Hike up your skirt and roll out the backpacks because it's Back to School season for television and movies this fall. From high school to college, this will be the recurring theme of an upcoming string of TV shows and movies regurgitating the same old school fare. How unoriginal. *Eye roll*
The television show “HellCats” (PG) premiers this week on the CW, and coincides with many schools getting back in session after the summer break. Ashley Tisdale (“High School Musical”) will be walking familiar school halls as she stars in this teenage show about stereotypical college cheerleaders dancing their way through college. Sounds like it'll be “Glee” after a few Espresso shots. Though college is supposed to be a more mature environment, it looks like the same old stunts will be showcased by the same likely characters everyone loves to hate. By the way, can someone tell me why cheerleaders are mocked so much in the media?
Two movies on the horizon with similar school-related topics are Sony Studios’ “Easy-A” (opening September 17 and rated PG-13) with Emma Stone and Amanda Bines, and Disney’s “You Again” with an honor roll cast including senior Betty White and her juniors Jaime Lee Curtis and Sigourney Weaver (Rated PG. In theaters September 24. Movie review will be up closer to movie release). These two films also reflect on high school vicissitudes, but from different perspectives; the first film focuses on crude school girl antics to get ahead socially and financially, while the later deals with post-high-school-BFF trauma – the betrayed-and-seeking-revenge type drama. *Yawn*
It's somewhat disappointing to see that Hollywood is turning to the same trite themes time and time again and spending so much money on safe material. I'm sure there's no shortage of excellent writers, an abundance of scripts, or even books to base films or a series on. Maybe it's time to change those in charge of pushing this boring material on to the entertainment curricula.
In any case, take a moment to consider your entertainment schedule for this fall. Get a hall pass or indulge in these clichéd shows coming to your home or a theater near you. Or, as the tag line for “Easy-A” states, “Let’s not and say we did”. Fortunately, there’s no detention for ditching this class of entertainment.
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