Tag Archives: ABC Family

April 29, 2008 · 6:43 pm

Greek – “Move on.Cartwrights”

“Move on.Cartwrights”

April 28th, 2008

As Carrie over at Zap2it noted, there was probably nowhere to go but down: after an episode that had me psychoanalyzing characters on an ABC Family series as if it was on HBO, chances are that the next episode of Greek wouldn’t be able to live up to such a high standard. In this situation, a show has two choices: either over-emphasize your dramatic tension or allow for comedy to take over to lighten the load.

Not one to choose sides, Greek decided to have thier cake and eat it too: Casey and Evan provide the dramatic pathos (Admittedly not my favourite storyline for the series right now), and Rusty’s romantic exploitation (Not exploits, exploitation) couples with Dale in order to provide the comedy. Sprinkle with a storyline to justify the existence of Rebecca Logan, and you’ve got an episode that moves on from its hideously awkward episode title to become a moderately successful forty minutes.

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Greek – “Freshman Daze”

“Freshman Daze”

April 21st, 2008

Ah, good ol’ flashbacks – where people have awful facial hair and magically have conversations with an alarming amount of prescience on the present. It’s also a world where Grey’s Anatomy was more successful than it actually was (The series debuted to decent but not amazing results in early 2005, while in September (Where the flashbacks are found) it was merely a decent success – here it was treated as the phenomenon it now is), but that’s really not the point of the episode – just a little quibble.

It was an episode of humorous hairstyles (Beaver’s blonde locks), awkward foreshadowing, and ultimately an opportunity for the series to rewrite one of its characters in a light that seems too precocious for its own good at times. Was Casey ever actually so on-the-nose with her commentary that I want to throw things at her? And was Cappie really ever this sensitive and observational of Evan’s struggles before quickly developing into a sarcastic slacker?

Well, I buy one of these, and guess what: it’s not Casey.

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Tagged as ABC Family, Cappie, Television

April 15, 2008 · 1:59 am

Greek – “War & Peace”

“War & Peace”

April 14th, 2008

If there’s anything we know about ABC Family’s Greek, it’s that it rarely becomes heavy-handed. In some cases, such as Cappie’s charming Southern-general act, this is an ideal development that heightens my enjoyment of the series. In other cases, however, there are moments where you wonder whether the light-hearted solution to, say, Casey’s affair with a 16-year old doesn’t cheapen the whole thing.

Her young beau didn’t get a mention this time around, and in many ways the episode cleared the air of a lot of broad conflicts in favour of emphasizing smaller ones. The rivalry between our two central fraternities and the struggle between the ZBZ leadership and their National-appointed nuisance Lizzie both disappear in this episode, at least temporarily, which means we’re left with the broader interpersonal questions.

I think that this is perhaps the show’s most difficult balance to strike, defining interpersonal relationships in a world where broad stereotypes define most social interaction. I don’t quite know if it has the balance, considering it had to dump a fair few of its supporting players to make it work, but I definitely don’t think it was a failed exercise.

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Late to the (Frat) Party: ABC Family’s ‘Greek’

Let’s chalk it up to a tad bit of nostalgia and a healthy dose of reflection.

I wasn’t exactly desperate for a new show – I had gone most of the strike-forced hiatuses for my favourite shows without getting hooked on much new material, so surely I could last a weekend. However, perhaps it was the return of The Office and 30 Rock that sparked it; they were a high from which I would surely crash during the normal Friday Night doldrums, and I gave in to temptation.

However, the choice of temptation was all of the above – as I prepare to complete my undergraduate university education, it’s a time to reflect back on the university experience. And, coincidentally, I sat down and watched Greek, ABC Family’s college dramedy sat in the Greek system. And, well, I really enjoyed it.