End of Decade Blowout pt 6: Top 20 TV Shows, 10-1

10. Justice League/Justice League Unlimited
Network: Cartoon Network
Commentary: This show got off to a bit of a slow start, as they were trying to figure out who the characters were and what type of plots they wanted. Season 2 of Justice League was where the show started to heat up. However, Season 1 of Justice League Unlimited is really where it's at here, with tons of awesome characters and an ongoing plot that I think qualifies as really insightful. It's definitely one of the best seasons of all time, and while the rest of the series was good, it never did quite manage to live up to that one. Still, good enough to jump this into the top 10.

9. Home Movies
Network: Cartoon Network
Commentary: This was far from the most hyped show from the Adult Swim block, but in my opinion it stands out as the best. The voice work is hilarious, as is the touching relationship between Coach and Brendan. Basically, all the characters are funny, and the plots are consistently fun and inventive. One of the funniest shows of the decade, maybe the number one funniest.

8. Futurama
Network: Fox
Commentary: The show never did reach the heights of The Simpsons at its best, but it still manages to consistently bring laughs, and the characters are interesting and likable enough that the show is still interesting even when the jokes don't work. Lots of great episodes here and, honestly, I've found that they haven't held up great upon multiple re-viewings, but I'll still rep for them.

7. Phil of the Future
Network: Disney Channel
Commentary: Yet another show I've written much about on this blog. All in all, I still think it has an outstanding young cast and that the Phil/Keely relationship was well done and genuinely touching. Aly Michalka is great, Kay Panabaker is hilarious, and the show's jokes genuinely work on their own merits, very rare for a show of this type.

6. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Network: FX
Commentary: This show has no depth or characters, so it relies 100% on the merits of its own jokes to succeed. Fortunately, the joke writing is spectacular, definitely the best of any show this decade, so the show consistently manages to generate laughs and entertainment. But don't take my word for it, www.itsalwayssunnyepisodes.com has all the episodes online for free!

5. How I Met Your Mother
Network: CBS
Commentary: Every time I do one of these lists, I always go in thinking It's Always Sunny is going to rank as the highest sitcom, because it's the funniest show of the decade, but I always end up coming back to this one. The reason is, it's legitimately very funny on its own merits, but it also has great plots and characters, which makes it much more consistently watchable than Sunny. Ultimately, they're both great shows, but I give the slight edge to HIMYM's depth versus Sunny's better jokes.

4. The 4400
Network: USA
Commentary: It still surprises me how much I love/loved this show, but I think it managed to be the most consistently well plotted drama of the decade. My theory is that the shorter seasons of this show versus, say Lost or Heroes force it to make stuff happen in every episode. And the show did have a breakneck pace, so even when one particular plot thread didn't work out, it was constantly moving on to another more interesting one. But all the plot threads always came together in interesting ways, and they very impressively managed to blow up the show and start all over again in each season. This is a show that just got better and better as time went on.

3. Friday Night Lights
Network: NBC
Commentary: It's hard for me to say much about this show, since it's one of the only critical consensus shows on my top 20 and I therefore don't feel a need to speak out in its defense. Much like everybody else who has seen the show, I love the characters, I find the acting amazing (particularly from Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton), and the plots are compelling. Actually, I think too much was made of the season 2 swoon, it still managed to be quality TV. Season 1 of this is probably the second best season of any TV show this decade though, and that alone makes it deserve this slot.

2. Freaks and Geeks
Network: NBC
Commentary: Yeah, yeah, it's funny and incredibly well-realized, and painfully realistic, and all those other critical cliches people love to lob at it. The geeks are great comic relief, but the freaks are really where the show is at, since their drama was usually more interesting. All in all a well-balanced show. Let's just say that I agree with everybody else and move on.

1. Joan of Arcadia
Network: CBS
Commentary: Well, if you know me at all, or if you've read this blog a bit, this will come as no surprise to you. I dedicated an entire rambling, lunatic post to this show four and a half years ago (it can be read here), and as embarrassing as it reads today, I still mean every word. There's absolutely no doubt to me that it's the best show of all time.

29th Annual Young Artist Awards

American Idol content will start only when the show really starts (i.e. when fan voting kicks in) and no earlier. In the meantime, here's the 29th Annual Young Artist Awards. Full nomination list is available on the YAA wesbsite. I could do actual research here, try to watch all the nominated shows and movies, etc. but I'm going with my extremely ill informed opinions here, lucky you.

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A FEATURE FILM/Leading Young Actor

Alex Etel Miles Heizer Freddie Highmore Josh Hutcherson Jacob Kogan Logan Lerman Zach Mills Alex Neuberger Chris O’Neil Alejandro Polanco

"The Water Horse" "Rails & Ties" "August Rush" "Bridge to Terabithia" "Joshua" "3:10 To Yuma" "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium" "Underdog" "The Last Mimzy" "Chop Shop"

TCR Endorsed Selection: Yikes, I was really not up on family films last year. I have never even heard of Joshua, Rails & Ties, or Chop Shop and, of the nominated movies, have only seen 3:10 to Yuma and Bridge to Terabithia. So I guess this is unfair, but my choice is Logan Lerman, who gave the best performance and starred in the best of the nominated films. (Logan is the reigning winner in this category.)

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A FEATURE FILM/Leading Young Actress

Gracie Bednarczyk Abigail Breslin Isamar Gonzales Kay Panabaker Dakota Blue Richards AnnaSophia Robb Emma Roberts Saoirse Ronan

"Grace Is Gone" "No Reservations" "Chop Shop" "Moondance Alexander" "The Golden Compass" "Bridge to Terabithia" "Nancy Drew" "Atonement"

TCR Endorsed Selection: Egad! This is a really tough category. We can quickly eliminate it down to KPB, AnnaSophia, Emma, and Saiorse, since I have seen none of the other nominated movies. Saiorse is actually nominated for the Academy Award. KPB is the patron saint of this blog (though, due to a lack of wide release I have not actually seen the film in question). AnnaSophia gave a decent performance in a decent film. Emma gave a great performance in a film I loved. Obviously, my choice here is Emma Roberts, though my guess is had I seen Moondance Alexander the choice would be much closer. As much as it hurts me to go against Kay, I can't give an award to somebody in a film I never saw, especially when there's already another great performance in the category.

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A FEATURE FILM/Supporting Young Actor - Fantasy or Drama

Alex Ferris Dillon Freasier Soren Fulton Jordan Garrett Devon Gearhart Bailey Hughes Leon G. Thomas III

"The Invisible" "There Will Be Blood" "South of Pico" "Death Sentence" "Canvas" "Good Time Max" "August Rush"

TCR Endorsed Selection: They didn't split this category last year, and God only knows why they split it up into "Fantasy or Drama" vs. "Comedy" this year. I'd think Fantasy is a lot closer to Comedy than Drama, but whatever. I have not heard of a single one of these nominated films except There Will Be Blood, which I didn't see. N/A

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A FEATURE FILM/Supporting Young Actor - Comedy or Musical

Max Baldry Jimmy Bennett Zachary Gordon Dylan McLaughlin Graham Phillips Ed Sanders

"Mr. Bean’s Holiday" "Evan Almighty" "Georgia Rule" "Georgia Rule" "Evan Almighty" "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street"

TCR Endorsed Selection: Ed Sanders. He gave an excellent performance in one of my favorite films of the year. An easy choice.

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A FEATURE FILM/Supporting Young Actress

Jasmine Jessica Anthony Courtney Taylor Burness Hannah Lochner Taylor Momsen Jamia Simone Nash Keke Palmer Kristen Stewart

"1408" "Premonition" "Firehouse Dog" "Underdog" "August Rush" "Cleaner" "Into the Wild"

TCR Endorsed Selection: Can I just say that I don't understand these categories at all? Why is supporting young actor the only one that's split up? I don't get it... Anyways, though I once again haven't seen any of the films, in the absence of other indicators I'm going to give this to Keke Palmer, who I've liked a lot in everything I've seen her in. Unfair I suppose but that's how I roll.

