Freaks and Geeks set the gold standard for showing the awkwardness of high school life on television. Awkward, MTV‘s newest scripted comedy premiering Tuesday at 11pm, may not be as universally brilliant, but it‘s as close as any show has come to matching the uncomfortable anguish of high school.  Read more »

Last Friday at the Television Critics Association I was given the opportunity to interview Lauren Iungerich, the creator of the MTV series Awkward, and Ashley Rickards, the show‘s female lead. Awkward tells the story of Jenna, a 15 year old girl that has a terrible accident that looks like a suicide attempt.  She also loses her virginity in the first episode in quite possibly the least romantic way ever, in a closet. Rickards was extremely gracious, and when asked about how she got the part, told me "The script came though my manager.  I loved the writing because you can‘t stereotype any of characters.  They‘re so dimensional."  So where did series creator Iungerich get her inspiration for these characters?  "Not from television," she shares, "but from movies, especially made by John Huges and Jim Brooks."  Awkward addresses sexuality head on.  When I asked Ashley Rickards about the frankness of sexuality, she said the show "wasn‘t breaking any new ground.  We‘re portraying things that happen all across America to teens everywhere."  Lauren Iungerich gives some advice to her audience members: "I think the only way you could have sex at that age is in a safe, loving, consensual relationship."  Agreed.   Read more »

I‘m popping in again for another round of casting bits, and tonight‘s edition includes an old vampire, a couple of Alcatraz baddies, and the Six Million Dollar man. But we begin with a stripper... Read more »

Okay, we‘re done with who wrote the letter that changed Jenna Hamilton‘s life on Awkward. But unlike most shows who focus on just one mystery for its entire run, season 2 of the hit MTV series will feature even more problems for this not-so-typical TV teenager.Interview: Awkward‘s Jillian Rose Reed goes Super Psycho in MTV movie.  Read more »