So it’s that time where we don’t just reflect on the fact that it’s near the end of the year but that it’s 2019 which means next year three whole digits on the calendar change and people reflect their best of decade lists, even though the decade technically ends after 11:59 pm Dec 31 2020 so....
Also this is my first long post on phone, it’s the only practical way I’m gonna have the time and energy to do this anymore. But some features are gonna be limited because Blogspot/Blogger is hot garbage (like this weird bug that, if you try to apply text edits or formatting it defaults to the freakin' title bar) so...so now the like three of you know....
I’m starting the “decade” by rolling it back to 2009 since that’s a pretty important year for both networks (if you check out NickAndMore on Twitter - which I hope you do - the Google search metrics suggest 2009-2011 was the peak for both networks). This was also a good three years before I actually started watching either network so this is going to entirely be second hand info, or shows I watched as reruns after-the-fact (with the exceptions of shows still premiering when I watched of course, , but even those episodes were different from the first seasons for a few technical and creative reasons). Speaking of which, a big technical reason was HD - 2009 was when both networks more or less totally switched to 1080p.
But 2009-2011 was a huge watershed period for both networks - but let’s talk about what shows had been running up to that point first.
Disney Channel and Nickelodeon shows were very different, true, but I think more similar than people might realize. Phil of the Future, That’s So Raven and Cory in the House, along with Drake and Josh and Amanda Show has already left being solidly on the Dubya era, as great as most those shows still are today. Hannah Montana, Suite Life on Deck, Wizards of Waverly Place, and iCarly were such long-runners they started well in the era prior to HD and the latter two would even extend beyond the era covered here, albeit just barely.
I don’t think it’s easy to overstate how immensely important these shows were to the networks or even tween pop culture in general at the time, and to their credit I think few people do. But it’s important to realize how these shows changed, and how the shows that came after differed (and how those shows were influenced by newer shows of this era) but how they’re still influential today, maybe even more so.
But the fact is, these shows were solidly in the tween demo, smack dab in middle school. In fact I don’t think Hannah Montana and SLoD made any effort to grow from there at all - but we’re jumping ahead a bit. I’m not saying a 7th grade tweener show can’t be great - I’m literally talking about some now - but they’re very hard to take seriously from a “this culturally matters” standpoint. They were culturally *relevant* but relevance is fleeting. To *matter* is to be enduring, and endearing.
And HM can’t help but come off as cynical towards its tweener demo. Very much after school special plotlines, very white bread lessons on schoolyard crushes that deep down the afflicted lovers know has the permanence of a gnat - I’m sorry but while I do find the show legitimately entertaining and even good, I can’t blame people for giving this show such a cynically harsh reputation as it has. Likewise JONAS which was more or less a single cam gender swap version but...again a little ahead of ourselves.
And SLoD was...well.... It’s early episodes carried over a charm that ZaC had, particularly Monster Mash(?) and International Date Line are ones that stick out. But in the final season they went all A.N.T.Farm and doubled down on tweener lowest common denominator humor.
WoWP and iCarly on the other hand grew with their audiences and screwed real street cred in the process. I’m not saying actual *teen* shows had it any easier getting “does this culturally matter” recognition, but these two shows made it seem like it. I mean, Emma Stone at the height of Emma Stone. Just showing up randomly more or less just to claim she’s on iCarly. And just to be clear this wasn’t a stunt *Emma Stone legit just wanted to be on iCarly.* And Shakira on WoWP, along with Jeff Garlin (including not just with Shakira but as it turns out actually as Shakira), Rob Reiner, I want to say Dwayne Johnson maybe? All of this from a show apparently on the bubble right after its first season and derided as just cashing in on Harry Potter mania.
Because both those shows bothered to grow, in more ways than one. They transitioned from mid tweener at best to late tweener/early high school and even into teens and saw major success and are fondly remembered to this day a decade later. And this would be hugely influential on shows just coming out this period and into the next, although I don’t know if you can really say which had influence over what.
But it was clear Disney Channel and Nickelodeon were gonna go upmarket and up-age.
For Disney Channel it was hedging bets to still have massive middle tweener appeal and split the difference with more overall family appeal too. Sonny With a Chance (the network’s first multi cam show to be shot and aired in HD from the first episode) was still very much a tweener show at heart and because of circumstance didn’t get an opportunity to grow. Shake it Up likewise - but it *did* have a Chance (that’s intentional capitalization because I’m calling back to Sonny...oh nevermind). Plus it’s very premise - not so much the song and dance but the two stars as friends, and the diverse, hip ensemble built around them even up to Caroline “wtf that’s actually her name/wtf she actually works for Trump now” Sunshine - has massive growth potential in terms of demo age. But also not without controversy - even from Demi Lovato who had just barely left the network at that point.
Good Luck Charlie would have no trouble avoiding that controversy, practically by design. An immensely charming and endearing show, it remains to this day one of my most favorite shows period, and even most important. Arguably more of a throwback to the family programs that defined ABC’s TGIF block and Wednesday night in the 90s, the show had solid writing to appeal to all ages and compared to practically all else was well-grounded almost to the point of, again, charm. GLC was a celebration of family and just being a normal teenage girl - a multi cam Lizzie McGuire almost a decade later, or an updated Disney Channel Clarissa Knows Best some two decades later. It was almost groundbreaking for how relatable it was - and while it doesn’t have the diversity sensibilities of today it still stands true (and while we do have similar shows with better representation we’re still lacking that age and maturity Bridgit Mendler brought to her role, exuding not only that relatability but that whole, I’m Really A Cool Girl vibe - but we’re jumping *way* ahead into the decade now with Sydney to the Max and a return to going “young-market”).
Nickelodeon, on the other hand, wasn’t going to waste time with super-broad appeal. They dominated in the two decades prior by being super focused towards boys - but moreover by appealing to their inflated sense of maturity - and at the start of the 2010s they were determined to repeat history with being the go-to network for older tween and teen girls with iCarly’s Dan Schneider showing the way.
Dan Schneider - for all his faults, and not the least of which the allegations against him, something that as my long time readers (all three of you) know I insist on making a big deal of - well, you have to say, he had an insanely uncanny knack of understanding cool at this time. I mean, he outright *mastered* it. iCarly was leading the way after all - but it paled in comparison to the distaff counterpart to his own Drake and Josh, Zoey 101. Now mostly remembered for controversies specific to Jamie Lynn Spears which today are painfully unfair and unwarranted, this was Nickelodeon’s perfect answer to Good Luck Charlie even before Good Luck Charlie. Removing the parents entirely, the show concentrated on “relatability through coolness.” Zoey was relatable because despite being forced to endure through such antics not so much zany as outright insane, and even being socially disadvantaged, Zoey managed to do so while being just so damn cool.
Schneider doubled down on this with his next show as Zoey 101 bowed out near the beginning of this era, with what could arguably be considered his crown jewel - a show with its title stylized as VicTORious. Practically a John Hughes flick perfectly updated for 2010 as a multi cam comedy on basic cable, the show utterly oozed cool. Tori Vega is probably one of the most relatable characters in the history of either network for the same reasons Zoey had been, but supercharged - the plots were zanier and sometimes the whole world was against her, and rarely did she ever totally win, but even drenched in rain, trapped in a parade float or dragged by dogs she and her diverse entourage of friends always came off as the coolest teens on the planet. Schneider just got it.
