''City Guys'' is an American television

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

that aired for five seasons on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

from September 6, 1997, to December 15, 2001.Tvseriesfinale.com
/ref> The series aired as part of the network's Saturday morning block,

TNBC TNBC (or Teen NBC) was an American teen-oriented television programming block that aired on NBC from September 12, 1992, to September 28, 2002. The Saturday morning block featured live-action series – primarily in the form of scripted teen si ...

Plot

''City Guys'' was mainly centered on its two main characters, Jamal Grant (Wesley Jonathan) and Chris Anderson (Scott Whyte), two teenagers from different backgrounds – Chris coming from a wealthy family, and Jamal coming from a working-class family – who had to stay on the ball while attending Manhattan High School (which was nicknamed in the series as "Manny High") and avoid trouble, while their principal Karen Noble (Marcella Lowery) attempted to keep them in line and out of trouble. Jamal and Chris's similar personalities caused friction between them in the beginning, but they became best friends as the series went on. The boys and their friends – overachiever Dawn Tartikoff (Caitlin Mowrey), slick guy Al Ramos (Dion Basco), aspiring actress Cassidy Giuliani (Marissa Dyan) and dimwitted bully-turned-friend (who was held back six grades) Lionel "L-Train" Johnson (Steven Daniel) – dealt with the typical teen issues, such as cheating on tests, peer pressure, racism, and dealing with school violence.

Cast

Wesley Jonathan Wesley Jonathan Waples is an American actor best known for his starring role as Jamal Grant on the NBC Saturday morning comedy-drama series ''City Guys'' (1997-2001), Gary Thorpe in the sitcom '' What I Like About You'' (2002-2006), Sweetness in ...

as Jamal Abdul Grant *

Scott Whyte Scott William Whyte (born January 8, 1978) is an American actor best known for his role as Chris Anderson on ''City Guys''. He has also appeared in television series such as ''That '70s Show'' and ''Just Shoot Me!'' and the films '' D2: The Migh ...

as Christopher Robert "Chris" Anderson * Caitlin Mowrey as Dawn Tartikoff *

Dion Basco Dion may refer to: People Ancient *Dion (mythology), a king in Laconia and husband of Iphitea, the daughter of Prognaus *Dion of Syracuse (408–354 BC), ancient Greek politician *Dio of Alexandria, first century BC, ancient Greek philosoph ...

as Alberto (Al) "Rocket" Ramos * Marissa Dyan as Cassidy Giuliani * Steven Daniel as Lionel "L-Train" Johnson *

Marcella Lowery Marcella Lowery (born April 27, 1946) is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Geoffrey Owens' mother, Francine Tibideaux, on ''The Cosby Show'', Jamal Jenkins' grandmother on ''Ghostwriter'' from 1992 to 1995, Anna Eldridge in the ...

as Principal Karen Coretta Noble

Theme music

The theme song for ''City Guys'' was written by Joey Schwartz, Eric Swerdloff and Michael Muta-Ali Muhammad and composed by Joey Schwartz (who also composed the incidental music used to denote scene changes and breaks in the program). The rap and R&B-infused theme included a chorus, "C-I-T-Y you can see why, these guys, the neat guys, smart and streetwise", which repeating twice consecutively during the beginning, middle and near the end of the song.

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1 (1997)

Season 2 (1998)

Season 3 (1999–2000)

Season 4 (2000–01)

Season 5 (2001)

Syndication

''City Guys'' ran in

syndication Syndication may refer to: * Broadcast syndication, where individual stations buy programs outside the network system * Print syndication, where individual newspapers or magazines license news articles, columns, or comic strips * Web syndication, ...

on local

television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth ...

s throughout the United States from September 10, 2001 to September 13, 2002,

Tribune Entertainment Tribune Entertainment (formerly Mid-America Video Tape Productions, WGN Continental Productions, Tribune Productions and Tribune Entertainment Company) was a television production and broadcast syndication company owned and operated by Tribune Br ...

, which distributed the series (its corporate sister at the time,

Tribune Broadcasting Tribune Broadcasting Company, LLC was an American media company which operated as a subsidiary of Tribune Media, a media conglomerate based in Chicago, Illinois. The group owned and operated television and radio stations throughout the United Sta ...

, incidentally, was the primary station group carrying the series), sold the series as a syndication package–alongside fellow TNBC sitcom ''

California Dreams ''California Dreams'' is an American teen sitcom that aired on NBC. It was part of the network's Saturday morning block, TNBC, premiering on September 12, 1992. Created by writers Brett Dewey and Ronald B. Solomon, and executive produced by Pet ...

–''for stations to count towards educational programming guidelines set by the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...

. The series later briefly aired on

BET Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los A ...

for three weeks from October 2, 2010 to October 16, 2010. As of 2022, ''City Guys''–as well as fellow TNBC sitcom ''One World''–is available for streaming on

Tubi Tubi is an American over-the-top content platform and ad-supported streaming service owned by Fox Corporation. The service was launched on April 1, 2014, and is based in Los Angeles, California. In January 2021, Tubi reached 33 million monthly ...

References

External links

Official Website
* {{Children's programming on NBC in the 1990s 1990s American high school television series 1990s American black sitcoms 1990s American teen sitcoms 1997 American television series debuts 2000s American high school television series 2000s American black sitcoms 2000s American teen sitcoms 1990s American sitcoms 2000s American sitcoms 2001 American television series endings Dyslexia in fiction English-language television shows NBC original programming Television series about teenagers Television series by Tribune Entertainment Television shows set in Manhattan Television series by Universal Television