This is mostly going to be a character study because the show is only eight episodes in. The episodes revolve around the characters anyway so it'll jump in. I'll still summarize all thtat's happened so far, but this is just a fair warning.

 The show revolves around four guys. Not jocks, not nerds, these guys just fall in between the normal spectrum of cliched groups. All a little cliched themselves, these guys are actually really, really funny. I watched the first episode not knowing what to expect. And yet, I couldn't stop laughing! My brother caught a glimpse of these foul mouthed teens and he wondered why I was watching something like this and all I could say was because it was funny.

I think whoever is in charge of programming at MTV should definitely get an award or something. He/She is making some very smart choices in the scripted department. So far, they have Teen Wolf, Awkward, and now this. I don't know if there's more, but so far, they have been striking gold with all of these shows.

The four guys involved are Simon Cooper played by Bubba Lewis, Jay Cartwright played by Zack Pearlman, Will Mackenzie played by Joey Pollari, and Neil Sutherland played by Mark Young. These are just an hilarious group of guys and I like that they all have their unique quirks and are funny in their own rights. I also like the casting here, because these guys seriously look like they don't fit in any of the groups at their high school.


The show is narrated by Will, a kid too mature for his age. He dresses in cardigans, suit jackets, actual slacks, dress shoes, and wears ties. Yes, he's not going to fit in at high school. But it's a part of his charm. Joey plays this real with a nerdiness/hotness where if he went to my school, I would have definitely tried to be with him. He's so mature, it kind of makes you wonder what he's doing hanging around these nut jobs who get kicked out of clubs, carry around a car door around an amusement park, or start clubs to get girls but when he cries at being caught drinking by his mom, you totally get it. But, really makes you wonder. And yet, he completely fits in. Yeah he brings his lunch in seperate containers, rolls out a personal placemat and the like, but these group of guys make him step outside his comfort zone.

They make him step up and really enjoy high school whereas if he were in any other group, it would have been a different show. He also keeps the others grounded. He's the moral compass of the group, making them think before they do anything outrageous. Even though they ignore him and do the outrageous thing anyway, he can at least say he tried. And that's what I like about his character. After watching these few episodes, I'd have to say that he's one of my favorite characters. In this past Monday's episode, he played air chess with a new crush of his. How cute is that?



Although Will is the focus character, his main subject of topic is Simon. Simon is the cliched hopeless romantic, sadly pining after a girl who's just an unrepentent tease. They've known each other since they were little and he's been in love with her that whole time and instead of just saying so, he tries all these different things to be with her. But she has a boyfriend. Carly, the love of his life played by Alex Frnka, just won't give him the type of day but keeps getting his hopes up. Simon reminds me of a flag. He just sorts of goes wherever the wind takes him. When his friends come up with idiotic solutions to his problems, he just goes along with it.

Simon could very easily be an annoying character. He spends all of his dialogue talking about Carly and it could get very old, very fast. Yet, that's not the impression I got from the very first epsiode. Bubba plays this character with a sweet sadness that  you just can't help but feel sorry for him. But it's not pity to the point where he's a pathetic character. He's not. He's just love sick and it's so cute to watch him flounder around. Yet he has the very big problem of her boyfriend, who's cuter, more popular, has a nice car, and basically things that Simon doesn't have. When they go to the amusement park, Simon tries to do what her boyfriend does and squirts water at Carly but he only ends up getting her boobs wet. Or when he gets a car, he tries to seem cool but it's a bucket, the door comes off thanks to Jay, and he gets a boot on it when he tries to go to the club to impress her but ends up wearing a homeless man's shoes. Yes, this show goes there. And still, his character isn't annoying. I think that's a huge accomplishment of the writers.



Everyone has that jerk for a friend, and if you don't, it means you are. I'll say it here, I'm a huge jerk but I'm a sweet jerk. I make people happy with my insults. Jay is that jerk, but he's in no way sweet. He's just a real big butthole. I like how MTV has been breaking stereotypes left and right. Jay is more overweight than his friends and instead of making him the clueless nerd, comedic one, or something else, he's just a real butthole. He constantly insults, leads them all to ruin, has horrible ideas, and constantly talks about the sex he'll never get in this lifetime. Usually big guys would have a food problem, would try to be invisble, or something else, but Jay is not like that. I'm not trying to say he's really big, but the weight is clearly defined when he's standing next to his friends.

