I’ve got two good shows today. How odd.
Photo coutesy Disney/ABC
First up, is ABC Family’s new series 10 Things I Hate About You, premiering tonight at 8 p.m.. Yeah, it’s based on the 1999 movie about two high school girls, elder Kat and younger Bianca. Kat’s a perpetually annoyed activist feminist. Bianca’s a girly girl dying to be popular. Both go to Padua High and Bianca can’t start dating until Kat does.
Funny how all the press stuff on the site links the series to the movie, but forgets the movie’s original root story – The Taming of the Shrew, by William Shakespeare. In the modern version, Dad, played by Larry Miller, is an obstetrician obsessed with keeping his daughters safe from boys, drugs and bad driving. It’s supposedly for comic effect, but some of his discipline methods (such as making his daughter use a wheelchair to remind her what could happen if she has a car accident) seem worth considering.
That’s not the only thing I liked about the show. The popular witch is a Black girl, instead of the usual White blond. There is some actual wit in the dialogue. One of the kids brings a keg of non-alcoholic beer, expalining that by the time the kids figure it out, the cops will be busting the party. In other words, it skirts the edge of bad behavior, but ultimately wins out on the side of good. And, okay, it’s genuinely amusing.
Before I write up SciFi Channel’s new series, be aware that the SciFi Channel is now SyFy. Yeah. Okay. Can’t figure out hte point of that one, except that it’s supposed to appeal to a younger audience. Which actually might be a bit of a problem with the new series, Warehouse 13, premiering tonight at 9 p.m..
Courtesy NBC?Universal
Warehouse 13 is kind of a corss between The Librarian movies (late of TNT) and Eureka. Two CIA agents are roped into fetching mystical artifacts that are out in the world causing trouble and bringing them back to the immense Warehouse 13. The show is funny, looks really good with all sorts of fun touches, including Warehouse keeper Artie’s computer keyboard – made from an antique typewriter (so want of those for myself).
Safety-wise, there’s blood, some violence, including a man setting himself on fire, though all you see is the set up, then the flames and then the charred corpse. Some mild borderline language issues, such as ass. And some implied sexual activity, with a woman in bed the next morning. But there isn’t too much here that would be innappropriate for an early teen with supervision.
What makes the show more problematic is that it’s good. The plotting works out well, there’s some fun characterizations. Saul Rubinek as Artie is wonderful. There’s some lovely wit. In other words, kids might want to watch it, especially if you’ve got an older kid who can handle it and a younger one who can’t. You definitely want to monitor it and see where it falls on your watch spectrum.
Anne Louise Bannon
Your Family Viewer