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A FEATURE FILM/Young Actor Aged 10 or Under

Nicholas Art Micah Berry Jackson Bond Bobby Coleman Nathan Gamble Samuel Garland Dakota Goyo Jeremy Karson Austin Williams

"The Nanny Diaries" "Things We Lost in the Fire" "The Invasion" "Martian Child" "The Mist" "The Reaping" "Resurrecting the Champ" "Music & Lyrics" "Michael Clayton"

TCR Endorsed Selection: In contrast to other categories, this category features three films from last year that I genuinely loved. Two made my top 10 list and the third ("Michael Clayton") would have except I forgot about it. None of the three actors had particularly memorable or important roles in their respective movies, but ultimately, Nathan Gamble gave the best performance, in my opinion.

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A FEATURE FILM/Young Actress Aged 10 or Under

Rachel Covey Bailee Madison Megan McKinnon Madison Pettis Willow Smith Rhiannon Leigh Wryn

"Enchanted" "Bridge to Terabithia" "Project Grey" "The Game Plan" "I Am Legend" "The Last Mimzy"

TCR Endorsed Selection: Rachel Covey gives a good performance in my favorite film of the last few years. This is a no brainer.

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A FEATURE FILM/Young Ensemble Cast
Bridge to Terabithia
Daddy Day Camp
The Last Mimzy
Nancy Drew

TCR Endorsed Selection: HMM, I really wonder. Nancy Drew. Note that Kay Panabaker and Amy Bruckner are included in the young ensemble cast for this, even though they have less than 5 minutes of screen time apiece, which means that I get to support both Emma and Kay here. Yay!

(I am skipping here various awards related to international films, short films, and TV movies/miniseries. Between the 6 categories I haven't heard of a single one of the actors or films nominated, so it's probably better to save space.)

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A TV SERIES/Leading Young Actor

Keir Gilchrist Noah Gray-Cabey Carter Jenkins Jamie Johnston Angus T. Jones Sean Keenan Kyle Massey Devon Werkheiser Tyler James Williams

"The Winner" "Heroes" "Viva Laughlin" "Degrassi: The Next Generation" "Two And A Half Men" "Lockie Leonard" "Corey In The House" "Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide" "Everybody Hates Chris"

TCR Endorsed Selection: I watch a lot more TV than movies so I'm more qualified on these categories. I've seen all the nominated shows except Viva Laughlin and Lockie Leonard (what the hell?). While I'm not crazy about any of the nominated performances, my opinion is that the best choice is Jamie Johnston. Heroes is the best nominated show, but Noah is kinda annoying. Kyle Massey is the reigning winner in this category, but his casual smugness has become kind of grating over time. The others are basically forgettable. That makes Jamie a default choice as much as anything, but he does a good job and would be a fine winner.

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A TV SERIES/Leading Young Actress

Rhyon Nicole Brown Miranda Cosgrove Miley Cyrus Chloe Greenfield Emma Roberts Jamie Lynn Spears

"Lincoln Heights" "iCarly" "Hannah Montana" "ER" "Unfabulous" "Zoey 101"

TCR Endorsed Selection: My opinion is that the best choice would be Emma Roberts and if I really still have to explain that at this point then my blog truly has been a failure. (Miranda Cosgrove is quite good and Miley is improving, Emma is still way better. I would liked to have seen Selena Gomez nominated here.)

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A TV SERIES/Supporting Young Actor

Dean Collins Jason Dolley Alexander Gould Mitch Holleman Mark Indelicato Nathan Kress Daniel Magder Vincent Martella Aidan Mitchell Slade Pearce

"The War at Home" "Corey in the House" "Weeds" "Reba" "Ugly Betty" "iCarly" "Life With Derek" "Everybody Hates Chris" "The Riches" "October Road"

TCR Endorsed Selection: For a category with such a bloated number of nominees, there's not much to get excited over here. Jason Dolley is a Read It and Weep alum, which normally would get him a ton of bonus points, but he stars on a show that's one of the worst on TV. Daniel Magder is a part of a cast I've previously professed to like a lot, but he's the weak link among the kids. The best choice here is Nathan Kress, who does a fine job on iCarly, a mediocre show.

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A TV SERIES/Supporting Young Actress

Taylor Atelian Malese Jow Tinashe Kachingwe Jennette McCurdy Mary Matilyn Mouser Adair Tishler

"According to Jim" "Unfabulous" "Out of Jimmy's Head" "iCarly" "Life Is Wild" "Heroes"

TCR Endorsed Selection: This is one of the weakest categories yet. Malese Jow is a weird nomination, her bad performance is one of the few things that I hate about Unfabulous. Jennette McCurdy is, similarly, the weak link in a pretty good cast. Fortunately, Adair Tishler is here and she's a cutie and gives a great performance as Molly Walker. She's the biggest winner yet in any category.

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A TV SERIES/Young Actor Age 10 or Younger

Lorenzo Brino Nikolas Brino Joseph Castanon Field Cate Khamani Griffin Trevor Gagnon Dylan Minnette Conner Rayburn

"7th Heaven" "7th Heaven" "I Hate My 30's" "Pushing Daisies" "All of Us" "New Adventures of Old Christine" "Saving Grace" "According to Jim"

TCR Endorsed Selection: Oh my god the Brinos are nominated! I'm reasonably certain that the Brinos are, in fact, the worst young actors age 10 or younger on TV and how the hell would you distinguish between them anyways? Can I go with an N/A here? I hate the young Ned scenes on Pushing Daisies, the Brino twins are horrible and I haven't seen any of the other nominated shows. (I saw one episode of I Hate My 30's, apparently Joseph Castanon did not feature in that episode.)

No award for young actress aged 10 or under! Sexual discrimination alert!

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A TV SERIES/Guest Starring Young Actor

Cameron Bright Chandler Canterbury Nicholas Elia Dylan Everett Colin Ford Soren Fulton Dominic Scott Kay Quinn Lord Justin Martin Dylan Patton Colby Paul Cole Petersen Remy Thorne

"The 4400" (ep:'Wrath of Graham') "Criminal Minds" (ep:'In Birth and Death') "Supernatural" (ep:'The Kids Are Alright') "The Dresden Files" (ep:'Birds of a Feather') "Journeyman" (ep:'Blowback') "Bones" (ep:'The Priest in the Churchyard') "Navy NCIS" (ep:'Lost & Found') "Smallville" (ep:'Bizarro') "Cold Case" (ep:'It Takes a Village') "Cold Cas"e (ep:'Blackout') "Pushing Daisies" (ep:'Corpsicle') "CSI: Miami" (ep:'Stand Your Ground') "Criminal Minds" (ep:'Revelations')

TCR Endorsed Selection: Cameron Bright was good in his guest role on The 4400, in one of the best episodes of the season, and he definitely deserves the trophy.

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A TV SERIES/Guest Starring Young Actress

Jasmine Jessica Anthony Jenna Boyd Darcy Rose Byrnes Conchita Campbell Bailee Madison Ashlyn Sanchez Bella Thorne

"Ugly Betty" (ep:'Something Wicked This Way Comes') "Ghost Whisperer" (ep:'Children of Ghosts') "Cold Case" (ep:'A Dollar, A Dream') "Supernatural" (ep:'Playthings') "House" (ep:'Act Your Age') "Without a Trace" (ep:'Desert Springs') "The O.C." (ep:'The Case of the Franks')

TCR Endorsed Selection: The only one of these I specifically recognize is that actress from House, and I see nothing about her performance that is award worthy. I'm giving this to Conchita Campbell in general principle, even though I've never seen and barely even heard of Supernatural.

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A TV SERIES/Recurring Young Actor

Jake Cherry Marc Donato Caden Michael Gray Mick Hazen Dominic Janes Ty Panitz Connor Price K'Sun Ray Will Shadley Cainan Wiebe Calum Worthy

"Desperate Housewives" "Degrassi: The Next Generation" "Out of Jimmy's Head" "As the World Turns" "ER" "Bones" "The Dead Zone" "Smith" "Dirty Sexy Money" "Sanctuary" "Psych"

TCR Endorsed Selection: Hard to say. The young Psych scenes are much more entertaining than the young Pushing Daisies scenes, and it only seems fair to give some of that credit to Calum Worthy. Yeah, he's my pick.

