I grew up on a regular dose of Wonder Years, the amazing TV series that let us all follow Kevin Arnold's life and cheer for him and Wendy to end up together. I still get a shiver every time I hear Joe Cocker's version of With a Little Help from My Friends (in fact, I stopped writing for a few seconds to look for it and am currently listening to it as write this post). I really loved this show and I think many/most people my age also loved growing up in the '80s/'90s with that beautiful image of the '70s that Wonder Years gave us. But, most of all, it was Kevin's problems and mishaps that caught us the most: his life, were it not for the silly limits of time and space was exactly like ours (or like we wished ours was like, sometimes). Wonder Years was a huge success, spanning 6 years and basically becoming one of those shows that'll always be in people's memory. A few years later, around 1995 a show called My So-Called Life introduced a 13 year old girl called Claire Danes to the world. I won't say MSCL was as amazing as Wonder Years, but it was a close call; it was more raw and in tune with the not-so-'70s-like world of the '90s, drunk teenagers, gay classmates, quite a different feeling towards parents than what Kevin & co. had. It only lasted for 13 episodes, so I guess there's no frame of comparison in terms of success between the two shows, but I really liked MSCL too and it felt, to me, as the Wonder Years of the '90s. Now, there's a chance we're seeing the soon-to-be Wonder Years of the '00s: Aliens in America.
The show premiered yesterday really, so this is a very premature statement; even so, I really liked what I saw and I'm confident this is gonna be one of the most successful new shows of the year (not that I know what else is out there...). It's about this really geeky kid, Justin, who's obviously picked on on a daily basis at school. His mom has the great(!!) idea of hosting a foreign exchange student in order to boost his popularity in school, thinking that they'll get a blond, great-looking athlete of a kid. Instead, they get a pakistani muslim kid, probably the only thing that could make Justin even less popular. It's probably not going to be as attaching as Wonder Years was, specially because we're meeting a Justin who's already 16 years old, unlike the little kid Kevin Arnold was when Wonder Years started. But I really liked the writing and acting on the show; and I loved the sense of humor of the show, the one thing lacking from MSCL (the show was a little too melodramatic). There is a 4-minute preview of the show up on YouTube (what isn't up on YouTube?!?!?), so check it out and see if you can find some way of watching the pilot. It's really worth it.
The show premiered yesterday really, so this is a very premature statement; even so, I really liked what I saw and I'm confident this is gonna be one of the most successful new shows of the year (not that I know what else is out there...). It's about this really geeky kid, Justin, who's obviously picked on on a daily basis at school. His mom has the great(!!) idea of hosting a foreign exchange student in order to boost his popularity in school, thinking that they'll get a blond, great-looking athlete of a kid. Instead, they get a pakistani muslim kid, probably the only thing that could make Justin even less popular. It's probably not going to be as attaching as Wonder Years was, specially because we're meeting a Justin who's already 16 years old, unlike the little kid Kevin Arnold was when Wonder Years started. But I really liked the writing and acting on the show; and I loved the sense of humor of the show, the one thing lacking from MSCL (the show was a little too melodramatic). There is a 4-minute preview of the show up on YouTube (what isn't up on YouTube?!?!?), so check it out and see if you can find some way of watching the pilot. It's really worth it.
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