TV Meme, Day 16: Guilty Pleasure Show

This was a tough one, but not for the obvious reasons. I don’t believe in guilty so I don’t think I have any guilt from pleasure but I suppose Gossip Girl would fit the bill. The thing is, I’ve not been watching this since last year May so I have no idea what’s going on at the moment – but I shall pay it some respect nonetheless.

The thing about Gossip Girl is it’s the type of show you would expect to be horrible, perhaps even cringe worthy. Really, the idea of teenagers running around New York behaving like people twice their ages is not exactly smart or inspired. Yet, Gossip Girl (even with a name that reeks of such flippancy) manages to attain levels of wisdom and to procure altitudes of talent in its actors that always surprise me. If there’s one thing that displeases me about the show, it’s its inconsistency. Not merely how tone shift from episode but how the cast’s talent rather unevenly decided. I haven’t seen him in anything but I have to loathe Penn Badgeley’s talent as an “actor” and Chace Crawford is someone who just stands their doing the best impression of bland he can pull of (and he always wins). If it were not for the smidgen of good I saw in her in The Private Lives of Pippa Lee I’d doubt Blake Lively (who has, for reasons beyond me, turned into the “it” girl of the show). Pretty she is, a shining talent she is not – especially on this show where she plays her character one-note that just happens to be the most annoying note on the acting spectrum – “desperation”.

I don’t feel unoriginal in placing my appreciation for the show (youth wise) on the heads of Ed Westick and Leighton Meester. I don’t know if it comes from their characters having the most shades of the grey, or if the writers are aware that they’ve struck gold with these creations (well, at CW’s level anyway) and just milk them for all they’ve got while forgetting their peers. Whatever it is, Meester and Westick shine in their role – not always as bright as I would like. But if there’s one thing they have that is a prerequisite for a good career, it’s their ability to draw you in – no matter how bad – into their performances.

Kelly Rutherford does a good job of the old-but-young mother and Margaret Collin is quite fun at times as the stifling one. I’m still usually bored by Matthew Settle but not as bored as I am with Badgeley who plays his son or Taylor Momesn who plays his daughter…but I’m over talking. I don’t feel any guilt watching it (just annoyed when they forget what they have the unavoidable misstep). It’s not the TV for the Ages, but it does a good job of pretending to be now and then.

        

Another entry in the TV Meme that continues to go on...

(LATE AGAIN) 

Teenage Drama: Mean Girls

I’ll just bite the bullet now. I’m a fan of Lindsay Lohan. She’s definitely hitting a rough patch, but in her heyday she showed the promise of becoming one of the more talented performers of her time. It’s not often that a teen movie makes you think as much as it makes you laugh, and it’s not often that a modern teenage film about girls can be smart enough that it doesn’t turn into a chick flick. But, there is always that one special one and for me Mean Girls is that one.

                          

I figure a good deal of my early appreciation of Mean Girls derived from my teenage lust appreciation approval for Lindsay Lohan, however that doesn’t distil the goodness of the film.; both as a cinematic treat and a teenage experience. I have two older sisters, so my repertoire of light [and often senseless] teenage films is not exactly sparse. I’ve seen Bring It On  which is fine[and the dreadful sequels] more often than I’d care to admit, many of Julia Stiles’ and Lindsay’s and even some Hilary Duff [not too much, thankfully], Cruel Intentions, The Hot Chick and on and on and on.

Generally, I like to think of Mean Girls as the best of its kind. You may think me blasphemous, but I see no reason why it couldn’t have gotten some love from the Academy. As much as I love my AMPAS, [or used to]  I have to admit that a film’s reception often depends on momentum. Sure they weren’t in competition against each other, but having a teenage film like Juno up for laurels and Mean Girls not even getting a screenplay nomination seems awfully backward. But I digress. Big surprise. Back to Mean Girls. As someone who’s generally reticent about Tina Fey I have to applaud her effective writing of Mean Girls, not just by teen films’ standards – but generally. The script is riddled with quotable line after quotable, Gretchen's breakdown and the catch-phrase that's so fetch. It's just funny moment after funny moment, and the cast is more than up for it. Lindsay, Rachel McAdams, Lacey Chebert, Amada Seyfreid, Amy Poehler, Tim Meadows, Lizzie Caplan and even Tina Fey doing her non acting schtick, are all on point here.

              

Mean Girls is a film that works well for males as well as females; for adults as well as children. In its own way it’s little intricacies are just as fulfilling as any serious film. Okay, I’ll level with you. Mean Girls isn’t the best acted, best directed or best written film. But we can’t all be! It’s a good watch. It’s satisfying and funny, but it’s real and serious. It’s thought provoking but never moralistic. What more could you want in a comedy? My name is Andrew, I’m a straight guy – and I like Mean Girls. Perhaps I should be in therapy, but tt’s my #80?

               

Am I alone on this one, or can you appreciate the loveliness?