Favorite Album of the 2000s

I was thinking the other day about what is my favorite album of the 2000s decade. Some quick thought led me to five reasonable options: The Marshall Mathers LP by Eminem, Come and Get It by Rachel Stevens, Still Me, Still Now by Amy Diamond, Mass Romantic by The New Pornographers, and Breakaway by Kelly Clarkson. Let's go through the tale of the tape then:

Those five albums listed above were the five main contenders that came into my head immediately. Some distinguishing factors came out about all 5. The Marshall Mathers LP has really good lyrics, probably the best of the decade, and really catchy songs. But it's way too freakin' long! Plus the skits are annoying. Come and Get It is really fun pop, but there's no depths to enjoy or anything. The lyrics are never anything special, compared to say Ashlee Simpson, but I love all the songs. Still Me, Still Now is more of the same, glossy fun pop with not too much else to offer. Mass Romantic is the best indie album of the decade, which is why it leaped to mind, but I simply fear that it is just plain not as good as indie classics from the 90s like Alien Lanes or Holiday. Breakaway has really good lyrics and good songs, but I just fear that on a raw level I just do not love the songs on that album as much as I love the songs on the others.

There aren't any country albums this decade I've really loved. Neko Case's Furnace Room Lullaby is probably top 10 or top 20 of the decade for me but just not number one, and I've never gotten into any of her other albums. The other so-called alt country albums of the decade are almost entirely just mediocre indie rock albums with a very slight country twinge, at least in my opinion. Sara Evans' Born to Fly has really, really good singles but also a lot of filler. Montgomery Gentry's albums are all really good but none are too exciting. Big & Rich's debut clearly a classic but again just not a serious contender for #1.

I think of the five serious options, Mass Romantic drops out pretty early. It came to mind immediately because I love "Letter from an Occupant" and "Execution Day" and "The Body Says No", which is probably the best stretch of three consecutive songs on any album this decade. The problem is none of the other songs really jump up to the same level (some moments do like the outro to "Jackie") and there's other songs on the album like "To Wild Homes" and "Breakin' the Law" that I just really am not a huge fan of at all. Normally not a problem but when you get up to this level it should be all high. So Mass Romantic would come in at #5.

I think Still Me, Still Now and The Marshall Mathers LP drop out next. I actually genuinely love every single song on Still Me Still Now, but when it comes to mindless pop I just prefer Come and Get It for a couple reasons. Most importantly, the two best songs on Come and Get It are "I Said Never Again (But Here We Are)" and "Nothing Good about This Goodbye" compared to Still Me Still Now's offering of "Don't Cry Your Heart Out" and "All The Money in the World". Now I love "Don't Cry Your Heart Out" - I had it as the number two single of 2006 and if anything I like it even more today - and "All The Money in the World" is almost as good, but this is still a clear win for Come and Get It. Plus, and it's subtle, the worst tracks on Come and Get It are slightly better than the worst tracks on Still Me Still Now ("Diamonds" and "Big Guns"). All in all it's enough to knock Still Me Still Now to #4.

Marshall Mathers LP I actually have very little to expand on what I wrote above. It's got great lyrics that rotate between insightful and hilarious, and sometimes both at the same time. I just can't listen to the whole thing at once because it's so long and because the skits get old really fast. I like all of the songs on the album and can't really think of any blatant filler that just plainly needs to be cut, but they still should have cut about 3 or 4 songs off the album. Still, I like the collection of songs enough to get it all the way up to #3, which is impressive for an album that I almost never listen to all the way across.

Which brings us to the top two, and at this point it's just going to come down to some hand waving. Come and Get It is clearly a better collection of songs whereas Breakway has much better vocals, better lyrics, and is much more cohesive as an album. And that's the thing about Come and Get It - it has like 5 incredibly amazing songs, and all of the other songs are pretty good. I'm pretty much up to listening to it at any time, and even if I don't have time for a full album songs like "So Good" and "Negotiate With Love" and the two I listed above just haven't gotten old after many, many listens. Whereas Breakaway's songs have faded a bit more with repeat plays for me. But all in all there's no mood to it, no drama, no depth. It's just hitting the pleasure center directly to bring me the most enjoyment possible. I'm trying to think of something bad about the album to say, some reason why it's not #1, but it doesn't really exist. Maybe objectively I like it more than Breakaway, but it's just that I've put so much thought and so much emotion into Breakaway that I just can't put anything else at #1. That's why Rachel has to settle for #2, but it's a (very) strong #2!

So Breakaway. The thing about Breakaway is that it's the album that got me back into pop music in the first place. Prior to 2005 I was basically still an indie snob, and Kelly Clarkson showed me the joys of teen pop and, indeed, pop in general. So I have a deep personal connection to the album. And the devastating darkness, and the incredibly intricate drama, and the interesting stories and all of that just flows all throughout the album. It's an album that demands to be listened to with full attention. I have an old post where I explore Breakaway as a hidden concept album, which was written mostly in jest but the general point that the song lyrics are all great and related stands. So it's a pop album that inspires genuine thought from me. Which isn't to say I don't love the songs! None of the individual songs are up to the level of the other albums, but the worst songs are things like "You Found Me" and "Breakaway" and those are still pretty damn good songs. And, oh yeah, KC is a pretty good singer too. Anyways, even though it's probably the lesser collection of songs among all the top 5, its general importance in my history of music listening, cohesive mood, and good lyrics drive it all the way up to #1. No album has ever inspired as much emotion in me and most likely none ever will.

And yes I've heard indie like Wilco and crap like that which causes some hipsters to have emotional moments despite their cold, black hearts. Suffice to say I just don't care for it.

