I've been reading some of the other comments, and I must say I'm appalled. Maybe I'm too picky in that if I take an hour of my life to watch a TV show I want it to be good, but I'm astounded that there hasn't been a single bad review for this show. It's heartwrenchingly terrible. I began watching at the start of the season, excited because the premise was interesting and I loved Chad Michael Murray as Tristan on Gilmore Girls. The first few episodes were pretty good, giving us all the background and "bringing us up to date" with what's going on. Lucas and Nathan share a father, Lucas liked Payton but she's dating Nathan, etc etc etc. Teenage drama. As the show wore on, however, it began to do exactly that: wear. Clichés abound, the dialogue is forced, the characters contrived. The acting is convincing, but so often the poor players are forced to deliver lines that are simply ridiculous, and no amount of good acting can distract from that fact. There isn't a single character who is the same from episode to episode. Let's break it down: Lucas: the everyman women dream of, athletic, intelligent, well-read, attractive. Unfortunately, he has about as much depth as your average mud puddle. (Plus Murray looks stupid with that little goatee he's adopted.) Nathan: the guy you love to hate. He's shallow, cruel, thoughtless. Oh wait, no, he's just misunderstood! It's all Dan's fault, Nathan's actually just a sweet guy trying to find his way. Right. Dan: irredeemably evil...until they try to redeem him. He hasn't a single good quality aside from a handsome face, and we're left to wonder how two intelligent, discerning women were taken in by him to the extent of either having his child or marrying him. Karen: the mom every teen wants, understanding and cool. That's about it. Deb: nice, friendly, intelligent. Never would have married someone like Dan. Has secrets in her past that are supposed to be a big deal, but really not so much. Keith: the downtrodden older brother, in the shadow of his successful and better-looking younger sibling. Poor Keith. You actually do feel sorry for him. Payton: the classic misunderstood high school cheerleader. She's only doing it because she has to, but she really hates the popularity and is oh-so-actractively hardcore. Um, no? Brooke: can we get any more cliché? Slutty, drunken, gorgeous cheerleader with absentee parents. But she's a good friend. And she has hidden depths. Right? They are depths, aren't they? Haley: I actually like her, for the most part. Except she also is tragically cliché: studious nerd-type who happens to be beautiful, has all the underdogs rooting for her to show the popular kids up and get with jock Nathan. In the most recent episode - and this shouldn't be a spoiler, since it aired last night - it is revealed that Brooke is pregnant. The reactions in my apartment were as follows: ME: *bursts out laughing* ROOMMATES: "We called it! We totally called it!" *also laughing* Am I mistaken, or should this have elicited gasps of dismay instead? Unfortunately, thanks to a season-worth of trying to pack in every possible dramatic ploy known to man, this latest tidbit was merely ridiculous. There isn't a shread of realism in the entire plot. How, if they've all lived in the same town for sixteen years, can these confrontations between Lucas, Nathan, Dan, and Carol not have happened sooner? Revelations are made to the characters that would have been known from the cradle. I have yet to see an episode that fools me into thinking this is anything but a bad TV show. It doesn't suck you in or engage you. It's the worst kind of soap opera, teenybopper-style. There are no onion characters; in fact, I can't think of one that has even as many layers as a parfait. Why do I continue to watch? Not sure. I guess I'm hoping that it will eventually prove itself worth the beginning hype, but so far it's become absolutely painful to watch. I can only hope that the WB puts us all out of our misery and cancels the silly thing. Put the actors in something more worthy of them.
Reviews
2 Reviews
The Best Two Years
(2004)
It was wonderful.
28 February 2004
I was eager to see this film, and when my roommate and I finally did we were not disappointed. Unlike some other Mormon films - the RM and Single's Ward, specifically - this was a movie with a message. It was absolutely hilarious, don't get me wrong, but it was the kind of humour that transcended Mormon culture: you don't have to be LDS to get it. There were parts of it during which I was literally in tears, it was so funny. There were also, however, parts where I was in tears for because I was moved. Watching the spiritual reawakening of Elder Rogers was wonderful, and by no means over-done or ridiculous. And while Kirby Heyborne has been cast in almost every Mormon film made, I was pleasantly surprised by his performance. His character was radically different from his previous characters, and he played it very well. Altogether I loved this movie, and will undoubtedly see it again. It was wonderful.
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