Hey Dude

“Hey Dude” is something you would say to a friend while in California as a greeting or attempt to get their attention. Hey Dude is also the title of a popular television show on Nickelodeon from the early 1990s. The Dude part of the title comes from the fact the show takes place on a dude ranch. I don’t know what a dude ranch is exactly. I think it’s somewhere you’re allowed to smoke pot near a horse.

Unlike its cousin show Salute Your Shorts, Hey Dude doesn’t have as many memorable characters, moments, or episodes so a lot of this could just be made up and no one would really know. Apparently the show was about a guy named Ben from New Jersey who got a divorce then bought the Bar None Dude Ranch to escape his high pressured job as a New York City accountant. Couldn’t he have just gotten an accounting job somewhere else? Somebody knows how to take a mid-life crisis a little too far.

There are originally four staff members on this dude ranch. The first on the Wikipedia page is Bradley “Brad” Taylor, a female who is rich and rides horses. And of course, no relation to Brad Taylor from Home Improvement. Then there’s Ted who is the love interest despite being named Ted. He’s apparently a troublemaker. Danny is the Hopi-Indian member of the staff and he’s really relaxed and never accepts blankets as gifts. There’s also Melody who is from Allentown, Pennsylvania for some reason. She’s a lifeguard and teaches dance. She’s played by the only person who went on to have a decent career after, Christine Taylor. You may know her best as Ben Stiller’s wife aka only ever gets work in things Ben Stiller is in.

(Admittedly, I’m always a little bothered when people look the same their entire lives)

There is a bunch of other people too. There’s Lucy who Wikipedia describes as a ranch hand. I guess that’s better than being described as the ranch bicycle if you know what I mean. I mean at least she’s not a whore. There’s Kyle, Lucy’s ex-boyfriend’s son which means she probably slept with him to get back at the boyfriend. There’s Jake, Ben’s nephew from Los Angeles. I’m sure he did typical Los Angeles things like said “cut to the chase” and “you’ll never work in this town again!” Finally there’s Buddy, Ben’s son. My dad’s dog’s name is Buddy. I don’t know who is less creative.

Only one episode of the 65 produced over 5 seasons remains in my head. In the episode a man came to the ranch. Someone overheard him saying he was there to “shoot everyone” then “blow them up.” Of course they thought this guy was a terrorist but he ended up being a photographer and there was a whole misunderstanding. He was going to shoot them with his camera and then blow up the pictures to make them really big. This joke would never work today because what kind of a dumb photographer doesn’t use digital?

Hey Dude is a show that if you missed it when it was originally on, you didn’t really miss much. Stick with Salute Your Shorts instead.