The final made-for-TV movie of the calendar year 1981 (it was originally telecast on December 30), Senior Trip combines music, comedy and pathos to tell the story of a group of graduates from a staid Ohio high school. Though tightly chaperoned on their titular trip to New York City, the kids intend to cut loose and go crazy, or at least to pursue their hearts' desires (in fact, the only two students who actually want to do some sightseeing before returning home are treated like social pariahs). Among the principal characters are would-be business tyro, Roger (
Scott Baio); wannabe singer, David (
Randy Brooks); aspiring actress, Judy (Liz Callaway); budding artist, Jon (Jeffrey Marcus); and self-styled Lothario, Fred (James Carroll). It takes a few run-ins with the seamier denizens of the Big Apple to convince the teens that maybe the old high school wasn't so bad. Part of the film is an extended plug for the then-current Broadway smash, Sugar Babies, with
Mickey Rooney showing up as himself in one of the sequences. Buried among the minor players are two promising young actors named
Jason Alexander and
Robert Townsend. Senior Trip was a CBS presentation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide