Quick Thoughts #1 - ABC Family was interesting in the 2000's!

I haven’t found a lot of time to blog here much. Between work, family life, and other interests, writing here’s been put in the background. It doesn’t mean I done with some random thoughts, though. There have been stuff I’ve wanted to at least mention somewhere, but I haven’t had the time to do so. So, here’s a bit of a new thing. These will just be quick thoughts on media I’ve recently watched. Somehow, ABC Family (or Freeform now) became the subject since Liz and I have been watching a lot of shows that used to air on there.

Secret Life of an American Teenager

I might as well start it off with the show I kinda suffered through before Andy was born. Liz was into it back in the day and decided to revisit it. I never watched the show myself when it was airing. All I know is that it was done by the folks who wrote 7^th Heaven, which is another show we also revisited during this time. I also recognized quite a few actors like John Schneider (Pa Kent from Smallville) Beverly Mitchell (Lucy from 7^th Heaven), and Camille Winbrush (Vanessa from The Bernie Mac Show). As you can guess, it’s about teenagers in high school. A young girl gets pregnant during her freshmen year and the show revolves around her family and friends as they deal with life and sex.

This show made me glad that I stuck with the band in high school. While that had some drama, that pales in comparison to this show. I think this is the first show where I barely like anyone on screen. Seriously, Amy Juergens (Shaine Woodley), our lead girl who we’re apparently supposed to be rooting for, is kinda horrible. At least she’s in good company because almost everyone on the show is horrible. They either say or do messed up things, get themselves into weird situations, or just be weird. Yeah, I’m looking at you, Ben Boykevich! Never have I seen an already annoying dude get worse as a show goes on. Oh yeah, the show had a horrible ending with at its fifth season.

In saying all that, this show could be a hoot to watch. With everyone being so weird and almost unlikable, it kinda gets watchable. You wonder what blunder is gonna happen next! It’s only sad that there’s only a small handful of likeable people on the show. It’s funny that Ricky, the show’s original bad boy (and Amy’s baby daddy), ends up being one of the most likeable characters on there. Oh yeah, Leo Boykevich (Ben’s dad) and a couple of other parents are also likable. I think that’s it though. Also, the show does try to bring up certain topics, but your mileage may vary in how they’re handled. Unless you really just want laugh at the absurdity, I wouldn’t recommend it.

Lincoln Heights

Now, this was a show I tried to watch back in the day. I didn’t get to see much of it because of classes, and the fact I never knew when it was airing. Lincoln Heights is about a black cop who moves his family into a house that was once a crack house in one of Los Angeles’ worst districts. The show revolves around the Suttons as they try to live life in the neighborhood. You’ll have some real life drama mixed in with some high school drama and it’s handled pretty well honestly. A lot of social topics come up, and while it can get a little preachy, it’s good stuff.

Unlike Secret Life and its annoying characters, I liked a lot of the folk here. The Suttons were a good family. Eddie was a good dad, and Jenn was an awesome mom. The kids could get a little annoying at times, but they at least feel authentic and have good moments. Cassie’s the artistic one, Taylor’s the musical one, and Lizzie’s the socially conscience one. Charles, Cassie’s on-off boyfriend, was okay but not too bad. You also had some pretty good supporting characters. I never knew that I wanted Christopher B. Duncan (Braxton from the Jamie Foxx Show) in a somewhat villainous role. Also, look out for the great Chadwick Boseman in a pretty good role. I even recognized an actor from Mutant X on the show. Who remembers that X-Men rip-off? Wait, I do!

Overall, I really liked the show. It did its best to showcase a black family, and you didn’t get it like this back then. I will say that the first couple of seasons are the show at its best. The last two seasons are good, but pale in comparison. The writers’ strike was happening at this time, and I wonder if that affected things here. The writing wasn’t as good at that point. At least the show ended in a way that was good. Most shows don’t’ get that. My last pick is definitely an example.

Pretty Little Liars

We ended up finding this one on HBO Max, and this was one that Liz used to watch.  I never saw the show when it aired. Pretty Little Liars revolves around a group of high school girls who are being harassed by the mysterious “A”. The girls (and heck, the whole town!) have a whole lot of secrets. Heck, it even says it in the intro. Somehow, this show was able to push these mysteries out for 7 years with multiple secrets, many A’s, and a whole lotta drama.

I didn’t watch too much of it with Liz, but I did try to catch the overall wild parts. I can say that the acting was nice. You also didn’t know where this show would go. Heck, there was this one point at the 6^th season where I was like “So, this A person now has a bomb shelter and advanced technology?” I wouldn’t have been surprised if some aliens showed up for the heck of it! If you’re down for high school drama and weird mysteries, you might like it. As for me, it was quality time with Liz and I got some laughs here and there.

 

Kyle XY

Finally, we have another one from the past. In fact, I think it was one of the first original shows to air on ABC Family. It lasted for 3 three seasons. Kyle XY was about a teenage boy who has no memory or no functions on how to operate in the world. He gets taken in by a social worker and starts to exhibit strange behavior. It turns out that he’s incredibly smart at math, a good learner, and pretty agile. The show revolves around the boy, Kyle, trying to live life with the Tragers, going to high school, and figuring out his origins.

It was cool revisiting this show. I didn’t watch much of it back in the day due to school. It’s almost like a somewhat grounded version of Smallville. You got Kyle trying to figure out life and also trying to hide the fact that he’s far from normal. I liked Kyle and the Traegers for the most part. Kyle had a bit of a Clark Kent vibe but different. I liked the parents (the dad was apparently Batman from those OnStar commercials), but the kids could be a bit much especially Lori, the pretty opinionated daughter. John was your stereotypical, horny teenager. We also got introduced to another person like Kyle named Jessi, who was played by Jamie Alexander, Lady Sif from the MCU.

You had some scifi goodness embedded in high school drama, which sounds like my alley. The show was probably at its best in its first season and the first half of the second season. I don’t know what happened after this one arc that tied up Kyle’s origins because things kinda fell off. It got more concerned with love triangles, “will-they, won’t they” situations, and Jessi kinda being unbearable at times. It tries to get back into the sci-fi side in the short third season, but we don’t get much. The show gets left on a cliffhanger, and I wonder if the writers’ strike affected this show too. I have heard that Secret Life didn’t help things since it got a lot more air time, so thanks, Ben Boykevich! Overall, Kyle XY was good, but ended weak.

…………………………………………………..

Well, I’ll stop it here. There have been more shows we’ve seen that were/are from ABC Family, but this is a good endpoint. While I can’t recommend Secret Life (unless you got me a couple of free pizzas for me), the others range from okay to pretty good. If anything, all this showed me is that you need a lotta white women or “an attractive yet non-threatening racially diverse cast of a CW show” to get past a few seasons. I don’t know where I’ll take this segment, but it could be interesting. Until then, Peace, God Bless, and be careful out there.