Shivoncarla

ANTM - SEASON EIGHT

By looking less repugnant than the others, it comes off looking almost attractive.

BOY MEETS WORLD - SEASON ONE

Plays with an all too rapid-fire, rat-tat-tat pace that tramples humor in its forward rush...Quite so, the jokes come at breakneck speed and are not very amusing. Moreover, there is something about this series that seems disingenuous, owing more to tired situation comedy convention than to freshly crafting a view of the American family within the sitcom context.

THAT'S SO RAVEN - SEASON FOUR

That's so Raven is the first (and unfortunately, last) show that had a strong, black, female main character that promoted what she should do - she was the prefect role model. She could see the future, which makes for klutzy situations. Overall, she's a conscientious teen who's very involved with her family and friends. Raven's focus, like many teens, is on clothes, shopping, and boys, but not excessively. A lovely, child-friendly show.

EVEN STEVENS - SEASON THREE

Tween-friendly hit Disney comedy, for laughs and lessons.

LIZZIE MCGUIRE - SEASON TWO

No one will claim that the pre-teen market is saturated with movies and shows for girls, thus Lizzie McGuire is a welcome addition that fills the bill. The right target audience will love it.

ONE ON ONE - SEASON FIVE

The show started off so well, I wouldn't exactly call it a 'family' show but it is defiantly a coming-of-age as it explains everything a young woman has to go through in life while dealing with a out of the ordinary home situation. However, it is a shame that it took such as dramatic turn in the last few seasons as it just went downhill from there.

KYLE XY - SEASON THREE

Kyle XY was the first successful original show on ABC family. Featuring cute boys, which played right into their key demographic of teenage girls. Kyle woke up having no memory, like some big adorable baby. Not wanting the show to be some cutesy fucked up version of the Brady Bunch, the producers actually gave the show a complicated storyline, which made it much better, but also led to it's downfall. The series starts when Kyle wakes up naked in the woods outside of Seattle. He has no memory and doesn't know how to do anything. He's quickly put into a group home, as a John Doe, where he gains the attention and admiration of the local psychologist, Nicole Trager (Marguerite MacIntyre). Trager knows that Kyle will never survive in that environment and decides to foster him. Once at the Trager house, Kyle doesn't need to just learn the basics of survival, but also the social norms associated with being part of a family. The series starts out with Kyle as a clean slate, having to learn everything from eating to using the bathroom, and to me this was the worst part of the show. It did however give the stations key demographic exactly what it demanded and lead to these episodes being the networks highest rated to date. Wanting to show off Kyle's abilities and not wanting him to be some loveable moron, the writers shifted the focus to Kyle's extraordinary abilities and how he uses them to try and find out who he is and where he came from. That's the point where the show started to get interesting to me and of course the point where the ratings started to decline. Show some trendy teenage girls, a bunch of cute boys being adorable and you've got high ratings, but show those same boys as part of a global conspiracy, that makes you think, and those girls want nothing to do with it. Half way through the first season, Kyle XY went from a lame family show to a terrific science fiction drama. Matt Dallas stars as Kyle and he has a lot going for him. Dallas is good looking, athletic, and intelligent, unfortunately he's not a very good actor and many times seemed like some emotionless robot, who was reading lines from a cue card. Thankfully the family and friends surrounding him were far better actors than he was. The Trager family is a terrific mix of wit and emotion that is centered on Kyle, but doesn't focus solely on him. There is a terrific storyline featuring the daughter Lori's (April Matson) entrance into sexual activity with her boyfriend Declin (Chris Olivero), who may be the single most talented person on this cast. The brother Josh (Jean-Luc Bilodeau), gives much needed comic relief to the show, while teaching Kyle the things every teenaged boy needs to know. Kyle XY was a magically complex show that blended a great science fiction story with comedy and family drama, unfortunately it was on the wrong network. A show like this could have continued to grow and come out of nowhere to be a mix of the X-Files and 90210, that appealed to a huge audience, instead, it was geared toward teenage girls who just didn't want to think. The show was designed for a large audience on a network that has a very limited demographic. Ultimately the cute boys and the occasional comedy just wasn't enough to keep them interested and the show was canceled after 3 seasons. In my opinion this show was just starting to hit it's stride and should it have been on a network that appealed to a larger audience, it would probably still be on the air today.

OUR GIRL - SEASON ONE

This was diabolical... Did writers bother to consult with a single soldier with operational experience of Afghanistan (past or present)? This an utterly ridiculous portrayal of both the conflict but more importantly the British army. It was a thoroughly insulting representation of of British soldiers and the writers/BBC should be ashamed.

THE ORIGINALS - SEASON ONE

The Originals should give us some idea of just how deep the current teenage affection for vampire stories goes. If it can support a show this ludicrously written and terribly cast, it's deeper than most adults can fathom.

HALF AND HALF - SEASON THREE

Each role is extreme and different, the scenes are random so you can't really expect what's going to happen next until you watch, and the show itself is a breath of fresh air. Just a great comedy...