Episode 4x07 "Singled Out"

"Singled Out" was a game show on MTV from 1995 to 1998, originally hosted by Jenny McCarthy, one of the most diabolical Americans of our time, and Chris Hardwick, the creator of the Nerdist podcast and current host of Talking Dead on AMC. Jenny McShit does not appear in this episode of Boy Meets World, thank GOD, but Hardwick does. 

Eric's moping around the house. He wants to be dating college girls, so he's in luck when a commercial airs for Singled Out, giving him a number to call to become a contestant on the show. In the kitchen, we learn that Cory's tonsils are fucked up and he's going to need a tonsillectomy. Shawn tells Cory about a CNN story on the disappearance of a young boy after a routine hospital procedure, so now Cory and his tucked in shirt are scared. It is truly amazing how Cory transitions up and down the spectrum of logic. Sometimes he's the voice of reason and sometimes he does stuff like this. Either way, Tobasco is our voice of reason today and she's mad at Shawn for making her boyfriend worry.

For some reason this late hour is mail time, as Eric runs into the kitchen hoping for a letter from MTV. And indeed he has been accepted to be on the show. Wouldn't be much of a plot otherwise. The next morning, Eric heads out the back door to speak with Mr. Feeny, but the old man is nowhere to be seen! This perilous catastrophe causes Eric to give glorious birth to the legendary Feeny Call.

So this is the college edition of Singled Out, but Eric doesn't go to college, and the only name he knows of is Harvard. He doesn't want to use Harvard, so he asks Feeny what college he went to. Ah the days before search engines. Feeny doesn't want to take part in Eric's deception, even though it's completely harmless, so Eric ends up going with Harvard in the interview with MTV later that day. The lady says it doesn't even matter and that they only chose him because of his hair. Sounds about right. Gosh, what was this, '96? Was there ever music on MTV?

We're in Cory's hospital room now, and Shawn comes in dressed as a surgeon. This hospital's lack of security is a running gag and it's consistently funny. Shawn's got a newspaper with an article about another kid vanishing off of the operating table. Since we last saw him, Cory has shifted to the other side of the Logic Spectrum, and calls out Shawn's story as tabloid nonsense.

Shawn goes off to deliver a baby. At long last, it's time for Singled Out to begin. The host Chris Hardwick is introduced, who is actually the real host of Singled Out playing himself here on Boy Meets World.

Now, listen, I want you guys to understand the love I have for you, the fans, and for this blog. I am actually going to watch a real episode of Singled Out on youtube now to accurately compare it to this scene.

Jesus Christ this is terrible. Okay so it's a girl eliminating contestants from a pack of 50 guys. The first category was, and I'm not lying, dick size. She will now eliminate either the "Kentucky Derby Winners" (horse sized dick), or the "Kentucky Derby Jockeys" (short guy sized dick). This actually happened, in real life.

Unsurprisingly, she eliminated the smaller dick guys, claiming that she is "from Texas where everything is big" and a whole bunch of dudes left the stage. Like, why would they even admit to it? They fill out a card or something beforehand with their answers to all the questions, and obviously the girl is gonna pick the big dick guys, so I don't know what they were thinking. Her next question is smart guys or dumb guys, and of course she eliminates dumb guys, so everyone who wrote "small dick" would have been eliminated on that one too.

I can't believe this is real. Well, the most realistic part is that Jenny McCarthy is being the biggest toolbag in the universe the whole time. It's honestly somewhat cathartic seeing her do this shit on television. Chris Hardwick is actually a lot of fun to watch here though. Maybe I should start watching Talking Dead. Anyway, it's down to five contestants now. The five introduce themselves (the girl can't actually see any of the contestants, because this show doesn't want to cheapen the love experience with things like appearances, but dick size is fine). Now she eliminates the five down to three with some bull shit that I can't really explain with words. It doesn't look like there's a part two to the episode I picked, so we'll have to stop there, but I checked another episode and it ends the same way as on Boy Meets World. So they're at least staying true to the source material.

Yeah so Singled Out on MTV gets no badges. 0 out of 4. Anyway, here on BMW, it's swapped with a guy in that chair (Eric) and 50 girls behind him.