Not just Schneider, it turns out. True Jackson, VP (a show I just literally started watching) - the show that launched Keke Palmer’s career - also exuded and oozed cool effortlessly. Effectively a mini-me-ized version of the late 90s/early 2000s solidly adult sitcom Just Shoot Me (incidentally a fave of mine back in the day - man I’m old) but with a diverse cast of teens, it leveraged its actors and setting to make the world seem much, much cooler than it actually is.
And of course you can't forget about animation - although Phineas and Ferb (premiered back in 2007) and SpongeBob Squarepants (which dates back to the prior millennium) had dominated Disney Channel and Nickelodeon, respectively, as far as animation goes - something that P&F would continue to do so well beyond this era and SpongeBob...well, quite possibly forever, practically. That said I cannot underemphasize their impact on both networks or the wider pop culture - there's a reason why SpongeBob has lasted so long, with at least three theatrical movies and a freakin' musical. And Phineas and Ferb ended up being a big reason why I even ended up watching either network in the first place, so I owe it quite a hefty piece of personal nostalgia. We also can't forget Nickelodeon's Avatar: The Last Airbender - arguably something that should've been more influential than it already had been. Unfortunately I ended up missing The Last Airbender boat - but don't worry, I'll have more things to say in the next era to be covered.
When examining the shows from Disney Channel and Nickelodeon from this era, there’s a lot to consider - especially since this is arguably the most influential era of either network’s entire histories, or at least in relevance to today’s live-action programming. Hannah Montana has raw popularity to be a cultural force, WoWP, SiU and GLC carried a lot of force deep into the decade and iCarly showed that these networks can be cool even to an older demo - much, much older in fact - and again we can't forget the raw popularity and brilliance of Phineas and Ferb and, yes, SpongeBob (and at least for cartoons P&F far away takes my vote for this era)...but if we’re determining the greatest of this era, and possibly the whole decade, I think it’s going to have to be VicTORious. Being a sort of middle child, and by the end of its run being seen as something of an already bygone era with some behind the scenes issues that have only now come to light, it wasn’t as influential as iCarly or the shows at the crosstown rival, but to this day it still feels the coolest, the freshest and even the most relatable. A very close second, and taking first for Disney Channel is Good Luck Charlie, but I can’t understate how huge almost any of these shows were back then - or even today.
Next time we’ll look at 2011-2014 and both networks’ extended foray into an expanded, older demographic (while still being tween-friendly, if not relapsing into focus) with A.N.T. Farm, JESSIE, Austin & Ally, Dog With a Blog, and Liv and Maddie on Disney Channel and, let's face it, the network's first real serious cartoon of the decade, Gravity Falls. And on Nickelodeon we'll be looking at the short-lived School of Rock, Sam & Cat...well, 2011-2014 ended up being a very rocky period for Nickelodeon for reasons arguably largely self-inflicted (if you're wondering why people had a problem with Cyma...). As well as their few standout huge successes, namely TMNT, Korra, Big Time Rush...umm, that's pretty much it. And we'll be looking at DisneyXD for the first time with Kickin' It, Pair of Kings and Lab Rats.
Wednesday, November 20, 2019
Sunday, October 6, 2019
All-In-One Roundup of Disappointing Shows Too Disappointing for Me to Watch (Big City Greens; Pup Academy; Hunter Street S3; the literal entirety of whatever Marvel shows they're showing on Disney XD but Spider-Man especially; Finding Dory)
In lieu of pulling a quote from any episode of any of these shows/movies, I think it'd be more appropriate and illustrative if I leave a certain image here instead....
It's mid-late evening in early October, on a Sunday no less; I am cold, I am bored, Disney Channel is showing endless reruns, I have a huge migraine and in a misguided effort to self-cure said migraine, I am drunk.
So it's time to do a mass run-down of shows I find disappointing!
Big City Greens
What is it? The most obnoxious show on mainline Disney Channel right now. Pretty much their version of Spongebob
Where did it air? Umm...Disney Channel.
Who stars in it? Some voice actors? I dunno I have a headache and I am drunk.
Why are we reviewing this? I dunno, I have a headache and I am drunk.
So Spongey444, the man behind the excellent blog (except when he reviews Big City Greens), apparently likes this show.
After what has to be well into its second season now...yeah I've come to the conclusion that I can't stand it.
People Watching is the only episode of the entire series I like, probably because it speaks directly to my writing instincts. Other than that...it's about a insufferable brat and some periphery of his other family (who also have a tendency to act like brats, adults included if not especially), and that's it, as far as I'm concerned.
When I say that this is Disney Channel's Spongebob, I really mean it. For starters it totally dominates the schedule; you turn on your TV, especially during daytime hours and there's a damn good chance Disney Channel will have BCG. But it also seems to have basically the same style of humor. I can't really get into Spongebob - more than anything I honestly find it extremely boring. And honestly, all the brattiness of the main characters aside, I also find BCG to be...fundamentally boring.
Yet at the same time this show is clearly popular, and there's no doubt about Spongebob's popularity. It has a Broadway musical show, for crying out loud, something I actually want to see (and just a bit of trivia, it has Thunderman's Mrs. Wong as...is it Karen? Eh I don't remember which character she plays whatever. But I feel Karen is a damn good guess. She just strikes me as the type of person you'd cast as Karen if you're gonna cast her in a Spongebob musical). But...I just can't get into it.
That isn't to say there aren't episodes I don't like. I actually really liked the Spongebob anniversary special, at least the parts above water (the party planning parts felt unnecessary and tacked on just to make the episode an extended special). In fact there's a ton of episodes I like. I don't think I watched a boat driving episode with Mrs. Pufferfish I didn't like, that's when the show shows its strengths. And Mr. Krabs-centric episodes, probably because IRL my personality has a dangerously close resemblance to Mr. Krabs (greed is a hellava sin, yo). But say...6 times out of 10, I just find myself being bored and really regretting, at the very least, not watching another network.
Fortunately for Nickelodeon, chances are Disney Channel's counter-programming is probably BCG which if you don't get it by now, I think is even worse. It's going to boil down to a personal taste thing, and clearly I am in an extreme minority here - and because of that it's hard for me to quantify any objective reasons why I don't like it - but I'm just going to have to say, I don't like it. 9 times out of 10, if I do have it on, it's just to act as background noise when I'm doing something and I just don't want a completely quiet house, and at least I can rely on Disney Channel to be inoffensive as background noise, BCG included (and during the hours when I want this, it's almost always a toss-up between this and Spongebob, and BCG usually wins if only because, only being in its second season, it does come off as fresher).
Series Grade: C-. Keep in mind this is extremely subjective and, very clearly, I'm in a slim minority here.
Series MVP: *shrug* I dunno, I don't care. H Jon Benjamin, because H Jon Benjamin (and I'm claiming this as legitimate because I swear he's in the Cricket Calls shorts, uncredited.
BTW I actually love the Cricket Calls shorts. Go figure).
Hunter Street
What is it? Single-Cam 24-minute format KidCom with some drama trappings, produced as English-language programming with largely native English speakers (either American or British, for the most part) but by a Dutch studio, on location in the Netherlands. Go figure.
Where did it air? Haha, that's actually the interesting part. But the simple answer is Nickelodeon (the Dutch studio that produces it in the first place literally is Nickelodeon Netherlands). But although it was originally scheduled to air on mainline Nickelodeon...it got booted to TeenNick (which is available in HD in select parts of Burbank near where most Nickelodeon's live-action shows are produced and...absolutely nowhere else) even before the scheduled season premiere (which means for 99.98% of all viewers it's possible to view it in HD only through Nickelodeon's super-annoying app).
