Fallon brings the cast of "California Dreams" back together

Regular Channel Surfing readers will recall how I breathlessly wrote about the theme song to T-NBC's "California Dreams" back in December of 2008.

I was actually making a point about the show being a total "Saved by the Bell" rip-off, but nonetheless, conceded that its transcendent theme song reached into my soul like no other Saturday morning sitcom ever could.

"Surf dudes with attitude" ... yeah, you're swaying along right there with me.

Anyway, having failed in his efforts to reunite the cast of "SBTB," Jimmy Fallon got the REAL band (not those bloated Zack Attack lip-synchers) back together by unexpectedly inviting the cast of "California Dreams" to play its memorable theme song on last night's show.

While laughing at something insanely cheesy and nostalgia-based is an easy joke to pull, Fallon has worked some serious magic with it in the lone year he's been on late night. There's a certain charm about Fallon sharing the same pop culture touchstones with a 20-to-30-something audience that had Conan O'Brien's creativity ripped from them and may not relate to David Letterman. Jay Leno? I won't even go there.

So while I may not have been a huge Fallon fan when he was hired to replace Conan, I love the ridiculously random energy he brings to his late night experiment. You have to pick your spots with little viral bits that'll get losers like me talking about your show the next morning. Reuniting the cast of "California Dreams" is certainly one of those moments.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the following clip as much as I did last night. Fallon is downright giddy about the appearance. Kelly Packard (Tiffani Smith) looks ridiculously hot. A nervous Jennie Kwan (Samantha Woo) can barely get her words out. And Michael Cade (Sly Winkle) steals the bit by overselling his latest projects, mentioning a porn company and of course, unbuttoning his shirt to reveal the same six-pack abs he had in 1994.

Ba-BOOM.



-- Thomas Rozwadowski, trozwado@greenbaypressgazette.com