Movie Review: Enchanted

The Movie: Enchanted
Starring: Amy Adams, James Marsden, Patrick Dempsey, Susan Sarandon

This review contains slight spoilers towards the end, please be warned.


Brief Plot Summary: A fairy tale (animated) princess, Giselle (Adams), meets the man of her dreams, Prince Edward (Marsden), and they are engaged to be married. Unfortunately, Prince Edward's evil step-mother (Sarandon) does not approve of the coupling and thrusts Giselle into the real, non-animated world. Edward follows to find her. While in the real world, Giselle searches for Prince Edward, and meets up with single father Robert. They start to click. I'll stop further so I don't spoil the UNBELIEVABLY SHOCKING TWIST ending.

Commentary: Enchanted falls into the same realm of family oriented holiday fare that gets released every year. For whatever reason, this film has been extremely widely critically praised, whereas similar films such as Sky High and Ella Enchanted were basically panned. I've even been reading that it's possible that Amy Adams could be nominated for an Oscar for best actress, a prospect that both delights and baffles me. I'd love to see it, but I'm not entirely sure why this one is a sure-fire Oscar contender while, say, Reese Witherspoon in Just Like Heaven is completely beneath that ceremony.

Oh wait, do I sound negative? Then let me state up front: Enchanted is quite possibly my favorite movie of the last several years. Sky High and Ella Enchanted are the two closest, most obvious, parallels to this movie in the last few years. And while I am a big fan of both of those films, I don't think there's really any doubt that Enchanted is substantially better than both of them. So what's the Enchanted difference?

First, the humor in the movie was frequently genuinely funny, thanks to the stellar comedic performances of Amy Adams and James Marsden. The scriptwriter for this is clearly well schooled in Disney films, and he satirizes the most ridiculous aspects of these movies excellently. Working purely as a vehicle for humor, this movie just blows away all of the other movies of this type. The costumes and production design in this movie are also pitch perfect and frequently beautiful. Amy Adams has been singled out for the most praise in this film, understandably. She is just incandescent in this role, and she really makes you love the character of Giselle. Not only is she funny, she hits the emotion in the movie really well, and just charms the hell out of you.

The movie toes the line between saying that the fairy tale romance & fantasies do exist and do come true and between showing the fallacy of these notions when transported to the real world. By believing in the supremacy of true love while at the same time acknowledging that true love is a deep emotion and requires significant work to achieve and maintain, the film has staked out a fairly unique place. It's a dangerous ground, as it could end up being pandering or self-contradictory, but I think it manages to get out a coherent and consistent message, and I think there's a lot of truth to the message it tells.

Further, the love story in this movie was so great. It's really one of the better love stories I've seen on film. There's a scene right towards the end where Amy Adams and Patrick Dempsey dance with each other which is just heart-bustingly beautiful and perfect. It made me cry (tears continued intermittently through the part where Patrick wakes up Amy with the kiss), which was really embarrassing because I was watching the movie in the theater with my brother, mother, and sister-in-law (I hid my tears). My favorite movie scene of the year, I think.

So did I have any problems with this movie at all. Yes I did, and it's one that several other reviewers mention too: the ending. I guess I understand basically what they were trying to do, seeing as all of the movies of this time seem to end with a big action sequence. Since this parodies Disney movies, it makes sense to throw in a big action ending too, and try to subvert the conventions. Unfortunately, the execution takes you right out of the movie and doesn't feel right. Fortunately the sequence is fairly short and easily ignorable/forgettable.

I have no particular comment about the animation scenes. They were fairly well done, but seem to exist solely for the purpose of setting up the plot. Ditto the songs, which are basically necessary given the nature of the film. I was not notably impressed by any of the songs, which were generally not too good. The "That's How You Know" sequence was very funny.

So, back to the beginning. Why Enchanted and why Amy Adams with all the critical praise? The answer is that I don't know but it really warms my heart to see that when a movie of this type is executed this well the critics sit up and notice.

Final Grade/Comments: The fact that I wanted to watch the movie over again immediately after seeing it, despite the lack of a game-changing twist or complicated plot speaks to how much I enjoyed it. The young woman sitting behind me said to her companion, as the movie was ended, "Oh my God, that was like the best love story ever." OK, while I can't quite agree with that hyperbole, I do say this was the best movie of its type in a long, long while and it beats 99% of the Disney fare it's spoofing at their own game. The poorly conceived ending is not enough to sway this away from a 10/10 and my guess is I would have enjoyed the movie even more had the sound in the theater I was watching the movie at not kicked out for 10 minutes during what appeared to be a crucial scene.

An Unfabulous Post

OVERVIEW/BACKGROUND: Unfabulous is a live-action show starring Emma Roberts which currently airs on Nickelodeon. I haven't really written too much about Nick on this blog, because I consider children's cartoons to be out of the scope of this blog and I also consider all of the live action teen shows to be pale imitations of Disney Channel shows. Back in the early nineties, Nick had a complete monopoly on live action shows for the younger set, what with Pete and Pete, Clarissa Explains It All, and whatnot. All people my age remember those shows fondly from their youths. But then, they decided to put their focus on children's cartoons, at which they've been really successful, and let Disney Channel take over the live action set. Because their live action shows all blow, except for this one.

