AWKWARD!

Have you seen the MTV teen comedy series called Awkward? I think it might be the first thing I have ever watched on MTV.  I wouldn't have even watched it if the internet didn't exist, but it popped up on some feed somewhere, and I decided to take a look. It is no substitute for Nashville, but I have a few positive things to say about it. I like that the main character is a smart girl who is surrounded by immature teens and adults and so she needs to be wise and decisive beyond her years. I also like that
the show is often absurdist, which is odd because it is dealing with very UNabsurdist topics: teen suicide, sex, bullying, depression, divorce, fat phobia, etc. But maybe that's its point—these topics are absurd, and Jenna the main character, walks through life faced with people's absurd prejudices, opinions, and skewed advice.

I don't like the racial makeup of the world they live in, not to mention other things I don't like, but I think I'm a sucker enough for the experience of being transported to a world that someone invented. Someone thought Jenna up, thought up her parents, thought up her friends, her guidance counselor, and her school. Someone pitched it, someone sold it,  someone wrote it, someone directed it, and someone shot it, and the fact that anyone can get their work made, from concept to MTV, is worth celebrating.

I think the joy part is not found in the actual experience of watching the show (it's not that good) but in finding something new and trying it, and as always, getting transported to someone's invented world, even for just one 20-minute episode.