10 Things stays fresh and interesting

Posted by Saraline , Wednesday, April 7, 2010 9:21 PM

I saw 10 Things I Hate About You (the movie, I mean) near the end of high school. I loved everything about it. I loved the soundtrack, I loved recognizing that the movie was based on Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew, I loved Kat's (Julia Stiles) determination not to fit in, and, of course, I loved Heath Ledger.

I still enjoy watching the movie sometimes, but mostly for nostalgia; as I got older, Mandela seemed to be more silly and Kat seemed to be a bit more immature than I remembered. I still think that it's mostly great, though.

I was skeptical when I found out that there was a new TV show called 10 Things I Hate About You. How could the movie possibly translate into a TV show? How could there be a 10 Things I Hate About You without Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger? I was sure that the cast and crew of this show would try too hard to make it just like the movie, and I was sure that they would fail miserably.

I watched the first episode to see how bad the show would be. It was okay, I guess. It didn't disprove my theory that they would try to be just like the movie and fail miserably. I continued to watch, and I must say, this show just keeps getting better and better. The important elements from the movie are there: the strict father (Larry Miller, who played the same role in the movie), Cameron's (Nicholas Braun) unrequited love for Bianca (Meaghan Jette Martin), and, of course, the budding romance between Kat (Lindsey Shaw) and Patrick Verona (Ethan Peck.)

However, there are enough differences between the movie and the TV show to keep it fresh interesting:

-Chastity (Dana Davis), instead of being Bianca's tag-along friend, is the bossy "most popular girl in school" that Bianca must suck up to if she wants to be popular.
-Joey (Chris Zylka), who was a huge jerk in the movie, is a big softy on the TV show who allows his girlfriend Chastity to boss him around in the first season.
-Mandela (Jolene Purdy), Kat's skinny and quirky friend in the movie, is pleasantly plump and less aloof on the TV show. She also seems to have a crush on Kat, which could be interesting.
-Lindsey Shaw's Kat seems less, well, shrewish than Julia Stiles' portrayal of Kat. The Kat on the TV show cares about standing up for everyone's rights; the Kat in the movie cared about not being as stupid as everyone else.
-Nobody's paying Patrick to date Kat, so their relationship has a different dynamic than it did in the movie.

I like the scenarios that come up to develop the plot and characters. I loved the episode with the fires when Bianca told Chastity off and Patrick saved Kat's records. Recently, in the second season, a couple of things have happened that I hope to see develop more. For example, Patrick coming over for dinner; I would love to see more scenes with him and Mr. Stratford. For another example, Mandela's new jealous girlfriend; I hope that develops into a new storyline! Maybe Kat will find out that the new girlfriend is jealous of her because of Mandela's crush.

The actors in the TV show are living up to the standards that were set by the actors in the movie; everyone, that is, except for Nicholas Braun. Joseph Gordon-Levitt's Cameron had a charm that Braun's Cameron lacks. Maybe it has something to do with Gordon-Levitt's puppy dog eyes.

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