THE SHOW: This show follows the Lizzie McGuire formula closely, and it debuted in late 2004, shortly after Lizzie vaulted into super-success, so it's probably fair to say that it's a ripoff. Let's see, main character is an everygirl female, not popular but with two best friends, a girl and a platonic guy friend. One sibling, an older brother, with whom she has a rocky but ultimately loving relationship. Hmm, nope not too similar. The main character is Addie, her brother is named Ben, and her crush is named Jake. An interesting twist is that they have Addie date somebody else for a while, a loser named Randy, who she ultimately breaks up with so that she can continue to pursue her pining for Jake. There's no real central theme to this show, as, like Lizzie, it really just follows the everyday trials and tribulations of its main character, with wacky slapstick thrown in to lighten the mood.

REVIEW: The thing about the Lizzie format is that for shows in this mold, the most important thing is really the main star. The episodes' plots are generally mundane by design, the characters are basically all stereotypes, and the dialogue, while important is nothing to write home about. What makes it all work is how well the main actress sells it. She has to be believably unpopular, but yet loveable. It's a tough balancing act to pull off, but I have to say that Emma Roberts pulls it off really well. She's absolutely a pro at this, far better than Miley Cyrus or Charlotte Arnold or really any other female teen star except Kay and Aly. She makes the whole material work, and makes you really care about the characters. The show also features a fairly talented cast of costars, but Addie is the reason you're gonna watch. Plus the music/soundtrack is kickin'. I love the concept of Addie/Emma just singing stupid and simple songs about her life.

As a demonstration of the above dig the perfect generic/everygirl short episode summaries of this show from Wikipedia:
Instead of spending time with her mother in a "mother daughter book club" Addie sneaks out and goes to a hip hangout place with Geena.
Addie becomes "popular" in a school assignment where the students are put into cliques and not allowed to talk to members of other groups.
Randy invites Addie to his Bar Mitzvah, but Addie does not want to go because she got braces and does not want to be seen in public.
Addie ignores her friends to spend more time with her boyfriend.
Geena and Zach create a fake secret crush for Addie to try to keep her mind off breaking up with Randy.

Seriously change around the names, and you've got a Lizzie McGuire episode in the making. But the generic/easily identifiable plots are what make shows like this so much fun, and plus...Emma!

"THE PERFECT MOMENT": Billed as the Unfabulous movie this aired for the first time just this weekend. (But yet it's just an hour long. Not even Disney has sunk that low [yet]). The episode details Addie's attempt to crash the wedding of Jake's cousin, in order to reveal her crush on him. The problem is that he is at the wedding with his ex-girlfriend/Addie's chief social rival. In parallel, Addie's brother Ben is trying to break up his current crush's new relationship in order to have her to himself. The whole "movie" was pretty great really, it hit all the right notes, and is making me really excited for the impending third season. Plus the first kiss between Addie and Jake was just soo cute.

THE OFFICIAL OPINION OF THE TCR: Since Phil of the Future has been cancelled and Hannah Montana seems to have stagnated out, Unfabulous is currently the best teen/pre-teen show on television. Highly recommended to watch, for Emma if not anything else.

As if it were healthy or desirable to get any more excited about this upcoming Nancy Drew movie project, it stars my newly beloved teen star Emma Roberts in addition to the Official TCR Actress Kay Panabaker. Counting down the days...

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!

Disney Channel Live Action Series - An Overview

THE CONCEPT
In this post, I review all of the current Disney Channel original live-action series. As far as I can tell, the list is Hannah Montana, Naturally Sadie, Phil of the Future, The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, and That's So Raven. In addition, there is Life With Derek, which is not a Disney Channel original series, but was originally made by a Canadian network and is being syndicated by Disney. I decided not to include Life With Derek in this continuum because it's not a Disney Channel produced series (and it shows), and they don't show it frequently enough that I've gotten a real impression of it. Some of my thoughts on the show will follow the main body of the post.

BACKGROUND
Some may ask what the purpose of all this is. I have always been a big fan of Disney TV shows, from when I was a kid. At that time, Disney would produce live action shows and option them out to other networks, like for example Boy Meets World and Sister, Sister. I would always watch these shows when I was a lad and still have fond memories of them looking back. Then at some point I became too awesome for the Disney channel and stopped watching. But then came another high period of Disney shows, when both Even Stevens and Lizzie Maguire were on the air. I've always really enjoyed both shows (as previously documented in this space), but then when those shows both were cancelled in 2003, that was the end. I just stopped watching the Disney channel all together and moved on with my life, slightly embarrassed by my past enjoyment of the network.
But now, my friends, I say NO MORE. I have no shame regarding my taste in movies, TV, or music any more (as one could easily tell with a trip through the blog archives), and I wanted to see how the new shows stack up to my old favorites. I've basically done nothing but watch the Disney Channel for 2 weeks straight, so I've been able to catch at least 5 or 6 episodes of all of these shows. I had never seen a single episode of any of these shows before. So, I can hardly be considered an expert on this matter, but these are my potentially uninformed opinion on the matter

RATING SYSTEM
To rate the shows (and other things) I will employ the following system:
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - I would recommend that anybody watch this, regardless of whether it seems like your kind of thing or not.
RECOMMENDED - I would recommend anybody to watch it, who has some enjoyment of this type of show.
RECOMMENDED, WITH QUALIFICATION - For whatever reason (to be specified) I cannot deliver a full recommendation to watch.
NOT RECOMMENDED TO WATCH - Not agressively bad, but I just can't in good heart recommend to watch. If it really seems to be up your ally, maybe you should check it out.
RECOMMENDED TO NOT WATCH - Unsalvageable, don't waste your time (well, at least that's my opinion).

