This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at USFCA chapter.
Thanksgiving break is coming up. For those of you lucky enough to have downtime- Watch some TV! What I have been hearing all semester is “I don’t have time to watch TV” or “I don’t even know what to watch anymore.” To help you out, I wrote about my three favorite new shows this season.
AWKWARD.
Surprisingly, MTV has a TV show that is not reality.
“Awkward.” is a scripted comedy about high school sophomore Jenna Hamilton (Ashley Rickards). It’s MTV’s own high school series. For years, the leaders in teenage shows have been ABC’s “Secret Life of the American Teenager” and the CW’s Gossip Girl.
Unlike those other shows, “Awkward.”’s writer, Lauren Iungerich, has managed to write about high school in an entirely relatable way. When watching, I was eager to know what would happen next and the show always surprised me. It was never predictable and it was much funnier than all those other teen-angst shows. I describe the humor as a mixture of “Mean Girls”, “Easy A”, and “Juno.” “Awkward.” is about the same things as all teen shows: humiliations, social climbing, lust, and friendships.
The pilot begins with Jenna losing her virginity in a broom closet. Now instead of exploring the question of whether and when to sex, the question of whether it was more than sex is explored. Also in the pilot, is Jenna’s misunderstood accident that has everyone thinking she tried to commit suicide- a stigma that lasts throughout the season.
The characters in the show aren’t all stereotypes. For instance, Sadie Saxton, brilliantly played by Molly Tarlov, is head cheerleader and the most popular girl in school with rich parents. She’s also the heaviest girl with the most body issues. Jenna’s love interests aren’t between the adored jock and the nerdy guy. Tamara, one of Jenna’s best friends, reminds me Leah from “Juno.”
You can watch the entire series of “Awkward.” on mtv.com. The series is also available on DVD and has been picked up for a second season.
Up all Night
At first, “Up All Night” seemed like a blimp on the radar to me. It wasn’t until one day when Hulu automatically played an episode after “Modern Family” ended. It has captured my interests and I have been a fan ever since.
“Up All Night” is produced by “Saturday Night Live”’s creator Lorne Michaels. The conception for the show us based on the show’s creator, Emily Spivey’s life when she returned to work on Saturday Night Live after giving birth to her baby.
The series follows Reagan, a producer for her best friend Ava’s talk show, and Chris, Reagan’s supportive, stay-at-home husband, as they try to adjust to life with their new born baby Amy. They struggle with the problems all new parents face: kissing their party-any-time in Hollywood life goodbye, trading in their sexy BMW convertibles for child-safe SUVs, etc.
The casting directors definitely raked in the talent. Christina Applegate and Will Arnett play the roles of the new parents. Maya Rudolph is Reagan’s (Applegate) self-absorbed, talk show host, and best friend, Ava. Nick Cameron is also on the show as Ava’s co-host.
David Wiegand from the San Francisco Chronicle describes the humor perfectly. He says the show is balanced “between the reality-based humor of a young couple coping with their new baby and their evaporating youth, and the SNL-sketch-like satire of a powerful and powerfully self-involved talk show hostess.”
You can catch up with “Up All Night” on Hulu. New episodes premiere Wednesdays at 8PM on NBC.
Pan Am
I admit it: I’m a sucker for anything set in a different time period. The glamorous lifestyle of Pan Am only draws me in further. Who wouldn’t want to wear that uniform? Aiding to the meticulous, glossy recreation is the show’s producer, Nancy Hult Ganis, a former Pan Am flight attendant. She makes details of the show are as accurate as possible.
Each character has their story to tell. “Pan Am” is about the new jet age in the 60s. The stewardesses of Pan Am are a new breed of women. The plot contains romance and espionage followed the lives of the pilots and four main stewardesses. Maggie (Christina Ricci), the purser who isn’t afraid to test authority; Laura (Margot Robbie), the runaway bride who left her fiancé at the alter so she can take control of her life and see the world; Kate (Kelli Garner), Laura’s older sister who has always felt like the black sheep in the family because of her perfect sister. She is determined to illustrate her worth when recruited by the CIA; Colette (Karine Vanasse), the free-spirited, orphaned Parisian.
As the series dives deeper into its characters’ backgrounds, we see that each woman lived independently and had a thirst for adventure. One of the episodes ends with the pilots saying to one another, “They don’t know they’re a new breed of woman. They just decided to take flight.”
