Dr. Brown, Lookout for the Sharks!

I’ll admit, the WB show Everwood is sort of a guilty pleasure for me. It’s totally over the top. Some characters have no foothold in realism and operate purely out of idealism. But for some reason, as saccharine as it is, it can be satisfying entertainment. As both my girlfriend and I have watched the show for a while, we make a habit out of watching it together on Monday nights.

Let me just say, the most recent episode sucked. In fact so much, I’m willing to say the show has jumped the shark. That’s right, it is downhill from here. Why? First, we have expanding cast (an annoying Scott Wolf) and guest stars (a surprisingly less annoying Anne Heche). The plot is focused totally mainstream now, too. Sex, sex, sex. Call me a prude, but this is definitely not what the show is good at. In fact, this was the core problem with the most recent episode. Missed it? Let me summarize the “lesson” from the story: the measure of how much two people love each other is shown by how much they want to jump each other. Oh please. Can’t we really look for a different message for teenagers? I know, now I’m being idealistic. They could have done better than throwing in the cliched, mousey, “I’m gonna wait till I’m married” wallflower. Amy, the hotter girl, is gonna have sex, and the more average girl is gonna wait. Tired retread.

Lastly and perhaps most importantly, the show has lost any capability at consistency. Ohh…Amy’s gonna wait….oh wait…she changed her mind! Yay! Oh wait. Boo. The brief PSA spot afterwards featuring actors from the show urging parents to talk to their kids about sex was a farce. Didn’t I just watch an episode where the parental advice towards the kids consisted entirely of two words, “Be safe”. Wow, way to go and work things through.

This show is sharkbait, which is sad, because they can and have clearly done better.

• I should note that, some ideas contained here are the result of discussions with my girlfriend, and are not entirely my own. Thanks honey.

—Nov 24, 2004