THE SHOWS
For this post, I have decided to rank these 5 shows against each other, and will present the shows in ascending order of goodness, in the typical countdown format. In addition to the quality of the show, I will rate two other things for each show:
1. The Theme Song - This should be self-explanatory
2. Hilary Duff-Style Future Disney Star(s) - Ever since Hilary Duff hit it big on a national scale, every live-action show that Disney has done has some kind of cutesy girl in it, cross-promoted through Disney movies and/or a music career for some desparate grab at future success. I will rate the future girl superstars as well.
In addition, in general, I've noticed one big thing that's changed is CONCEPTS. In the past, with Even Stevens and Lizzie Maguire you had two shows with no real concept, they just followed normal (OK, semi-normal) kids going about their hilarious lives. All of the current crop of Disney shows, for better or worse, has some kind of high concept over-arching them.

Like I said, I haven't had a ton of exposure to any of these shows (with one exception, detailed below), so if there is any show that you think I've treated unfairly and should give a little more attention to, drop a line in the comments and I'll check it out and revise if appropriate. Just note that these shows are all rated as to how they appeal to ME as a viewer and now how well I think they would or could connect to their target audience.

5. That's So Raven
The Concept: The main character is Raven, who is some kind of insane manic individual who also happens to be a psychic, in that she is able to sometimes foresee certain snapshots of future events. Her best friends are Eddie, a rapper dude, and Chelsea, and incredibly stupid/ditzy white girl. She also has a wacky younger brother and father, who oft appear in the show in pointless scenes.

The Show: This is Disney's most popular current show by far, but I just don't get it. As I see it, it's a collection of uninspiring talent playing one note characters. I hesitate to criticize the plots of any of these Disney shows because ultimately plots are never going to be the strong suit of a show like this. However, I feel like the plots of this show, even in comparison to the other shows on the list, are weak, and too predictable. Ultimately, I just can't get into it.
Credit where credit is due though: there were a few good jokes in these episodes that made me chuckle. In addition, Anneliese van der Pol, who plays Chelsea is a good actress. I do wish I could see her in a more challenging role though.
This is a show entirely built around one person: Raven-Symone. If you don't like Raven-Symone, you're gonna hate the show, and if you love her, you're gonna love the show. I find her to be very annoying/irritating, and so no matter how much I enjoy any other aspects of the show, I will never be able to sit through a full episode of this show painlessly.

Theme Song: An R&B tinged number sung by Raven-Symone called, appropriately, "That's So Raven". It's a catchy number that does indeed explain that Raven-Symone is supposed to be a kind of psychic on the show, in case you didn't already know. Quality song.

Hilary Duff-Style Future Disney Star: Hardly need to put the "future" qualifier on this, but it'd have to be Raven-Symone. Raven is already the signature Disney star of the moment, she's on their most popular show and has already released her mediocre music album that tears the hell out of the Disney Radio charts. She hasn't had any cross-promotion through Disney Channel movies, or alternate Disney channel fare, but given how she already stars in such a popular show, I doubt she needs the additional exposure.
Anneliese van der Pol, as noted above, I like a lot, but I haven't seen any type of promotion that Disney is expecting or wants her to be a future star. Branching out into the guys, Orlando Brown has started on the Disney music circuit, and has a chance to be one of the few guys to branch out as legitimate Disney stars, joining just Shia LaBeouf I think.

Room for Improvement:
1) Raven's performance is overly manic and very irritating.
2) All of the characters on the show apart from Raven are one-dimensional stereotypes.
3) The fake audience reactions are horribly annoying.
4) The plots are overly cliched and predictable.
5) Humor is of a very inconsistent quality.
6) "Psychic" concept is odd and unnecessary.

Ultimate Rating: RECOMMENDED TO NOT WATCH. Ultimately, I see nothing here to appeal to anything other than 'tweener girls. There were some funny jokes, and naybe it's just not my kind of thing, but I really did not enjoy this show at all.


4. The Suite Life of Zack and Cody
The Concept: Zack and Cody are identical twins who live in a fancy hotel called the Tipton with their mom, who is a lounge singer there. While there, they make friends with Maddie, who works the candy counter there and is friends with London the spoiled daughter of the hotel's owner. In addition they like to rattle the cages of Mr. Moseby, who is the uptight black british hotel manager.

The Show: Ah, the wonderful world of twins shows. I think most people above a certain age grow to be annoyed/creeped out by the cuteness of young identical twins. Zack and Cody are of age approximately 12-13 on the run of this show. Which makes it great for the younger set, but not too good for the older ones. One thing that makes it slightly more bearable is that the characters are not totally interchangeable. Zack is wacky and mischievious, while Cody is smart and responsible. However, that doesn't help enough to make these guys entertaining to watch.
And it's really a shame, because this show has a top notch supporting cast; possibly the best of any of these shows. Brenda Song and Ashley Tisdale, who play London and Maddie, work really well together and are funny in their shared scenes. Both have a lot of talent playing comedic roles. In addition, Mr. Moseby, though a kind of cliched character as the uptight British black man who is harrassed by the circumstances around him (think Benson or Geoffrey from Fresh Prince), provides welcome comic relief and is generally acted/used well. Again, it's a shame these people can't appear on this show more often.
But, in the end, the quality of the show is inextricably tied to the main characters, in this case the twins and their mom. And I just cannot STAND the twins, and their mom is a boring character. I could envision some very entertaining spin offs of this show, and if it lasted long enough for the twins to become older and less annoying, it could turn into a real good show. Unfortunately, these shows don't have a long shelf life, and I'm not holding my breath.

Theme Song: Kind of a rock tinged pop song, which doesn't explain the concept particularly well but has a catchy enough tune.

