I'd tried Disney. When that failed, I moved on to campy werewolves. Another failure. There had to be a show targeted at tweens or teens that wasn't any good. After all, they're not supposed to be good. Looking over my list again, I decided to try a new ABC Family show, "Switched at Birth". I've seen a couple episodes of different ABC Family shows before, and absolutely none of it was good. Surely this would be an easy target. Just look at the name. Nothing with a premise that ridiculous (yes, I know it's happened in real life before) could possibly be any good.
I'm wrong yet again. Ostensibly, the show is about two teenage girls who discover that they were switched at birth. This raises the natural issues of identity and the importance of nature vs nurture. In and of itself, this could make for an interesting show, but the main thing this show really has going for it is that one of the two girls who were switched at birth is deaf.
Remember "Life Goes On"? It was that show from the early 90s that was essentially a regular family drama, except for the fact that one of the kids, Corky, had Down syndrome. It brought a whole new cultural awareness to the plight of the mentally retarded. "Switched at Birth" is absolutely going to do the same for Deaf culture. So many of the scenes, with good reason, focus on what it means to be deaf and how deaf people and the hearing interact, that it's obvious that this is what the show is really about.
The fact alone that it's doing something that's completely new to television (which is so rare in this day and age) would probably make it worth watching. Add the fact that it's decently written, well acted, and treats its subject matter with the utmost respect and there's absolutely no reason to not give it a try.
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3 comments:
Here's a test for you -- stay on ABC Family channel, watch The Nine Lives of Chloe King. I have a prediction about what you will think... (yes, I am still watching it. go ahead an judge me if you want, but keep in mind that it's summer and Evan doesn't go to sleep until 10pm)
I'm all caught up now on your blog...and what do I get? Three entries about kids shows? At least you threw in Paul Rudd - I love that guy.
I applaud your efforts to watch all this TV. I only have basic cable (as in channels 2-21, most being shopping or c-span dedicated channels) so I miss out on the expanded TV universe. Though I will say the PBS type stations have really good programming.
I still haven't gotten to "Nine Lives" yet, but rest assured that when I do you will hear about it here.
Urrv, thanks for reading. I rewarded you with another two weeks of silence. I can't argue with PBS -- I actually watched a lot of both "Martha Speaks" and "Sid the Science Kid" at one point, but never wrote about it.
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