Premise: When two best friends are zapped with their friend’s laser, they gain the ability to time travel.

Pedigree: A single-camera sitcom developed for Disney Channel, created by Jed Elinoff and Scott Thomas and executive produced by Jed Elinoff, Scott Thomas and Michael Kaplan. The series stars Lauren Taylor as Shelby and Landry Bender (formerly of Disney XD’s Crash and Bernsterin) as Cyd. (wikipedia.org)

Yes, its another trip to the “special powers well” for Disney.  For every I Didn’t Do It and Jessie, there’s a Lab Rats, Dog with a Blog  or Mighty Med.  BFW comes across as a teen version of Groundhog Day.

Props for another sitcom set in Portland, Oregon.

You can check off all of the usual teen sitcom characters here:

• Shelby and Cyd,  “Felix and Oscar” type best friends who demonstrate “opposites attract.”
• Barry, the scientist-y best friend.  Don’t all of our friends have their own lab in an RV
• Naldo, Barry’s wacky friend (and 1/3 of Forever in Your Mind, who sing the theme song)
• Marci, Shelby and Cyd’s other friend who is just, well, weird
• Brett and Chet, Shelby’s twin brothers who have an obvious crush on Cyd, and who come across as two low rate Gibbys from iCarly.

The first episode is pretty standard issue Disney Channel fare with the standard Disney Channel theme about the importance of friendship.  Shelby is seeking a super-fun dance proposal with Cameron (played by Emery Kelly, another 1/3 of Forever in Your Mind).  Naturally, proposal #1 is a failure, and Shelby and Cyd soon discover that they have the power to travel back in time to try the dance-posal again.  (Where’s Bill Murray when you need him!)

After dance-posal #2 is a failure (when Cameron ends up asking Cyd), Shelby and Cyd jump to the future, only to find that dance-posal #2 ruined their friendship.  Understanding the importance of their friendship, Shelby and Cyd realize that it is their differences that make their friendship special.  They travel back to the present, where in an ironic twist, Marci ends up the beneficiary of the dance-posal.

Here’s the key question tho: We can fix everything that went wrong.  If you had the power to do this, would you?  But its fun to imagine.

# of best friend pair screams: 3

Line of the episode: “I can’t tell if you’re kidding or phlegmatic.”

A couple of thoughts:

• Why not have Shelby and Cyd be the scientists?
• In the future scene, wouldn’t Barry and Naldo look older?

Overall, I think BFW has potential, but its not there yet.  We’ll see what the future brings…

A story: The trio of friends set out to conquer each of their biggest fears.

B: CJ tries to talk to her crush, gorgeous 8th grade boy.

I’ll give Scott Fellows credit for one thing: he understands the fears and daily existance of the middle school students.  Yep, it’s Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide for a new decade.

Episode starts with a ringing school bell: check.

Main characters does voice over to explain episode: check.

Wacky highjinks ensure: check.

“Declassified Book” included (Fenwick’s Fears): check.

Oddly named characters: check.

Characters whose fears are believable and whose characterizations are believable: check.

It’s not easy writing for the middle school student.  In most sitcoms, the middle schooler is the middle student in a family.  But as with NDSSG, Fellows has his finger on the pulse of the middle school.  Either it was the best experience of his life – or the most traumatic.

This is only the second episode of the series (I’m curious if there will be an episode 101) and the storyline for each episode is clear – focusing on one thing to accomplish over the span of middle school.  This episode deals with fear.  Crispo overcomes his fear of snakes pretty quickly – as the “fear helper” (I might have gone with fear whisperer), he claims to Fenwick that by getting over his fears first, he’s able to help others work on their own fears.  Fenwick is fearful of the “running of the bears,” when the school’s basketball team runs through the halls (which they seem to do on a regular basis.  C.J.’s fear is speaking to Gorgeous 8th Grade Boy.  She tries every trick in the book to get to know him and speak to him.  In the end, its a team effort with her family, Crispo, Fenwick and the guidance counselor, Mr. Roberts, to get C.J. alone with GEGB.  And yes, she speaks.  What’s endearing is C.J. states, “I don’t remember what we talked about but it was the best conversation I ever had.”