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A TV SERIES/Recurring Young Actress

Kristen Alderson Rachel G. Fox Danielle Hanratty Sammi Hanratty Chloe Grace Moretz Ryan Newman Christina Robinson Darcy Rose Byrnes Erin Sanders Christian Serratos Alyson Stoner Kylie & Keaton Tyndall

"One Life to Live" "Desperate Housewives" "The Unit" "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody" "Dirty Sexy Money" "Hannah Montana" "Dexter" "The Young and the Restless" "Zoey 101" "Neds Declassified School Survival Guide" "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody" "Big Love"

TCR Endorsed Selection: Ryan Newman plays young Miley on Hannah Montana, in a few episodes. Her performance is completely forgettable, but she's a real cutie-pie, so I can't really argue with giving her the award here in an apparently really weak category.

BEST YOUNG ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE IN A TV SERIES
Hannah Montana
The Naked Brothers Band
Out of Jimmy's Head
Unfabulous
The Wizards of Waverly Place
Zoey 101

TCR Endorsed Selection: OK, this is a really hard category, and it's complicated by the fact that two of the strongest nominees (NBB and Wizards) received no individual nominations, while all 3 main actors for iCarly were nominated and it was shut out here. Zoey 101 (the two time reigning champ in this category) and Out of Jimmy's Head are instant eliminees, because I really dislike Zoey and have never seen OOJH. After that it's really close. Similar to last year, I'm eliminating Unfabulous because the supporting cast isn't good enough. I'll eliminate NBB because it's just not quite good enough. Hannah just has too many annoying cast members (ugh, Rico and Oliver) to qualify here. My opinion is that the newcomer Wizards of Waverly Place is the best choice here. Bad joke writing brings down the overall quality of the show, but I'm a big fan of the young cast, and the show does have some potential.

(Skipping two categories for voice overs that I have no idea about.)

BEST FAMILY TELEVISION MOVIE or SPECIAL

"High School Musical" "The Last Day of Summer" "Naked Brothers Band: The Movie" "You've Got A Friend"

TCR Endorsed Selection: Um, perhaps they mean High School Musical 2? It deserves to win regardless.

BEST FAMILY TELEVISION SERIES

"Hannah Montana" "Life Is Wild" "The Naked Brothers Band" "Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide" "Out of Jimmy's Head" "The Winner" "Zoey 101"

TCR Endorsed Selection: No surprise here that my choice in this category is Hannah Montana. Unfabulous still shoulda been nominated. (Last year this category was split into comedy and drama, this year all the nominees are comedies.)

BEST FAMILY TELEVISION REALITY SHOW, GAME SHOW or DOCUMENTARY

"Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?" "Endurance" "Kid Nation" "My Life as a Child" "Who Cares About Girls?"

TCR Endorsed Selection: This is a new category this year, and it's a weird one. I've never heard of My Life as a Child or Who Cares About Girls?, but the best choice here among the shows I know is Endurance, and I like it enough that I suspect it would be the choice regardless.

(skip categories on short and international films)

BEST FAMILY FEATURE FILM (Animation)

"Bee Movie" "Meet the Robinsons" "Ratatouille" "Surf's Up"

TCR Endorsed Selection: Ratatouille is the best movie and it will win.

BEST FAMILY FEATURE FILM (Fantasy or Musical)

"Alvin and the Chipmunks" "Bridge to Terabithia" "The Golden Compass" "Underdog" "The Water Horse"

TCR Endorsed Selection: I saw only one of these films (Bridge to Terabithia), and it wasn't good enough for me to say it deserves an award. So, N/A.

BEST FAMILY FEATURE FILM (Comedy or Drama)

"August Rush" "Evan Almighty" "Firehouse Dog" "Hairspray" "The Last Mimzy" "Martian Child" "Nancy Drew"

TCR Endorsed Selection: It's so obvious that I'm gonna pick Nancy Drew here that I'm going to bitch about the categories instead of justifying it. WHY IS BEST SUPPORING YOUNG ACTOR SPLIT INTO FANTASY OR DRAMA AND COMEDY OR MUSICAL AND BEST PICTURE SPLIT INTO FANTASY OR MUSICAL AND COMEDY OR DRAMA? WHY GOD WHY?

Movie Reviews: Custody/The Party Never Stops

In this post I will review two recent Lifetime Original Movies which I watched because they starred favorites of the TCR. Namely, Custody, starring Kay Panabaker and The Party Never Stops: Diary of a Binge Drinker starring Sara Paxton. Let's roll.

Custody

I think I've reviewed each of Kay Panabaker's projects to date except Life Is Ruff (actually have I really written anything about Debbie Berwick on here?), so it only makes sense to throw one together on this. (Please note that Life Is Ruff will never be reviewed on this blog. Know that it is terrible.)

(Brief) Plot Summary ('cause, actually I don't really totally remember what happened): Rob Morrow (from Numbers) plays a widowed English professor named David Gordon who has a daughter named Amanda (Kay Panabaker - Official Actress of the TCR). Amanda's mom died when she was extremely young, and so she never even really knew her. David and Amanda have a solid and steady group of (wacky!) friends, and their life is generally pleasant. This is all changed when a new man, John Sullivan (James Denton from Desperate Housewives) shows up claiming to be Amanda's real birth father. This fact is quickly confirmed by David. John decides he wants to get to know Amanda and, actually, sues for full time custody of Amanda and wins. The movie proceeds from there, and I don't wanna give away too much even though nothing that happens is too surprising.

Commentary: Well, this was a pretty cute movie, but there wasn't really very much to it. The group of wacky and witty and diverse friends was an unnecessary distraction and was really cliched. It was like watching a very low-rent version of a Richard Curtis movie. Kay Panabaker was cute and charming as always, and she does well with the dramatic parts of the movie. I've embarrassingly gushed over Kay and her talents many times before on this blog (just click the Kay Panabaker tag at the end of this post), so I'll avoid going too overboard this time. But she continues to have such a charming screen presence, and she continues to have pitch-perfect facial expressions, vocal inflections, etc. All the little things she does that always impress me so much. Suffice to say, I really liked her performance, even though there really wasn't too much to her character. The movie was cliched, the characters actions were cliched, the characters themselves were cliched, etc. etc.

I've spoken out against judging movies solely based on the originality of their plot many times before but, unfortunately, that seems to be a pretty valid criticism of this movie. It's not original, and it doesn't go about its unoriginality in a particularly interesting way. I'm as big a Kay Panabaker fan as you'll meet and I almost fell asleep partway through this.

But none of this is to say there isn't anything to enjoy in this movie beyond Kay. Kay's friend is a really fun character, and I liked the actress a lot. The ending, though expected, was also very satisfying and well done. The best part of the movie, all in all, was the relationship between Kay's character and Rob Morrow's character. This was a pretty real relationship, and it was well done. Most of the best moments in the movie are the quiet, personal moments shared by those two, and they lend a depth to the movie that would otherwise not be there.

Final Comments/Grade: Emotionally affecting, satisfying ending, one of my favorite actresses giving a great performance as lead, but yet incredibly uninteresting. Cute, but with no substance at all. I've given good grades to cute movies with little substance many times before (Raise Your Voice, Ella Enchanted), but I just can't in good conscience give a good grade to a movie that entertained me so little. Especially when the plot and characters and themes are as unoriginal as they are here. 5/10.

The Party Never Stops: Diary of a Binge Drinker

(Brief) Plot Summary ('cause, actually I don't really totally remember what happened): Jesse Tanner (Sara Paxton) is a goody-two-shoes who lives in a small town with her mother and younger sister, her father having died several years previous. Jesse is about to be the first person in her family to go to college and she's very excited, though she will miss her mom. She instantly becomes friends with her college roommate Shanna (Chelsea Hobbs), who is a big partier who is planning on joining a sorority. Jesse and Shanna get big into the partying scene, which causes various troubles in Jesse's life. In one particularly awesome plot point, she is filmed topless for a Girls Gone Wild type movie which is posted on the internet. The movie proceeds in like fashion, again, not wanting to give too much away.

