The Girls in the Band

The Girls in the Band is the 13th episode of both the series and the first season. It aired on Teletoon in Canada on February 27, 2005. It later premiered on Nickelodeon in the United States on December 18, 2005, and later on Cartoon Network on November 4, 2008. DawgToy, Jen and Caitlin's favorite boy band, comes to the mall to do auditions for a part in their next video. Meanwhile, Jonesy gets a job as Pokey the Panda after the usual wearer of the costume is injured by Caitlin's bad dance moves.

Main Plot
The friends are walking through the mall while Jonesy complains about his recent lack of job opportunities when Jen and Caitlin suddenly start singing along to a song they're listening to through headphones. The rest of the group is annoyed by the singing but glad for the headphones, as the band Caitlin and Jen are listening to is DawgToy, a boy band that none of the guys or Nikki like. Caitlin and Jen do like the band, however, and are offended by their friends proclamations that DawgToy sucks. To prove her fandom, Caitlin starts dancing as the group nears the escalators.

When Caitlin does this, disaster strikes, as an errant move by her turns into a hip check that sends Pokey the Panda sprawling down an escalator. While the initial reaction of the friends is shock, Wyatt soon spies an opportunity, as Pokey's misfortune could just be Jonesy's good fortune since it opened up a job for Jonesy as a replacement Pokey. Jonesy is initially heavily against such an idea, but when his friends point out that it's the only way he'll make money since they're refusing to lend to him any more, Jonesy starts to seriously consider becoming a panda.

Later that day, Caitlin is shopping at the Khaki Barn when she gets a call from Jen informing her that DawgToy is coming to the mall to do a video shoot, and that the band is casting a girl to be in the video with them. Caitlin is sent into a tizzy by this news, and soon she and Jen are both getting ready to audition despite their friends mockery. However, Jen and Caitlin want moral support, so they drag Nikki along with them for support.

At the auditions, Caitlin does horribly and Jen does well, eventually being chosen as the last girl standing. Fate intercedes at that moment, however, as a sneeze from Nikki sends her nose ring caroming around the room before it finally lands on the stage. When Nikki goes up to get her ring, an executive present at the show points out that Nikki has the look that they want in the video. When Jen tries to push Nikki off of the stage and along the way insults her friend, Nikki angrily decides to prove her mettle and performs the dance steps perfectly. This leads to Nikki being named the DawgToy video girl and to Jen gritting her teeth in envious anger.

Jen spends the rest of the day ranting about how she feels as though she's been betrayed by Nikki to her friends. When Nikki walks up and hears Jen ranting, she angrily confronts Jen, who refuses to back down and insults Nikki further. When Jen does this, Nikki reveals that she was going to give Jen the spot in the video, but now she doesn't feel like doing so anymore. This upsets Jen, and when she sees Nikki practicing the moves before the video shoot but seemingly not caring about DawgToy, she decides to go talk to Nikki and brings Caitlin along for backup.

They find Nikki in the Khaki Barn. However, Nikki is unwilling to listen to Jen's jealous accusations, and moves to leave. When she swings her backpack over her shoulder, though, a rip develops in the bottom, and the bag tears, revealing that Nikki has been hoarding a bunch of DawgToy memorabilia inside of it. Upon seeing all the merch, Jen and Caitlin realize that Nikki's just as much of a DawgToy-fangirl as they are (if anything, she's even more obsessed with the band than either of them are) and figure that this is the real reason why she didn't want to give up being in the music video. Nikki apologizes to Jen and Caitlin for not telling them sooner, admitting that she's always felt really embarrassed about liking DawgToy. Ultimately, Jen and Nikki patch things up and Nikki promises to bring her and Caitlin backstage after the video shoot ends so they can meet the band members in person.

The shoot goes well, and soon Jen and Caitlin are backstage with Jason and John. Nikki, meanwhile, gets Jason to sign her Jason doll, much to her pleasure. However, when Nikki meets the rest of her friends outside of the shoot, Wyatt notices the doll and snatches it, whereupon he reads the autograph and realizes that Nikki is just as much of a DawgToy fan as Jen and Caitlin.