And after going through this experience, I can see why.
Who stars in it? Although most of the actors are actually American citizens with a few select British ones (like Jake's actor, most notably)...well let's face it you're not going to get many recognizable names in a production like this, even by typical Nickelodeon/Disney Channel KidCom standards.S3
So yeah. Hunter Street wasn't exactly perfect to begin with but at least it was passable entertainment. I gave S1 a C+. S2 was...worse in some areas, but better than others (the addition of Jake was a pretty good plus, he's a legit good actor), evening out to the same C+ score.
S3 was...a great big A.N.T. Farm S3/Jessie S4-style crash straight into the ground leaving nothing recognizable but a giant smoking impact crater.
It starts off agonizingly slow, with the Hunters stuck in a B&B in the middle of the forest for way, way too many episodes (it's not even haunted, despite how much the show wants to fake out how it is). Way too many of these episodes are too focused on the Hunters going around in circles over the same damn clues culminating into far too few mysteries. And an ending way too freakin' pat and predictable, to the point where I haven't even seen the last two or three episodes and guess what, I'm not ever bother going to.
See above image for reference. Except instead of just not understanding WTF is going on...there's nothing going on.
As I understand it it was basically down to whether or not to renew this show or I Am Frankie for S3 - it was an either-or choice as mandated by the parent network, much like what happened pretty much exactly 6 years ago between The Thundermans and The Haunted Hathaways. And unlike that time - after seeing some S2 Hathaways episodes and...yeah I think they made the right call choosing Thundermans, they so didn't make the right call this time. I Am Frankie will be sorely missed and this was a stinker of a season.
Season Grade: A flat D. I'm pretty much obliged to give this grade if I can't even finish out the freakin' season.
Season MVP: ...so this is going to be very awkward and controversial, especially since the vast, vast majority of my professional writing outside of this blog is very specifically and explicitly pro-feminist and pro-#MeToo. Hell I go out of my way to incorporate pro-feminist and pro-#MeToo material on this freakin' blog, all the time, and not the least of which using this very blog as a means of publicly coming out as transgender.
...and yet that said I use the Episode MVP award all the time to give it to actresses for no other reason than I just find them extremely pretty. Usually because, honestly, there's nothing provided in the actual acting, or at least overall quality, of the show to award it legitimately. But I'm forced to recognize that awarding Episode MVP on the basis of who happens to be the hottest...isn't exactly the most feminist.
On the other hand I have met people who have told me that there's nothing wrong with awarding MVP along these lines. That, yes, acknowledging a woman's beauty can be feminist. I just wish I had a definitive answer or - let's face it, what I'm really looking for is a means to rationalize objectifying women while still claiming some (false) legitimacy to a feminist card. But I'd really like to know what my readership thinks.
You know, all three of you.
But anyway, Season MVP goes to Sarah Nauta (Jasmyn) because (and you can see this coming from all my rambling) OMG she's freakin' gorgeous.
She is by far the best looking of the main cast across any of the seasons. Although I might be biased because she really does look like a girl I had a major crush on back in high school (you know, because I didn't make this creepy enough as it is). Also she's 21, so yeah, legitimately, no pedo (ewww, just saying that gives me the creeps though.
And yet, I still did it.)
Honestly some mention of MVP should go to Wilson Radjou-Puljante since I think he's the most legitimately talented, or at least I enjoyed his screen presence the most (aside from creepy eye-candy factor). But it seemed like the show went out of its way to boot him off which...is definitely contributing to its D score.
Also I want to mention Thirsa van Til (Rex Legend's assistant) because...yeah she's also super-pretty. And the makeup artist that did Erik's makeup (in-show, so an actual actress not literally a makeup artist although for all I know she's the show's actual makeup artist, she didn't have any speaking lines) because she's even prettier than Sarah and Thirsa. Combined, even.
And the really pretty redhead that got beat up by Frankie, Andrew and what's her face at the very last episode of I Am Frankie because she's really pretty, and also she got beat up by three androids so I have to show some props or appreciation for putting up with that. And I miss I Am Frankie. And cute redheads.
Yeah that's enough creepiness perviness for this writeup.
Pup Academy
What is it? 24-minute live-action single-cam kidcom. With talking animals. Yup, it can only be from Air Bud productions!
Where did it air? Disney Channel
Who stars in it? Ummm, a bunch of talking dogs? Oh and some humans too. But seriously I don't know who and I'm too lazy to look it up.
This...is just too damn kiddie for me. Hard pass.
Series Grade: C-
Series MVP: Meh
Finding Dory
What is it? It's...Finding Dory, I'm pretty sure you know the particulars of this one.
...you know what, I'm just going to say it got hit with massive sequelitis.
Movie Grade: eh
It's mid-late evening in early October, on a Sunday no less; I am cold, I am bored, Disney Channel is showing endless reruns, I have a huge migraine and in a misguided effort to self-cure said migraine, I am drunk.
So it's time to do a mass run-down of shows I find disappointing!
Big City Greens
What is it? The most obnoxious show on mainline Disney Channel right now. Pretty much their version of Spongebob
Where did it air? Umm...Disney Channel.
Who stars in it? Some voice actors? I dunno I have a headache and I am drunk.
Why are we reviewing this? I dunno, I have a headache and I am drunk.
So Spongey444, the man behind the excellent blog (except when he reviews Big City Greens), apparently likes this show.
After what has to be well into its second season now...yeah I've come to the conclusion that I can't stand it.
People Watching is the only episode of the entire series I like, probably because it speaks directly to my writing instincts. Other than that...it's about a insufferable brat and some periphery of his other family (who also have a tendency to act like brats, adults included if not especially), and that's it, as far as I'm concerned.
When I say that this is Disney Channel's Spongebob, I really mean it. For starters it totally dominates the schedule; you turn on your TV, especially during daytime hours and there's a damn good chance Disney Channel will have BCG. But it also seems to have basically the same style of humor. I can't really get into Spongebob - more than anything I honestly find it extremely boring. And honestly, all the brattiness of the main characters aside, I also find BCG to be...fundamentally boring.
Yet at the same time this show is clearly popular, and there's no doubt about Spongebob's popularity. It has a Broadway musical show, for crying out loud, something I actually want to see (and just a bit of trivia, it has Thunderman's Mrs. Wong as...is it Karen? Eh I don't remember which character she plays whatever. But I feel Karen is a damn good guess. She just strikes me as the type of person you'd cast as Karen if you're gonna cast her in a Spongebob musical). But...I just can't get into it.
That isn't to say there aren't episodes I don't like. I actually really liked the Spongebob anniversary special, at least the parts above water (the party planning parts felt unnecessary and tacked on just to make the episode an extended special). In fact there's a ton of episodes I like. I don't think I watched a boat driving episode with Mrs. Pufferfish I didn't like, that's when the show shows its strengths. And Mr. Krabs-centric episodes, probably because IRL my personality has a dangerously close resemblance to Mr. Krabs (greed is a hellava sin, yo). But say...6 times out of 10, I just find myself being bored and really regretting, at the very least, not watching another network.