Commentary: This movie was extremely repetitive and not a whole hell of a lot happened, which means it probably should have been really boring. The constant stream of "Jesse does something wrong/her life screws up/her mom gets mad and forbids her from partying any more/OK I'll party this one last time" gets really tiresome (that sequence takes place like 3 or 4 times). Even though the plot is repetitive and the message is totally after-school-special, I nonetheless found myself very entertained.

My first inclination is to attribute this to a "so bad it's good" type ethos, due to the hysterics, scaremongering, ridiculous plot devices, and general shoddiness of the film. In fact, the film seems to be poorly made. I guess, the most important part of why I enjoyed this movie was the performance of the leads, Sara Paxton and Chelsea Hobbs. They both did a great job, and their chemistry was a hoot. And I'll be damned, but the relationship gave the movie a real emotional core. The movie really got to me. It's becoming increasingly easy to emotionally manipulate me in a film, and almost any movie that is supposed to make you sad or happy will get me choked up. So I can't fairly use that as a criteria for judging a movie, but there it is.

Chelsea Hobbs, as a newcomer, provided the most emotionally affecting scenes and the biggest laughs. She wasn't a revelation or anything, and it definitely wasn't a great performance, but she didn't screw it up and sometimes that's enough, especially for a movie like this. Sara was her usual charming self, though she had a bad tendency to overact. This was probably the weakest performance I've ever seen from Sara.

Though I was entertained, the story was very poorly structured and cliched. The whole movie was crazily over the top, and the over-the-topness resulted in the message not really being put across. It's hard to take anything about this movie seriously, so if it's really trying to express the dangers of binge drinking it's a failure from that standpoint.

Final Comments: Opposite of Custody, this movie was not cute, and it was very poorly done. But Custody put me to sleep, this movie I couldn't turn away from. Both movies featured strong performances from the leads, though I was a bit disappointed by Sara. I generally tend to go with poorly made but entertaining over well made but boring. 6/10.

28th Annual Young Artist Awards

Before I get into the 28th annual Young Artist Award nominations, let me take a second to revise my previous post. I said that I didn't know why I loved Antonella Barba, but actually it's pretty clear. She is (by far) the most attractive female finalist, she's got a really great soulful tone to her voice, she's confident without being cocky, and she comes off as genuinely likeable. It still seems like AI wanted me to hate her, but I think she's an almost lock for the top 12 (I'd say her, Gina, Melinda, and Jordin seem very likely to make the final 12 at this point). Doing a bit of research at lunch today I noted there is a strong correlation between Antonella fans and McPhee fans, which makes me feel better.

OK, the main thrust. The nominations for the 28th annual Young Artist Awards have been released, and here I will go through them, blow by blow, giving the offical TCR endorsed winner in each category. There's a shitload of categories, so strap in. Fun.

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A FEATURE FILM/Leading Young Actor
Thomas Sangster - "Nanny McPhee"
Logan Lerman - "Hoot"
Connor Donovan - "Twelve and Holding"
Alex Neuberger - "Running Scared"
Cameron Bright - "Running Scared"
Josh Hutcherson - "RV"

TCR Endorsed Selection: Logan Lerman. He stars in the only of these movies I've seen, though he wasn't anything special. I've never even heard of 2 of em.

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A FEATURE FILM/Leading Young Actress
Sara Paxton - "Aquamarine"
Dakota Fanning - "Charlotte's Web"
Brie Larson - "Hoot"
Keke Palmer - "Akeelah and the Bee"
Emily Rios - "Quinceanera"
Keisha Castle-Hughes - "Nativity Story"

TCR Endorsed Selection: Keke Palmer. My love for Sara Paxton and Brie Larson are well known by now but they aren't very good in these respective roles. Sorry Sara, take a walk. Keke, on the other hand, was great (and was good in Jump In too). Do they give speeches at these awards? If so, I'd lean towards supporting Brie just to hear her acceptance speech. For now I'll stick with Keke. Dakota is the reigning winner in this category (Dreamer).

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A FEATURE FILM/Supporting Young Actor
Cameron Bright - "X-Men: The Last Stand"
Tristan Lake Leabu - "Superman Returns"
Rory Culkin - "The Night Listener"
Connor Paolo - "World Trade Center"
Chase Ellison - "End of the Spear"
Troy Gentile - "Nacho Libre"
Josh Flitter - "Big Momma's House 2"

TCR Endorsed Selection: Cameron Bright. I only saw two of these movies, and I hated the little kid in Superman Returns. Leech is the choice here, despite his rather unchallenging role. At least he didn't screw anything up.

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A FEATURE FILM/Supporting Young Actress
Zoe Weizenbaum - "Twelve and Holding"
Emma Roberts - "Aquamarine"
Joanna "Jojo" Levesque - "Aquamarine"
Hallie Kate Eisenberg - "How to Eat Fried Worms"
Hannah Marks - "Accepted"
Lucy Boynton - "Miss Potter"
Allison Stoner - "Step Up"

TCR Endorsed Selection: Emma Roberts. The movie sucked, and it wasn't her best performance, but she was still very good.

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A FEATURE FILM/Young Actor Age Ten or Younger
Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick - "Omen"
Jimmy Bennett - "Firewall"
Noah Gray-Cabey - "Lady in the Water"
Jake Johnson - "Talladega Nights"
Nathan Gamble - "Babel"
Dylan Blue - "Deck the Halls"
Jake Cherry - "Night at the Museum"

TCR Endorsed Selection: Jake Cherry. Didn't see a single one of these films and haven't heard of a single one of these actors. Just picked at random. From now on I'll skip a category if I have no idea or no favorite.

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A FEATURE FILM/Young Actress Age Ten or Younger
Tatum McCann - "Click"
Ryan Newman - "Zoom"
Chloe Grace Moretz - "Big Momma's House 2"
Elle Fanning - "Babel"
Sage Kermes - "Sweetland"
Abigail Breslin - "Little Miss Sunshine"

TCR Endorsed Selection: Abigail Breslin is the obvious choice here. Probably a slam dunk, as she is nominated for an Oscar (won't win, but still...).

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A FEATURE FILM/Young Ensemble Cast
"Nanny McPhee"
"How to Eat Fried Worms"
"Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause"
"Unaccompanied Minors"

TCR Endorsed Selection: "Unaccompanied Minors". An entertaining film.

[Skipping various international and short film categories, for hopefully obvious reasons.]

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A TV MOVIE, MINISERIES or SPECIAL (Comedy or Drama)/Leading Young Actor
Zac Efron - "High School Musical"
Jason Dolley - "Read It and Weep"
Matthew Knight - "Candles on Bay Street"
Micah Williams - "The Ron Clarke Story"
Brandon Smith - "The Ron Clarke Story"

TCR Endorsed Selection: Zac Efron. He was truly great as Troy Bolton, kid's got some real talent.

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A TV MOVIE, MINISERIES or SPECIAL (Comedy or Drama)/Leading Young Actress
Vanessa Anne Hudgens - "High School Musical"
Sammi Hannatty - "Hello Sister, Goodbye Life"
Kay Panabaker - "Read It and Weep"
Maya Ritter - "Molly: American Girl on the Homefront"
Hannah Hodson - "The Ron Clarke Story"

TCR Endorsed Selection: Kay Panabaker. Hopefully by now this won't surprise anybody. As explained in an old post here, Sammi Hanratty's nomination is a big joke.

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A TV MOVIE, MINISERIES or SPECIAL (Comedy or Drama)/Supporting Young Actor
Corbin Bleu - "High School Musical"
Beans El-Balaui - "Half Light"
Jake Smith - "For the Love of a Child"
Jonah Meyerson - "Griffin and Phoenix"
Andrew Chalmers - "Molly: American Girl on the Homefront"
Benjamin Petry - "The Lost Room"

TCR Endorsed Selection: Anybody but Corbin Bleu. Too hammy in that role, for my taste (he was good in Jump In). Lucas Grabeel was robbed (too old?).

[Skipping best supporting actress as I know nothing of any of the nominated films. Nobody from HSM was nominated. Presumably, Ashley Tisdale was already too old.]