Hilary Duff-Style Future Disney Stars: This one has two, Brenda Song and Ashley Tisdale. Brenda Song is a Disney Channel veteran, having appeared as a semi-regular on Phil of the Future and in such Disney movies as Get a Clue (which was horrible, don't bother watching). Now that she has finally gotten a regular role in a Disney channel series, Disney is gonna milk it for all it's worth. She appears on the upcoming Disney Channel Battle of Stars this summer, and appears in the upcoming Disney film Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior. Over the past weeks, I have seen so many previews for that film that I cannot even begin to count them. So it's being hyped up pretty well. In any event, Brenda is really good in this role, though in prior roles she has tended to go a little over the top in her performances. She's already a rising star, and if she's learned to reign in her performances better, nothing's gonna stop her. This is one that I like a lot.
Ashley Tisdale meets more of the perky charming blonde mold that we normally expect to see from Disney channel stars. She's a really good comic actress, with good timing. I'm not sure how she would hold up in a more dramatic role, which this one is not, but for what this role requires, she does it very well. Given her appearance in High School Musical, the most successful Disney Channel Original Movie ever by far, and Disney's general treatment of its cute blonde female stars, an upcoming album seems like a near certainty. One to keep an eye on.

Room for Improvement:
1) Cole and Dylan Sprouse, as most twins on twin-based shows, are very annoying
2) Overly focused on the twins and their mom, to the exclusion of the more interesting supporting characters.
3) The jokes are cliched, and too predictable
4) Ultimately offers nothing new to the landscape of television.

Ultimate Rating: NOT RECOMMENDED TO WATCH. This is an OK show with entertaining side-characters, but I just really dislike the main twin characters. It's fine for kids, I guess, but I can't deliver a recommendation to watch.


3. Naturally, Sadie
The Concept: Sadie is the main character, she's basically an everygirl, but is very interested in nature. She tries to apply her knowledge of the actions of nature, to the study of the actions of humans. She has two best friends, one boy and one girl, and an annoying brother, and they ultimately just go through a normal high school experience. Or at least a "Disney normal" high school experience.

The Show: This show is very, very meh. I watched about 5 or 6 episodes of it, and they were all reasonably entertaining, but I was just ultimately left not having any particular desire to continue watching the show or to seek out new episodes. Really, I forgot about most of the episodes right after I watched them. Not a good sign.
In addition, the similarities to Lizzie Maguire are too numerous and obvious to let pass without comment. Virtually all of these shows crib from past Disney and other shows, but observe:
The main character of the show is female. She has two best friends, one male and one female, and one sibling, who is an annoying brother. OK big deal, that describes two of the other 4 shows on this list as well.
The show features internal monologues that serve as a bridge between scenes and to show what the main character is thinking but wouldn't say out loud.
The main character is an everygirl, intended to be related to by anybody, who oft gets crushes on unattainable guys and buts heads with the popular girl at the school.
The general plots to the shows, and the general feel to the show are very reminiscent of Lizzie. The show runs the course as a drama/character based show with liberal doses of humor. Most of the humor revolves around humiliating or belittling the main character.

Theme Song: A voice-over based theme song that describes the characters and their relationships with each other, but much like the show itself is very meh.

Hilary Duff-Style Future Star: None. Charlotte Arnold is the main actress, and she is very pretty, but I haven't seen any indication that Disney has been promoting her to be a future star at all.

Room for Improvement:
1) Way too similar to Lizzie Maguire.
2) Acting during the dramatic scenes is poor and clunky.
3) The concept of interspersing nature concepts and facts is annoying and pointless, and takes away from the main action of the show.

Ultimate Rating: NOT RECOMMENDED TO WATCH. Not a bad show, by any means, and certainly better than Zack and Cody or That's So Raven. But ultimately it's just too bland. You know, I was a full week into this process before I even heard of this show, it's promoted so little by Disney, and it's easy to see why. It lacks the "hooks" of their other shows and is much more drama/character based than their other shows. The most entertaining part of this show is playing a game wherein you attempt to stay awake throughout the entire running time of the episode.


2. Hannah Montana
The Concept: Hannah Montana is a huge pop star. But she also has an alter-ego, Miley Stewart, who is just a normal teen! Miley's best friends are Lily and Oliver, who are the only two people outside her family who know that she is Hannah Montana. Her dad is her friend, and also writes all her songs, and her brother Jackson is goofy and embarrassing, but ultimately loveable. Hmm, female main character, best friends are a guy and a girl, goofy but ultimately loveable brother....sounds familiar...

The Show: This show has only been around since March of this year, and has only produced 8 episodes total. That being said, I have seen all eight episodes, so am in a much better position to judge this show than any of the others on the countdown. I've really grown to love this show, and despite some kinks that exist in the early going of this show, I really expect it to ultimately be a great show.
I really think this is a case of the right actors playing the right characters on the right show. All of the actors get along really well and have great chemistry with one another. In addition, they are all very comfortable with the comedic requirements of the roles. However, when they try to throw in a character based scene for depth, it usually doesn't go to well. I expect that as the actors get more experienced, they will become more comfortable with the dramatic requirements of the show as well. In particular, Emily Osment, who plays Lily, has been really great in the last few episodes, after an overly manic performance in the first few episodes, and could really mark a turning point in the quality of the show if she can keep it up.
Overall, this show has had some pretty bad episodes, but also some really great episodes up to this point. The most recent episode, "Mascot Love", is possibly the best individual episode of any Disney Channel original series I've ever seen, as the humor made me laugh out loud on multiple occasions, and the character scenes weren't too clunky. Of course, that episode was immediately preceded by the very worst episode of the 8 episode run of the show, so one can never tell with these things.
The way the show achieves balance between Hannah scenes and Miley scenes is very impressive in this early going, as I feel like all the episodes have contained an appopriate amount of time for each aspect of the character. In addition, the scenes where Hannah performs her hit pop songs, though probably too frequently used in the early going, are fairly entertaining, and the songs on the show are good teen pop songs.
There have been some real clunkers in the first run of this, and it hasn't shown to be really consistent, but I don't think any other show delivered as many laugh out loud moments as this one did. I'd take the first 8 episodes of this show over the very beginning run of any of these shows, or any of the prior Disney shows. Will it pick up it's feet, improve on impressive early returns, and become a Disney Channel classic, or will it flame out? Only time will tell, but I think I've made it clear what I expect from the show at this point.