Fortunately for Nickelodeon, chances are Disney Channel's counter-programming is probably BCG which if you don't get it by now, I think is even worse. It's going to boil down to a personal taste thing, and clearly I am in an extreme minority here - and because of that it's hard for me to quantify any objective reasons why I don't like it - but I'm just going to have to say, I don't like it. 9 times out of 10, if I do have it on, it's just to act as background noise when I'm doing something and I just don't want a completely quiet house, and at least I can rely on Disney Channel to be inoffensive as background noise, BCG included (and during the hours when I want this, it's almost always a toss-up between this and Spongebob, and BCG usually wins if only because, only being in its second season, it does come off as fresher).
Series Grade: C-. Keep in mind this is extremely subjective and, very clearly, I'm in a slim minority here.
Series MVP: *shrug* I dunno, I don't care. H Jon Benjamin, because H Jon Benjamin (and I'm claiming this as legitimate because I swear he's in the Cricket Calls shorts, uncredited.
BTW I actually love the Cricket Calls shorts. Go figure).
Hunter Street
What is it? Single-Cam 24-minute format KidCom with some drama trappings, produced as English-language programming with largely native English speakers (either American or British, for the most part) but by a Dutch studio, on location in the Netherlands. Go figure.
Where did it air? Haha, that's actually the interesting part. But the simple answer is Nickelodeon (the Dutch studio that produces it in the first place literally is Nickelodeon Netherlands). But although it was originally scheduled to air on mainline Nickelodeon...it got booted to TeenNick (which is available in HD in select parts of Burbank near where most Nickelodeon's live-action shows are produced and...absolutely nowhere else) even before the scheduled season premiere (which means for 99.98% of all viewers it's possible to view it in HD only through Nickelodeon's super-annoying app).
And after going through this experience, I can see why.
Who stars in it? Although most of the actors are actually American citizens with a few select British ones (like Jake's actor, most notably)...well let's face it you're not going to get many recognizable names in a production like this, even by typical Nickelodeon/Disney Channel KidCom standards.S3
So yeah. Hunter Street wasn't exactly perfect to begin with but at least it was passable entertainment. I gave S1 a C+. S2 was...worse in some areas, but better than others (the addition of Jake was a pretty good plus, he's a legit good actor), evening out to the same C+ score.
S3 was...a great big A.N.T. Farm S3/Jessie S4-style crash straight into the ground leaving nothing recognizable but a giant smoking impact crater.
It starts off agonizingly slow, with the Hunters stuck in a B&B in the middle of the forest for way, way too many episodes (it's not even haunted, despite how much the show wants to fake out how it is). Way too many of these episodes are too focused on the Hunters going around in circles over the same damn clues culminating into far too few mysteries. And an ending way too freakin' pat and predictable, to the point where I haven't even seen the last two or three episodes and guess what, I'm not ever bother going to.
See above image for reference. Except instead of just not understanding WTF is going on...there's nothing going on.
As I understand it it was basically down to whether or not to renew this show or I Am Frankie for S3 - it was an either-or choice as mandated by the parent network, much like what happened pretty much exactly 6 years ago between The Thundermans and The Haunted Hathaways. And unlike that time - after seeing some S2 Hathaways episodes and...yeah I think they made the right call choosing Thundermans, they so didn't make the right call this time. I Am Frankie will be sorely missed and this was a stinker of a season.
Season Grade: A flat D. I'm pretty much obliged to give this grade if I can't even finish out the freakin' season.
Season MVP: ...so this is going to be very awkward and controversial, especially since the vast, vast majority of my professional writing outside of this blog is very specifically and explicitly pro-feminist and pro-#MeToo. Hell I go out of my way to incorporate pro-feminist and pro-#MeToo material on this freakin' blog, all the time, and not the least of which using this very blog as a means of publicly coming out as transgender.
...and yet that said I use the Episode MVP award all the time to give it to actresses for no other reason than I just find them extremely pretty. Usually because, honestly, there's nothing provided in the actual acting, or at least overall quality, of the show to award it legitimately. But I'm forced to recognize that awarding Episode MVP on the basis of who happens to be the hottest...isn't exactly the most feminist.
On the other hand I have met people who have told me that there's nothing wrong with awarding MVP along these lines. That, yes, acknowledging a woman's beauty can be feminist. I just wish I had a definitive answer or - let's face it, what I'm really looking for is a means to rationalize objectifying women while still claiming some (false) legitimacy to a feminist card. But I'd really like to know what my readership thinks.
You know, all three of you.
But anyway, Season MVP goes to Sarah Nauta (Jasmyn) because (and you can see this coming from all my rambling) OMG she's freakin' gorgeous.
She is by far the best looking of the main cast across any of the seasons. Although I might be biased because she really does look like a girl I had a major crush on back in high school (you know, because I didn't make this creepy enough as it is). Also she's 21, so yeah, legitimately, no pedo (ewww, just saying that gives me the creeps though.
And yet, I still did it.)
Honestly some mention of MVP should go to Wilson Radjou-Puljante since I think he's the most legitimately talented, or at least I enjoyed his screen presence the most (aside from creepy eye-candy factor). But it seemed like the show went out of its way to boot him off which...is definitely contributing to its D score.
Also I want to mention Thirsa van Til (Rex Legend's assistant) because...yeah she's also super-pretty. And the makeup artist that did Erik's makeup (in-show, so an actual actress not literally a makeup artist although for all I know she's the show's actual makeup artist, she didn't have any speaking lines) because she's even prettier than Sarah and Thirsa. Combined, even.
And the really pretty redhead that got beat up by Frankie, Andrew and what's her face at the very last episode of I Am Frankie because she's really pretty, and also she got beat up by three androids so I have to show some props or appreciation for putting up with that. And I miss I Am Frankie. And cute redheads.
Yeah that's enough creepiness perviness for this writeup.
Pup Academy
What is it? 24-minute live-action single-cam kidcom. With talking animals. Yup, it can only be from Air Bud productions!
Where did it air? Disney Channel
Who stars in it? Ummm, a bunch of talking dogs? Oh and some humans too. But seriously I don't know who and I'm too lazy to look it up.
This...is just too damn kiddie for me. Hard pass.
Series Grade: C-
Series MVP: Meh
Finding Dory
What is it? It's...Finding Dory, I'm pretty sure you know the particulars of this one.
...you know what, I'm just going to say it got hit with massive sequelitis.
Movie Grade: eh
Monday, September 30, 2019
Just another random essay post that I can't think of a good title for
Anyway, this is meant to be a post on Jessie's 8 year premiere anniversary (today, September 30). I was going to say some things about the show but...eh, my last post ended up stealing that thunder, oops.
But my point still stands that Jessie...sure as hell experienced some deevolution there. I've been watching the show just on Disney Channel (they...sure love their Jessie over there) and let me tell you, the difference between a good episode and a bad episode is night and day. I just wish Christian and Sean had watched a good episode, although I insist they did.
But let's look at 2013 compared to now. I won't run down every show because I've done that so many times in the past. I just want to run down some of the big tentpoles that were my favorites - of course Jessie, but Shake it Up, Austin & Ally, Good Luck Charlie and the big newcomer of that year, Liv and Maddie.
Not all these shows had the same quality of writing - yeah we won't talk about Austin & Ally. But there was a real sense of a continuing storyline with a bunch of people that really felt interconnected with each other - not necessarily as a family but at least close to it.
Sydney to the Max and to a lesser extent Coop & Cami (yes I watch that show now) do a good job of this. Just Roll With It...well it makes attempts (which are surprisingly successful) but at least it works with its premise well. Hell even Bunk'd is...a great improvement over what it was.
And then we have Raven's Home. The more I think about it, to get into that really deserves its own post. Really I have no idea what I'm doing with this one and...yeah I'm calling it a night.