C.J., Crispo and Fenwick are believable as middle school students.  Its also nice to see an adult on the show who is willing to support the students as opposed to the evil principal/teacher type character.

Props to Max Ehrich – he can do comedy, drama (Y&R) and scifi (Under The Dome).

The show’s got legs – or at least 98 more episodes.  I can’t help but wonder if Ned is off somewhere taking copious notes about the “100 things to do before high school.”

A story: The Thundermans welcome a new member to the family.

B story: Max accompanies Dr. Colosso to an awards ceremony in Metroburg.

Well, we should consider ourselves lucky.  This could have been the series finale for the Thundermans.  Nick took a long time deciding if the series should be renewed.  I, for one, am glad they did.

I’m going to give props to this episode for a great use of stuntmen, action packed scenes and expansive sets.  Jack Griffo stated its one of his favorite episodes and the evidence is on the screen.

That said, I worry that the insta-birth of Baby Chloe is the shows Jump The Shark moment.  Who knew superheros went from being pregnant to giving birth in such a short time.  Apparently, this must be found in some chapter of the Superhero Manual.

The most important theme in the show, though, is friendship.  At the end, it is clear that Max and Dr. Colosso are best friends (Max won’t leave him behind at the Villain League in Metroburg); and that Phoebe trusts Cherry enough to share the family’s deepest secret.  We did get a “there’s something I have to tell you” scene in the first part of the episode.  Cherry’s response was great – “What do you think I am, stupid?” – even as she sat in the ThunderVan.  I would have liked Phoebe to go back to the first time Cherry visited the Thunderman home and use that as an explanation.  Skipping the explanation on screen was a mistake in my book.

Moreover, Max’s willingness to de-animalize Dr Colosso goes to the heart of their friendship as well.  And eventually, we get a better sense of Dr. Colosso’s feelings for Max (which was also evident in the Blue Detective episode).  In the end, its clear Dr. Colosso will sacrifice himself for Max’s safety as well.

The C story with Nora and Billy at TOTS and participating in the cutest baby competition, while oddly out of place, was necessary to cement Nora’s sense of place in the family.  She was used to being the cute, youngest member of the family; her line about teaching Baby Chloe about bows nicely reflected her willingness to accept Baby Chloe as part of the family.

I’m still perplexed why Baby Chloe grew so much in such a short period of time (don’t the other Thundermans mature at the same rate?)

This episode will serve as a solid springboard into Season 3 storylines for sure.

A story: Phoebe joins the cool group for a project, but soon discovers they don’t want to work.

B story: Hank and Barb challenge Nora and Billy to run the house better than them.

First of all, welcome back Sarah, Evan and Tyler.  You have been missed.  One of the challenges of watching the Thundermans is keeping up with their revolving group of friends.  In some ways, its better to have too many friends (that’s normalcy in a teen’s world) as opposed to just having one.  Its good to see them back – and to see Tyler’s new haircut.

Second, the best episodes of the Thundermans are the ones that pit Max against Phoebe against each other somehow.  That happens here when Phoebe bows out of the “A Plus Train Group” and joins Winnie and her friends on a social studies project on China.  Max, seeking maximum reward for minimum effort, joins the A Plus Train (and subsequently ruining their project by leaving the project out in the rain) and eventually he is kicked out.  The scene where Max flexes his biceps in front of Sarah and practically starts drooling is a gem.  Evan’s awesome line, “Sarah, give me your glasses.”  Sarah seems a little less wacky here as well.

