Well, TV fans, the die is cast. Last week, The CW green-lighted The Carrie Diaries, that Sex and the City prequel network television has been threatening to inflict on us for years. Set in the ’80s, the show will follow Carrie Bradshaw’s high-school years in Connecticut, where we’re sure she’ll be asking a whole new, teen-focused slew of pseudo-profound questions (“What does ‘going steady’ really mean?”) and lusting over shoes at Contempo Casuals. But forgive us if we don’t intend to watch the show for long enough to find out. Like Mary Elizabeth Williams at Salon, we’ve had our fill of Carrie. In fact, the only good thing we can imagine coming from the prequel is that it inspired us brainstorm some adult TV characters who already have kid equivalents on other shows. Find out who Zack Morris grew up to be, and which kid reminds us of Downton Abbey’s Dowager Countess, after the jump.
Ah, to be young and in love on a ’90s television series. So much tension, so much betrayal, so many make-ups and too many break-ups. Remember that time Jordan Catalano enlisted Brian Krakow to secretly write his love letter for Angela Chase? Or when D.J. Tanner accused Steve Hale of canoodling with an ex-girlfriend at the school dance? What about when Steve Urkel transformed into Stefan Urquelle in order to win Laura’s heart? Most ’90s teenage relationships were trivial, others lasted seasons upon seasons, but we’re recalling the ones that still make us giddy — the ones that we thought, at one point or another, were meant to be. Take a trip down TV’s memory lane with some ’90s teenage power couples after the jump, and let us know in the comments whose relationship made you the most envious.
There’s no denying that ’90s television was chock-full of dope fictional bands, and it’s about time we cranked up our nostalgia and got jiggy with the fake musical groups of yesteryear. Some were boy bands, others were punks, but most just settled into their oversize, unwashed flannel shirts with some bangin’ alt-rock vibes. Remember that time Little Pete and meter-man Mel formed the Blowholes? Or when Doug and Skeeter ran into the Beets at the Honker Burger? What about that time Jordan Catalano, like, serenaded Angela Chase with that song written about her hair, or something? …Not! (Hold up, did we even use that right? It’s been a while.) Regardless, check out some totally fake ’90s TV bands after the jump, home-skillets. They’ve missed you. Read More »
Last night, on The Walking Dead‘s supersize Season 2 premiere, little Carl Grimes (played by Chandler Riggs) finally wrenched the spotlight away from the adults on the show, for a few minutes. But now that his future is uncertain, to say the least, we got to thinking about how little we actually know about Carl — which reminded us of how many kids on TV are not characters so much as props. They’re there to look cute or give the illusion of a well-rounded family or provide a focal point for their parents’ anxieties.
Since there are tons of minor kid characters on TV, we made two rules for this list: 1. The child in question can’t be a baby, because a person who can neither walk nor talk can’t be expected to hold down his own story line. 2. The kid has to be the sibling or offspring of one of the show’s main characters. Peruse our picks for TV children who might as well be props after the jump, and add your suggestions in the comments.
The oxymoronical has happened: Hipsters have gone mainstream. After two weeks on the air, it’s clear that NBC’s Two Broke Girls and Fox’s New Girl are ratings hits — attracting around 12 million and nine million viewers, respectively. What the sitcoms have in common is young female protagonists who (due to living in Williamsburg, baking cupcakes, and dating musicians or wearing glasses and being portrayed by Zooey Deschanel) could fairly be described as hipsters. And it looks like the trend is only just beginning: 25-year-old micro-budget filmmaker Lena Dunham is currently prepping a show called Girls for HBO, and MTV recently gave viewers a sneak preview of the pilot for the Wavves-scored I Just Want My Pants Back, about 20-something creative types living in Brooklyn. (Don’t worry if you missed out — it may well have been the worst half-hour of television we have ever watched.)
But just because they seem to be having a renaissance in 2011, that doesn’t mean hipsters are new to TV. In honor of an archetype whose roots stretch all the way back to the ’50s, we’ve compiled a retrospective of our favorite hipster television characters, from Happy Days to Portlandia. Since we figure you probably know about some incredibly obscure shows we wouldn’t have heard of, we hope you’ll assume your best elitist voice and tell us who we missed in the comments.
Only in its first season now, and just recently renewed for a second, MTV’s Awkward. is one of the most unexpectedly honest series about high school we’ve seen in years. Sure, we all like to gape at the impossibly glamorous teen dramas dreamt up by Josh Schwartz, of The O.C. and Gossip Girl fame. But in real life, high school is raw and uncomfortable and histrionically mundane, and it takes an exceptionally perceptive program to get at the mood of those terrible and wonderful years. In celebration of Awkward., we’ve rounded up the TV shows we think best capture the high school experience.
JTT is 30. That’s right, girls who grew up in the ’90s — your pre-teen crush entered his fourth decade on Earth yesterday. (For everyone else: We’re talking about Jonathan Taylor Thomas, of Home Improvement fame.) We don’t know about you, but this kind of freaks us out. And, because we’re gluttons for punishment, it also has us thinking about how old our other favorite ’90s TV casts are in 2011. Click through after the jump to learn that the Friends are all solidly middle-aged, DJ Conner is older than you, Uncle Jesse is pushing 50, and Andrea Zuckerman qualifies for AARP. Depressing, huh?
Today marks the 60th anniversary of the publication of J.D. Salinger’s much-beloved novel, The Catcher in the Rye. The book has been much argued over in the years since its publication, but no one can deny that it has influenced countless artists, writers and troubled teenagers and had a lasting impact on American culture. Holden is in many ways the original angsty American teen, sex-obsessed and confused, and as a tribute to the occasion of his 60th (or should we say, 77th?) year, we’ve collected a few of our favorite Holden variations, incarnations and iterations here. Click through to see our list of troubled teens, social dropouts, misguided misanthropes and other heirs to our dear Holden Caulfield, and let us know how the man, the myth, the legend has affected your own inner life in the comments. But, of course, don’t be phony.
We’ve been hearing a lot of buzz recently about Jesse Plemons (ahem, Landry Clarke from Friday Night Lights) and his real-life band, Cowboy and Indian. Some of our favorite Landry scenes in FNL were related to his Christian speed-metal band Crucifictorious, but Cowboy and Indian may be, if anything, its polar opposite. Watching Landry croon bluegrass melodies on guitar and sip whiskey under a warm light in his recently released vido got us thinking about all the characters with bands who actually have bands in real life — and which ones are better. Click through for our roundup of bands from TV and film whose members are — for better or worse — actually musicians, and tell us if you agree with our verdicts in the comments!