But my point still stands that Jessie...sure as hell experienced some deevolution there. I've been watching the show just on Disney Channel (they...sure love their Jessie over there) and let me tell you, the difference between a good episode and a bad episode is night and day. I just wish Christian and Sean had watched a good episode, although I insist they did.
But let's look at 2013 compared to now. I won't run down every show because I've done that so many times in the past. I just want to run down some of the big tentpoles that were my favorites - of course Jessie, but Shake it Up, Austin & Ally, Good Luck Charlie and the big newcomer of that year, Liv and Maddie.
Not all these shows had the same quality of writing - yeah we won't talk about Austin & Ally. But there was a real sense of a continuing storyline with a bunch of people that really felt interconnected with each other - not necessarily as a family but at least close to it.
Sydney to the Max and to a lesser extent Coop & Cami (yes I watch that show now) do a good job of this. Just Roll With It...well it makes attempts (which are surprisingly successful) but at least it works with its premise well. Hell even Bunk'd is...a great improvement over what it was.
And then we have Raven's Home. The more I think about it, to get into that really deserves its own post. Really I have no idea what I'm doing with this one and...yeah I'm calling it a night.
Saturday, September 14, 2019
Saturday September 14 2013 - Saturday September 14 2019: Reflecting on six years
...well ok not exactly six years but it is when I technically started a blog. Namely, this one. But I feel it's an important anniversary for this blog (i.e. the one you're reading now) all the same.
For starters September 14, 2013 is the day after the premiere of G.I. Jessie which of course was the 2nd season finale of Jessie. We've done a review of that here - and umm, literally the exact same review again here (the biggest post of the year by far - and very close to being this blog's last at the time) but I also feel that was a pretty big watershed moment for myself and really, this whole KidCom deal. Not a sudden one mind you but it was a start.
As I mentioned in the aforementioned review I'm not entirely sure which season of Jessie was best: S1 or S2. S2 definitely had a tonal shift, simultaneously (and yes, contradictory) dramatic and subtle - but a big part of being both of those at the same time was that it wasn't exactly sudden.
Well, not entirely so. S1 was definitely more "grounded" like a normal(-ish) Disney Channel KidCom of the time, or at least compared to say Good Luck Charlie (and of course Liv and Maddie but we're not quite there yet, timeline-wise). But even quite a few other shows at the time with high-concept plots like say Shake it Up and even to a lesser extent Wizards of Waverly Place had a relatively "grounded" feel. Or to put it another way: it was more character-driven than plot driven. Actions (and consequences, a really big driver with KidComs) felt more driven by the actual characters and their naturalistic actions and motivations rather than to merely serve as vehicles to move the plot forward (as in say Austin & Ally and A.N.T. Farm, although A.N.T. Farm certainly had extremely character-driven episodes, to its credit. And so did Austin & Ally too, to that show's credit). I've had discussions with some of you on Twitter about this, especially around Tuber and Maile and how they were major drivers behind the scenes with S1.
S2...for the most part...was still very character-driven with, for the most part, actions and consequences in turn feeling character-driven. But that tonal shift was readily apparent with The Whining (which for some reason is the highest-rated episode on IMDB? Seriously, WTF?) where it's pretty clear that, instead of having the characters influence and drive the plot and from there, the consequences, the characters were instead effectively hijacked by the plot in order to force them along a predetermined path, and the consequences instead coming off more like the tacked-on conclusion paragraph of a 7th grade essay about how rising gas prices affect fossil emissions. In other words...it's not so much that the writers had an idea of what the ending was going to be as so much as what the actual character consequences are, and just basically wrote the rest of the episode around that.
This is pretty much how they wrote those cheesy, awful, morals-based after-school specials back in the 80s. It's writing down to your audience and while even I'll admit Jessie wasn't exactly the greatest Disney Channel KidCom ever, it certainly suffered moreso for it.
I think that's why I'm not exactly fond of Trashin' Fashion and Lizard Scales and Wrestling Tales either. In the former the A-plot was absolutely ruled by arriving at a pre-determined set of consequences, and in the latter, both plots were. And it's especially noticeable when both episodes are ostensibly extremely character-focused episodes on Emma and Luke respectively, with ostensibly big character development.
...but the writers of those particular episodes don't know how to write character-focused episodes. Or at the very least, they've confused pre-arranged consequences for actual character development.
In a lot of ways Gotcha Day - the episode that got me into this show (and at least in some part the network as a whole) is like this too - but going back watching the show, the characters actually feel more naturally-motivated. And as much as Christian and Sean over at Girl Meets World Reviewed hated Green-Eyed Monsters, that was absolutely, entirely an episode where the characters actually felt naturally self-motivated instead of being intellectually stuck on rails forced into a predetermined conclusion.
S2 would certainly see an uptick in this kind of episode - Pain in the Rear Window and Toy Con are ones that really stick in my mind especially since they were pretty close to each other in original premeire date. And of course I think this gets to Mike's points about G.I. Jessie. But S2 still had plenty of episodes that feel very character-natural including some of my most favorite episodes of the entire show - The Trouble With Tessie, Why Do Foils Fall in Love (really stupid title BTW but whatever) and Kids Don't Wanna Be Shunned (again, with the last two especially because they're so close in proximity to when they premiered) and Punch-Dumped Love despite it's incredibly stupid, inane B-plot. And of course the penultimate episode of S2, Break-Up and Shape Up which is still well-praised by the fans (at least according to my Twitter interactions) and makes for a much better finale than G.I. Jessie. But still, I think the actual character-focus vs. consequence-focus was still there.
Things started to fall apart at a slow pace still as S3 continued - Ghost Bummers, Caught Purple Handed, and so on (October and November and just the beginning of the season in general weren't good months for good Jessie episode premieres, it turned out) but you still had a ton of great actual character episodes like The Cheapskate, the Primate and the First Date being a good one in the October-November window. And Hoedown Showdown for a very Emma-focused one. And of course at the very end concluding with There Goes the Bride which makes a much better finale than Orray for Ollywood/Jessie Can't Make Up Her Mind For a Finale Title but unfortunately we still have a few episodes of S3 and a whole S4 to go. But the ratio of consequence-focused episodes was definitely creeping up - Morning Rush, Coffee Talk, Spaced Out (double points for being yet another dream fake-out) and so on.
And yeah, speaking of S4...that whole damn season was pretty much consequences-focused, from Africa is So Far...i! to Jessie Goes Submitting Multiple Episode Titles. The only episode I can think of that really even comes remotely close to feeling like a natural character episode is A Close Shave, then all the way near the end with Identity Theives, and more-or-less Dance, Dance Resolution which was a lot closer to Identity Thieves than A Close Shave, air-date wise.
But yeah, I just wanted to get that out for the six-year kindaversary so, there you go.
For starters September 14, 2013 is the day after the premiere of G.I. Jessie which of course was the 2nd season finale of Jessie. We've done a review of that here - and umm, literally the exact same review again here (the biggest post of the year by far - and very close to being this blog's last at the time) but I also feel that was a pretty big watershed moment for myself and really, this whole KidCom deal. Not a sudden one mind you but it was a start.
As I mentioned in the aforementioned review I'm not entirely sure which season of Jessie was best: S1 or S2. S2 definitely had a tonal shift, simultaneously (and yes, contradictory) dramatic and subtle - but a big part of being both of those at the same time was that it wasn't exactly sudden.
