Announcing the 2015 TeenCom Awards!

Now that the end of the year is here, its time to present the first ever TeenCom Awards, recognizing the best and brightest  in teen and tween sitcoms (with a few dramas mixed in as well).

Best Show

Girl Meets World is smartly written, well-acted and devoid of the usual trappings like canned laugh tracks and unrealistic situations.  Michael Jacobs et al present the world of middle school (and next season, high school) warts an all.  They’ve also done a fantastic job weaving in characters from Boy Meets World and these characters are often used as springboards for current storylines. (Hello, Angela!)  The show can veer into the after school special world at times but excellent family viewing all around.

Best New Show

Time traveling teens seems like it would be a tough topic to tackle in a Disney Channel comedy, but the show runners have created a thoughtful balance of “We’re going to change the future” with “Let’s understand how we got here.”  Landry and Bender are believable best friends, but I’d argue the better relationship is between Kamp’s Barry and Garcia’s Reynaldo.  The twins provide comic relief (and are often annoying) and Shelby’s parents are a stitch.  It should be interesting to see where the show goes with the Future Lab storyline.

Best Veteran Show

I’ll always have a soft spot for the Thundermans.  Now finishing its third season, Spingarn and company have crafted a tale of two teenagers balancing the expectations of being a superhero with the desire for normalcy.  Griffo and Kosarin are believable (and funny) in their roles.  There’s some odd plotting going on at times and sometimes there’s a lack of consistency in story arcs (Max and Phoebe have this rotating selection of friends that can be annoying; sometimes it’s Evan, Sarah and Tyler; other times it’s Cherry, Whitney, Oyster).  Please bring Ryan Newman back for Season 4.  Griffo and her play well off each other (besides the fact they are real-life boyfriend/girlfriend); her character mellows Max in a necessary way.

Best Telenovela

Nick has scored much success with these 4 week shows: Every Witch Way, WITS Academy, and Make It Pop, but Talia stands above the rest.  Will Talia win awards for writing and acting?  Probably not.  But the show is a fun ride.  Take out the spice stories and you have a believable show with believable teen storylines: competition, first loves, friends v boyfriend/girlfriend. The show doesn’t take itself too seriously, does physical comedy really well and is filled with snark and sarcasm.  Maria Quezada’s Talia is winsome and determined; Miguel Luciano’s Frenchie is a riot.  Props to the show for a production staff and writing staff that is predominantly Latino/a.

Best Actor

When Corey Fogelmanis debuted on GMW as Farkle, he was one step away from annoying.  “Farkle Time” should have been a time out.  But then as the show matured, so did Fogelmanis and so did his performances.  There are times he makes you laugh, times he makes you want to cry and times you want to strangle him.  The episode where he is preliminarily diagnosed with autism is stellar and so is his performance.  In Girl Meets Yearbook, he’s Donnie Barnes regular guy and, his scene at Topanga’s where he states: “My name is Farkle Minkus. I’m growing up. And I don’t know what’s going to happen next. But you guys are my best friends, so deal with it.” should resonate with every teen and every parent out there.  But perhaps Fogelmanis’s best scene is with Peyton Meyer in the courtyard right after.  Incredible.

Best Actress

I was tempted to go with Rowan Blanchard of GMW, but for me Sabrina Carpenter’s Maya is on par with Blanchard and just a hair better.  She’s the “Shawn Hunter” of GMW, but so much more.  She states the things her peers are afraid to say and her attraction to Lucas is both sweet and understandable.  Maya challenges Riley on her beliefs and makes her a better person.  Her delivery is spot on and she has talent in bunches.

Best Scene

If the goal of a TV show is to shine a mirror on ourselves, allowing us to understand who we are, then the final two scenes of Girl Meets World’s Girl Meets Yearbook would do.  Smartly acted, well-written with standout performances, our quartet uncovers who they are.

From the GMW Wikia: “Riley and Maya say they know who they are and Farkle knows who he is. Farkle tells them he’s not coming back. People change and he thinks it could be a good thing. He doesn’t want to be called Donnie Barnes; he is Farkle Minkus, but he’s also growing up.

Lucas goes outside to talk to the new Farkle. Lucas thinks everybody should have a best friend like Farkle, but they don’t and he doesn’t want to lose his. Farkle wonders where being a nerdy, little scientist genius is a bad thing. Farkle promises to stay the scientist that he is so long as he can do tests: he needs to be allowed to grow.”  If you don’t tear up by the end of the show, well, there is something wrong with you.

Best Sidekick

When Ricky Garcia’s Reynaldo/Naldo first appeared on Best Friends Whenever, I thought, “No character could be this dumb.”  But over time, Naldo turned out to be the more street savvy, wiser half of Barry/Naldo relationship.  His Space Cowboy routine was a riot.  You realize how smart he is when he tells Barry that the plant gift actually made him feel like he was being used, not being thanked.

Best Facial Expressions and Background Shots

The worst thing any actor could do is stand there and have no reaction.  But Liam Obergfoll’s Tyson on Talia in the Kitchen is a master of facial expressions and background reaction shots.  He clearly has fun in the role, doesn’t mind getting hit in the face with Brie or flour, and reacts so well to the action going on around him.  Watch him lick his lips when Frenchie pours a milkshake,  roll his eyes when Rudy gets in a dig at him, or raise his eyebrows when someone says something stupid. His flour dance was a stitch as was his attempt to make a cheesesteak.  My two pet peeves: Tyson was originally described as a “straight A student” but he clearly lacks common sense and brains. Secondly, you need a new “shocked reaction” look than the open mouth (which can stay open for a really long time). He needs his own show (I’d gladly have him in mine!)

Sorry to See You Go

Sadly, I Didn’t Do It ended quickly after two seasons.  The premise was interesting at the start:  Here’s something that happened to our fearless fivesome, let’s go back in time and figured out how it happened.  And then the wheels came off the bus.  Garrett was sent off to work with Betty at Jumble Juice and rarely interacted with his four friends and the original premise was lost.  The show featured witty writing and amusing scenarios but in the end, turned into an average teen sitcom.   Whoever cancelled the show should admit, “I Didn’t Do It.”

Best Disney Channel Original Movie
  

A tie between Descendants and Teen Beach 2.  TB2 was a tongue-in-cheek, although definitely not unexpected followup to Teen Beach Movie.  Even though the twist at the end precluded the first movie from ever happening, the 50s folks traveling to today made for some amusing scenes.  The music was good and helped move the story along; the acting was what you would expect and I’m sure at the end, there was a wink to Teen Beach 3.

Descendants is a great “what if” movie, where the minions of villians are given the opportunity to live in Auradon.  Its another Kenny Ortega classic – good music, good dancing and a watchable slate of teen actors and actresses (who knew BooBoo Stewart could sing).  It’s a fun ride for sure.