ABC Family Shows Update

10 Things I Hate About You has actually turned out to be a pretty good show. I thought it would be at the Disney Channel level, like Hannah Montana, but it has surpassed my expectations. Last week's episode, Bianca was trying desperately to get on Chastity's good side again. She appointed herself the chairperson for the cheer leading fundraiser for new pom poms, much to Kat's dismay. After some inspiration from Cameron, Bianca decided to do a carnation sale that even had Kat wondering if she would get a flower from a certain brooding bad boy.

Unfortunately, Kat didn't get the flower she (not so secretly) wanted from Patrick, but she did get one from the creepy guy who hangs out in the girl's bathroom. I don't really get that character, and I hope they either make him part of Kat's group of misfits or never feature him again. Right now he just seems out of place. I also wasn't thrilled that they made light out of the fact that some girl punched him in the eye. Violence really shouldn't be funny, especially in a show aimed at a younger age group.

It was fun to watch Cameron pine for Bianca as usual. I like how he becomes such an ally for her, like when he points out that her flowers were withheld from her (she thinks she is a complete failure for not receiving any carnations from a sale she started). I wish she had stood up to Chastity in the end, but I guess that wouldn't go with her character. She would basically do anything to be popular, including throwing the vice-captain of the squad under the bus at the last minute. Ah, morals for the next generation.

I was very happy to see more of the dad in this week's episode. I love his extreme testing process for the sisters if they are out past curfew or get into other kinds of trouble. This episode focused on how Bianca is always viewed as the troublemaker while Kat always seems to get a free pass since her dad considers her to be his reliable little "cactus." Kat surprises her dad, though, when she sneaks out to a concert Patrick tells her about and gets a fake ID.

Bianca had dragged Cameron along to a secret party, but they never ended up finding the exact location, so Kat had to leave the concert to pick them up. When Bianca found out Kat had broken the rules, too, they agreed to keep quiet about each other's shenanigans. Kat doesn't get busted for lying about the concert, but she decides she can't take it anymore when her dad insists that she never does anything wrong and that Bianca is the only one who takes risks. This confession has the dad drug testing both daughters, but they bond a bit in the end.

It wasn't a very important episode by any means, but I think it is good they throw in that sisterly bond every once in awhile. It keeps the characters connected better, so that you don't just feel like you are following individual story lines all the time. I hope to see more of the crazy dad in the future. I love how he has a breathalyzer on hand for when they come in at night.

When I caught Make It or Break It this week, I felt myself getting very tired of the show. In the first ten minutes, I was already annoyed with the characters and kind of wanted to turn it off. Luckily, I kept it on long enough for me to completely change my mind. I really enjoyed this episode. The premise was The Rock was in need of funding to send the girls to Nationals. The moms get together to come up with a fundraiser and decide to do a mother/daughter fashion show. Of course, drama ensues with each pairing. All the moms strike out with their daughters in the first half, but then seem to turn it around and teach the girls life lessons by the end.

First off, Emily gets more annoyed with her mom when she finds out she told her guy friend at work Emily has never been kissed. She is completely mortified, and gets even more upset at the fashion show when Lauren steals her dress (more about that later). She decides to leave and tells her mom that no one respects them or wants them at The Rock. Her mom then admits she knows the moms, especially Ronnie, look down on her, but she doesn't let them define who she is. She teaches Emily that you have to decide who you are and not let anyone get to you. When Emily agrees to stay and finish the show she asks her mom "How are we gonna rock business casual?" and her mom replies simply, "Well, we gotta ask ourselves. What would Carrie Bradshaw do?" I thought that was really cute. Emily ends up rocking a jacket dress on the runway that blows everyone away. It's pretty awesome.

I really felt for Kaylie in this episode. After learning Lauren had sex, she feels Lauren is surpassing her in everything. She has a new fire in her at the gym that Kaylie can't compete with, and Lauren seems to be holding the attention of Kaylie's boyfriend Carter, too. Kaylie decides to use the fashion show to get Carter to see her as hot before she decides to sleep with him in the same night. She tries to go to her mom (Ronnie) for advice about knowing when you're ready, but she doesn't seem to hear her daughter and blows the conversation off. When Ronnie hears what her daughter is planning to do with Carter (from Lauren of course), she interrupts Kaylie's night and has a quick but meaningful talk with her. She stresses that if it really is love, it will wait, but gymnastics won't. She tells Kaylie she should focus on her own goals and not get distracted by a guy who will be there for her after Nationals. This was one of the last scenes of the episode, and I even got a little emotional over it. I think it's so important for younger girls to hear messages like that on TV because there are always people sleeping with each other all over the place, and it's nice to point out NOT sleeping with people is an option. I'm glad the mom handled it the way she did and didn't just storm in on her daughter. The dialogue was written very well. I was impressed.