Well, not entirely so. S1 was definitely more "grounded" like a normal(-ish) Disney Channel KidCom of the time, or at least compared to say Good Luck Charlie (and of course Liv and Maddie but we're not quite there yet, timeline-wise). But even quite a few other shows at the time with high-concept plots like say Shake it Up and even to a lesser extent Wizards of Waverly Place had a relatively "grounded" feel. Or to put it another way: it was more character-driven than plot driven. Actions (and consequences, a really big driver with KidComs) felt more driven by the actual characters and their naturalistic actions and motivations rather than to merely serve as vehicles to move the plot forward (as in say Austin & Ally and A.N.T. Farm, although A.N.T. Farm certainly had extremely character-driven episodes, to its credit. And so did Austin & Ally too, to that show's credit). I've had discussions with some of you on Twitter about this, especially around Tuber and Maile and how they were major drivers behind the scenes with S1.
S2...for the most part...was still very character-driven with, for the most part, actions and consequences in turn feeling character-driven. But that tonal shift was readily apparent with The Whining (which for some reason is the highest-rated episode on IMDB? Seriously, WTF?) where it's pretty clear that, instead of having the characters influence and drive the plot and from there, the consequences, the characters were instead effectively hijacked by the plot in order to force them along a predetermined path, and the consequences instead coming off more like the tacked-on conclusion paragraph of a 7th grade essay about how rising gas prices affect fossil emissions. In other words...it's not so much that the writers had an idea of what the ending was going to be as so much as what the actual character consequences are, and just basically wrote the rest of the episode around that.
This is pretty much how they wrote those cheesy, awful, morals-based after-school specials back in the 80s. It's writing down to your audience and while even I'll admit Jessie wasn't exactly the greatest Disney Channel KidCom ever, it certainly suffered moreso for it.
I think that's why I'm not exactly fond of Trashin' Fashion and Lizard Scales and Wrestling Tales either. In the former the A-plot was absolutely ruled by arriving at a pre-determined set of consequences, and in the latter, both plots were. And it's especially noticeable when both episodes are ostensibly extremely character-focused episodes on Emma and Luke respectively, with ostensibly big character development.
...but the writers of those particular episodes don't know how to write character-focused episodes. Or at the very least, they've confused pre-arranged consequences for actual character development.
In a lot of ways Gotcha Day - the episode that got me into this show (and at least in some part the network as a whole) is like this too - but going back watching the show, the characters actually feel more naturally-motivated. And as much as Christian and Sean over at Girl Meets World Reviewed hated Green-Eyed Monsters, that was absolutely, entirely an episode where the characters actually felt naturally self-motivated instead of being intellectually stuck on rails forced into a predetermined conclusion.
S2 would certainly see an uptick in this kind of episode - Pain in the Rear Window and Toy Con are ones that really stick in my mind especially since they were pretty close to each other in original premeire date. And of course I think this gets to Mike's points about G.I. Jessie. But S2 still had plenty of episodes that feel very character-natural including some of my most favorite episodes of the entire show - The Trouble With Tessie, Why Do Foils Fall in Love (really stupid title BTW but whatever) and Kids Don't Wanna Be Shunned (again, with the last two especially because they're so close in proximity to when they premiered) and Punch-Dumped Love despite it's incredibly stupid, inane B-plot. And of course the penultimate episode of S2, Break-Up and Shape Up which is still well-praised by the fans (at least according to my Twitter interactions) and makes for a much better finale than G.I. Jessie. But still, I think the actual character-focus vs. consequence-focus was still there.
Things started to fall apart at a slow pace still as S3 continued - Ghost Bummers, Caught Purple Handed, and so on (October and November and just the beginning of the season in general weren't good months for good Jessie episode premieres, it turned out) but you still had a ton of great actual character episodes like The Cheapskate, the Primate and the First Date being a good one in the October-November window. And Hoedown Showdown for a very Emma-focused one. And of course at the very end concluding with There Goes the Bride which makes a much better finale than Orray for Ollywood/Jessie Can't Make Up Her Mind For a Finale Title but unfortunately we still have a few episodes of S3 and a whole S4 to go. But the ratio of consequence-focused episodes was definitely creeping up - Morning Rush, Coffee Talk, Spaced Out (double points for being yet another dream fake-out) and so on.
And yeah, speaking of S4...that whole damn season was pretty much consequences-focused, from Africa is So Far...i! to Jessie Goes Submitting Multiple Episode Titles. The only episode I can think of that really even comes remotely close to feeling like a natural character episode is A Close Shave, then all the way near the end with Identity Theives, and more-or-less Dance, Dance Resolution which was a lot closer to Identity Thieves than A Close Shave, air-date wise.
But yeah, I just wanted to get that out for the six-year kindaversary so, there you go.
Friday, September 13, 2019
Raven's Home Reviewed: Diss Track (S3E6)
Pump-FAKE!
...is that the only thing you say?
What is it? blah blah blah you know
...so after being so harsh on the last episode (and make no mistake: I absolutely stand by everything I said about it down to the...what did I give it? An F rating?) they went and threw in a pretty decent one.
Yeah. I actually really liked this. It had several points going for it:
- it was well-written
- Principal Kwan acted like an actual principal and not like a lunatic
- it had a good lesson behind it
- it had great interactions between the kids and they actually acted pretty natural (for a Disney multi-cam at least)
- Principal Kwan acted like an actual principal and not like a lunatic
- it had a pretty good and actually heartwarming resolution
- Principal Kwan acted like an actual principal and not like a lunatic
This is without a doubt the best episode of Season 3 so far and...really one of the best of the entire show. That said...the show's been rather lackluster so far. I hate to say it but I think Season 1 might be the best season of this show, where it occasionally got into I'd say B- territory. Season 2 was...alright in parts, especially the first arc of the season where Booker revealed he was psychic to Raven and he got introduced to the Sleevemore institute, but they definitely also did many creative decisions that sent the show into the wrong direction. And then Season 3...has been especially lackluster, feeling like a show from 15 years ago aimed at maybe 4th graders at best.
Episode Grade: B+
Episode MVP: Isaac Ryan Brown really does put the whole package together. There's serious talent in front of the camera (Raven-Symone proved that 15 years ago) it's just the talent behind the camera that's somewhat lacking.
Extra thoughts
- as of the time of this writing (9/13) it's the six year anniversary (meaning that 6 years ago 9/13 was also a Friday - lucky us I guess) of...when G.I Jessie aired. Whee!
- it also means that tomorrow is the 6 year anniversary of my blog. Well...not this blog, but this blog -> http://writingsofray.blogspot.com/
...is that the only thing you say?
What is it? blah blah blah you know
...so after being so harsh on the last episode (and make no mistake: I absolutely stand by everything I said about it down to the...what did I give it? An F rating?) they went and threw in a pretty decent one.
Yeah. I actually really liked this. It had several points going for it:
- it was well-written
- Principal Kwan acted like an actual principal and not like a lunatic
- it had a good lesson behind it
- it had great interactions between the kids and they actually acted pretty natural (for a Disney multi-cam at least)
- Principal Kwan acted like an actual principal and not like a lunatic
- it had a pretty good and actually heartwarming resolution
- Principal Kwan acted like an actual principal and not like a lunatic
This is without a doubt the best episode of Season 3 so far and...really one of the best of the entire show. That said...the show's been rather lackluster so far. I hate to say it but I think Season 1 might be the best season of this show, where it occasionally got into I'd say B- territory. Season 2 was...alright in parts, especially the first arc of the season where Booker revealed he was psychic to Raven and he got introduced to the Sleevemore institute, but they definitely also did many creative decisions that sent the show into the wrong direction. And then Season 3...has been especially lackluster, feeling like a show from 15 years ago aimed at maybe 4th graders at best.