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A TV SERIES (Comedy or Drama)/Leading Young Actor
Cole Sprouse - "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody"
Tyler Williams - "Everybody Hates Chris"
Michael Seater - "Life With Derek"
Dylan Sprouse - "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody"
Devon Werkheiser - "Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide"
Kyle Massey - "That's So Raven"
Jamie Johnston - "Degrassi: The Next Generation"

TCR Endorsed Selection: Michael Seater. He was great on Strange Days at Blake Holsey High and is great on this show too, despite the fact that it's not that good. Kyle and Jamie would be fine choices as well. The Sprouses were nominated together last year, but separately this year. If they win, there is no God.

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A TV SERIES (Comedy or Drama)/Leading Young Actress
Ashley Leggat - "Life With Derek"
Emma Roberts - "Unfabulous"
Jamie Lynn Spears - "Zoey 101"
Mikey Cyrus - "Hannah Montana"
Christa B. Allen - "Cake"

TCR Endorsed Selection: Emma Roberts. Once again, by now this will not surprise any reader of my blog. I think Emma's superb. Jamie Lynn and Miley being nominated is another hilarious joke. Ashley Leggat does very fine work on her show (and is a personal favorite). She wouldn't be a bad choice except that Emma totally outclasses her.

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A TV SERIES (Comedy or Drama)Supporting Young Actor
Daniel Magder - "Life With Derek"
Andrew Chalmers - "Darcy's Wild Life"
Dan Curtiss Lee - "Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide"
Paul Butcher - "Zoey 101"
Dean Collins - "The War at Home"
Alexander Gould - "Weeds"
Jesse Plemons - "Friday Night Lights"

TCR Endorsed Selection: Andrew Chalmers. I don't think I've talked about Darcy's much here, but I'm a big fan of the show. Sara Paxton's a big part of that, but the supporting cast is very talented as well.

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A TV SERIES (Comedy or Drama)Supporting Young Actress
Miranda Cosgrove - "Drake and Josh"
Victoria Justice - "Zoey 101"
Emily Osment - "Hannah Montana"
Allie Grant - "Weeds"
Mackenzie Rosman - "7th Heaven"
Aimee Teegarden - "Friday Night Lights"
Hayden Panettiere - "Heroes"

TCR Endorsed Selection: Mackenzie Rosman. The best actor on the show, which I admittedly haven't seen in a couple years. Hayden's really improved over the course of the season, but not good enough. Emily Osment wouldn't be a bad choice either, I suppose, but she's a bit manic and shouty for my taste. And Hannah Montana winning an acting award would be so very wrong.

[Skipping Best Age 10 or under actor as the only ones I recognize are the Brino twins from Seventh Heaven and CJ Sanders from Heroes and I hate em both.]

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A TV SERIES (Comedy or Drama)/Young Actress Age Ten or Younger
Ariel Gade - "Invasion"
Ariel Waller - "Life With Derek"
Maria Lark - "Medium"
Billi Bruno - "According to Jim"
Conchita Campbell - "The 4400"
Emily Everhard - "Cake"

TCR Endorsed Selection: Oh, Conchita Campbell by a mile, she's really great. All due respect to the v. good Ariel Walker, but this is the biggest walk in any category yet.

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A TV SERIES (Comedy or Drama)/Guest Starring Young Actress
Alyson Stoner - "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody"
Emily Hirst - "Smallville"
Sammi Hanratty - "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody"
Tay Blessey - "Cold Case"
Monet Monico - "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody"
Chloe Grace Monetz - "Desparate Housewives"
Rachel Rogers - "Monk"

TCR Endorsed Selection: Was gonna skip this, but Chloe Grace Monetz deserves to win, she's a cutie pie. Had no idea (two time YAA nominated!) Sammi Hanratty was in Suite Life. Love Monk but Rachel had about 2 lines in this role.

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A TV SERIES (Comedy or Drama) Recurring Young Actor
Louis T. Noyle - "My Name Is Earl"
Noah Crawford - "My Name is Earl"
Masam Holden - "ER"
Daniel Goldman - "Dexter"
Jacob Kraemer - "Naturally Sadie"
Tyler Patrick Jones - "The Ghost Whisperer"
Cody Linley - "Hannah Montana"
Charley Stewart - "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody"
Adam Langley - "Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide"
Marc Donato - "Degrassi: The Next Generation"

TCR Endorsed Selection: Cody Linley. He's the best part of the show, when he's on. Way too many nominees in this category.

[Skipping recurring young actress as I have no feelings one way or another on any of the nominated ones. I've heard of a few of them, but none make an impression.]

BEST YOUNG ENSEMBLE PERFROMANCE IN A TV SERIES (Comedy or Drama)
"Unfabulous"
"Life With Derek"
"Darcy's Wild Life"
"Zoey 101"

TCR Endorsed Selection: Life With Derek. A very strong category, any of the choices would make me happy except Zoey 101 (actually the reigning winner). I was nearly tempted to pick Unfabulous, entirely based on Emma, but Derek has the much deeper cast overall. And it feels more like an ensemble, than Unfabulous, which is a one person show. Just because the writing sucks isn't their fault. Darcy's Wild Life, like Unfabulous, is too dependent on the excellent performance of its lead to deserve an award like this.

BEST FAMILY TELEVISION MOVIE or SPECIAL
"The Ron Clark Story"
"High School Musical"
"Hello Sister, Goodbye Life"
"Candles on Baystreet"
"Molly: An American Girl on the Homefront"
"For the Love of a Child"

TCR Endorsed Selection: High School Musical. Hello Sister, Goodbye Life being nominated over Read It and Weep is awful, but HSM would deserve to win anyways. Presumably it will win.

BEST FAMILY TELEVISION SERIES (Drama)
"Invasion"
"Saved"
"Flight 29 Down"
"7th Heaven"
"Brothers and Sisters"
"Ghost Whisperer"
"Friday Night Lights"

TCR Endorsed Selection: Flight 29 Down, though none of these shows are really any good. Ghost Whisperer stole Joan of Arcadia from me, and I will always hate it for that.

BEST FAMILY TELEVISION SERIES (Comedy)
"The Suite Life of Zack and Cody"
"Darcy's Wild Life"
"Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide"
"Unfabulous"
"Zoey 101"
"My Name is Earl"

TCR Endorsed Selection: Unfabulous. Interesting to me that Life With Derek wasn't nominated after all those cast nominations, but the writing is just so bad. Anyways Unfabulous an easy choice to me, though Darcy's Wild Life is good too. But just say no (justfanoe) to Zoey 101.

[The last four categories are all awards for best feature films in various ways, and since I saw so few movies I'm skipping them all. I do, however, support Akeelah and the Bee for best drama.]

Final Year End Listamania

Year End Miscellany:

Contrary to previous posts I've decided to forgo a top 10 albums list this year. The reason being that I am laughably behind in album listening this year. By the time I get around to processing all of the albums there's a good chance that I'll like from this year, it will be well beyond the point at which it would be reasonable to release a 2006 year in review list. There are about 5 albums this year that I am pretty confident will make my top 10 this year, when I've finally processed all the relevant albums. They are, in approximately this order, Amy Diamond's Still Me Still Now Marit Larsen's Under the Surface Gothic Archies' The Tragic Treasury Paris Hilton's Paris and Ciara's The Evolution. You could call that a top 5, I guess, except that there are in all likelihood at least one (maybe more) albums I have yet to listen to that might make the top 5, and I'm still processing Ciara, and she might move up. I'm pretty confident in declaring Amy Diamond's Still Me Still Now as the album of the year, at this point. Top 5 artists of the year: Aly & AJ, Miley Cyrus, Dr. Luke, Amy Diamond, Fergie. Fergie, not because she made the best music of anybody not above her, but because she managed to shatter my previous extreme hatred of her prior to this year, which was a remarkable accomplishment. I'm counting Miley's TV work, which may be unfair, but it is what it is. And it's better for Aly & AJ overall if I don't count Cow Belles. I do count Aly's work on Phil of the Future because as explained I consider that to be a key part of their image, but it doesn't matter because they'd rank number 1 without it anyways. And like I said before I didn't even see 10 movies this year, but my favorite movie that I DID see was, of course, High School Musical with The Departed being the best real movie that I saw.

