Here at 3CM we are going to start posting reviews on aspects of the media and pop culture that we love and want to share. I am going to start the ball rolling so to speak.
This Geek Loves Her Greek
There have been three times in my life where I have purchased a season of a television show without having viewed it prior – Veronica Mars, Friday Night Lights and Greek. My success rate is phenomenal as all three shows are quality productions that made me enjoy television again after a run of cliché, dribble ridden slop fests. Now that may not be fair but this was before I found a whole plethora of cable programming that made me realise that television is better than movies. I am not going to talk about all three though (too much gushing is never good for anyone), I am going to try and sell you all on Greek.
Greek has just finished out its first season on ABC Family. Now don’t let its broadcasting home scare you, this show is all about the sororities and fraternities of the fictional Cyprus-Rhodes University. Based on appearances this show could seem to be about the hijinks of the frat houses and other superficial goings-on but there is a lot of depth to this show too. That is due in great part to the addition of Casey and Rusty Cartwright, siblings from Chicago that are our protagonists into this world. The show begins with Casey in her first year trying to finagle her way into the Zeta Beta Zeta house’s leadership and Rusty, as a Polymer Science majoring freshman intent on pledging to a fraternity. Casey is the blonde, bubbling stereotypical type that is able to navigate the social intricacies of college life while juggling her boyfriend, Evan and her ex, Cappie. Rusty however is a geek, he’s brainy as all heck and wants to break free of his nerd-shackles and start anew. The problem is the boy has about as much social know how as one of the members of that newly discovered tribe in the Amazon. The cast is filled out nicely with members of Kappa Tau, Omega Chi and ZBZ while showing the non-Greek life in Rusty’s purity pledging room mate. This show is essentially about family – while college for all of us was about the family we made away from home, this show gives us that aspect plus the addition of the biological too.
Television shows set in college are a rarity. We, of course, have the programs that extend pass their used by dates and push their cast into unrealistic scenarios where they all attend college together (Dawson’s Creek, 90210, OC, Saved by the Bell, etc). This show, like Felicity, demonstrated the difficulty individuals face in establishing themselves in a new environment while holding onto their essence. College is a melting pot of cultures, sexual preferences and religious choices and Greek references this continually.
I could go on and on about the fabulous Scott Michael Foster who plays the charismatic and loveable Cappie, or the red necked, Jesus loving laugh riot that is Clark Duke’s Dale but I would be selling it short. This show has comedy and drama. It has its parties sure, but it also addresses the growth that occurs once you attend college, like Casey says in the Pilot “college isn’t black and white like high school”. She tells the truth, college is a slippery face where you balance studies and a hedonistic lifestyle, or was that just me? You find yourself away from the eyes of your parents and years of expectation. Freedom is yours and it is up to you how you choose to use it. The scene where Rusty drinks tequila for the first time was a complete shout out to my first alcoholic beverage too. The use of this naive, people pleasing kid as the eyes into this world is entertaining in many ways and Jacob Zachar can swing from supreme disappointment to unbridled joy that you cannot do anything but want his success. The moment where he confronts an individual that did his sister wrong is a winning moment that can make you bust your gut with pride and laughter.
Is the show a realistic depiction of college life? Not completely. What television show is hundred percent accurate? However this show does something which made me love it. The pilot introduced characters that were stereotypes and immediately began showing they didn’t necessarily fit into that mould. The characters on this show have depth and the cast find small moments to assist in this understanding. Three dimensional characters are never a bad thing. My favourite? A toss up between the annoying and stanchly religious Dale whose words of wisdom are usually camouflaged by his use of terms like heathen. I also entirely adore the Kappa Tau president in Cappie, a character that is such a gregarious, charismatic type that you wonder why don’t I have a friend like that?
I love this show with its humour, parties and sometimes sentimental sibling moments enormously. So much so that I started a podcast with my friend Raj (can be found by searching for Greek Speak on iTunes). The viewership is small but we are a passionate bunch convinced that the wider world should realise the greatness that is this show. There might not be robots, super-powered individuals or a crime of the week but there is, at its core, a show with a lot of heart. Something many shows have forgotten is important amongst the time jumps and stunt casting. Give this geek’s Greek a go.
Adele
http://greekspeak.wordpress.com
Our third episode was unfortunately without the lovely Jen, which was a great loss. Damn storm.
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