Episode Grade: B+
Episode MVP: Isaac Ryan Brown really does put the whole package together. There's serious talent in front of the camera (Raven-Symone proved that 15 years ago) it's just the talent behind the camera that's somewhat lacking.
Extra thoughts
- as of the time of this writing (9/13) it's the six year anniversary (meaning that 6 years ago 9/13 was also a Friday - lucky us I guess) of...when G.I Jessie aired. Whee!
- it also means that tomorrow is the 6 year anniversary of my blog. Well...not this blog, but this blog -> http://writingsofray.blogspot.com/
Sunday, July 21, 2019
Raven's Home Reviewed: Dress to Express (S3E5)
Booker and Levi find themselves on opposite sides of the Carver School dress code(that doesn't happen), while Nia and Tess clash over the authenticity of each other's recent fashion choices (that doesn't happen, either).
What is it? ...blah blah blah I think we all pretty much know Raven's Home at this point too.
...S3 has been improving but man was this a pretty bad episode, sorry. And when I looked it up on IMDb to confirm its production code I'm like...9.3/10? Are you guys high?
Not that it was...bad bad. But it wasn't good either.
This episode suffered from what I'm going to call Girl Meets World Syndrome (did I use that already? For like back in S2 of Andi Mack? Probably....) It's a bunch of tropes and After School Special Messages that frankly every kid knows by now because every grown-up has been pounding it into their heads nonstop thrown together into an episode. And to make it worse we have 24 minutes divided into three subplots.
So about what this episode actually is about. Yeah none of what IMDb says happens. Levi is filming a documentary about what Booker, Nia and Tess do - Booker is arguing with Raven on how to dress, Nia is arguing with some dude running the Earth club over Earth-shaming, and Tess is...doing some cotillion thing? That the Principal is running?
What the actual fuck?
Anyway each of these subplots resolves themselves in predictable cliche garbage, end of story, end of review, I'm done here. Nothing to see here folks.
9.3/10 on IMDb what the actual fuck folks?
Episode Grade: A big fat F. I was all set to give it a D- or even something in C range but the more I think about it the more I realize just how much garbage this episode is. Nothing of true consequence happens and unlike say A Moving Day on Andi Mack I do feel the audience basically had their time wasted.
Episode LVP: Levi for this stupid documentary framing device.
Extra Thoughts
- National Ice Cream Day must be huge because you get two posts! I guess go out and enjoy BoGo from Ben & Jerry's too, or something.
- Speaking as someone deeply involved in the education world Principal Kwan is fucking insane and needs to be fired tout suite, I fucking mean it. Speaking as a (somewhat) rational viewer/reviewer of a Disney Channel multi-cam KidCom...Principal Kwan is still fucking insane. There's no good plot explanation as to this whole cotillion-in-a-public-middle-school plot other than the writers just threw it in because, well, what the fuck.
- and a more tragic and depressing note: I've talked about the role and nature of production companies and the production company cards you see at the end of shows, way back when on a post about Raven's Home S2. You've no doubt noticed the new It's A Laugh card (not sure if I like such dominating whitespace but oh well) and for a new company, Funny Boone Productions. Funny Boone Productions is named after the woman depicted on that card - Eunice Boone who was slated to helm S3 of Raven's Home and has a pretty impressive resume of TV show and movie production behind her - but tragically died of a heart attack, as I understand, before S3 actually began production, and her face being the literal face of the production card is the show's tribute to her.
Andi Mack Reviewed: A Moving Day (S3E19)
He's not a hermit chef!
What is it? ...it's Andi Mack, I'm too drunk to do this right now you know what this show is....
I've pretty much skipped over the vast, vast majority of S2 because...the show really, really went downhill at that point, deal with it. But now that the show is ramping up towards the end, I'll have to admit, it's really returned to form. I've seen most of S3 at this point (just skipping the very beginning) and while certain points...still have rough spots it's back to being the show I fell in love with waaaaay back in 2017 (although it's crazy that this show'll only be putting out new premiere episodes for comfortably well within a three calendar year span...Girl Meets World did it over four albeit only barely and then only by cheating...but still not nearly cheating as badly as Wizards of Waverly Place which managed to sneak exactly one episode into calendar year 2012 for a total of 6...and if you want to cheat even more, 7 consecutive calendar years thanks to the 2013 Alex vs. Alex special...and Austin and Ally not only managed to span 6 consecutive calendar years but Jessie, Good Luck Charlie and Liv and Maddie did 5...man, it does kinda make me feel Andi Mack, the one show that was clearly meant to be the network's tentpole from the get-go, really did end up getting a screwjob in the end, but I really digress).
A Moving Day is, Bee-Tee-Dubs, the penultimate episode of the entire series. Again, it's crazy to think...nope, not going to repeat that rant I just got finished with again. But at the very least they're putting to a close one important plot thread.
Yup that's right, spoiler alert: Bex and Brody actually get married in this episode, for real.
Most of the episode is either buildup to this moment, or just complete and total filler or...really, and strangely, manages to be both, but...while they are more or less throw-away in the grander scheme of things they don't feel like a waste of the viewer's time. That said it's...really hard to discern which is the "main" plot without watching all the way through and understanding how both subplots fit in to the big spoiler-laden reveal...which I just spoiled for you in the above single-line paragraph but oh well, I'm betting you've already seen this episode by now anyway.
The "main" plot-I-guess is about Bex "winning" an exclusive dinner with a celebrity chef and the whole family (minus a certain someone, we'll get to that one in the Extra Thoughts part) loads up in the car and...yeah the vast, vast majority of it is just Cece complaining nonstop about everything. That's pretty much it. You can pretty much just skip to the main event here.
But before that we also have a second plot with Buffy, Cyrus and Jonah helping Jonah's mom move stuff, and Cyrus finds a big pile of exercise tapes he recognizes because the content of those tapes apparently had been viral on the Internet for a good while now, and we find out the exercise lady in those tapes is Jonah's mom.
...that's pretty much it, too.
I can't even say the freakin' wedding itself has a lot going for it because...not a lot happens there, either. Yes it's the usual trapping of a wedding...well, not quite. It's a very spartan wedding by design and desire, but most of the actual screen time ends up being ceremonious and...let's face it, filler.
This whole big episode is just one giant case of filler, even despite the fact that it has one of what should be the most monumental events of the entire show occurring in it, and is the show's entire penultimate episode no less.
And there's nothing wrong with that whatsoever.
For me it was a very fun episode to watch and if it had been "bigger" or especially "heavier" I don't think I would've enjoyed it as much. One of my big complaints of S2 was that it was trying to make every single damn moment literally A Moment(TM) to the point where they were pretty much stumbling all on top of themselves. Like how Buffy finally has her big chance to prove herself to the rest of the basketball team and...it runs headlong into her mom coming back from the Army (or whatever, sure it's the Army). Literally the entire show comes to a dead stop - I mean it, you can see the exact frame it happens, I swear - so that Owe can have this big Moment-Ontop-of-Moments(TM). Or Buffy having to move away...only for her to move right back literally in the same damn episode.
You know this type of shit seems to happen to Buffy a lot, I've noticed.
