When Shelby’s adventurous Grandma Rita comes to visit, the girls learn time travelers were responsible for setting up Shelby’s grandparents and they jump to the 1950s to investigate.

I love BFW, but I fear it is getting into a rut.  How so?

1. Barry and Naldo are often in a separate storyline from Shelby and Cyd.  There’s often little crossover.
2. Many of the stories are “we need to go back in time to (a) fix something or (b) make sure something doesn’t happen.”
3. Naldo says something to Barry somewhat under his breath, Barry calls him on it thinking he said something else, and Naldo says “yea, let’s go with that.”

Here, Shelby’s grandmother Rita, played by Marion Ross (I believe has played every TV character’s grandmother at some point) is coming in for a visit.  Shelby feels that she isn’t close to her grandmother – but she is surprised when Grandma Rita arrives and tells her that it was two time travelers who brought together Grandma Rita and Grandpa Paul.  Shelby and Cyd decide to go back in time to make sure the meeting happens (which seems odd since we know Rita and Paul end up together – otherwise Shelby would be a different person).

Originally, Shelby and Cyd try to hook up Rita with a boar named Paul Barlow (not McAllister).  There’s a little Pretty Woman makeover and the realization that they have hooked up Rita with the wrong Paul.  We never do see Rita meet Paul McAllister = just that she shows up at the end and the opening scene is repeated.  There really was nothing interesting or surprising about the story or its resolution.

In the B story, Barry freaks out when he learns that his parents are selling the RV to buy glasses for his sister (who apparently Naldo has kissed).  Mr Vesper, the buyer, is actually a convicted criminal who has hidden gems in the RV.  Barry and Naldo realize if they can find the gems, they can buy the RV from Barry’s parents (why not just buy his sister’s glasses).  They end up moving the RV to the school to “hide it” but Mr Vesper finds them – with the jewels and, in the end, Mr Vesper is arrested.  What could have been a fun storyline is told in a clunky manner.

I fear that BFW is losing its momentum.  They need to move away from the repetitive storylines (jump to the 50s!, jump to the 70s!  find a decade and jump to it).  Shelby and Cyd found boyfriends in one episodes but they seem to have disappeared.  Barry was interested in Marci and that storyline has disappeared.  I would have spent more time on the Back to the Future Lab storyline.  Does Shelby’s dad still work at GloboDigiDyne?

Misadventures of Dewey Finn, a rocker who poses as a substitute teacher at a prestigious prep school as he teaches his unconventional and overachieving students to play and love rock ‘n’ roll.

Enough time has passed since the movie School of Rock that today’s tweens viewers are too young to remember it.  Now let’s say you’ve never seen School of Rock with Jack Black or School of Rock on Broadway. You’ll want to transfer to a new school after seeing this.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with this show but there’s also nothing inherently great about it either.  The pilot establishes the scenario pretty quickly.  Tony Cavalero plays Dewey Finn, a graduate of the “look how hip I am, I’ll be a great teacher” school.  Teaching is not as easy as just showing up and writing on the blackboard (wait, there are still blackboards).  Want old school – look at the old white Mac Desktops in the back!

The kids in the school are ok as well.  We have the science nerd, the smart girl, the hip girl, the hip guy and the “I’m going to Yale” kid (surprise, surprise, he’s Asian!)  Add in the clueless principle and you have all the elements of a tween comedy.  Remember How to Rock on Nick?  A much better show.

So my pet peeves:

1. I hate it when TV teachers or TV students say they want to have fun – or school should be fun.  It shouldn’t.  It should be engaging.
2. Not every cool teacher needs to act like a doofus or a fool.
3. The show sends the message that if you fail at everything else, just go into teaching.
4. No one in the hallway hears them playing rock music?
5. Does Mr. Finn teach them every class or just English?  What about his other classes?
6. The kids seem pretty quick to jump on the rock band bandwagon.  A little resistance from them would have been nice.
7. The students sure picked up how to play rock music really fast.
8. Surprise, surprise!  Only the featured actors are in the band.  The rest of the class fill the role of background clappers.
9. I wonder how the students are assessed.
10. Should be interesting when Dewey has his formal observation.  I’m sure he will be commended for “innovative teaching!”

Hey, at least we got to see Vernee Watson back on TV (remember her from Fresh Prince of Bel Air).

I’d suggest not matriculating at the School of Rock.

 

With middle school graduation around the corner, Riley, Maya, Lucas and Farkle work together to determine what kind of legacy they want to leave at John Quincy Adams.

It had to come sometime. Graduation for our fearless foursome.  They couldn’t be stuck in middle school forever.  The  theme of legacy – and how do we want people to remember us – is a universal one.  We all leave places for new challenges.  What we leave behind – what gift we give back is also critically important.

What I found sweet about this episode was the interactions between each student and staff member.  Ms. Kossal told Maya to keep telling stories through art; Mr. Norton told Farkle he would “see him on Mars;” Lucas heard about the importance of the bench from the janitor; while Riley confessed to her dad that “he had more to teach them.”  One could read the ending of the episode from miles away.

We got some additional resolution of the Lucas – Maya – Riley triangle.  Lucas decided to stop and they would just be friends, but by the end of the episode, he had realized that wasn’t possible.  I wonder how long they can keep this triangle going.  Ever since the Texas trilogy of episodes, it seems like the triangle keeps spinning around in a circle.  My suggestion for high school – send the three of them off in separate directions.

