks in to see the model of Yvette and gets surprised, responding "I thought I blocked these websites," before being told that it's his own daughter.
  • Freudian Slippery Slope: Floyd has this happen, when trying to have a conversation with Yvette about why she's considering getting breast implants:
    Floyd: Listen, honey... I've been thinking about breasts all night. (beat) I mean yours. (beat) I-I-I, I mean, I mean the big ones. (Yvette looks at Floyd puzzled) Let's start over. (holds up pitcher) Orange juice?
  • As he's talking to Floyd about having otoplasty to pin back his larger-than-normal ears after being teased about them by some bullies, Yvette comments that T.J.'s lucky to have something on his body that sticks out, unlike her. T.J. hits this hilarious low blow at her:
    T.J.: We're not talking about your small breasts now, we're talking about my big ears!
  • After Yvette stuffs her bra to see if she would be able to get the lead part in a play if she had a larger bust like Lisa did, she receives attention from a couple of the older crewmembers, one of whom offers to move her up on the list of auditionees. Mo arrives to audition for the play and takes the script from Yvette, repeatedly looking up and down at her in surprise, noticing something different. He then asks her, "does your character have a boyfriend?" After she asks him if her breasts look too big, Mo stares, causing Yvette to ask Mo if he could occasionally look at her face.
• "It Takes Two": When Marcus spots Mo's girlfriend Tracy at a movie theater, he gets Mo to come there to expose Tracy as a cheater (only to miss catching her and her other boyfriend together several times since Tracy asked him to get the Twizzlers he forgot to get from the concession stand). Mo goes into the theater playing Beloved, he reacts to his disbelief of Marcus accusing Tracy of cheating and to a nude scene in the film:

  Mo (to a theater patron): This is stupid, I am not going to spy on my girlfriend. And I sure don't want to see Danny Glover's naked butt!... Oprah look pretty good, though.

• "Crushed":
  • The cold open has Marcus, Mo and T.J. each fantasizing about their beautiful teacher, Ms. Caldwell. T.J.'s daydream is tame, but Mo and Marcus' dreams? Not so much. In both their fantasies, Ms. Caldwell wears a red leather bustier upon opening a door, tempting them with an inferred invite for a night of lust ("come on in, we've got all night," and in Marcus's fantasy, "...and a pizza").
  • When T.J. tells Marcus and Mo that he stayed after school to go over the lesson plan with Ms. Caldwell, Mo comments that there are a few things he'd like to go over with Ms. Caldwell after school. Marcus then says that she's got "some nice hmm-hmm!," holding out his arms to illustrate her... assets.
  • During T.J.'s argument with Floyd over Ms. Caldwell (whom T.J. has a crush on) after his father goes out to a jazz club with her, T.J. mentions that he and Miss Caldwell will enter their sexual peaks when they respectively turn 18 and 34, when the topic comes up about their age difference. T.J. then says curtly to a stunned Floyd, "that's right, sexual peaks! I looked it up."
• "The Soda Wars": T.J. has a meeting with Marcus, Mo and Yvette on how to have Admiral T.J. soda counter a giveaway by Colonel Bubble that was done to steal customers from T.J.'s popular homemade soda before it started encroaching on their territory. T.J. asks about what would be a good giveaway for their drink:

  T.J.: The typical Admiral T.J. soda drinker is a teenager. So, as teenagers, what do you guys like to do?

  Marcus and Mo (in unison): Well... (Marcus chuckles slyly)

  T.J.:' Besides that.

• "The Graduate":
  • T.J., Marcus, Mo and the other Piedmont High juniors are pranked by the seniors when a "pancake breakfast" ends with the fire sprinklers being turned on them. T.J. points out that a female student who was drenched in the prank is wearing a T-shirt and nothing underneath it; Marcus and Mo insist she "should be comforted" and run after her.
  • Later in the episode, Mackey insists on pranking the seniors by streaking at the graduation ceremony. At the ceremony, Marcus informs him that his idea is a no-go with this exchange:
    Marcus: Mackey, I wanna share something with you because you're my boy. Look, no one at any time will ever wanna see you naked.
    Mackey: What about when I'm married?
    Marcus: Never!
  • Mackey's idea comes in handy when T.J.'s pancake batter cannon that he rigged inside the podium fails to activate when the time comes to spray it on the graduating senior class.
  • Coach Gerber pulls two of these with mild profanity drops in the episode: "I miss the '80s, when kids just didn't give a damn" and "my brother, full head of hair, looks like freakin' Fabio".

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