Why I think TOWER PREP is made of raw awesome. Seriously.
So I watch a lot of television. I know people who look at my schedule and word counts and laugh at this claim, like "Ha ha, Seanan is being droll and pretending to do things other than slave away like a weird robot-alien-pod plant," but the fact of the matter is, I probably under-report my television-watching, because it's nobody's business but mine a lot of the time. I use television as a way to wind down once my word counts are achieved.
This doesn't mean I don't consider television an intellectual exercise. I mean, witness the fact that I have essays in multiple books of critical analysis of television programs. I think TV is hugely important in our culture, and that a lot of the time, it does more to influence the way people think about story than anybody else.
I am a television omnivore. I watch dramas, I watch science fiction, I watch comedies, and I watch things that are supposedly aimed at children. I can explain the social structure from Wizards of Waverly Place, identify more than fifty Pokemon on sight, and am eagerly awaiting Unnatural History on DVD. Shows for kids are actually more devoted to plot arcs and character development than anything else currently on the air...except, maybe, for some of the high-concept science-fiction dramas.
Which brings us to the point of this entry: I am head over heels in love with a show called Tower Prep. It airs on the Cartoon Network. Here's the Wikipedia page. You've only missed three episodes. But you should really start from the beginning if you can, because Tower Prep is a mystery series. Not a procedural; not a mystery of the week, although there are weekly plots and challenges; a mystery series.
We begin when our POV character, Ian, passes out at home and wakes up in a strange boarding school called Tower Prep, one that's designed to "nurture and develop" his special abilities. No one knows where the school is, or how they got there. No one knows why they have their abilities, or what they're honing them for. But Ian, and the friends he quickly finds, know that they're afraid.
The writing is sharp. The mysteries are engaging. The plots are complex enough to hold an adult, simple enough to be viewed as "kid friendly" by the network, and just scary enough to have that enthralling edge. The dialog is snappy, the characterization is consistent. And really, that's why Tower Prep is awesome. The characters.
There are four main characters in Tower Prep: Ian, our protagonist, whose ability allows him to see certain things before they happen; Gabe, whose ability allows him to talk anyone into anything; CJ, whose power lets her act as a "human lie detector" and borderline psychic by reading all the minute changes in people; and Suki, whose ability lets her mimic the voice of absolutely anyone.
Two girls, two guys. While Ian's ability could be viewed as stereotypically "masculine," especially since he uses it in fights, he comes to the attention of the school for stopping a bully for beating up a weaker kid. And while CJ is sort of the "team psychic," which is often a female role, most people would reverse Gabe and Suki's abilities, since "persuasive" is often viewed as feminine, and "mimicry" is often viewed as masculine.
All four of them are smart, but Suki is the computer genius, and Gabe is the social butterfly. CJ is perfect, but not cookie-cutter pretty. They are, in short, actually people, rather than being "the hero," "the heroine," "the sidekick," and "the best friend," as they would be in so many other settings. Of the four main characters, only Suki is distinctly non-Caucasian, which is about the only criticism I have...but there are a great many non-Caucasian students and teachers on the campus, providing a slightly better balance to the show as a whole.
Tower Prep is a show I want to watch over and over again. I want to have a viewing party of the whole first season when it's done, and pick the mysteries apart. And I want to give it to every kid I know, because it says, without saying, that gender doesn't have to matter when it comes to solving mysteries and being smart and having superpowers. Also? Neither CJ nor Suki wears a bikini and calls it a uniform.
It's made of raw awesome. If you haven't checked it out yet, you totally should.
This doesn't mean I don't consider television an intellectual exercise. I mean, witness the fact that I have essays in multiple books of critical analysis of television programs. I think TV is hugely important in our culture, and that a lot of the time, it does more to influence the way people think about story than anybody else.
I am a television omnivore. I watch dramas, I watch science fiction, I watch comedies, and I watch things that are supposedly aimed at children. I can explain the social structure from Wizards of Waverly Place, identify more than fifty Pokemon on sight, and am eagerly awaiting Unnatural History on DVD. Shows for kids are actually more devoted to plot arcs and character development than anything else currently on the air...except, maybe, for some of the high-concept science-fiction dramas.
Which brings us to the point of this entry: I am head over heels in love with a show called Tower Prep. It airs on the Cartoon Network. Here's the Wikipedia page. You've only missed three episodes. But you should really start from the beginning if you can, because Tower Prep is a mystery series. Not a procedural; not a mystery of the week, although there are weekly plots and challenges; a mystery series.
We begin when our POV character, Ian, passes out at home and wakes up in a strange boarding school called Tower Prep, one that's designed to "nurture and develop" his special abilities. No one knows where the school is, or how they got there. No one knows why they have their abilities, or what they're honing them for. But Ian, and the friends he quickly finds, know that they're afraid.
The writing is sharp. The mysteries are engaging. The plots are complex enough to hold an adult, simple enough to be viewed as "kid friendly" by the network, and just scary enough to have that enthralling edge. The dialog is snappy, the characterization is consistent. And really, that's why Tower Prep is awesome. The characters.
There are four main characters in Tower Prep: Ian, our protagonist, whose ability allows him to see certain things before they happen; Gabe, whose ability allows him to talk anyone into anything; CJ, whose power lets her act as a "human lie detector" and borderline psychic by reading all the minute changes in people; and Suki, whose ability lets her mimic the voice of absolutely anyone.
Two girls, two guys. While Ian's ability could be viewed as stereotypically "masculine," especially since he uses it in fights, he comes to the attention of the school for stopping a bully for beating up a weaker kid. And while CJ is sort of the "team psychic," which is often a female role, most people would reverse Gabe and Suki's abilities, since "persuasive" is often viewed as feminine, and "mimicry" is often viewed as masculine.
All four of them are smart, but Suki is the computer genius, and Gabe is the social butterfly. CJ is perfect, but not cookie-cutter pretty. They are, in short, actually people, rather than being "the hero," "the heroine," "the sidekick," and "the best friend," as they would be in so many other settings. Of the four main characters, only Suki is distinctly non-Caucasian, which is about the only criticism I have...but there are a great many non-Caucasian students and teachers on the campus, providing a slightly better balance to the show as a whole.
Tower Prep is a show I want to watch over and over again. I want to have a viewing party of the whole first season when it's done, and pick the mysteries apart. And I want to give it to every kid I know, because it says, without saying, that gender doesn't have to matter when it comes to solving mysteries and being smart and having superpowers. Also? Neither CJ nor Suki wears a bikini and calls it a uniform.
It's made of raw awesome. If you haven't checked it out yet, you totally should.