Internet Safety with Smart Guy

In this provocative 1998 episode from Walt Disney Television's acclaimed Smart Guy series (airing on the WB), 10-year-old African-American brainiac TJ (Tahj Mowry) and his friend Karen discover someone selling bootleg CD-ROM games in an online kid's chatroom. After briefly debating the cons (it's against the law) and pros (we want them) of buying illegal copies of games, TJ raises the necessary money by helping his older brother and sister fix their newly acquired beater car (in a humorous subplot which contains zippola educational content, but plenty of sitcom-style laughs...and a canned laugh track), and then schedules a meeting with the online "kid." Turns out the kid is an adult male, who makes good on his black market offer and later invites TJ and Karen back to his house. After showing off his duping workstations, the man lets the kids play on his prototype virtual reality surfing game. If the situation wasn't already sinister and queasy enough (which, of course, it was), the guy then asks if he can take some photographs of the kids surfing with their shirts off. Although everything ends well, TJ and Karen learn some very important lessons about potentially dangerous situations that can arise from meeting people over the net. Although aimed at a younger audience, Internet Safety with Smart Guy is better than the similarly-themed Tek Tek (VL-9/98). Recommended. Aud: K, E, I, P. (R. Pitman)