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01/14/2004: "Viewer's Choice"

I live alone and I get cable TV. This probably adds up to some startlingly accurate personality test, since, I can watch whatever I want to, and no one will know. I could watch Oprah or opera; I could watch wrestling or West Wing; I could watch Wheel of Fortune or Mr. Ed or The E! True Hollywood Story and no one would be the wiser. So with all this freedom, or license, and no one to answer to, what do I choose?

I like shows that meet both these conditions: a major amount of the action takes place at a school, and one of the students there is a title character. So: yes to The Secret World of Alex Mack, Clarissa Explains It All, The Adventures of Pete and Pete, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and, currently, Joan of Arcadia. No to Beverly Hills 90210, Boston Public, Head of the Class, or Mr. Peepers. Yes to Sabrina, when she was in high school, but no to Felicity, who never was. I liked Freaks and Geeks, which qualifies by a stretch.

School has become the one universal social setting; everyone understands how it works. The fundamental motivations are the same there as everywhere: love, success, acceptance, honor; the social classes and distinctions are plain and their results consequential; emotions are heightened and motivations less amibiguous than in "real" life. The prominent characters are lijke we remember ourselves to be, not too smart, not too popular, not too athletic, but only perceived misfits, not real misfits.