Adventures in Odyssey Home Page

Fifteen Minutes

Album: 36: Danger Signals

Episode: 471

Lesson/Theme: The Folly of Fame

Bible Verse: Matthew 6; Isaiah 6:9

Characters: Alex, Bart, Mandy, Connie

Writer: Marshal Younger

Sound Designer: Bob Luttrell

Original Air Date: May 19, 2001

Last Air Date: November 2, 2009

Description:
The crowd waits anxiously as Alex takes aim. He makes his swing carefully and hits the ball. It rolls across the light green carpet....and goes in! If Alex gets a hole in one on number 18, he'll break the course record (that has stood for thirty years)! He takes aim once again, trying to ignore Nathaniel, who seems to only make him more nervous. He putts...it's in! He breaks the record! The crowd goes wild! Meanwhile, Connie and Mitch and Jack talk about Greg O'Neil, an Odyssey resident who once starred on a short-lived sitcom. Connie is excited that he's coming back to town and Mitch says he's auditioning for a Novacom show. Soon after, Greg arrives at Whit's End to a crowd of his fans. The kids beg him to say lines from his show, including his trademark "Exterminator" line. Later that day, a small crowd watches as the owner puts Alex's name up on the record board. The old record-holder, Bart Rathbone, is also there. Just as the ceremony commences, someone announces that Mandy Straussberg could break the record again. The crowd moves over to the course and...Mandy does it! She breaks Alex's record set just the day before! Back at Whit's End, Mitch and Connie talk about Greg's upcoming audition. Mitch says he doesn't think Greg was very good. In fact, he was awful. Connie says that Mitch will eat those words. Alex is depressed about losing his record. Maybe he can break the record again...maybe he needs a manager...maybe he needs...Bart Rathbone? Alex asks Bart to help him train to break the record again and Bart begins in earnest. After hard training Alex challenges Mandy to a re-match. Greg shows up at Whit's End. He's disappointed. He didn't get the part. After he leaves, Connie asks if Mitch had anything to do with the casting process. Mitch dodges the question and Connie storms out to see Mr. Dent, the producer. Mr. Dent affirms what Mitch said-Greg wasn't really a good actor. In fact, he hasn't really worked for over two years. Connie is confused and confronts Greg about it when he comes back to Whit's End. Greg says he had a hard time when his show got cancelled, but he's over it now. Back on the golf course, Mandy and Alex are both doing terribly. Neither one of them can break the record. Even Alex's manager, Bart, abandons him. Much later, Greg is walking to the bus station when he sees Alex. He sits and the two of them talk about the fickleness of fame. Just then, a woman comes by, saying that she knows the boys...they've been riding their bikes through her garden! When she wields a walking stick, the boys run for their lives, pleading their innocence.

Questions:
Do you think that Alex was really happy for Mandy when she broke the golf record? Why or why not? Why didn't Greg want to say anything about not working in Hollywood for two years? In Mark 9:35, Jesus says, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, the servant of all." How do you think that relates to fame?