Third, we revisit Phoebe’s desire to be a normal teen.  She has been struggling with this normal teen – superhero dilemma for the first two seasons and its in play again here.  When she realizes that (1) Winnie and company are happy with a C and (2) she’d rather have an A, she dumps them and decides to work by herself.  No dice, says teacher Ms. Austin, group work or you fail so she ends up paired with Max.

Phoebe holds her own against Max, vowing not to do any work but in the end, she makes egg rolls.  Ready to accept her F, Phoebe is spared when Max creates a fireworks show (since fireworks were created in China).  Its an A for both of them.  Once again, Max comes through in the clutch, reinforcing the idea that, while they may be good v evil, Max does care for Phoebe.

The B story with Hank and Barb challenging Nora and Billy to run the household was fun – but the resolution – that Nora and Billy had asked for help from a number of other superheros – did not come as a surprise.  The Thundermans does have fun, though, creating fun superhero names.

All in all, a fun episode!

A Story: Jasmine volunteers at a senior center and makes some new friends.

B story: Delia borrows Lindy’s foster dog.

 

This was an interesting episode as Lindy and Logan took a back seat to the main action.  However, Logan – along with Garrett – is actively involved in the C story, taking on some of the dares found in the pack of I Dare You Gum.

The episode does a good job of reinforcing the character traits of our dynamic quintet.

• Jasmine is often focused on her appearance, but deep down, she’s a loyal friend and true.
• Delia is very nervous around boys and often needs a crutch to begin the conversation.
• Garrett shies from competitiveness and is afraid to take chances.
• Logan is both competitive and willing to take chances.
• Lindy, coming in as the least important character in this episode, is always seeking to do good (whether that act of do-goodness is wanted or not).

The three stories are actually quite simple:

• Jasmine teaches yoga at the local senior center, but when everyone in the class “drops out,” she befriends the last one standing.  After spending substantial time with her, her wardrobe and demeanor are transformed into a senior citizen, much to her horror at the end.
• Delia uses Lindy’s foster dog to connect with fellow dog lover Brandon.  In the end, she comes clean and tells Brandon she loves cats.  As it turns out, so does Brandon.  Is there romance in the future for Delia and Brandon.
• Logan challenges Garrett to an “I Dare You Game” using dares found on a pack of gum.  Garrett ends up taking Betty from Rumble Juice on a date in one dare.  The scene where Logan comes out wearing underwear over his jeans is a gem as is the idea of Garrett saying no to everyone.  In the end, it’s “you can’t touch your hair for a day” (after Garrett messes up Logan’s hair) that gives Garrett the win.

There’s some inspired wackiness in this episode and development of a deeper understanding of our characters.  Plus, its hard to tackle 3 separate stories in 22 minutes!

Of note, the show seems to have dropped the “3 days earlier” concept where the end of the episode is revealed and then we go back to find out how we got there.  I’m ok with that.

A story: Max  accidentally sells one of Barb’s electric whip to an Electress fan at the family’s yard sale.

B story: Nora has a hard time selling her bows at the yard sale.

Now that the Thundermans is midway through season two, we are getting more background information about the family’s time in Metroburg and Hank and Barb’s career as superheros.  While the kids know all about Thunderman’s successes, they know very little about Barb’s career as Electress.  In fact, they even think Barb was Hank’s sidekick.

There’s a heatwave going through Hiddenville (apparently the Thunderman house does not have air conditioning) and the kids are trying to convince Hank and Barb they need a pool (while in Hiddenville can be constructed immediately; not to mention, there doesn’t appear to be any room in their yard for one).

Barb strikes a deal with the kids that if they can raise some money towards the pool, Hank and Barb will kick in the rest (much to Hank’s dismay; does every TV dad have to be a cheap SOB?).  They decide to have a yard sale; among the items for sale are old pants and some of Nora’s bows (which she has much trouble parting with).

