The premise: Henry Hart (Jace Norman) is a 13-year-old boy who lives in the town of Swellview. He lands a part-time job as Kid Danger, a sidekick to the superhero Captain Man (Cooper Barnes). Captain Man told Henry not tell anybody about his job, so he has to keep it a secret from his best friends Charlotte (Riele Downs) and Jasper (Sean Ryan Fox), his parents, and his younger sister Piper (Ella Anderson). A shop called “Junk’n’Stuff” has a secret lair hidden underneath where Captain Man does his work. Captain Man says he won’t be around for long and he needs help and soon enough, he will need someone to take his place when he’s gone (meaning Henry will take over one day) and he needs help from Henry. (Source: Wikipedia)

Like the Thundermans, Henry Danger has a certain earnest goofiness to it that would make it attractive to young adults (after all, who wouldn’t want to work with a superhero).  But the superhero/superpowers theme has been done to death in tween-land, so I’m not sure one more show is needed.

Norman, who played “Flunky” on The Thundermans, is endearing enough.  His responses to most situations is either the “deer in the headlights” look or screaming.  Like all superheroes, no one ever seems to ask where he goes or where he was, and a suspension of belief is required to understand how he manages to make it all over Swellview so quickly.

Barnes is standard-issue goofy as Captain Man. That goofiness gets in the way, though, of his superhero status.  He’s the “accidental superhero.”  His main – and only – superhero ability is that he is indestructable. It’s not readily apparent if Captain Man cares for Henry or not, but they do have a growing older brother-younger brother dynamic.  This relationship I’d like to see fleshed out more.

The supporting cast is generic.  Standard issue parents, two best friends (Jasper, from the “I’m sorta dumb” category and Charlotte from the “I’m sassy” category; she seems modeled after Zuri Ross on Jessie) and one heck of an annoying sister, Piper, who mainly seems to scream and yell. (Please, send her off into space or something!)  As friends, the trio makes a good team but again, there is nothing particularly unique about their dynamic either.

Pet Peeve Alert: Once again, teachers are played for fools (Come on, Schneider, Sipowitz on Victorious was awesome).  The teacher, Miss Shapen, has a hunch back and/or hump.  This is in bad taste.

Henry Danger is also lacking that hidden undercurrent of “this will be cool for parents” which is often found on Schneider’s shows, shows I’m a big fan of.

I’m willing to invest more time into Henry Danger.

Anyone who grew up in the 90’s was assumably a fan of ABC’s Boy Meets World.  Every teenage boy had a crush on Topanga – even though we didn’t know anyone named Topanga nor could we figure out how she ever got that name.

As such, fans were excited last year when Disney announced the reboot of BMW as Girl Meets World (its already been renewed for a second season.)  Now Cory and Topanga – still married – live in New York City, where they are raising their daughter RIley and son Auggie (really, Auggie?)  Riley attends middle school and, like her father Cory, is trying to find her way in the world as well.  Riley, naturally, has the kookie best friend, Maya (she’s the female version of Shawn from BMW) and the two of them together explore the challenging world of middle school.

John Quincy Adams Middle School is your standard issue middle school – chalkboard, desks in rows, unnamed students in class, rows of lockers.  The show seems a little skimpy on the sets – the Matthews apartment, the classroom, the hallway and the cafeteria.  I’ll give them credit for getting the NYC subway set on target (they even had Metrocards!)  The pilot episode also featured a poster of Mr. Feeney (!) promoting education.

Riley and Maya are friends with Farkle (Mincus, Mincus’ son) who, as a character, is your standard-issue weird kid who crushes on both Riley and Maya and who is afforded “Farkle time” in class.  I appreciate out of the box thinkers but Farkle clearly is in need of an evaluation.

The “Topanga” role for Riley is filled by Lucas, a transfer student from Texas who, in stereotypical fashion, wears cowboy boots and a cowboy hat.  He talks with a southern drawl, but as a character, he brings zero energy to the show.  Perhaps we havent seen enough of his qualities be fleshed out to make him interesting. There are also times when Riley, Maya and Farkle are in Cory’s class, but Lucas is non-existent.  Hopefully the writers will develop his character more.