Jay is just a foul-mouthed, horny teenager who insults rather than uplifts....wait, how does that differ from any other teenagers? It doesn't. But depsite his many flaws, Jay could easily be the jerk that no one wants to be around. He contantly pretends and lies about having sex or having full knowledge of everything about sex. I'm pretty sure those sex position names he rattles off are completely fake. And that could get old really fast but his friends shut him down and make him feel like he doesn't know didly squat. And this doesn't faze him but it provides great comedy. He just does outrageous things like grabbing two oranges and a banana and making it look like his privates, or dressing like a carny to go to the club. Zack plays this character with an okay charm to Jay so that even though he's a jerk, he's one you actually want to be around.



Lastly, there's Neil. Now, even from his appearance, you can already guess that he's the clueless dumb person of the group. Possibly a perpetual weed head, he plays his part without any drugs. Yet Neil is just so addictive you can't help but fall in love with him. He has the running joke in the series about his dad being gay. It's hilarious, every time he says that his dad isn't gay I just have to laugh because he's so against it, yet his friends say his dad likes to cook or has a lover. What I like about Neil is that he just doesn't care. He'll wear super short shorts that he found in the lost and found, he'll wear his sister's clothes, he'll jerk off to massage the cut away on his privates in the men's bathroom, he just doesn't care. Like with Will, if Neil went to my high school, I would have definitely had him in my circle of friends and he would have fit right in.

Neil has his moments of clarity where he says smart things like in this Monday's episode where he said sex dreams is a Freudian concept. That was so unexpected, I was like what?? But then it gets smashed by episodes like the one they went to a bowling alley to drink and an obvious child molestor bought them drinks and sat at their table, and Neil was really into talking to him. Poor naive Neil. Yet, you can't feel sorry for his character because that's just who he is. He's laid back and very chill with a great head of hair and a cute little laugh. I hope he gets his love interest soon, I think it will be funny to see who Neil's perfect match would be. Probably a neo-Hippie with long skirts, longer hair, and a cool guitar? Yeah, I could see that.




All in all, I think that this is a very smart show. I know that it's based on a European format, I'm ashamed to say I can't remember which one, and it was adapted for American television. America seems to be doing that a lot lately. I'm a huge fan of deadline.com, a website for film and TV connoisseurs who love to read about what goes on behind the scenes, and they're always reporting on how American writers have adapated European series for our television. As happy as I am that everyone gets to enjoy the skeleton of the shows, I'd much rather people strive for originality. Granted, a lot of people have cynical views on originality.

Most don't think it exists anymore. A lot of people in the film industry would say that there's only seven stories to be told. It may seem like that, but to me, I think there is still places for originality. It may not come in the form of an eigth story, but it comes in the form of ways of telling those seven stories. Like with Snow White and the Huntsman. Great movie, fantastic cast although I wish they didn't pick Kristen Stewart (but that's my personal bias), it's the same freakin' story. They tried to give it an action take on the old fairytale and the low key feminist in me likes to see a princess fighting her own battles instead of having hunky Chris Hemsoworth doing it for her, but it's still the same story. Youth obsessed queen wants to be fairest in the land, wants Snow White dead, gets duped by the hunter with the fake heart, Snow White shacks up with the seven dwarfs, queen makes a poisonous apple, bye bye Snow White until the prince kisses her awake and then bye bye queen. Same freakin story, over and over and over again and it's like when does it end? Granted, she fell in love with the hunter, not the prince, still, there's no spin to it.

But I'm seriously getting off track here, go see the show. I think it's hilarious and very well crafted. If you like dirty, offensive, and crude jokes about sex and other things, watching hopeless romantics never get the girl, or a guy way too mature for his age try to fit in high school, this show is the one for you.



Enjoy the rest of your night! =)