Split Ends

Liz and Mandy aren't speaking - but when flattering scouts from the Empirical Modeling Agency sign them both up at the mall, the feuding former best friends land in competition for the same shampoo commercial. Liz wins the part, then discovers she must play a girl with awful, greasy hair... so she quits on the spot, spitefully telling the crew that Mandy is the perfect ugly-hair girl. Mandy, none the wiser, takes the job, becomes a hit at school, and earns a grand total of one dollar and eighty-seven cents after the agency's endless fees. Believing Liz got her the job out of kindness, Mandy makes peace - until Jared, working the case undercover, plays back a recording of Liz's cruel words. Can the friendship survive the truth? When Liz shows up and confesses everything, the girls decide a friend beats a grudge, and together with Jared they set out to warn the agency's next fresh faces.

Found on No Way Out Album 42 · 12 episodes

The run See every episode

0538 Stubborn Streaks When honesty gets uncomfortable, a young critic must review her ex-best friend's play while Bernard the window washer refuses to believe his famously reliable work is slipping.

0539 Called on in Class Convinced that a humiliating family curse of stage fright runs in his blood, Trent DeWhite spends one agonizing Friday afternoon plotting every possible escape from giving his oral report.

0540 The Girl in the Sink When a mysterious traveling laborer arrives at his grandfather's farm, young Bernard must decide whether his gentle new friend is an angel - just as a frightened town turns against the stranger.

0541 Bernard and Saul After losing a student-council election to a more popular classmate, a bitter Trent hears Bernard tell the story of King Saul, a leader whose jealousy threatened to consume everything he had.

0542 Eggshells After canceling her engagement, Connie comes home ready to move on with her life - but the people who love her most can't stop treating her like she's about to break.

0543 Nothing But the Half Truth When easygoing Wooton Bassett agrees to stand in for his identical twin at a high-stakes business meeting, his promise to just smile and nod proves harder to keep than anyone expected.

0544 Split Ends A modeling agency's flattering scouts pull two feuding former best friends into a head-to-head audition for a shampoo commercial.

0545 Somethings Got to Change A beloved carnival-master's hour-long commute forces his family to weigh the home they love against the community that needs him.

0546 No Way Out Whit awakens injured in a hidden room with no door, held by a strange, childlike man who won't explain how either of them got there - while his son races to trace a garbled cry for help.

0547 No Way In When a missing friend's abandoned car points to the Washingtons' new house, a search uncovers hidden passages - and secrets the old home was built to keep.

0548 Sounds Like a Mystery When a priceless Statue of Liberty model vanishes from Whit's exhibit and suspicion falls on Nick, an experimental audio recording system at Whit's End may hold the clues to the real thief.

0549 Think on These Things When two boys discover a machine that can turn homework into thrilling adventures, their shortcuts inside it start reshaping who they are outside it.

0550 Fairy Tal-e-vision Kids' Radio imagines what television would look like in fairy-tale land, where nursery-rhyme characters' news flashes, courtroom dramas, and commercials reveal how one person's bad choices ripple out to everyone around them.

Featured characters

Minor characters & crew 4 more roles

4 supporting roles

Commercial Narrator John Fornof Kristyn Actor Unknown Genevieve Kat Cressida Ollie Ari Ross

Made by

Chris Anthony Host Kathy Buchanan Writer Marshal Younger Writer · Director · Producer Bob Luttrell Sound Designer · Producer Bob Hoose Producer Paul McCusker Executive Producer

The story

Read the full synopsis 2 min

While shopping with Jared, Liz encounters Ollie and Genevieve, scouts from the Empirical Modeling Agency. They praise her face and say she may have a future on television. Jared warns that the offer may be a scam, but his insults about Liz's appearance only make her more determined to accept their card.

Elsewhere in the same mall, Connie tries to persuade Mandy to stop hiding from Liz and repair their broken friendship. Before she succeeds, the same scouts approach Mandy and praise her smile, hair, and perfectly even nostrils while bluntly criticizing Connie. Mandy also joins the agency.

Liz and Mandy are startled to meet at their first modeling session. Genevieve announces that an advertising company needs a girl for a Hurrah Hair commercial and will choose between them. Both insist that their friendship will not interfere, even though their resentment immediately turns the audition into another competition.

Jared has also joined the agency because the scouts admire his forehead. He still suspects they are dishonest and treats the job as an undercover investigation. For the moment, however, he becomes the male performer in the shampoo advertisement.

Liz wins the audition. Mandy assumes her former friend will use the success to humiliate her, and Liz's attempt to offer sympathy only causes another argument. Connie urges Mandy to stop interpreting every action as an attack.

At the shoot, the stylists make Liz's hair greasy and stringy. She learns that she must play a girl with awful hair who likes Jared, receives shampoo advice from him, and transforms after using the product. Afraid that everyone at school will laugh at her, Liz refuses to continue despite the signed agreement.

When the crew demands an immediate replacement, Liz points them toward Mandy at Whit's End. She cruelly calls Mandy a perfect ugly-hair girl whose appearance may need no preparation. Mandy knows none of that and gladly steps into the commercial, which soon becomes popular among her classmates.

The glamour proves less impressive behind the scenes. Fees, insurance, cosmetics, hairdressing, and broken props reduce Mandy's pay to one dollar and eighty-seven cents. The agency replaces her with a new performer almost immediately because advertisers always want a fresh face.

Ollie tells Mandy that Liz recommended her for the original part. Mistaking Liz's motive for generosity, Mandy visits her and asks why she acted like a friend after being treated badly. Both girls realize that their fight over Seth was never worth losing a best friend. They apologize and spend a happy afternoon together as if the feud never happened.

Jared's hidden recording then reveals Liz's insulting words at the commercial shoot. Mandy feels betrayed again, but Jared reminds her that forgiveness is not a reward someone earns. Their renewed friendship has real value even though Liz's reason for giving her the job was wrong.

Before Mandy can confront her, Liz arrives voluntarily and tells the entire truth. She admits that she passed the role to Mandy only because she was embarrassed to perform it herself. Mandy remains angry, but both decide they would rather keep a friend than a grudge. Reconciled honestly this time, Liz, Mandy, and Jared follow Ollie and Genevieve through the mall and warn new recruits about the agency's low pay and disposable treatment of its models.