The best mother speech, though, has to go to Candace Cameron's character, Summer. She's not even Lauren's step mom yet, and she still is stepping up to that role anyway. When Summer notices Lauren's interactions with Carter and her complaining about not having sexy enough clothes to wear at the fashion show, she decides to confront her. Summer confesses that she used to be Lauren when she was in high school. She explains how she didn't really feel important unless guys were paying attention to her, and that she flirted and slept with many guys during that time in her life. She finally wizened up when she liked a guy that wouldn't date her because he thought she was a slut. That confrontation made Summer realize she had lost her self-respect, and it took her a long time to get it back. This little speech makes Lauren cry and you think that maybe she actually might change. WRONG. When Lauren sees Kaylie flirting with Carter, she steals Emily's short dress and looks like a stripper on the runway. It's so ridiculous and the usual cry for attention plot. It kind of ruins Summer's speech, but I'm still glad the speech was made. It was another message that I think could help a lot of girls in high school. But, like Lauren, I don't think they listen. Sigh.

Peyson's story was pretty basic. She didn't want to do the fashion show because it's girly, and she doesn't feel like she is a "pretty girl" like Kaylie. Sasha convinces her mom that she needs to explain to her daughter that being beautiful is not a sign of weakness. You can be both strong and pretty. Although this was a little lame, Peyson's relationship with her mom did remind me of my own mom. I HATE shopping normally, and she is always trying to make light of it and get me to have more fun.

I hope Make It or Break It follows up with more good episodes. I think I was about to drop this show, but I see now it has potential. I can at least appreciate it for its positive messages. People may think ABC Family isn't worth watching, but I'd much rather my future children watch this than the trash on MTV.

Make It or Break It: Sunday, Bloody Sasha, Sunday

This week's episode was rather predictable from the previews. I was almost right in my prediction that the four girls would be locked in a gym to battle out their differences after the party. I was only wrong about how they would battle it out. Unfortunately, they did not use their awesome gymnastics skills but instead, their words. How boring.

Somehow Sasha found out that the girls went to the outdoor party the night before. He calls all the girls into the gym on Sunday to confront them about their transgression, and then makes them do countless reps of hard gymnastic things to punish them. He sees that the girls have various problems with each other, so he takes a talk show host approach and has them all write down their issues with one another. To no surprise by the audience and complete surprise by the girls, he reads the issues aloud. This doesn't really change anything between the girls, and he makes them stay longer to clean all the mats in the gym.

This is when the healing begins. Emily finally confesses to having a job when she tells everyone she needs to get to her shift or she will be fired. Kaylie agrees to cover for her and gets Lauren and Payson to back her up, too. The girls aide Emily in her escape and then lie for her when Sasha comes in to check. Lucky for Emily, her mom covered her shift until she got there. Emily was really rude to her mom in my eyes. I would be grateful that my mom helped me not get fired, but of course, all she focuses on is her mom's gossiping with Razor's friend.

At the gym, Lauren tells Kaylie and Payson she is no longer a virgin, but avoids admitting that she slept with Carter the night before. Kaylie follows Lauren's confession with her own by coming clean about her relationship with Carter. The girls then realize how bitchy they've been and decide to be friends again and start a water fight. Really? That's getting too cheesy...even for ABC Family.

After covering for Emily, the girls try to make her feel more a part of the group when she gets back. I don't really like Emily too much as a character because I find her kind of boring. I guess I am more interested in Lauren because at least she's dynamic. She told Emily she owed her one when she covered for her, and I wondered why she said that. Then I was like, oh yeah, you almost killed her when you tampered with her vault! Ah, the token bitch of the show. You can't help but feel sorry for her now because she can't confide in anyone about Carter. She's putting on the tough front, but I can't figure out if she really likes Carter or is just fragile after what happened. Perhaps a combination of both?

