After a brief break from reviewing, I’m back.

During the time away, we said goodbye to Austin & Ally, Jesse and I Didn’t Do It.  We’re still saddled with Bunk’d but hopefully the new year will bring new shows!

Stress and competition take their toll on each friend’s quest to take home the winning prize at the Pootatuck science fair.

There’s witty and then there’s super witty.  100 Things continues to be super witty.This would make a great companion piece to Ned’s Declassified.

It’s science fair time!  Fenwick is determined to win again – and triumph over Mindy Minus.  Crispo seems challenged to find a science fair project.  CJ’s challenge is that her older brother Ronbie has won almost every academic and science fair award in Pootatuck.  They are tough shoes to fill.  Even worse, the entire phalanx of Ronbie’s awards are in fully view of CJ’s bedroom.  All CJ has to show – her lonely stuffed animal.

Each of our fearless middle schoolers goes on his or her own journey to find success in the science fair.  Fenwick engages in a war of one upmanship with Mindy.  Watching the two of them blast each other’s robots with potatoes is a hoot – as is Fenwick’s responses to Mindy’s team of programmers.

Crispo’s science fair ideas are lame.  He hops on his feet – and believes that as long as he has goggles and clipboard, he’s ok.  His final project: himself.  Seeing him sitting in front of the trifold board as his own project was priceless.

CJ’s fresh out of ideas until Ronbie suggests that her list is actually her project.  It’s probably one of the best experiments you could do – testing the challenge of middle school.

The science fair is filled with projects galore – until Fenwick’s robot blasts potatoes all over the place, leaving only Crispo’s project standing.  He’s declared the winner.  No trophy or ribbon for CJ.

In one of the sweetest scenes in the series, Ronbie takes all of his trophies and renames them all as “Best Sister” or some title such as that.  The dynamic between Ronbie and CJ is true brother/sister and Ehrich and Moner make that dynamic happen.

I love the writing on 100 Things and Fellows has managed, once again, to bring together a troop of actors who take what some might suggest are bizarre stories and make them believable.  That’s not easy at all!  Bravo!

When Logan and Delia attend a New York Science Presentation they run into Trish and Dez and a crazy fortuneteller, at the city’s biggest Halloween party. Meanwhile, Garrett takes Betty’s nephew, Kevin, trick-or-treating.

Now that Monstober is here on the Disney Channel, its time for the time honored tradition of cast cross-pollination.  I’m not a big fan of them, mainly because they don’t drive story, they just promote other Disney Channel shows.

Here, we get Trish and Dez from Austin & Ally at the Central Park Spooktacular running into Logan and Delia, who are in NYC to present a paper at a prestigious science convention.  Logan’s dressed as Einstein (a nice play on his stupidity) and Delia’s dressed as Marie Antoinette (her Marie Curie costume was ruined).  I’d argue that these two characters have some of the wittiest lines on the show.  The two switch costumes after some low-rent psychic tells him “something bad will happen.”  Delia ends up winning the raffle (the winning ticket was in the Einstein costume) and Logan ends up as the Bride of Frankenstein.

In another story arc, Lindy and Jasmine are approached by a blood donor seeker named Vlad from ….sylvania about donating blood.  Lindy plays a trick on Jasmine that she has been turned into a vampire.  Zzzzzz.

Plus the isolation of Garrett continues into Betty and Kevin land.  Garrett takes Kevin trick or treating.  They aren’t too successful. But when they hit the jackpot at one woman’s house, they keep switching costumes (where do they get all these costumes) to keep getting tons of candy.   My favorite costume: Garrett’s “I’ve run out of ideas” boy.  In the end, Betty has them donate all the candy to the local “children’s hospital.”

One might call IDDI “I’ve run out of ideas.”  The whole I didn’t do it concept has disappeared and every episode is three stories in one.  The stories don’t particularly overlap.  But the writing on IDDI is super witty.  That’s just enough to keep me watching.

Max and Phoebe start a fight between Billy and Nora so they can avoid riding a scary roller coaster, but their scheme backfires when the feud escalates.

Some of the best Thundermans episodes are ones that involve the whole family.  Recently, Max and Phoebe have been isolated from Hank and Barb.  Its good to see the whole family back together.

Max and Phoebe are terrified of return to ride Thunderman: The Ride.  Naturally, Billy and Nora (who has now reach the minimum ride height) are excited to finally having the chance to ride it. In the car ride to the amusement park, Max and Phoebe start a fight between Billy and Nora (that’s pretty cruel in my book) and, of course,  the trip is off.  Hank utters one of the classic parenting lines – “If you kids don’t stop fighting, I’m going to turn this car around.”  And that he does.