When new neighborhood boy Cedric arrives looking for comics, Max quickly sells him a box of Barb’s old superhero toys and comics, including her famous whip, which can detonate half a city.  Max successfully gets the comics back (but not the whip) so its up to Phoebe to be “Electress” and try to convince Cedric to give the whip back (Cedric will only return it to the real Electress).  Naturally the plan goes afowl when Max and Phoebe realize they really do not know anything about their Mom and Electress.  Barb swoops in and saves the day, reclaiming the whip and her kids.

Meanwhile, Nora has trouble selling her bows at the yard sale.  The outfit she wears totally comprised of bows is hilarious.  But when Billy sells his GI Joe type doll, Sargeant Flargeant (Nora’s name for his other doll: Corporal Schmorporal), Nora realizes the importance of sacrifice and starts selling her bows.

In the end, the family is only able to afford a kiddie pool.

Of note:

• Cedric’s nicknames for Max include: Bad Boy, Wall Street, Tank Top, Chinatown.
• Barb’s computer requires about 200 updates.  It’s clearly very old!
• Electress’ electrical safety commercials are hysterical.

Another above average episode – more insight into our characters and what makes them tick.

By the time we get to the end of this week, there will have been eleven new Thundermans episodes in a three week span.  I’m glad they are back with new episodes, but we’ll probably we waiting for fall for Season #3.

A story: Max tries to capture Phoebe in an epic fail video.

B story: Hank, Nora and Billy contract poison ivy.

The best Thundermans episodes are ones where Max and Phoebe are seeking to gain hand over the other.  In this case, Max is trying to fake some epic fail videos he hopes will go viral.  He’s pretty shocked when people online criticize him for faking his vids.  But he’s in for a treat when Billy sends a skateboard into Phoebe, who’s filming a commercial for Hiddenville High’s performance of Swan Lake.  (And props to the writers for using Kira Kosarin’s talents as a ballet dancer.  She is very good in her performance).

Naturally the video goes viral (called Epic Failerina) and Madame Gigi replaces Phoebe as the lead swan.  Phoebe’s pretty ticked off and its not beneath her to do some plotting of her own to get her role back.  She deletes the video from the Internet (with Colosso’s help) and fakes a letter to Madame Gigi from Max, saying the video was staged.

Max shows up at the performance, seeking to create another epic fail video. He’s got Gideon in the audience (played with delight by Kenny Ridwan) trying to capture the epic fail on film.  Max’s attempts to disrupt fail miserably.  Max resorts to locking Phoebe in the janitors closet and taking over the role of the Black Swan.  Phoebe of course escapes and turns the table on Max, turning his already woeful performance into its own epic fail video.

Meanwhile, Nora and Billy disobey Barb’s warning to not go into the yard with poison ivy; Hank does a sad job of watching them and you guessed it, all three of them end up with poison ivy.  Their solution is to get some Brazilian leaves (why not just use aloe) to stop the itching.  However, they discover at the ballet performance that these leaves come with leeches as well.  The B story here isn’t one of the best – it only takes up about 3 scenes and, for some reason, Barb never notices them itching (she always seems to be out doing errands).

Overall, a good dose of sitcom insanity make for an above average episode.

From Wikipedia: The series follows cheerleader Bella whose life in Texas takes an unexpected twist when she becomes the new quarterback for her school team, the Bulldogs. At first, the rest of the team didn’t want her as quarter back, but they eventually accept her.

One thing Nick specializes in is the “fish out of water/odd group of friends” tween series and they have another one right here for us.  I watched the episode “That’s Some Gossip, Girl.”  Get it?

The series is exec produced by Jeff Bushell and written by Gabriel Garza and Jonathan Butler, who are alums of the Nick Diversity Fellowship Program.  Yay to new writers and yay to diversity.

Series need room to grow, and in the same way I gave Henry Danger time to grow, I’m willing to give B&B time to grow.  Brec Bassinger is engaging as Bella and the rest of the cast seem pretty natural as middle-school students.  Handleson is a veteran of the not-so-successful Wendell and Vinnie.  Stewart starred on Are We There Yet?  The three cheerleaders seem new to sitcom-land.