That guy in the background with the keyboard is the same guy from the real show, too. He looks like a Backstreet Boy.

Eric's first category is "First Date", with the options "Have You Been Naughty" or "Have You Been Nice". Eric accidentally sends away all the naughty girls, and follows that up with accidentally sending away the dumb girls. It's TREMENDOUSLY more enjoyable than the actual show. Eric's reactions to sending away the girls he wants are really funny, and Chris Hardwick is a real treat. So after two categories, Eric's got it down to five girls, (just like on the show, what a fascinating coincidence), and it's time for a commercial break.

After the commercial, it's down to three girls, I guess two of them rediscovered their dignity. From left to right, it's girls 2, 3, and 5. I'm already knee deep in this shit, so I might as well go all the way. There's a guy in the audience that I recognize from the episode of Singled Out that I watched. 

WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS CONSPIRACY? WHO IS THIS PALM TREE HAIRED MAN? And since I know you're curious, he got eliminated by the "small dick" answer.

Anyway Eric answers a few rapid fire questions and ends up with Girl #5, Lisa, played by Bridget Flanery, whose career doesn't consist of anything I can comment on.

I'll give you three guesses at what their arranged prize-date is. Don't worry, you only need one. It's Chubbie's. 

It's 12 minutes into the episode now, I don't know what they could possibly do for the rest of this, but here we go. Back at the hospital, Cory's loopy on anesthesia as his family wish him good tidings in the OR. Feeny arrives, having been called earlier by Cory himself. The young man wishes to make peace with his teacher, and directs him to an airport locker containing all of his homework from the past five years. It's one of my favorite jokes from the entire series, but it's too long to put in a gif, so check it out for yourself. 

Oh, it's time for Cory's dream sequence. Well, when you wonder how a show is going to waste time, that really ought to be your go-to answer. His dream is a parody of Ripley's Believe It Or Not called We're Not Making This Up, investigating Cory's disappearance during surgery. It's got John O'Hurley as the treachcoat-clad host, before he was on Seinfeld or Family Feud, so that's cool. He also played the weatherman that Eric replaced back in season 3. This scene is the definition of wasted time, but it's probably a lot funnier if you had been watching Ripley's around that time.

At Chubbie's, Eric reveals that he doesn't really go to Harvard, and Lisa admits that she doesn't go to Columbia. In fact, they both lied about pretty much everything, so it's like a double negative, they're still a good match. It's actually really sweet, if we ignore the whole relationship-based-on-lies thing. 

During the credits, Cory's wooziness milks a few more shitty laughs out of the audience, and Topanga takes him off to find soup. Shawn walks into the empty room, assumes the worst, and starts to disappear himself, with cutting edge 1996 special effects.

The audience laughs during this bit, and that sort of thing always confuses me. They obviously can't see the effects live, so is there just a sign that tells them to laugh at this part? Or is it a laughtrack? If that's the case, why bother? No one is dumb enough to believe that an audience is actually laughing at effects they can't see.

I stand corrected.

Plot: 1.0  - It's really random and feels like a big publicity stunt, but the Singled Out story was entertaining, if nothing else, and I like the reveal at the end that they were both lying. A surgery is a pretty lazy way to keep Cory occupied for an episode, but the writers still had fun with it.

Character Development: 0.5 - This was mostly a one-off just-for-laughs episode, but Eric at least learned that he doesn't need to be a Harvard student to meet a nice girl.

Humor: 1.0 - Chris Hardwick and Eric had great chemistry, their styles of humor synergize beautifully. And the bit about Cory's hidden stash of homework makes me laugh every time.

Life Lesson: 0.5 - It's a stretch, but you don't have to lie about who you are, and a further stretch, usually your lies are going to come out eventually anyway.

3.0 out of 4.0. I recommend watching this episode just for the sheer novelty of it. Sometimes shows will parody a real game show, but this was a direct carbon copy of the real game, so it's definitely fun to watch. At the end of the day though, I've gotta ask why. And how. It's so strange that this happened. I could understand if it was a parody, but it's not. Very peculiar episode here.

Thanks for reading, see you Friday. Here's the link to the Singled Out episode I watched, if you're curious: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeqrGJUHM9w

All images used under Fair Use.