There have only been a handful of episodes – and I really wanted to like this show – but right now, its not must see TV for me.

“a Disney Channel Original Series that premiered on Disney Channel. The series stars Olivia Holt, Austin North, Piper Curda, Peyton Clark, and Sarah Gilman.”

 

 

It’s a Laugh productions has a long pedigree of Disney Channel shows: The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, Hannah Montana, Austin & Ally.  (It helps that Its a Laugh is owned by Disney Channel).  Each show follows the same basic formula – a group of kids in a unique situation that get involved in unique situations that no other teenager would ever encounter.  Parents are often relegated to the fringes and only come in when there is some parental admonishment is needed (Note: Dog with a Blog and Good Luck Charlie do not follow this formula).

IDDI follows the story of 5 high school friends who attend Ditka High School and hang out at Rumble Juice.  The two main characters, Lindy and Logan, are twins.  Lindy is an overachiever; this often gets her into trouble.  Logan is an underachiever who often skates out of trouble.  Their close buds (and they never seem to have other friends): Garrett, a germ freak; Jasmine, a budding criminologist and Delia, who is just plain weird.  Her “Penelope Harkness” routine is a hoot.

I have to admit it – this show makes me laugh.  The scenarios are often more rooted in reality than other Disney Channel shows – working at a local museum, winning a smoothie contest, doing without your phone for three days.  The characters themselves are believable. But I really like the writing on this show.  It’s not Frasier, but its funny.  The kids talk like teenagers and their lines do not seem forced.  Moreover, the teens gel as a group.  You’d believe that in real life they’d be friends.

So: I Didn’t Do It … two thumbs up!

Take one part standard sitcom family, add in “fish out of water” and a little of goofy teen comedy and you have the new Nickelodeon show The Thundermans.

The Thundermans is “an American superhero live-action comedy television series that began airing on Nickelodeon, on October 14, 2013. The series is created by Jed Spingarn. The show revolves around a suburban family with superpowers and specifically 14-year-old twins therein, one a superhero and one a supervillain. It stars Chris Tallman, Rosa Blasi, Jack Griffo, Kira Kosarin, Addison Riecke, and Diego Velazquez.”

I was prepared to dislike the show – considering Nick’s recent onslaught of poor programming, including Wendell & Vinnie and Marvin, Marvin.  But by the fourth episode, “Report Card,” I was hooked.  I actually laughed out loud at many parts of the episode. Is it Seinfeld?  No.  But this episode had a certainly quirkiness and goofiness I loved.  Any show that has a math mascot named “Arithmo-tic” and lines like “Math Bowl?  Is that where you flush away any chance of having a social life?” is ok with me.

The show focuses on twins Max and Phoebe Thunderman.  Played with erstwhile enthusiasm by Jack Griffo and Kira Kosarin, the duo is quite believable as brother and sister.  While there’s a certain brother and sister animosity between the two, there’s also a certain amount of respect between them as well.  They may be competitive, but they care about each other as well.  Phoebe desparately wants to fit as a normal teen at Hiddenville High (“clubs and friends make school her lair”) while Max seems both bemused and bothered by people around him.  Phoebe’s career track takes her to Hero U while Max’s is to Villian U.  However, Phoebe wants a little bit of that villiany, while Max doesn’t mind playing the hero.  Griffo and Kosarin are both funny, play off each other well and have great chemistry.  They are quite believable as brother and sister.  More importantly, they clearly have not graduated from the Nick/Disney school of overacting.

The superhero slant to the show could have become overbearing.  Max and Phoebe’s use of super powers during the Math Bowl makes sense in terms of their competitive spirit.  Super powers are used to outwit the others and, in general, to advance the story.  I’m not sure, though, that Billy zipping around the kitchen after becoming his dad’s sidekick is an effective use of superheroness.

I’ll give some kudos to the opening credits as well.  The music track is spirited and engaging.  As with theme songs of yore, the lyrics nicely outline the show’s story arc.

Needs improvement: Please, no more stereotypes of smart kids as nerds.

Line of the episode: Because my report card spells “AAAAA” while yours spells “AAAA-B.”

Best scene: The final scene.  It’s totally wacky.

Check out the episode Report Card.