When they return home, the fighting between Billy and Nora escalates to a point where they aren’t speaking.  Nora argues that she has to do everything for Billy, while Billy counters that he has to wait around for Nora to get bigger to do stuff.  We need this conflict to move the story along but Max and Phoebe don’t seem to be overly upset by the growing dispute.  They do put on a play to convince Billy and Nora to make up but that doesn’t work either. In the end, Max and Phoebe cave and bring Billy and Nora back to the amusement park, using Chloe’s teleportation technique.  Max and Phoebe fess up – and Billy and Nora trick Max and Phoebe onto the ride.  Lesson learned!

In the B story, Dr Colosso spends about $2000 of Hank’s $ to play some form of Candy Crush.  Colosso decides to raise money by selling Collos-O’s cereal (he must have a pretty savvy marketing plan because sales go through the roof).  Don’t the raisins!  Colosso’s sales are recognized by the Cereal Bureau of the IRS and Colosso’s business is shut down.  While Colosso’s commercials are hysterical, this is a pretty weak B story.

The Thundermans seems to be getting back on track.  The beats in the story work well, and the conflict is slowly amped enough to make it believable.  Max and Phoebe’s comeuppance at the end was visible from miles away but that’s to be expected.

Two extra points for an episode title that pays tribute to that classic Nick show “Are You Afraid of the Dark?

 

CJ and the boys decide to expand their group, but making new friends throws each of them into unexpected situations.

Ahh there’s nothing like a Scott Fellows series.  The TV Guide listing doesn’t begin to describe whats happening in this show, one filled with cultural references and inside jokes.

Like most tween/teen shows, the focus is on a small group of friends who seem to exist in a bubble with regard to the rest of the school.  Here, CJ, Crispo and Fenwick decide to expand their circle of friends.  That leads to three separate stories that really focus on understanding who we are and understanding how first impressions with others can often be wrong.

CJ reaches out to new student Zelphaba, whose unique behavior suggests that she is a witch.  CJ inadvertantly spreads a rumor about her being a witch, leading to Zelphaba being home schooled.  In the end, Zelphaba explains to CJ that her parents are magicians and jokesters, which explains all the witch-like things CJ witnessed.  CJ and Zelphaba make up and Zelphaba agrees to return to Pootatuck (which, apparently, does not require parental approval).  Everyone’s happy.

Fenwick starts a battle over getting the center square of pizza (this type of detail is a Fellows speciality) and ends up bonding with the Russian Lunch Lady about taking her drivers test.  Again, Fenwick’s first impression of the lunch lady is wrong.  But after she passes the written test, Fenwick learns the woman can’t drive at all. His reaction is very Cookie from Neds DeClassified-esque.

In our third story, Crispo is seeking a new friend (he has a bunch of volunteers) when Paul Schmolitor the Hall Monitor awards him with a sash to help him caught Lightning Luciano.  They first attempt to catch Lighting on scooters, which, Lightning points out, move slower than he does.  Crispo and Paul manipulate the hallway safety budget to get a golf cart to roam the halls.  Props to the show for using the theme to CHiPs as background music during the chases.  Thats the kind of human and cultural references I like in a show.  In the end, Crispo thinks he and Paul are best buds but, no sash, no friend.

I laughed many times during the show but that’s because the show meets my type of humor.  Its creative enough to make it interesting and our leads our middle school student enough to make it more than watchable.

Cyd and Shelby discover a major clue to the future lab memory and it is somehow tied to Barry’s science mentor Janet Smythe, who also employs Shelby’s dad.

I’m always nervous when the Disney Channel advertises a regular episode as a “special event,” mainly because they are rarely special events.

Fortunately, with this episode of BFW, we get some movement in story that does not involve the girls going back in time to correct something egregious error or gaining insight into a certain situation.

Here we get a little play on Apple’s new product announcements.  Its good to have comedienne Nora Dunn back on screen as Janet Smythe (a BFW version of Steve Jobs).  Her new product announcements are pretty much full of nothing (which makes it even funnier).  Smythe is Barry’s idol and he dreams of pitching his app (that gives you background audience responses) to her.  Barry needs a better App.

Cyd and Shelby soon realize that the logo in their future dream is the same logo that appears on much of Barry’s gear and that logo is for GloboDigiDyne, coincidentally the same company Shelby’s dad works for!  And that’s the same company Janet Smythe runs!  Surprise!  Surprise!

Cyd and Shelby follow Shelby’s dad to work.  Shelby’s dad is gunning for a promotion but because he is not innovative, energetic and passionate, the promotion passes him by.  Cyd and Shelby go back in time for give him a pep talk the morning of the possible promotion.  It works and Shelby’s dad is promoted to working on … the Pelican Ballroom project … which just happens to be the same space where Cyd and Shelby end up in their future dreams.   Its interesting that Cyd and Shelby change the future to one that affects them, I found it a little too coincidental how the story played out.

