YMMV / Smart Guy

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Marcus: A put-upon brother Butt-Monkey or just a whiney asshole that takes T.J.'s gifts for granted?
  • Also, is T.J. just a sympathetic Insufferable Genius or is he too smart for his own good and displaying the early signs of sociopathy with the way he often manipulates people into doing what he wants?
  • Mr. Harrison, the substitute in T.J., Marcus and Mo's astronomy class in "My Two Dads". Some fans are divided as to whether he is really just a Cool Teacher who's similar to T.J., given that he arranges for T.J. to go to the same university he had accepted a job at later in the episode, or whether he had less-than-pure intentions.
• Designated Villain: The owner of the soda company in "The Soda Wars" comes off as a Corrupt Corporate Executive, but he's not doing anything illegal by raising prices and effectively finding ways to get back the customers who had switched to T.J.'s soda.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Mo. The wackiest character in the show, he is a favorite of a number of Smart Guy fans.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: In "A Date with Destiny", when Floyd asks the members of Destiny's Child if they eat red meat, original member LaTavia Robertson responds with "we're from Texas, if you don't eat red meat, they'll move you clean out the state". 15 years later in 2014, it was revealed that Beyoncé – another founding member of the group and a native of Houston – has switched to a vegan diet^note Which means not only does she not eat red meat anymore, but doesn't consume any animal products or byproducts, such as dairy and even honey, later even serving as a spokesperson for a mail-order vegan meal service... and she had long moved clean out of Texas to L.A. by that point.
• Platonic Writing, Romantic Reading: Some of the interactions between Floyd and Yvette can come across as oddly romantic due to the small age difference between the two actors as well as the fact Yvette and Floyd had many plots together. They arguably came across more as a married couple than as father and daughter.
• Retroactive Recognition: Episodes of this show contained early appearances of Kyla Pratt, Ashley Tisdale, Naya Rivera, Christina Milian, Gabrielle Union and Taraji P. Henson.
  • Kenya Moore appeared as Vivian, one of the computer company reps who pitches T.J. about which of their computers to select for Piedmont High's new computer system in "Brother, Brother".
  • Fans who remember Mo were probably surprised to see the sitcom-friendly Omar Gooding (also recognizable from Wild and Crazy Kids and Hangin' with Mr. Cooper) as a gangbanger a few years later in the 2001 film Baby Boy.
• Toy Ship: Like the song says: "he's got a way with the ladies, and he's keepin' it real." T.J. got more than a couple of girls during the series, most notable being recurring complete opposite Brandi, played by Kyla Pratt early in her career.

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