You can catch up with “Pan Am” on hulu. New episodes premiere at 10PM on ABC.
Thanksgiving break is coming up. For those of you lucky enough to have downtime- Watch some TV! What I have been hearing all semester is “I don’t have time to watch TV” or “I don’t even know what to watch anymore.” To help you out, we wrote about ourthree favorite new shows this season.
AWKWARD.
Surprisingly, MTV has a TV show that is not reality.
“Awkward.” is a scripted comedy about high school sophomore Jenna Hamilton (Ashley Rickards). It’s MTV’s own high school series. For years, the leaders in teenage shows have been ABC’s “Secret Life of the American Teenager” and the CW’s Gossip Girl.
Unlike those other shows, “Awkward.”’s writer, Lauren Iungerich, has managed to write about high school in an entirely relatable way. The humor is a combination of “Mean Girls”, “Easy A”, and“Juno.” “Awkward.” is about the same things as all teen shows: humiliations, social climbing, lust, and friendships.
The pilot begins with Jenna losing her virginity in a broom closet. Now instead of exploring the question of whether and when to sex, the question of whether it was more than sex is explored. Also in the pilot, is Jenna’s misunderstood accident that has everyone thinking she tried to commit suicide- a stigma that lasts throughout the season.
The characters in the show aren’t all stereotypes. For instance, Sadie Saxton, brilliantly played by Molly Tarlov, is head cheerleader and the most popular girl in school with rich parents. She’s also the heaviest girl with the most body issues. Jenna’s love interests aren’t between the adored jock and the nerdy guy. Tamara, one of Jenna’s best friends, reminds me Leah from “Juno.”
You can watch the entire series of “Awkward.” on mtv.com. The series is also available on DVD and has been picked up for a second season.
Up all Night
At first, “Up All Night” seemed like a blimp on the radar. It wasn’t until one day when Hulu automatically played an episode after “Modern Family” ended. “Up All Night”is produced by “Saturday Night Live”’s creator Lorne Michaels. The conception for the show us based on the show’s creator, Emily Spivey’s life when she returned to work on Saturday Night Live after giving birth to her baby.
The series follows Reagan, a producer for her best friend Ava’s talk show, and Chris, Reagan’s supportive, stay-at-home husband, as they try to adjust to life with their new born baby Amy. They struggle with the problems all new parents face: kissing their party-any-time in Hollywood life goodbye, trading in their sexy BMW convertibles for child-safe SUVs, etc.
The casting directors definitely raked in the talent. Christina Applegate and Will Arnett play the roles of the new parents. Maya Rudolph is Reagan’s (Applegate) self-absorbed, talk show host, and best friend, Ava. Nick Cameron is also on the show as Ava’s co-host.
David Wiegand from the San Francisco Chronicle describes the humor perfectly. He says the show is balanced “between the reality-based humor of a young couple coping with their new baby and their evaporating youth, and the SNL-sketch-like satire of a powerful and powerfully self-involved talk show hostess.”
You can catch up with “Up All Night” on Hulu. New episodes premiere Wednesdays at 8PM on NBC.
Pan Am
Anything placed in a different time period is always going to rank on our list of favorite TV shows here at Her Campus Univeristy of San Francisco. The glamorous lifestyle of Pan Am only draws us in further. Who wouldn’t want to wear that uniform? Aiding to the meticulous, glossy recreation is the show’s producer, Nancy Hult Ganis, a former Pan Am flight attendant. She makes details of the show are as accurate as possible.
Each character has their story to tell. “Pan Am” is about the new jet age in the 60s. The stewardesses of Pan Am are a new breed of women. The plot contains romance and espionage followed the lives of the pilots and four main stewardesses. Maggie (Christina Ricci), the purser who isn’t afraid to test authority; Laura (Margot Robbie), the runaway bride who left her fiancé at the alter so she can take control of her life and see the world; Kate (Kelli Garner), Laura’s older sister who has always felt like the black sheep in the family because of her perfect sister. She is determined to illustrate her worth when recruited by the CIA; Colette (Karine Vanasse), the free-spirited, orphaned Parisian.
As the series dives deeper into its characters’ backgrounds, we see that each woman lived independently and had a thirst for adventure. One of the episodes ends with the pilots saying to one another, “They don’t know they’re a new breed of woman. They just decided to take flight.”
You can catch up with “Pan Am” on hulu. New episodes premiere at 10PM on ABC.