But this season's seen massive improvement regarding that Moments Management(TM - and that's my trademark I'm patenting a system on how to write good dramatic middle school sitcoms) - we've seen Jonah dump Amber, date a cute deaf girl and then get schooled on how much of a tool he is, then he dates Amber again and even though he breaks up with her again Amber also does end up schooling Jonah on what kind of a tool he is too. We've seen Cyrus in a relationship that seems to be budding towards boyfriend status, we've seen Buffy in a relationship that seems to be budding towards boyfriend status. And of course the whole will-they-won't-they marriage saga which came to a definitive conclusion this episode.
But my point is, they've toned down those damn moments by a lot, with this episode being an extreme example (a single moment surrounded by, again, pretty much filler). But it was just really, really nice seeing these crazy kids go on one of those wacky adventures even if it was pretty mundane and nothing really happened before the wedding.
Beats dropping the whole damn game because they can't wait for half-time for your mom to show up, that's for sure.
Episode Grade: A-.
Episode MVP: I'll have to give it to Asher Angel because he does do a really good serious deadpan, why not.
Extra Thoughts
- well if I'm making a new post it must be a holiday so...Happy National Ice Cream Day. I hope you went out to Cold Stone and got that BoGo offer.
- yeah the whole, um, "Ham" situation. This is ancient news by now but it goes to show how one guy can really ruin a show and how much a show has to scramble to get it together. I've heard that the scenes they cut out from all episodes that had been produced up to that point were almost negligible, go figure, and likewise for most of the episodes yet to air, but they absolutely butchered the episode that was set next to air right after the news broke out. I've discussed it on social media but I really wish they just put a hard hiatus on airing the episodes and actually bothered to go back and do their best to refilm new scenes.
- I certainly have thoughts about Raven's Home, Amphibia, and after nearly a year after the fact I just finished binging Nickelodeon's I Am Frankie S2 but...those really deserve their own posts. Maybe...whatever the next holiday is.
What is it? ...it's Andi Mack, I'm too drunk to do this right now you know what this show is....
I've pretty much skipped over the vast, vast majority of S2 because...the show really, really went downhill at that point, deal with it. But now that the show is ramping up towards the end, I'll have to admit, it's really returned to form. I've seen most of S3 at this point (just skipping the very beginning) and while certain points...still have rough spots it's back to being the show I fell in love with waaaaay back in 2017 (although it's crazy that this show'll only be putting out new premiere episodes for comfortably well within a three calendar year span...Girl Meets World did it over four albeit only barely and then only by cheating...but still not nearly cheating as badly as Wizards of Waverly Place which managed to sneak exactly one episode into calendar year 2012 for a total of 6...and if you want to cheat even more, 7 consecutive calendar years thanks to the 2013 Alex vs. Alex special...and Austin and Ally not only managed to span 6 consecutive calendar years but Jessie, Good Luck Charlie and Liv and Maddie did 5...man, it does kinda make me feel Andi Mack, the one show that was clearly meant to be the network's tentpole from the get-go, really did end up getting a screwjob in the end, but I really digress).
A Moving Day is, Bee-Tee-Dubs, the penultimate episode of the entire series. Again, it's crazy to think...nope, not going to repeat that rant I just got finished with again. But at the very least they're putting to a close one important plot thread.
Yup that's right, spoiler alert: Bex and Brody actually get married in this episode, for real.
Most of the episode is either buildup to this moment, or just complete and total filler or...really, and strangely, manages to be both, but...while they are more or less throw-away in the grander scheme of things they don't feel like a waste of the viewer's time. That said it's...really hard to discern which is the "main" plot without watching all the way through and understanding how both subplots fit in to the big spoiler-laden reveal...which I just spoiled for you in the above single-line paragraph but oh well, I'm betting you've already seen this episode by now anyway.
The "main" plot-I-guess is about Bex "winning" an exclusive dinner with a celebrity chef and the whole family (minus a certain someone, we'll get to that one in the Extra Thoughts part) loads up in the car and...yeah the vast, vast majority of it is just Cece complaining nonstop about everything. That's pretty much it. You can pretty much just skip to the main event here.
But before that we also have a second plot with Buffy, Cyrus and Jonah helping Jonah's mom move stuff, and Cyrus finds a big pile of exercise tapes he recognizes because the content of those tapes apparently had been viral on the Internet for a good while now, and we find out the exercise lady in those tapes is Jonah's mom.
...that's pretty much it, too.
I can't even say the freakin' wedding itself has a lot going for it because...not a lot happens there, either. Yes it's the usual trapping of a wedding...well, not quite. It's a very spartan wedding by design and desire, but most of the actual screen time ends up being ceremonious and...let's face it, filler.
This whole big episode is just one giant case of filler, even despite the fact that it has one of what should be the most monumental events of the entire show occurring in it, and is the show's entire penultimate episode no less.
And there's nothing wrong with that whatsoever.
For me it was a very fun episode to watch and if it had been "bigger" or especially "heavier" I don't think I would've enjoyed it as much. One of my big complaints of S2 was that it was trying to make every single damn moment literally A Moment(TM) to the point where they were pretty much stumbling all on top of themselves. Like how Buffy finally has her big chance to prove herself to the rest of the basketball team and...it runs headlong into her mom coming back from the Army (or whatever, sure it's the Army). Literally the entire show comes to a dead stop - I mean it, you can see the exact frame it happens, I swear - so that Owe can have this big Moment-Ontop-of-Moments(TM). Or Buffy having to move away...only for her to move right back literally in the same damn episode.
You know this type of shit seems to happen to Buffy a lot, I've noticed.
But this season's seen massive improvement regarding that Moments Management(TM - and that's my trademark I'm patenting a system on how to write good dramatic middle school sitcoms) - we've seen Jonah dump Amber, date a cute deaf girl and then get schooled on how much of a tool he is, then he dates Amber again and even though he breaks up with her again Amber also does end up schooling Jonah on what kind of a tool he is too. We've seen Cyrus in a relationship that seems to be budding towards boyfriend status, we've seen Buffy in a relationship that seems to be budding towards boyfriend status. And of course the whole will-they-won't-they marriage saga which came to a definitive conclusion this episode.
But my point is, they've toned down those damn moments by a lot, with this episode being an extreme example (a single moment surrounded by, again, pretty much filler). But it was just really, really nice seeing these crazy kids go on one of those wacky adventures even if it was pretty mundane and nothing really happened before the wedding.
Beats dropping the whole damn game because they can't wait for half-time for your mom to show up, that's for sure.
Episode Grade: A-.
Episode MVP: I'll have to give it to Asher Angel because he does do a really good serious deadpan, why not.
Extra Thoughts
- well if I'm making a new post it must be a holiday so...Happy National Ice Cream Day. I hope you went out to Cold Stone and got that BoGo offer.
- yeah the whole, um, "Ham" situation. This is ancient news by now but it goes to show how one guy can really ruin a show and how much a show has to scramble to get it together. I've heard that the scenes they cut out from all episodes that had been produced up to that point were almost negligible, go figure, and likewise for most of the episodes yet to air, but they absolutely butchered the episode that was set next to air right after the news broke out. I've discussed it on social media but I really wish they just put a hard hiatus on airing the episodes and actually bothered to go back and do their best to refilm new scenes.
- I certainly have thoughts about Raven's Home, Amphibia, and after nearly a year after the fact I just finished binging Nickelodeon's I Am Frankie S2 but...those really deserve their own posts. Maybe...whatever the next holiday is.
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