Theme Song: "The Best of Both Worlds" which is both a good pop song, and succinctly explains the premise of the show. Now if you can just ignore it's supposedly sung by a pop star who leads a double life, and it's REVEALING TO THE WHOLE WORLD THAT SHE LEADS A DOUBLE LIFE.

Hilary Duff-Style Future Star: Miley Cyrus. She's only thirteen years old as of this writing, but is obviously already being promoted by Disney as their next big star, as a backup in case Alyson Michalka (discussed at excruciating length below) either doesn't pan out, or leaves for greener pastures. Since she plays a pop star on TV (and does all the singing on the show, incidentally), it's a natural step for her to go into music, which seems to be the normal path for these type of stars now. In fact, there have been a number of Hannah Montana singles already released to date, and they've done very well on Disney Radio. This one is a watcher for the future, as she has a good chance to break out I think.

Room for Improvement:
1) Dramatic character-based scenes mess with the pacing of the show, and are not generally acted well.
2) Laugh track is extremely irritating and very over-used
3) Quality of the humor is very inconsistent.
4) Uneven allocation of time to supporting characters. I think Oliver and Rico are underused, and could/should be incorporated more and better into the plots.
5) Too many pop performance scenes.

Ultimate Rating: RECOMMENDED TO WATCH, WITH QUALIFICATION. I really expect this show to be great eventually. I want to recommend all fans of this type of thing to watch it, but ultimately can't do that unqualified because it's just not there yet. I will say that I personally have become a huge fan, and that this is a show that I will be continuing to watch even after this exercise is over.


1. Phil of the Future
The Concept: Phil Diffy and his family have been transported from the year 2121 to current time. Phil's parents are embarrassing but well-meaning. His sister Pim is a manipulative and scheming comic relief style character. Phil's best friend is a girl named Keely, a basic everygirl who is the only person who knows that the Diffys are from the future. This is basically a normal high school show of this type, except that the plots are often driven by the usage of future devices/technology in present day to perform some various task.

The Show: This show is basically executed perfectly for what it's going for. Not everybody is going to love it, but if this is your kind of show, then this is basically one of the shining examples. Not only is the humor often actually funny, but all the actors seem to be comfortable with the dramatic requirements of the role too, and the dialogue during those scenes is generally well-written.
The real centerpiece to this show is the Phil and Keely relationship. Although I've become frustrated that the relationship never seems to develop at all, it's a really beautifully done friendship with blatant sexual undertones. You can tell that they really care about each other a lot. If there's any show on this list that's gonna emotionally move you at all, this is going to be the one. I can't say that I've been too emotionally involved in the show myself, but some of the episodes, and some of the Phil/Keely moments are just really heartwarming. This is one of those super-ideal TV friendships that are totally perfect, and totally unbelievable, but they work because you want to believe these kinds of things exist in the real world.
Well, the show has been cancelled for good now, so we'll never know if it would have improved on itself or not, but I must say that this is one of the few Disney shows that has kept a basically consistent quality throughout. Watching a really early Lizzie or Even Stevens episode is often cringe-worthy, as they hadn't really found their comedic voice yet, but watching even the earliest episodes of this show is still entertaining.
The "future" concept to the show, which I worried would make it overly gimmicky, is fortunately not used in an over the top way. While the plots are often superficially driven by the usage of future devices and what not, this is at its heart basically a normal high school show. I'd liken it to the film Sky High which was basically exactly like any other high school movie, except the main characters were superheroes. Same with this show. It can lean on the crutch of the future concept for the comedy a little too much sometimes, but it's just heartwarming and charming enough to get away with it.

Theme Song: The theme song to this show, despite the fact that it describes the basic concept very impressively, is really, really terrible.