So congrats to Lillix, The 4400, Amy Diamond, Aly & AJ, and High School Musical for winning all the TCR awards this year.

Top 11 Things to Look Forward to in 2007

OK with all year end content out of the way, let's look forward instead of backwards and see what we have to look forward to in 2007. Unlike all the prior year in review stuff, I will confine this to the theme of my blog. So it's solely things in the entertainment media that are in a broad sense relevant to teen culture. This is for entertainment purposes only, I'm just basing this on what I know for a fact is coming out in 2007, with little research to figure out what else is gonna be out. TV and movies, for whatever reason tend to take me by surprise more than music, so there is more music on this list than the other two. OK, with those caveats, here goes:

11. Ashely Tisdale
Coming out with a new album in 2007, starring in High School Musical 2 and The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, 2007 looks like it may be an even better year for The Tis than 2006 was. She was always my favorite of the HSM stars, and while her new singles aren't outstanding, they are pretty good, and I'm certainly looking forward to seeing what she has in store for us in 2007. Her acting will, I'm sure, be excellent as always, though wasted on the cesspool that is The Suite Life

10. Jordan Pruitt - No Ordinary Girl
The full album by Jordan Pruitt promises to be a good one, as I've enjoyed all the songs she's released so far, though to varying degrees. I can only hope they are going more with the confessional sound of "Outside Looking In" than the R&B sounds of her other songs.

9. Natasha Bedingfield - Blank Canvas
Her first album, Unwritten, is not impossibly one of my top 10 albums of the 2000's, and it spawned several great singles. Including the title track, which was one of my 10 favorite singles of 2005. I have no particular reason to think that this one will be inferior to her debut, but for whatever reason I am not super psyched for this release. Still, for all my (possibly unfounded) doubts that this one will rise to the heights of her debut, I'm obviously looking forward to this release by one of my favorite current British pop stars (probably my second favorite, behind Rachel Stevens. [Hey when's her comeback gonna be?])

8. New Brie Larson Album
Contrary to the above, I'm actually not 100% sure that this is coming out in 2007. But I'm listing it anyways because I think it is and I love Brie Larson. Anyways, even though her last album wasn't great, the three tracks she's since posted on her Myspace ("Coming Around" [Greg's #28 single of the year], "Stilts and the Titanic" and a cover of "A Day in the Life") have all been better than any of the songs on her first album. This, plus the great writing on her blog, makes me extremely excited for the full new album to be released.

7. Hannah Montana
New season of the show and new songs? Awesome! I guess I'm not 100% sure that new Hannah Montana songs will be released in 2007, which is why this doesn't rank higher, but it's probably a safe assumption. The new season of Hannah Montana, presumably featuring the return of Jake Ryan and showcasing improved acting talents from the kids, promises to be superior to the first year of the show. My number 2 artist of 2006 may well by my number 1 artist of 2007 if she is able to keep up.

6. Nancy Drew
I've hardly seen a movie with more disparagingly negative comments about it prior to its release. Everywhere that I've read about it has been an attack on the proposed casting of the roles. Apparently they are cast too young or against type or whatever. I don't know and I don't care because I never have and never intend to read a Nancy Drew book. Mystery movies and books bore me. BUT, this movie stars Emma Roberts as Nancy, and Kay Panabaker and Amy Bruckner as her best friends, so I'm extremely excited for it. Kay Panabaker doesn't have much to make me excited for 2007, just this movie a mediocre looking horse movie called Moondance Alexander (that I surely will nonetheless see on opening day) and a likely straight to DVD release of an update of the Prince and the Pauper starring the Sprouse twins. A fairly weak slate, but she plus Emma make this movie one that I am marking in my calendar.

5. New Hilary Duff album
Hilary has yet to release a consistently great album, and I have no reason to think that this will be the one. But she has been a consistently great singles artist, and her two albums so far have all featured several excellent songs. Even Most Wanted had a great original ("Wake Up") and a pretty good original ("Beat of My Heart"). "Play With Fire" was amazing, "With Love" sounds pretty good, and there's no reason to think there won't be at least a couple other songs on this new album that I will absolutely love. I can't wait.

4. High School Musical 2
Well, I have my doubts that they will be able to re-capture the magic of the first movie, but how could I not be really excited for this film. Will it be as effortlessly enjoyable as the first movie? Will it spawn another single as great as "Breaking Free"? Who knows! Like I said, I have my doubts, but I certainly hope so, and I'm certainly looking forward to finding out. The whole main four of the cast is great, so if nothing else, I'm sure they will salvage entertainment out of the film.

3. Season 3 of Unfabulous
My favorite teen/tween TV show currently on the air returns for a third season this year, delayed way too long since the end of season 2. Season 2 ended on a high note with Addie and Jake getting together. I hope they can run with that and produce a season even better than they've gotten so far, propelling this into the list of the truly great shows of its type, such as Phil of the Future. OK, maybe that's not very likely. But as long as it's got Emma Roberts on board it's gonna stay one of the most entertaining shows on television.

2. New Aly & AJ album
You know what, I think I've finally written enough about them. Please though let this be their first consistently great album.

1. New Kelly Clarkson album
The number one slot on this list was a lock before the list was even drawn up. Breakaway remains, as I have noted several times before, my favorite album of the decade to this point (Come and Get It is close). The new songs that she's debuted on tour, including "Maybe" and "Anymore" have been absolutely amazing. So, I'll conveniently ignore that the most recent song she's released, a song called "Go" written for Ford, was completely mediocre. There is not a piece of entertainment media that I have ever looked forward to as much as I am looking forward to this.

Of course, I'm sure most of my favorites by year-end won't be represented on this list, but that's part of the fun! We can check how good my predictions were later.

10 Reasons Why Summerland Season 2 Was 10x Worse Than Season 1

Sorry, it's been a while yet again.

1. Bradin Westerly (Jesse McCartney). The average number of times per episode I want to punch him in the face is approximately 10. He's so unbelievably selfish that it borders on absurdity. I know that most high school kids are jerks, and that there's hardly a 16 year old out there that isn't a selfish idiot. I know I was when I was 16. But there are limits to how big a dick a character can act like and still be remotely likeable. Bradin shatters that limit within about 2 episodes.

2. Simon was the most boring character ever and had no chemistry with Ava (Lori Loughlin). I think this was supposed to be intentional, as ultimately their lack of chemistry is what ultimately results in their wedding being called off. But this was still a retarded storyline. NOTE TO PRODUCERS: I don't want to watch boring people with no chemistry be involved in a doomed relationship. Even though this happens in real life, that's one of those things I generally like to see glossed over.

3. Waaaaaay too much time spent with Ava's boring business ventures. The writers apparently labored under the impression that we are extremly fascinated by whether Ava's fashion design business was pulled off. And not only that but we needed to see it be pushed along by a ridiculous and offensive gay stereotype character. This impression is incorrect. This is a teen show, focus on the teen characters please. Especially Kay Panabaker.

4. Derrick's hair + character assassination. Season 2 was broken up for a couple months when it aired, and it was treated as two mini-seasons. The first mini-season took place during the school year, and it then skipped straight into summer vacation. When they came back, Derrick (the youngest Westerley kid) had gotten a new and HORRIBLE hair cut. In addition, he was all of the sudden really into skateboarding (had he even been shown skateboarding before? I can't remember. Certainly it wasn't an important part of his character). Also he was acting like a selfish jerk, just like Bradin! The show had too many a-holes that I want to punch in the face already. He was better when he was a pointless dead weight, like in the first season. At least then I didn't hate him.

5. Everybody is so mean to Nikki (Kay Panabaker)! Why is Amber in so few episodes? Plus Cameron (Zac) consistently and efficiently acts like a jerk to her in every single encounter they have over the course of the season. But yet she's still in love with him! Nice guys lose, be a jerk. And why did the gay guy from the book group (played by Will Stronghold from Sky High) ask her out on what clearly appeared to be a date, then be shocked when she thought it was the same (note that Nikki had no way of knowing he was gay at the time)? Clearly state your intentions jerk.