The episode is thoughtfully written and well-acted but I had this nagging feeling that it could have been better.  Now here’s my pet peeve.  Somehow, between the last day of school and graduation, all of the parents of the students in Cory’s class managed to sign and submit a petition to have Cory become their teacher in high school.  Somehow, that petition was approved and that was their class prank.  This move for Cory was not unexpected but it is also not realistic.  The wheels of the Board of Education in NYC do not move that quickly.  There’d also be no guarantee that the Riley, Maya, Farkle and Lucas would even be in the same history class and there’d be no guarantee that Cory would be their teacher.  And parents do not have that kind of pull over staffing.

What would I have done?  Let the four graduate and move on to high school.  Have Cory show up the first day of school as their history teacher.

If GMW had not been renewed for Season 3, this episode would have been a satisfying end to the series.  It also felt less like an afterschool special than some of the other episodes.  I look forward, though, to girl meeting world in high school.

The reboot of Full House has been massacred in reviews.  The original version was never the critic’s darling so it’s no surprise the new version isn’t either. I won’t lie.  I loved the new version.  I’m sure my reviews do not carry as much sway as the national critics, but as your average TV viewer, its good stuff.

1. New decade.  New family.  Original version: Three male adults.  Three female children.  New version: Three female adults.  Three male children (+1 extra).  Same basic family dynamic.
2. Same showrunners.  Jeff Franklin and Bill Boyett know their characters.  The writers for the new version know the characters as well.  While the 2010s versions of DJ, Stephanie and Kimmy are more mature, the core of their characters hasn’t changed – and the core of their dynamic hasn’t changed either.
3. Same actors.  The show would not have worked without Cameron-Bure, Sweetin and Barber.
4. Same veteran actors.  The show would not have worked without Stamos, Saget, Coulier and Loughlin.  They appear just enough to remind us about the original series and their appearances are not gratuitous.
5. Its traditional.  I’ve had enough of the “quirky family” sitcoms on network television.  We get it.  Families are weird.  This is an old school sit-com with the awww moments, “this would never happen to my family” situations, and a regular rotation of predictable humor, one liners and zingers.
6. The season makes sense.  At the onset, it was clear that the main focus was DJ moving on after her husband died.  Each episode builds on that as she steps back into the dating pool.  Stephanie is seeking normalcy; Kimmy is still strange.  The stories evolve over time in ways that make sense to the viewer.
7. The kids can act (sort of).  Yep, they are still green and thats ok. Campion, Bringas and Harger held their own against the adults and more importantly, I believed them.  Their struggles were the struggles of real teens and tweens.  Max struggles with being the middle brother.  Ramona wanted her parents back together (but in the end she just wants Kimmy to be happy).  Jackson pines over a girl in the same way any 13 year old would.
8. The wackiness is still there.  Yep, it’s still there.  That chicken wrestling match was, well, odd.
9. The catchphrases were there.  They had to be. They are iconic.  No one will ever get tired of “How rude!” or “Oh my lanta.”
10. The referential humor was great.  We had nods to The View, Full House (and the iconic nature of the stars), child stars, Mary Kate and Ashley Olson, General Hospital.  Were some of them gratuitous.  Sure.  But we needed them to connect Full House 2.0 to Full House 1.0.
11. Its changed with the times.  We’ve had two same sex kisses. People are on Facebook and Instagram.  DJ, Stephanie and Kimmy are seeking out and dealing with relationships as independent strong women.
12. I laughed out loud.  And I laughed out loud in a way I hadn’t laughed watching a sitcom in a long long time.  The 13 episodes were a fun ride to take.

After I finished episode 13 (I won’t tell you how the season ends, but it makes sense to the viewer), I kept wishing there was an episode 14.  I guess we will have to wait (and hope for season #2).

So, John Stamos, Producer of Full House and everyone else associated with it, two enthusiastic thumbs up for a reboot done well.

Its two, two, two shows in one!

Instead of trying to explain the final episode of MightyMed, lets just say that Kaz and Oliver got some superpowers and the show ended as a cliffhanger.

In the final episode of Lab Rats Bionic Island, Marcus is finally vanquished and Mr. Davenport decides to send Adam and Leo back to the Academy while Bree and Chase are asked, “Are you ready to start your new adventure?”  Said new adventure is the combination of Mighty Med and Lab Rats.  Its like whack-a-mole.  You keep hitting Lab Rats and it keeps popping up in a new form!

Again, we have a show about a series of bionic heroes and superheroes working together to keep the world safe.

In the pilot, Mr Davenport and his team have moved to Centium City and now Bree and Chase are teamed with Kaz, Oliver and Skylar to form, you guessed it, a new elite force of crimefighters.   If you never watched Mighty Med or even followed it closely, there are just enough hints here that something happened to Mighty Med and all of the villains are free (or something like that).

Booboo Stewart and Ryan Potter (remember Supah Ninjas?  Yep, that’s him) are the villains of the day.  They are shapeshifters who are seeking to take out the fantastic five.  At one point, they shapeshift into a revolving ring (I kid you not) but the elite force freezes the ring.  While the elite force congratulations themselves, Roman (Stewart) and Riker (Potter) escape, ready to continue wreaking havoc on Centium City in some eternal battle of good versus evil.

Hal Sparks is back as Mr. Davenport, and his “look how great I am!” routine is tiresome at best.  I guess we will never find out what happened to Tasha!

The whole show seems like its been there, done that.  I wonder how long it will be before Principal Perry makes a guest appearance.

I think its time, already, to retire this Elite Force.