So I started watching this literally as a joke because a YouTuber I watch reviewed the whole series. I was like, let's see how hilarious this silly little show is. And then I ended up binging the first 6 seasons in 2 days. The acting from more than half of the cast is... not good... but it kind of made them more endearing? Something about this little show reminded me of something I would have wanted to make as a kid when I was making movies with my friends, the drama is so simple, and feels like something preteens and teens would actually be dramatic about at that age. There's a realness to the plot that is generally wildly sensationalized on most tv shows. The fact that the majority of the actors were the actual age of the characters was wildly eye opening as a 33 year old woman. I watch so many tv dramas with high schoolers played by 22-32 year olds that I forget what it was ACTUALLY like at that age. Seeing 12 and 13 year olds, and then eventually 17 and 19 year olds dating was wild. I got overprotective of them like I was their mother lmao. "They're too young to be dating!!!!" And then I remember I started dating at 13 too. "Those kids can't be kissing!!!" And then I remember I was kissing boys at that age too. Some of the age gaps felt wild at first too, and then I remembered how completely normal that was in high school. At 18 I dated a 15 year old, at 16 I dated a 19 year old, at 19 I dated a 17 year old, it was completely normal. But they look so young! Made me feel so old to be responding in such a maternal way haha. But it was super cute watching these kids grow up.
I liked that the series tackled a lot of serious issues without shoving it down your throat and beating a dead horse like some tv shows do. Dating, kissing, breakups, divorces, marriage, friends moving away, friends moving back, feminism, conspiracies, LGBTQIA+, fake IDs, expulsion, suspension, parties, cheating, stealing, gambling, gangs, running away, PTSD, accidents, so much more, but it all felt like a normal human level of realness, which was honestly refreshing. It was also nice to not see them shy away from these issues like Disney and Nick do. They weren't afraid of offending conservatives.
The music/singing mixed in was... odd at times, but cute and fun at the same time.
The dancing was hilariously bad at times, but that felt really genuine and accurate to how my middle school and high school experience was.
The plot has a hilarious amount of holes in it and continuity errors up the wazoo, but I don't think kids would actually care about any of that lol.
Overall, it felt like a good show for preteens to watch, and those preteens growing into high schoolers probably enjoyed it too. Might be a little juvenile for some high schoolers, but at times it wasn't, so idk. I probably would have enjoyed it as a kid/teen too.
But it was a super cute show and had me choking up at times. I'm probably going to go follow all these kids/now adults on TikTok now lol.
I liked that the series tackled a lot of serious issues without shoving it down your throat and beating a dead horse like some tv shows do. Dating, kissing, breakups, divorces, marriage, friends moving away, friends moving back, feminism, conspiracies, LGBTQIA+, fake IDs, expulsion, suspension, parties, cheating, stealing, gambling, gangs, running away, PTSD, accidents, so much more, but it all felt like a normal human level of realness, which was honestly refreshing. It was also nice to not see them shy away from these issues like Disney and Nick do. They weren't afraid of offending conservatives.
The music/singing mixed in was... odd at times, but cute and fun at the same time.
The dancing was hilariously bad at times, but that felt really genuine and accurate to how my middle school and high school experience was.
The plot has a hilarious amount of holes in it and continuity errors up the wazoo, but I don't think kids would actually care about any of that lol.
Overall, it felt like a good show for preteens to watch, and those preteens growing into high schoolers probably enjoyed it too. Might be a little juvenile for some high schoolers, but at times it wasn't, so idk. I probably would have enjoyed it as a kid/teen too.
But it was a super cute show and had me choking up at times. I'm probably going to go follow all these kids/now adults on TikTok now lol.