Barry pitching his App to Smythe was a hoot and Naldo’s best friend schtick plays well here as it always does.

 

Lindy becomes smitten with Dr Gabriel, a young veterinarian and gets upset when Logan starts hanging out with him. Meanwhile, Garrett gets a job offer at a fast food place and Jasmine seeks to become Pep Club President.

This is a somewhat tired storyline for a DCom or NickCom: brother and sister are interested in the same person – either as a date or as a friend.  Here, Lindy and Logan compete for the affections of Dr. Scott Gabriel, a hugely famous teen veterinarian (who appeared on the cover of Modern Dog magazine).

A few hats off here tho:  Bradley Steven Perry (from Mighty Meds and Good Luck, Charlie) plays Dr. Gabriel (Perry played Gabe on GLC).  Patricia Belcher (Mrs. Dabney from GLC and Gabe’s nemesis) appears as Candy, the vet tech.  But why not name her Mrs. Dabney!

There’s not enough build up between the Lindy-Logan-Gabe dynamic to make it interesting.  Lindy has a date with Dr Gabriel (off screen) and Logan has been hanging with him (off screen).  When Logan and Lindy plan a “date” with Dr G for the same night, the twin tension that the two often experience comes into play.  In the end, Dr G dumps both of them as they “both act young than he does.” This Lindy-Logan bickering can get tiring and there are only so many situations where the writers can go with this.

In B-ish storyland, Jasmine is trying to be promoted to Pep Club President (best lines of the episode: Amanda ran out of pep halfway through the year and I’m a pep pacer).  Danielle Bisutti plays faux-Texan cheerhead Mrs. Clegg (remember her from True Jackson).  For the greatest inside joke, I would have gone with Jami Gertz, who played uber-peppy Muffy Tepperman on Square Pegs.  Jasmine and Delia discover that Mrs. Clegg is actually Mary Ann Narducci from Secaucus NJ and every possible NJ stereotype follows: the Jersey shore, Bon Jovi.  They missed a joke on the NJ Turnpike.

Finally, Garrett seems to be exiled from the group again.  He quits Rumble Juice when he receives an offer from JR Stuff N Stuff.  That involves walking around the mall as a Tac-Dog.  Initially unforgiving Betty visits Garrett at the mall and offers him his job back as Betty notes “you’re not an employee, you’re family.”  There’s a nice relationship here between Betty and Garrett but I worry about Garrett being silo’d from our gang of five.

IDDI nicely weaves three storylines into one episode but there appears to be no overt overlap between the storylines.  We need this interwovenness to take place to keep our main characters interacting.

When Riley comes to the realization that her parents, Cory and Topanga, are making a positive impact in the world, she questions the impact she’s making to the world.

GMW continues to explore its characters in a way not normally seen on a DCom or NickCom.  Last week, the show explored Farkle’s uniqueness.  This week, the focus is on “what do you consider impossible?” or “what is your horizon?”  For Farkle, it is being an athlete; for Maya, it is living up to the perfection of her parents.  In general, all of our characters wonder about the mark they have made on the world.

First, the scene between Lucas and Farkle in the gym is classic.  Farkle lives by numbers and theories, Lucas does not.  Farkle demonstrates to Lucas that the impossible shot can be achieved by some physics.  Farkle’s cry for “New Sport!” is a gem.  Peyton Meyer’s Lucas continues to evolve as a character and the dynamic between Farkle and Lucas is a sweet one.

For Riley, her parents are the ultimate perfection.  She visits a convent to become a nun (Sr. Blinky!) and, surprise, surprise, Topanga has helped save the orphanage from Super Cluck.  When she visits the circus with the dream of becoming a circus clown, Cory is there successfully teaching the clowns.  Its a perfection that Riley believes she can never attain.  Watch for Maya recognizing how clueless RIley is in regard to the clown flower and clown handkerchief.

The highlight of this episode is the insertion of Riley and Maya into two original Boy Meets World scenes.  It was bound to happen sometime and, in this episode, seems wholely appropriate.  The two scenes: Cory teaching Topanga to play basketball and Topanga doing a performance art poem on the environment help cement in RIley’s mind that she is the product of the best of both of her parents.  Its a universal issue we all deal with and its a universal truth: how do we measure up to our parents.

The acting and storylines in GMW continue to impress.