Hilary Duff-Style Future Star: Alyson Michalka. Okay, full disclosure, through this excercise I've really grown to love Alyson Michalka. She's just so cute and funny and charming on the show, that you really can't help but love her. Disney has been really promoting Alyson to be their big star (supplementing Raven), having her star in two of their more high-profile original movies (Now You See It..., which was surprisingly decent, and Cow Belles, which she starred in with her sister AJ. I never saw Cow Belles but it was probably the most heavily promoted Disney Channel Original Movie ever).
Alyson has now gotten into music now with her sister AJ, and if I may go on a tangent, I must say it's the best of the Disney star custom made albums I've ever heard. Not only it is entertaining to listen to, but 3 facts raise it above the others: the Michalkas have a least co-writing credit on all the songs, except the two covers; they are really good pop singers; they both play guitar on the album. Overall it's an impressive feat with some really good pop songs, but also a whole lot of filler. This one comes with high recommendation if you are a fan of teen pop though. "Rush" is a near lock for my top ten singles of the year.
Alyson, from what I understand, has pitched a pilot with her sister AJ to the Disney channel. For better or for worse, she seems to have hitched her star to AJ permanently, so where she goes AJ goes. I have read rumors that Disney will not pick up the show. For Disney not to pick up a show custom made for somebody they have been promoting to be their signature star, and who is on the verge of breaking out, I can only imagine it must be absolutely horrible.
Alyson I think has a really good chance of breaking out to be a star, but she needs to make better decisions as an actress going forward, and it pains me to say it, but just drop the sister thing. She needs to do solo work. I'm excited about their music career based on their first album but unfortunately general pop doesn't really have a huge market now, and I'm not sure what the shelf-life of this is gonna be. I'm abnormally nervous that her career is just gonna crash and burn after Phil but I really really hope that doesn't happen. Alyson is a really good actress and has an outstanding screen presence and I'd really love to see her in some more adult oriented work (not a reference to porn). If Disney has a future Hilary on their hands, this is her. Hopefully not with the spectacular failure of a movie career though.
I've always loved Hilary Duff, ever since her Lizzie Maguire days, but I'm here to say that Alyson Michalka is superior in virtually every aspect, at least in my opinion. More attractive, better actress, more charming screen presence, definitely a better musician. This is one whose future career I will be closely watching.

Room for Improvement:
1) Phil and Keely's relationship is supposed to be the centerpiece of the show, but showed no development at all, after she found out he was from the future (which was in the 4th episode of the show).
2) The caveman character was unnecessary and detracted from the more interesting plots and characters.

Ultimate Rating: RECOMMENDED TO WATCH. This is it. People may decry the Disney Channel for being really unoriginal and derivative, but this is the reason the formula exists. When a show is executed as near-perfectly as this one is, it's real satisfying to see it play out, especially when acted by a talented crop of actors such as on this show. Really, it's Alyson Michalka who pushes this one over the top. Definitely one I'm gonna keep watching.

BUT THERE ARE OTHERS:
Life With Derek is not a Disney Channel original show. It was originally made by a Canadian network, and is now being syndicated by Disney, and it shows, because it's nothing like any of the shows listed above. Like I said above, I haven't seen enough episodes to insert into the continuum above, due to lack of airings on the Disney Channel, but what I did see was real entertaining, and it's definitely one to check out if you get the chance.

Lizzie Maguire I enjoyed a lot. It would have ranked between Phil of the Future and Hannah Montana had I included it on the list. It's really interesting to see just how much the current crop of Disney Channel shows has cribbed from this show.

Even Stevens has always been my favorite Disney Channel show. It would have ranked above Phil, but I still think there's a good chance Hannah will meet or exceed this show if it lasts long enough. It's really close between this and Phil, and Phil would have had a good chance of catching up to this show in cumulative quality if it had been picked up for a third season, so long as it made some effort to develop the Phil and Keely relationship. But then again, my love for Christy Carlson Romano and the girl who played Tawny in the third season still carries over to this day.

SPECIAL NOTE: All Disney Channel original shows have the name of the main character in the title of the show. How odd.

FINAL RANKINGS

Summarizing all of the above in convenient countdown format:

BASED ON QUALITY OF THE SHOW ITSELF (ranked as listed above)

BASED ON QUALITY OF THEME SONG:

5. Phil of the Future
4. Naturally, Sadie
3. The Suite Life of Zack and Cody
2. That's So Raven
1. Hannah Montana (One of my favorite TV theme songs of all time)

RANKING OF THE HILARY DUFF-STYLE FUTURE STARS
5. Raven-Symone
4. Ashley Tisdale
3. Miley Cyrus
2. Brenda Song
1. Alyson Michalka (as if there were any doubt)

For completeness' sake, to fit in the others mentioned above who I liked but weren't being promoted as future stars, Anneliese van der Pol would rank between Miley and Ashley, and Charlotte Arnold would rank between Ashley and Raven (but much closer to Ashley).

Fave TV Shows of all time Vol 1

Favorite TV Shows of all time Series:
In this series starting now and extending until I get tired of it, I will pick one of my absolute favorite shows of all time and do an extended post on why I like it so much.

In part one I will dissect Joan of Arcadia.
This post is going to be a serious post, but the rest of the posts in the series will be funny because they will cover comedic shows.

THE STATS:
Status among my favorite shows of all time: Joan of Arcadia, according to the ranking of my top 10 favorite TV shows of all time I compiled in order to get my thoughts together for this series, is my 3rd favorite TV show of all time.
First time I saw an episode: Around January 2004, so a little over a year ago.
Last time I saw an episode: This Friday, April 22nd.
Favorite episode of all time: In the companion list of my favorite episodes of all time which I also constructed to get my thoughts together for this series, and episode of this show entitled "Only Connect" finished at number 5. A number of other episodes including "Friday Night", "Silence", and "Touch Move" would be in my top 30-50 episodes of all time.

Do I suffer from a lack of perspective on this show, ranking the more recent show over the ones that I haven't seen for a while? Maybe, but when you read the fanboy-level rant below, you'll see that I really do care for this show a great deal.

JOAN OF ARCADIA

Joan of Arcadia is my favorite show on television today. No question about it. And I will be very, very sad if it gets cancelled.
The thing is, everything was working against this show for me. When I first heard about this show, I was completely certain I would dislike it, for a few reasons. First of all, the concept of another show about God on TV sounded horrible. There is already Touched by an Angel and 7th Heaven, two of the worst shows on TV (7th Heaven is entertaining to watch), and I just was naturally biased against TV shows with a “religious” theme, because I almost always find their depictions of God and religious ideas to be ridiculous and offensive. Also, for some reason at the time I did not like Mary Steenburgen. Probably the most important reason I felt that I would not like the show is that I do not like any television dramas. At the time I started watching JOA, I literally had never been a regular watcher of a dramatic TV show, except Sliders if that counts. I just don’t like TV dramas and usually find them to be boring and uninteresting. But JOA took a show that I was dead certain I would hate and made me love it. I caught it a few times during the school year when I had nothing better to do on Fridays, and then fell in love with it watching reruns over the summer.


