No, not the Tony Toni Tone song. But sitting here in Northern California while it pours outside inspired me to write a new post (which I haven’t done in like forever, I know, I know). So anyway…
Why is it that almost every teen show ever is set in Southern California? Even my favorite Canadian teen show has four upcoming episodes set in Hollywood. Oh mythic California, with your pristine beaches and hunky surfers and bikini-clad girls on rollerblades. Where there’s no smog or sprawl or traffic…
I remember back in college when Anh-Thu and I stumbled across a cheap copy of Season 1. Not that Sweet Valley High: Season 1 is ever really going to be expensive.
Anyway, we put an episode on. It was derivative, cheesy, poorly written, and poorly acted.
Of course, I loved it.
This is the basic premise of every single episode of Sweet Valley High: “Bad twin” Jessica does something mean, spiteful, shallow or just generally shady. She totally thinks she’s going to get away with it and might even come pretty close. Then it all blows up in her face and “Goody goody twin” Elizabeth helps her get out of the mess. Then everyone’s like “Ha ha, Jess really learned her lesson this time…”
Except that no, she did not learn a thing because the whole cycle starts again the next episode.
Needless to say, I think we ended up watching most of the season that night.
When I was a kid I was also quite fond of this little show:
Oh yeah, California Dreams. Aside from applying the same old 90s teen sitcom tropes, this show had a few bonuses: 1) It was about kids in a band so you got lots of cheesy songs. Not as many as MMC or Kids Incorporated, but still. None of this Zack Attack bullshit where it’s limited to a few episodes. 2) The blasian factor.
Aww...