Sasha asking Payson's mom to manage the gym was an interesting side plot in the episode. I didn't see that one coming, but it will be nice to see her get more integrated in the show. I'm kind of tired of the over-bearing dads (though its nice they point out it's not always the moms). I also wonder if Marty is going to show up anytime soon, or if he will only appear in a season finale shocker. Oh well. I guess we'll see.

Next week the girl's participate in a fashion show and it looks like the bonding session quickly wears off as the claws come out again. Of course, Lauren is the center of all this by apparently stealing Emily's dress and trying to reveal Kaylie and Carter's relationship again. Luck Payson doesn't have anything Lauren can ruin....or does she? Dun dun duuuuun.

Make It or Break It: Where's Marty? and Blowing Off Steam Episodes

Sorry I got behind on this show. I'm still trying to decide if I like it or not. The second episode, "Where's Marty?," I did enjoy because it did what I predicted: toned down the gymnastics and turned up the drama. Payson and Kaylie are still reeling from Marty's sudden departure as their coach, and decide to sneak away to confront him while the parents meet to discuss what to do about the coach-less gym. Emily ends up coming along so she can sort out her scholarship papers with Marty, and Payson's little sister, Becca is forced to come, too, so their cover isn't blown with the parents.


Payson's confrontation with Marty was done really well. She was introduced as the calm and focused character, so it is a little jarring to see her lose her cool. You also see how much Marty cares about her because he lies to her to make her angry enough to work hard for the championship. He also agrees to finalize Emily's scholarship so she doesn't have to leave. I figured they wouldn't reveal to the audience why Marty left until much later in the series, but to my surprise they gave it away at the end of the episode. He apparently had/is having an affair with Kaylie's mom, and he is trying to protect Kaylie from getting hurt by agreeing to leave with Lauren's dad. Emily's mom sees Marty with Kaylie's mom, but so far she hasn't told anyone else about it.


Lauren is still bitchy. I was surprised there wasn't a bigger confrontation between her and Kaylie, but I suppose Kaylie can't give away that she is really dating Carter. Kaylie's brother Leo gets more of an introduction in this episode as he begins to show an interest in Emily. They bond a little bit when Leo gives her a ride home, so it's pretty obvious there is gonna be a love triangle between Leo, Emily, and Razor (the pizza guy). Stay tuned.

This week's episode, "Blowing Off Steam," annoyed me. After Marty decides to leave the gym in Denver, Lauren's dad tracks down another retired Olympic gymnast, Sasha Beloff. Beloff agrees to serve as a coach only if he can train the four main girls together. Emily, Kaylie, and Payson aren't willing to welcome Lauren back with open arms, but Beloff is too good to pass up, so they grin and bear it. Beloff only promises the girls that he will work just as hard as they do, and since the girls only have the weekend before their training kicks in, they decide to attend a blow out party in the woods.

Payson only goes to keep an eye on Emily and Kaylie, and Lauren has other plans with her dad, so she fore goes the party. Emily wears a new dress her mom buys her to the party and quickly catches the attention of Razor and his friend. She talks with them for awhile, but gives Razor the wrong impression. He thinks that she is embarrassed to be seen with him, but really she is embarrassed about how they know each other (she doesn't want the other girls to know she has a job). I thought Emily was the main focus of the show, but this episode seemed to be a lot more focused on Kaylie and Lauren.


Kaylie keeps blowing off Carter since she is so worried they will get caught. When he finds her at the party, he confronts her and they break up. She regrets this later because she was drunk, but her apology is too late. By this point, Lauren has already caught up with Carter and taken him for herself. She went to the party because her dad ruined her dinner by bringing his new girlfriend (the still beautiful Candace Cameron Blue). She and Carter, both upset, bond over their annoyance with Kaylie and end up sleeping together. I hated this plot line choice. It's the third episode and they are already dealing with sex, cheating, and drinking. Jeez. To be fair, all three of those things were in the Greek pilot, and I ended up loving the show, so maybe this will turn around. It looks like the next episode will be the girls getting over their differences and coming clean about everything. I hope they lock them in the gym and let them battle it out with gymnastics. That would be hilarious.