"My Sweet Sixteen" has to be scripted some how. That is how the producers lure in viewers. Plus, come on, you put a camera in front of a bunch of teenagers and they know they are going to be seen on MTV!!! Of course their going to act like drama queens!
Hopefully in 15-20 years they will look back, be embaressed, and apologize to their parents.
I read on a message board at the Internet Movie Data Base that the show is semi-scripted and, in some cases, the kids are directed to act like jerks (which says even more about their lack of character to me). According to one poster, she attended one of the parties filmed and both she and the friends and the birthday girl were horrified by the way the show had been edited to make them look like entitlement princesses. Which isn't to say that there aren't a lot of shows that probably don't have to be scripted because the "heroine" IS an entitlement princess.
I am getting really tired of the kids that play characters on the Disney Channel, myself.
They're rude and sarcastic IMO. Not the way I want my kids to act.
I like the old school tv shows and a few that are on now. I still get a kick out of Arthur.
The Suite Life of Zack and Cody? No. Nope. I think it's dumb. No life lessons, no sense of reality.
I so hate Zack and Cody. At first I thought it was just good humored fun, but the more I watched, the angrier I became. One of the things that bothers me about the show is the same thing that bothers me about a lot of programs where teens are the major focus. The story line always goes like this:
Loud, happy, rude family is focus of program. They are the heroes. The villain is an elderly next door neighbor or a conservative, quiet neighbor who does not appreciate having their trees toilet papered or having noise and attitude foisted upon them by the young members of Rude Family. In the end, however, we can expect one of two outcomes:
a) neighbor is shown the error of her ways (she's always an old, old, old lady) and is seen break dancing or something equally ridiculous at the grand finale.
b) if neighbor is a younger, scholarly quiet type, they are somehow humiliated at the end of the show and lose out on whatever they were trying to achieve.
I absolutely HATE this kind of trash--even more than I hate soap operas where everyone trades partners every three months. (And I hate those a lot) I hate it because the implication is always that "quiet and scholarly" equals "suspicious and snooty" and "old and quiet" equals "pathetically alone." NEVER do the members of Rude Family learn that maybe, if they were to be quiet and respectful, they might accomplish something far greater than humiliating their quiet neighbor.
The trend in children's books is appalling as well. I will concede that Captain Underpants will always be with us and, to be honest, I find that the revolting behavior is handled with some wit and good writing. But it has spawned a whole 'nother genre revolving around bad behavior. body function humor and general nastiness--and these books are being published despite the fact that (unlike Captain Underpants) they have no wit, no humor and the writing is below par. Yech!