Sub-Plot: Jonesy the Panda
Jonesy ends up deciding to accept the job, and soon he is dressed in the panda costume and dealing with the horrors that come with it: the suit smells, little kids keep bugging him, and he doesn't look cool at all. However, when he and his friends meet in the back room of Spin This, he takes the opportunity to point out that Wyatt is too uptight and can't loosen up. Upon hearing this, Wyatt decides to prove Jonesy wrong and grabs the panda suit in order to do so.

Wyatt's trick is to use Pokey the Panda to pull apart Jason and Joanie and kiss Joanie deeply. After this, Jonesy comes to a realization: since the panda suit stands up on its own, he can just leave it leaning against a wall and do other stuff and nobody will be the wiser. Jude, meanwhile, figures out that Pokey makes great skate padding, and uses the panda suit to conquer the escalators.

This last one draws the attention and ire of Ron, and he proceeds to chase Pokey around the mall. While Jonesy is always able to escape from the mall cop, his misdeeds catch up with him, as he gets fired for being a bad role model for kids. Jonesy isn't too broken up about the loss of his job, however, as he's made some money and will probably get another job the next day.

Quotes
(Caitlin's bad dancing knocks the bear down an escalator.) Jonesy: That was awesome! Caitlin: I can't believe I just did that! Nikki: (shocked) You took out Pokey the Panda. Jonesy: Way worse, man. Wyatt: What's that supposed to mean? Jonesy: Man, your butt's so uptight, you won't even use the food court washroom. I don't think we'll be hearing from it today. Jude: No worries. Allow me. (He farts.) Nikki: (behind Jen) Ahem! Kirsten: No, she's like a Dawgtoy groupie! Nikki: Stop! It's too humiliating! Caitlin: Admit it! You love Dawgtoy!
 * Pokey the Panda: Okay kids, watch this!
 * Jude: Well how do you know who's really beneath that fluffy costume? It could be, like, a mass murderer! Or my dad. Spying on me. Or maybe even one of our friends in deep cover. (counting them) One...two...three...four...five...six. Whew! It's not one of us.
 * Nikki: This dress is so boring, I'm falling asleep just looking at it.
 * Wyatt: C'mon, this can't be worse than when you were a Mountain Maid at Lederhosen Larry's.
 * Jude: Oh holy underpants, what are these?
 * Jonesy: At least we don't have to worry about a third fart from Wyatt.
 * Jude: (breaking the fourth wall) The stunts you're about to see are performed by professionals. For your safety, and the protection of those around you, Pokey insists that you do not attempt any of what you're about to see.
 * Jen: How could Nikki do this to me? It's just so insensitive. Besides, everyone knows she's just going to embarrass herself up there.
 * Jude: (skateboarding in the Pokey costume) Prepare for panda domination!
 * Jen: You're a closet Dawgtoy fan!
 * Ron: Stop it right there, panda scum! Nobody jumps in this soldier's fountain and gets away with it!
 * Jonesy: Well, well, welly well well!

Trivia
Reason for firing: He was being a bad role model to the kids and was just generally being a bad influence.
 * Jonesy's job: Pokey the Panda
 * Running Gags:
 * Girls screaming over DawgToy.
 * Someone, mainly men, saying that DawgToy sucks.
 * In one scene, Jude talks to the viewers and warns them to not attempt the stunts they're about to do as Pokey the Panda. This is one of the few instances of a character breaking the fourth wall.

Errors

 * When Kirsten labels Nikki as a DawgToy groupie, Caitlin is in front of her, but after Nikki yells, Caitlin is now next to Nikki and further from Kirsten.

Episode connections

 * The Petty Crime Records executive, who first appeared in the episode "Idol Time at the Mall", makes another appearance in this episode, albeit with a different voice.
 * Kyle Donaldson, who first appeared in the episode "The Sushi Connection", appears in this episode carrying a spotlight and remarks Caitlin's poor audition.

Cultural references

 * The episode name is a play on the phrase "The boys in the band."
 * DawgToy is a parody of boy bands such as "NSYNC" and the "Backstreet Boys."

Video
This clip was provided by Retro Run on YouTube.