From the world of Dan Schneider:

The series revolves around two girls named Babe (Cree Cicchino) and Kenzie (Madisyn Shipman) who start a multi-million-dollar gaming company and take on rap superstar Double G (Kel Mitchell) as their business partner. (Source: Wikipedia)

Dan Schneider has an awesome pedigree: All That, Kenan and Kel, Drake & Josh, Victorious and my personal favorite, iCarly.  They are all iconic Nick shows, and iconic shows in general.  Schneider understands the pre-teen and teen mind and weaves reasonably believable story lines that often feature winks at the adult audience.  Big fan here for sure.  Schneider has also been very savvy in incorporating emerging media into his shows.

Sadly, though, I don’t think Game Shakers lives us to our expectations.  I applaud any show that shows both teen/tween empowerment as well as girl power.  Here we have two girls who develop their own App/game Sky Whale for their science class (which features the weirdest name textbook – Life Sciences & Technology).  Soon enough the game is the #1 game in the country (or the world) but our fearless duo have forgotten to get permission to use Double G’s song “Drop That What” (which is actually a pretty catchy song).  As such, it is soon determined that Babe and Kenzie owe Double G $1.2 million.  I’m not sure why Double G’s lawyer didn’t send a cease and desist order.

Of course, Babe and Kenzie have spent all of their money on their new Game Shakers building/company in Brooklyn so when Double G shows up asking for his money, they have none.  Can we see the partnership angle coming about a mile away?  The girls offer Double G’s son Trip (Benjamin Flores Jr from Haunted Hathaways) a job so he can stay in NYC.  Also working at Game Shakers is the girls’ friend Hudson, who fills the role of the “clueless friend.”  Hudson also nervously giggles at everything.  I’d pay someone a million dollars to have a show without the clueless friend as a character.

Overall, the acting is the standard-issue teen acting mode – overact, yell your lines, etc. We again get the Felix/Oscar oddball combination of best friends. But its good to see Kel Mitchell back on TV (he had a guest shot in The Thundermans last season).  His posse seems rather stereotypical but the man can sing and act.  We’ve seen Kardeem Hardison come back so why not Kel?  Schneider best get Kenan for a guest appearance!

Some nitpicks:

• Did we need Glozell as a guest star?
• No restaurant in NYC would survive over a subway tunnel nor do any restaurants I’ve been in shake like that when a subway train goes by … many, many feet below ground.
•  Amazing they could get that business up and running in such a short period of time.

Some pluses:

• I like attention to detail.  The signs in the subway car were legit MTA subway signs.
• Finally, a TV show classroom with a smartboard!
• And they got the physics correct. The equation for kinetic energy on the classroom wall correct – and in the correct form as Ek – not KE.  As a science teacher, that makes me happy!
• Great sets filled with odd furniture and stuff.

I’m going to give Game Shakers time to grow but right now, there’s nothing earth shaking about Game Shakers.

 

Farkle is trying to find out who he is and where he belongs, along with the help of his friends. (from imdb.com)

First, props to GMW for bringing back Kristanna Loken, who played Jennifer Bassett on the original BMW.  This continuity anchors our stories to the past but also propels GMW forward.

Second, kudos for giving Cory and Topanga adult friends that aren’t Shawn or Maya’s mother.

 

While I love GMW, I often worry that it will veer into the ABC AfterSchool Special/DeGrassi issue of the week territory.  This episode comes dangerously close.  There are way too many “Don’t live under a label”/”Just be yourself”/”Let your actions define you” moments for my liking.

The episode does focus on “who we are” and “who we will be” and does so through the lens of Farkle’s testing.  They keep it true to school form in that Ms. Oben tells Farkle that his parents gave her permission to tell him the test results.

If you’ve been watching long enough, Farkle’s “diagnosis” of Asperger’s Syndrome should not surprise anyone.  His focus on “Belgium 1831!” is a good enough tip off.  But it should also come as no surprise that Smackle has Asperger’s as well.  Her unwillingness to hug is a pretty good clue as well. Her quest to find someone like her to help her better understand herself, to help her better understand love, and to help her better understand the world, thoughtfully drives the story.

Farkle uttered one of the best lines Ive ever heard on a teen comedy: “Please don’t let me not understand love.”  I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, Corey Fogelmanis is just all sorts of awesome in this role. I actually find him more compelling than Maya, Riley and Lucas.

I applaud the show for not “diagnosing” Farkle with Asperger’s but for letting him state: “So, what am I?  I am Farkle.”  That’s all we need to know.

I was surprised that Farkle’s small circle of friends so quickly accepted his diagnosis without being scared or even questioning it.  They did some research, understood it and accepted it.  But the foundation for this was nicely laid when Stuart tells the assembled group that Farkle wanted his friends to be part of the journey.  Farkle could have quickly turned inward and kept them out of the loop; its clear to me that Farkle values and treasures his friendships.

When they hand out the Emmy next week for best Children’s Program, if the Emmy voters are smart, they’d recognize Girl Meets World.