6. Carmen Electra guest stars in about 6 episodes and is horrible. Plus the way they wrote her out of the show was stupid. After she dies she is hardly talked about at all.

7. The fact that the kid's parents recently died is hardly acknowledged at all. Good to know they've been forgotten about already. They don't even have a picture up or anything!

8. Christy Carlson Romano as the spoiled pop star was ridiculous and over the top and much, much more annoying than funny. PLEASE stick to your bread and butter of teen drama!

9. The sequence where Nikki has to read a poem in front of a large audience to win an award, and then Amber gives her some alcohol is one of the least realistic scenes ever captured by camera. Nikki gets drunk off of part of one drink of Schnapps. Then she acts extremely over the top drunk, like a vaudeville parody of a drunk person. Then she goes up on stage and reads her poem perfectly, the alcohol having taken the edge off her nerves or something? Nice message to send to the kids, there.

10. The storyline where Bradin takes perfomance enhancing drugs to improve his surfing was laughably cliched and horrible. Worst storyline ever. In fact the entirety of the surfing storylines in season 2 pissed me off. At the beginning of the season he can't even crack the starting lineup on his school's surf team, and then a couple months later he's a national surfing champion. Come on. Then, he's portrayed as some kind of MASSIVE superstar. They mention that ESPN is calling him! PEOPLE DON'T CARE ABOUT SURFING. WHY DOES THIS SHOW PRETEND THAT THEY DO? Way, way too surfing centric, this season was.

Bonus 11th reason:
11. It sullies Danielle Panabaker's good name by having her guest star in two episodes.

Summerland

THE BACKGROUND: Summerland was a summer show that aired on the WB for two seasons in 2004 and 2005, comprising 26 episodes in total. The series stars Lori Loughlin, better known as Uncle Jesse's wife on Full House (character name Ava), as a fashion designer living in Playa Linda, California, who, upon the death of her sister and brother-in-law, is left in charge of their three children, who are relocated from Kansas to live with her. Ava raises the three kids together with her three adult roommates (two male and one female), and they go through various teen angst/adult angst issues. Zaniness ensues. Oh yeah, and it stars Kay Panabaker (the Official Actress of the TCR) as Nikki, the middle child. I've written a lot about Kay's other primary projects, so I figured it was time to share my thoughts on this one. Can a painfully extensive review of Life is Ruff be too far behind?

I've only seen the first season so all thoughts herein are confined to that season.

OVERVIEW/REVIEW: Summerland not only stars Kay, it also stars Jesse McCartney (as her older brother), features Zac Efron (as her boyfriend/friend) as a recurring character, and guest stars Sara Paxton (as Jesse's girlfriend) for about 5 or 6 episodes. This is a remarkably talented cast of teen stars. Zac Efron and Sara Paxton have always been good in all of the previous projects I have seen them in, and they are good here as well. Sara Paxton plays a "bad seed" girl, which is completely contrary to her other roles and overall image, but she does it convicingly. Jesse McCartney, I have to say I was surprised by. I've always disliked his music, and from what I've seen of his live performances, I've never found him to exude much charm there. However, he is a very good actor, and he handles the angst of the character really well. Even though all they ever really give him to do is surf and screw up relationships. But he deals with the angst and sadness of the role really well. As to Kay Panabaker, well, I of course love her work. Her facial expressions and vocal inflections are impeccable as always; she handles the drama well, and her essential charm still shines through. She handles the sadness of the character really well, especially at the beginning of the show when she's having trouble coping with the death of her parents. Her "apology" to Suzanne at the end of the pilot was probably my favorite moment of the entire first season. But she also handles the happiness too, the giddiness of young love, very well. Kay continues to impress me more and more with every new project I see her in. The adult stars on the show are generally adequate, but don't seem to be anything special to me.

Unfortunately good acting can't make an otherwise mediocre show a classic. Plotting is a big problem with this show. The plots are all extremely cliched and predictable, and the show overall doesn't seem to be adding anything new to the landscape of teen television. Let's take one plot for an example. Sara gives Bradin (Jesse McCartney) a marijuana cigarette, and he accepts it, not wanting to seem uncool; however, he never plans to actually smoke it. He puts it in the front pocket of his backpack and then doesn't zip it up. If you can predict the resolution of this storyline: congratulations, you too could be a screenwriter on Summerland. In addition, a lot of the dialogue seems stilted and unrealistic.

The relationship between Ava and Johnny is supposed to be the centerpiece of the show, but it shows no development at all over the course of the season. Ava and Johnny used to date, and they both still like each other but they are scared to take the next step and ask each other out on a date. So they have many conversations with their other friends, have many deep, introspective moments, etc. throughout the course of the season, while everybody knows (except them!) that they are meant to be together. There's only so long the audience can take this before getting bored with it, and the show really strains the limit of how far it can go.

Overall, I found the adult based storylines to be mostly fairly boring and wish they had dedicated more time to the kid storylines. I liked the Jesse McCartney love triangle, no matter how cliched it was (Bradin + Callie 4ever). Most of it is probably my Kay Panabaker love, but the Nikki storylines were my favorite part. I liked her interactions with Zac Efron a lot and her relationship with Amber seemed to be the only believable human relationship on the show, to me at least. But the adults seem to get even more face time than the kids. I realize that in a show with such a large cast it's very difficult to allocate the time evenly and properly between the characters, but I really wish less of the allocation had been to Ava and Johnny, and more had been to Nikki, Cameron, and Amber.

THE OFFICIAL OPINION OF THE TCR: A great cast, particularly a great teen cast, turn an otherwise mediocre show into a...well not good, but certainly watchable show. It's entertaining in the way that a drama is entertaining when you get to "know" the characters and who they are. Nothing special about it, I wouldn't be sad if I never saw another episode, and I'm not at all upset that it was cancelled, but it's certainly the type of show I could see myself being a regular viewer of if it had no other great shows in a competing time slot. 6/10.

The Official Actress of the TCR

I like it when blogs have the Official Something or Another for their blog. Also when they repeatedly hit on the same topics as if in some insane quixotic quest (like ChartRigger with Jojo). Well in that vein, here is the official actress of the TCR, about whom I will be providing more updates as the life of this blog continues.

KAY PANABAKER

I've written about Kay incidentally in a few of my previous posts (see for example my posts on Read it and Weep), but I've never had an entire post dedicated to her, so here it is. First let me start by saying that my love for Kay is entirely platonic, she's like the little sister that I never had. Anyways, Kay is definitely the best young actress in Hollywood, in my opinion, assuming you define young in such a way as to exclude all the legit dramatic actresses such as Scarlet or Keira, and my personal favorite Amber Tamblyn.

Anyways, Kay P. just leaps off the screen, with an amazing, charming screen presence even greater than any of my other previous favorite teen actresses, e.g. Aly Michalka or Hilary Duff. Even my friend Rich, who hates teen movies and teen actresses had to admit her charm and cuteness! Her performance in Read It and Weep was by far the main reason I found it to be one of the most enjoyable DCOMs, although even her performance in Life Is Ruff couldn't save that movie from mediocrity (full review forthcoming? Don't count on it!) She was also the best part of Phil of the Future, which remains one of my favorite Disney Channel original shows, only possibly trailing Even Stevens. Anyways, the show declined substantially in season 2 after she left, although it was still a good show. Also, she was the best part of the instantly and correctly cancelled WB show Summerland (which also starred Zac Efron and Jesse McCartney). The fact of the matter is, she hasn't done a whole lot of acting that would normally be considered substantial, but she instantly and markedly makes any project she is in better, which is the best mark for a great actress. Her comedy is amazing, and I think in Summerland she showed that her dramatic chops are up there as well. From what I can tell from this far away, she also seems to be a genuinely likable and admirable person in real life as well.

Kay's older sister Danielle is an actress as well, and she's an excellent actress to, but she doesn't seem to have quite the charm that Kay does, though she appears to be a better dramatic actress from a technical standpoint. Look for Kay in the 2007 movie version of Nancy Drew where she plays Nancy's BFF George (Emma Roberts of Unfabulous plays Nancy; Kay's ex-Phil costar Amy Bruckner plays their other BFF Bess). I obviously am very excited about that project, and so will be providing more thoughts on it the closer we get to its release.

