I don’t watch MTV. I am, however, on the constant lookout for a fun comedy, and I’ve caught this little gem thanks to IMDB’s suggestions (which sometimes work well.)
Oh, I used to watch MTV growing up, when it wasn’t all about reality shows and pop or rap music.
Jenna (Ashley Rickards) isn’t in the in-crowd. She’s just a normal (the meaning of which is open to interpretation) teenager living with her young parents who had her when they were in high school.
She has two best friends, Tamara (Jillian Rose Reed) and Ming (Jessica Lu), and a blog where she can share all of her angst and other feelings, along with her huge crush on the popular cutie Matt (Beau Mirchoff , Danny Bolen of Desperate Housewives, season 6).
So when Matt has sex her in the closet at the end of camp (and takes her virginity), she is over the moon.
But it seems like Mattie only hooks up with her in private, and this starts bothering her. Add the recent attention of Jake (Brett Davern), Matt’s best friend –who doesn’t know Matt is with her – and things get a bit more complicated.
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Don’t worry. Awkward is hilarious. It has its cliches, but it has mixed those up with great humor. For instance popular bitch/cheerleaders’ captain, Sadie (Molly Tarlov) is an “overweight” girl who has “bought” her popularity.
The stupid blonde cheerleader, Lissa (Greer Grammer) is obsessed with religion and tries to be celibate while dating Jake.
While Matt is friends with Sadie, he sees her as the bitch as she is and he is into Jenna, and not the cheerleader squad.
Our lead girl loses her virginity at camp, under very unromantic circumstances – but Matt keeps hooking up with her. He likes her, but he doesn’t know how to go about dating an “outcast”, so he screws up things big time.
Jake is a total sweetheart. He’s nice, fun, romantic and a virgin. Not exactly the popular jock we’re used to seeing.
You’ve got to love Jenna’s parents, only 17 years older than her. Her dad (Mike Faiola) is pretty cool and mature enough, though her mother Lacey (Nikki Deloach) is obsessed with popularity and her daughter’s wardrobe.
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There’re the typical gatherings, but also some decent plot “twists”, like the author of the letter (-a mysterious anonymous letter listing all Jenna’s faults and tips on how to improve them.)
There have been a lot of shows set in high schools, but none really went out of their way to use uncensored language this much. Sure, it gets beeped a bit – but the stuff they talk about and how they talk about tend to sound more natural than other “teen” shows out there.
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The great thing about Awkward is that it is unpretentious, honest, light and pretty funny with lots of laugh-out-loud moments. And it’d be a shame to dismiss it as a teen/MTV show.
And you’ve got to love the way Jenna blogs…
Awkward is currently in its 3rd season, and rated at 7.6 on IMDB (voted by over 17,800 users).
Other Comedies I Recommend:
3rd Rock from the Sun (first season)