I’ll give the show credit for presenting a middle school football team as a mostly scrawny bunch of goof-ups.  In the Gossip, Girl episode, the team is frazzled by “secrets” being leaked to news reporter Ace McFumbles (Rio Mangini from Kickin’ It).  Everyone suspects everyone else as the leak, and everyone accuses everyone else as being the leak.  While the leaks aren’t overly damning, for middle school students they would be.  In the end – SPOILER ALERT – Ace has been overhearing stuff from the locker room through the combined vent.  While the team suspects Bella is the leak, in the end, her vindication brings her closer to the team.

 

Air Date: January 24, 2015

A story: In order to attend a unsupervised party at the popular Winnie Lee’s house, Max and Phoebe turn Hank and Barb into teenager versions of themselves.

B story: Billy and Nora spend the night at Cousin Blobbin’s, who is trying to adopt a dog.

I’m a big fan of the Thundermans (science rules!), but this episode was just plain odd.  Max and Phoebe want to attend a party at the popular Winnie Lee’s house, but when Hank and Barb find out that there will be no parents at the party, they refuse to let the Thundertwins attend.  Apparently, Winnie Lee’s parties are the social events of the year.

Max and Phoebe reconfigure the BrainMelt 2000 and, after aiming it at Hank and Barb, the parents are reverted back to their teenage years.  Max and Phoebe escape to the party but are surprised that the party has been moved back to their house (question: how did Hank and Barb know Winnie’s phone #?)  Of course, teen Hank and teen Barb become uber-popular at the party, much to the chagrin of Max and Phoebe.  It was nice to see Cherry and Oyster make an appearance (who knew Cherry was popular!) but since it was a party for the popular people, no appearances by Evan, Sarah or Tyler.  Max and Phoebe bring things back to normal when they recreate the “electric moment” when Hank and Barb first kissed.

In the B story, Nora and Billy visit Cousin Blobbin for the night while he tries to adopt a dog.  There’s some mumbo-jumbo about eating spazzberries and an environment not appropriate for a dog.  Don’t you usually just head down to the pound and adopt a dog?

I’ll give the episode props for giving us more backstory on Hank and Barb.

Show Description:

The series follows K.C. Cooper, a high school math genius who gets recruited by her parents after she discovers that they are actually undercover spies. Each episode centers on the family as they contend with everyday familial issues – while also performing missions to save the country. (Source: wikipedia.org).

First, its nice to see Zendaya (formerly of Shake it Up) in a new role and in a new show.  And its nice to see Kadeem Hardison back on a TV series well.  Zendaya is engaging, funny, talented but I think she has the chops to do so much more.

The premise of the show is that K.C. becomes an undercover agent/spy after her parents (surprise, they aren’t just accountants, they are spies as well!) ask her to stop the jamming of cell phone transmissions at the school dance.

K.C., being a brainiac, math whiz and black belt in karate, would end up nowhere near a school dance.  After all, she gets tongue-tied talking to boys.  Fortunately, she has the standard-issue best friend/”wacky neighbor” in Marissa, who apparently gets in trouble a lot.  Throughout most of the show, K.C.’s brother Ernie is clueless (or left out) of the underlying spy story.  His parents don’t remember his birthday, his cell phone number or even picking him up from school.  This seems to me to be a stretch.

I’ll give the pilot credit for setting the stage for what is to come.  We find out how K.C. became a spy in the first place.  The acting is fine, the writing is ok, the sets look good.  Props for some really good stuntwork, something I’ve never seen on a Disney Channel Comedy before. I’m willing to see where this goes in the future, although I’m not sure it will be appointment TV for me.

Line of the episode: “I saw it on a celebrity dance show.” (K.C.; yes Zendaya was on Dancing with the Stars)