Anyways, congratulations Ms. Kay Panabaker on being named the Official Actress of the TCR. A few pointers:
1) Work on more projects.
2) Do more dramatic work.
3) Do more work with your sister. You two are so cute together!
4) Get a new website or at least update the one you have now. Your official website is so pathetic!

Movie Review - "Read It And Weep"

I'm really nervous to do this review, because it seems like my blog is becoming somewhat of a shill for the Disney Network. Nevertheless, this movie was high on my anticipation list for months before it came out, due to my love of Danielle and Kay Panabaker, and anyways I'm gonna blog about what I'm interested in, which at the current time is (sadly) teen pop/movies/tv shows, etc. And it so happens that Disney has a monopoly on that market.

THE FILM: Read It and Weep
STARRING: Kay Panabaker and Danielle Panabaker
ORIGINALLY AIRED ON: The Disney Channel, July 21, 2006.
PLOT OUTLINE: Jamie Bartlett (Kay Panabaker) is basically a normal girl, with three best friends (two girls and a guy: Lindsay, Harmony, and Connor). Like the stars of most teen movies, she is continually dumped upon by her brother and her classmates. In order to cope, she keeps a journal; however, unlike other journals, it does not simply chronicle her day-to-day activities. Rather, her journal is a piece of fantasy fiction, populated by caricatures of the people she knows, and a main character named Isabella (also known as Is [Danielle Panabaker]). Is reacts to all of the people the way Jamie wishes she could, she zaps the popular girls who torture her out of existence, and dates the hottest and most popular boy in the school. Due to a series of comic mishaps, Jamie accidentally submits her journal to a class creative writing assignment. The teacher is so impressed, she gets it published in a newspaper, a publisher gets wind of it, and next thing you know it, her journals are being published as a novel. Needless to say, the novel becomes a bestseller. And what happens is what you would expect happens, she becomes consumed by fame, too busy for her friends, gets the hot guy, etc.
Throughout this whole time, she has visions of, and converses with Is. Is advises her to basically do the things that Jamie would always want to do, and advises her to always do what is best for herself. Ultimately, this gets her in a lot of trouble, as Is starts to take over her life, and turns out Is is just a selfish bitch. The scenes where Jamie and Is are talking together are really weird.
The film takes kind of a nasty twist when all the classmates find out that the characters in the book are based on them, and everybody turns on Jamie. What happens from there, I will let you watch the movie to find out, but I doubt you'll have too much trouble guessing.

AND THEY ALL LEARNED A VALUABLE LESSON: Well, Jamie is really the only one who learns a valuable lesson, that being to appreciate her friends and her situation as it is.

LET'S DISCUSS THE PANABAKERS, SHALL WE: I have been a big fan of the Panabakers for some time now; actually, I was a fan of each of them independently before I ever learned they were sisters (not twins, Danielle is older by two and a half years). I find both of the Panabakers to be really charming and cute. Danielle was the best part of the very good 2005 teen movie Sky High and Kay was excellent as Debbie Berwick in Phil of the Future. I'm happy to report both were cast perfectly in this movie. Danielle seems to really be a good actress, having appeared in a variety of roles in various teen movies as well as acclaimed HBO miniseries Empire Falls. I've been realy impressed by her performance in everything I've seen, and I believe this is the first time I've seen her play an antagonist/evil character, which she totally pulls off. Kay on the other hand really only comes in one flavor, that being ridiculous over-the-top comedy. A lot of people don't like that, and find Kay annoying, but in the right role I find her crazy facial expressions and ridiculous delivery to be very funny; Debbie Berwick and this movie were both great roles for this. I'm a little skeptical of her long run chance of success unless she can display a bit more range than she has so far, but if she can keep pulling roles like this, she'll be OK. Even though they may not be everybody's cup of tea, I found that the Panabakers were definitely the best part of this movie. So cute!

OVERALL COMMENTS: On the whole this movie was a lot darker and less cute than I expected it to be. Not that it was a really dark movie, or not a cute movie, but just that it was a lot more dark and less cute-oriented than the average Disney Channel Original Movie (DCOM). The scenes that featured Jamie and Is together were of particular interest. The directing and dialogue in these scenes went to great pains to ensure that we realized that Jamie had a great deal of internal conflict over what she's doing. Whereas in the average teen film throughout the eighties and later, the main character would abandon their friends for the popular crowd at first possibility, without regard for their friends feelings, Jamie is painfully aware throughout the movie of how her actions are impacting her friend and family. She sees it herself, and has intense internal dialogue (in the form of conversations between her and Is), but yet the rush of fame, and the positive aspects of how it's impacting the family business and her new popularity...she knows it's wrong but just can't stop letting the internal Is take over. Hey, we've all been there. I thought that aspect of the movie was the most interesting part, the reflection on doing the wrong things, and becoming just the type of person we never wanted to be, but being unable to stop ourselves. Like I said, a pretty much universal human condition, I think most of us go through that at some point or another. Moreso than any other supposedly "real" high-school movie like Mean Girls or The Breakfast Club, this is the film I'd recommend any 8th/9th grader to watch to prepare yourself for high school.
A lot of teen movies have tread the ground of expressing the dangers of selling your friends and your values out for popularity. Ultimately, the main characters in those films don't really seem to have as much at stake as Jamie does. Seriously, she totally screws up her life almost irreparably, to the point where it seems like she should just move to a new city and totally start over again. I think that gives the lessons in this movie a lot more depth than they would otherwise have. Which leads us to...

THE ENDING: What a copout! I was so disappointed. It's cute enough I guess but it just wraps everything up way too patly and simply, and seems to abandon all of the previous depth and previous events just for a simple cute happy ending. She got back in everybody's good graces way too quickly. I wish that just once there would be a teen movie that expresses the truth that our actions have real long-lasting consequences, and you can't get back to being everybody's hero again by making one cute speech and doing a good deed for your friends. In fact, it was so pat that it makes me think that my brilliant analysis above attributes way more depth to the movie than the filmmakers ever intended.

THE NEGATIVE ASPECTS: Of course, the film is not perfect, and the negative aspects are so obvious and numerous I'd be remiss not to point them out. First off, other than Jamie and Is, none of the characters in the movie are even there, I never even really learned the name of the other characters in the movie because they are oh so inconsequential. Mainly though, when you are going for a bit more depth, like this movie is, you open yourself up to a deeper level of analysis (never a good thing for a Disney movie). The dialogue and storyline were very cliched, the acting wasn't anything special apart from the Panabakers, and like I said the ending sucked.

FINAL RATING: Yes, like all the best DCOM's it was cute and fun and camp and ridiculous, but it legitimately made me think too. Maybe that wasn't the intention, and the whole thing worries and frigthens me, and makes me think that maybe I watch a wee bit too many lighthearted teen films and a wee bit too few movies with actual depth, but it is what it is. And I do think this film can be enjoyed with a bit more depth than the average teen movie. 8.5/10. RECOMMENDED TO WATCH. Not going to give high recommendations; you aren't going to like this if you aren't a fan of teen movies. Makes me want to read the book it was based on.

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I wanted to conclude this post with some general comments on Disney Channel Original movies. I've now done reviews of three DCOM's: Life Size, High School Musical, and this movie. All three movies were rave reviews. Thus, any reader of this blog will think that I really love all DCOM's or something. Let me assure you, this is not the case. There is a serious selection bias at work here, being that I only review the Disney Channel movies that I enjoy. Sure I could do a review that trashes the crappier ones such as Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior or Get a Clue but that seems kind of pointless. I'd say that those three that I've reviewed are definitely the three best DCOM's I've seen (and I've seen many). At least 75% of these movies are pretty much impossible to watch all the way through.
Attentive readers will note that I've given this movie an 8.5, whereas Life-Size and High School Musical both got 8's. Thus, this is my favorite DCOM of all time? Really I've decided that I underrated HSM, it deserved a 9/10. My real list of the three best DCOM's of all time, in order is: High School Musical, Read it and Weep, and Life-Size. The only three DCOM's that I would be willing to legitimately defend as good movies.