Episode 321: Charlene and Her Amazing Humans

Feeling ignored by her family, Charlene becomes an instant celebrity after winning her school talent show with trained cavelings (humans) she found in the forest. Charlene gets an agent and is booked on a top variety show. Consumed by her new status and pushed by her agent, Charlene employs inhuman tactics to get her cavelings to perform dangerous tricks. On show night, Charlene realizes the error of her ways and, feeling guilty, she refuses to go on with the show and gives an impassioned speech about respect and family. Charlene's speech prompts Earl and Fran to realize their error in ignoring their daughter.
==Story==
Charlene Sinclair tries to tell her parents that she is participating in the school talent show, but they turn their attention towards the Baby, who is becoming good at playing poker, and Robbie, who won first place in a meat-themed speech competition (which was sponsored by the meat factory). Charlene goes to the woods, talking to Mindy about how her family has been ignoring her lately. They find a caveling who has her foot caught in a bear trap, and after rescuing her, Charlene finds two other cavelings. Charlene tries to get them to go away, but they imitate her commands, and she decides to put them in the talent show.
At the talent show, Robbie gets booed off-stage, but Charlene amazes the audience with her cavelings' tricks. She wins, her parents are amazed (while Robbie is jealous), and a booking agent, Hank Hibler, decides to represent her. He arranges for her to perform at a state fair the next day. Charlene, however, wants to let the cavelings have a day off to play, but after Earl and Fran support going to the state fair, she agrees to have them perform.
The cavelings only come in at second place, so Hank suggests that Charlene spice up the act. He suggests having them jump through a hoop that's on fire. Charlene says that she usually gives them cookies after they do tricks, and would need a lot of cookies for such a trick, so Hank suggests not feeding them until after showtime. A few days later, Robbie finds the kids hungry and, not knowing that Charlene was letting them starve, feeds them. Charlene gets mad at Robbie. Robbie admits that he was jealous at first but now she's gone too far.
It's time for the cavelings to perform their stunt. They jump through hoops of fire, but the audience isn't as impressed as expected. Hank suggests having them jump off a tall ladder and dive into a small pool of water. However, the caveling chosen to do the stunt gets scared and won't do it, not even for 20 cookies. Hank suggests shocking her into doing the trick, but Charlene decides to give up the act, telling the audience that they shouldn't mistreat cavelings. She takes them back to the wood. Robbie tells her that he was impressed with her speech, and Earl and Fran tell Charlene that she doesn't need to put on a show in order to get their attention. The cavelings are then reunited with their mother.
==Guest stars==
*Jeffrey Tambor (Hank Hibler),
*Ben Ganger, Alyssa McCraw, Tiffany Taubman (Cavelings)
==Notes==
*Taped on December 12, 1992
*Not counting the summer hold-over "Clip Show II," viewers would have to wait 13 months until ABC would air another new episode of the show.
*This is the last episode to feature Spike, who only has one line of dialogue.
==Seen on TV==
*Channel 63's leap to the Stars
==Video releases==
*Dinosaurs: The Complete Third and Fourth Seasons
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