The cast on this show is truly first-rate, in my opinion the best ensemble cast on any TV drama. Mary Steenburgen has taken my initial dislike of her and made me into a big fan, and Joe Mantegna as her husband is equally brilliant, in a role that is somewhat against type for him. Michael Welch plays Joan’s younger brother Luke in a wonderfully understated way, and always manages to avoid making the character a stereotype science nerd, the likes of which there have been hundreds of in the history of TV.
As for Amber Tamblyn, the star of the show, I don’t even know where to begin with her. She is the best actor in crying scenes that I’ve ever seen. The range of emotion and scenes she is able to portray are stunning, playing joyous, disgusted, sad; comedy scenes, tragic scenes, and serious philosophical scenes all convincingly. She manages to take this character and make her into a normal teenager who wants to lead a normal life…I really don’t know what to say about Amber. Her acting is brilliant, and she is extremely attractive. I absolutely adore her on this show; I have to say that I am more smitten with her than I have ever been of any other actress except for Audrey. Amber takes what would otherwise still be a very good show and just brings it into the stratosphere into one of my favorite shows of all time. I have to say that even if this show does get cancelled (hopefully not) I still fully expect that Amber will have a long and successful career in Hollywood, and I will be paying attention to her projects throughout that career.
Fun Fact: While I was looking something up for this article I came across Amber's address and wrote her a fan letter
PS I love Amber Tamblyn
All of the other actors on the show are excellent too, as each brings their own nuances into the characters that they play…I just don’t have room to go over every actor individually.
The characters and writing on the show are also fantastic, particularly in the episodes written by Barbara Hall, who was the creator of the show.
The portrayal of God on this show is outstanding; (almost) always resisting the urge to have God directly interfering in people’s lives, rather leaving things up to free will.

The best part about this show to me, the thing that sets it apart, the thing that allows me to like it despite my previous disposition against dramas is that it is a very intelligent show. I may complain about certain episodes, and some episodes in the 2 season run haven’t been that great, but every episode gives you something to think about. The weird thing is, I always associate shows with “morals” or “messages” with crappy shows like Full House that always have things wrap up in the end with a trite lesson, but this show really has good things to say. The conversations between Joan and God have almost universally been written exceptionally well, and provide great insight. Honestly, it seems weird for me to say this, but this show has really made me think about a lot of issues in different ways, and in some respects has given me new perspectives on different things in life. Example: My favorite line in the series is in an episode where God instructs Joan to learn how to play chess. While this is going on, Joan is submitting to the pressure of her friends to find out if a particular girl is a lesbian, and things are kind of spiraling out of control. So Joan and God are talking and playing chess and Joan touches a piece and then decides not to move it. But God tells her about the rule of “Touch Move” wherein you have to play a piece once you have touched it…
JOAN: Well that’s stupid. I can’t even change my mind?
GOD: Oh, you can change your mind. But you still have to play that piece.
Even though “Chess as a Metaphor for Life” is overused, this line still really rang true to me about how we can set off a series of events over which we have no control, and once we want to back out, it’s too late. Obviously I already knew that this was the case, but this really highlighted it for me really well. I have honestly thought about this often, and it really helps me to keep the perspective of how our actions can have consequences and we need to be very careful of what we say and do.
The thing is, almost every episode has a line or scene like this for me.
Here’s another funny line I was reminded of while writing this:
GOD: [about a book] Have you read this? JOAN: You stole that! GOD: Well, technically everything belongs to me.

The season premiere for season two, an episode entitled “Only Connect”, is one of my favorite episodes of any TV show of all time. In this episode Joan loses her connection with God and God's message to her is that to be human is to be in connection with other people and the world. The last scene between Amber Tamblyn and Kris Lemche (a fantastic actor who plays God in this episode and many Season One episodes) is truly heartbreaking and is possibly my favorite scene in TV history.

By the way, this show has such an interesting theology to it, that the Presbyterian Church USA website has posted a recommendation for people who want to base a Bible study on it.

As lame as it is to say it, and as womanly as this post as a whole has been, I truly love this show. I love everything about it. I love the drama and the comedy. I love the sad scenes, I love the touching scenes, and I love the joyous scenes. I love the family scenes, I love the scenes between Joan and Adam, I love the scenes between Luke and Grace. I love the philosophical scenes between Joan and God, I love it when God zings Joan and I love it when God is tender to Joan. I loved the second season, I loved the first season even more. I love the performance of Amber Tamblyn. I love the way that I connect with the characters on this show more that I feel I connect with the characters on any other show on TV. I love that even talking about the show now is reducing me to a rambling mess. I love the fact that even the bad episodes have good messages, non-obvious messages, that always give me something to think about and something to keep in mind. I love that this show has made me think twice about watching TV dramas and has shown me that good shows and good messages can come in the least expected passages. I really love this show and if it gets cancelled it will be a very sad day for me. I will miss you, Joan…
Even if it does get cancelled, I’m very surprised a show like this even got on TV in the first place, and it makes me hopeful that some networks are willing to take chance.
I fully completely absolutely adore this show and I am not ashamed to admit it.