We think our record shows that we don't really need a reason to get excited about another made-for cable, singing, dancing teen-fest. Nickelodeon's latest contribution on the altar of Fame is Spectacular! which, we're sure, will be a hard-hitting look at the treacherous landscape of teen showbiz.
Trust us, here's the preview...
Pro/Con List for Spectacular! as the next High School Musical (read: our newest obsession)...
Pro: The male lead has the too-good-to-be-true name of Nolan Gerard Funk.
Con: They couldn't come up with a better title than "Spectacular?"
Pro: Yay, breakdancing!
Con: The cow-skin vests could be a ominous metaphor for all the ways in which Spectacular! reaches for the campy glory of HSM and falls short.
Pro: The preview seems to promise a song-and-dance finale in which the formerly ragtag ensemble rallies for a showstopping payoff -- not unlike Sister Act II in that way (or possibly Bring It On).
Con: We fear the music doesn't quite strike the right "so bad it's good" note necessary for our overall enjoyment.
Pro: At least at first glance, the vocal talent on Spectacular seems to be a cut above the HSM standard (sorry, Efron)...
Previously:
Our Trip To High School Musical 3
Lindy Parker has worked as a ghostwriter, editor, dance instructor and a purveyor of dreams, one beer at a time. She loves Charles Dickens and Gabriel Garcia Marquez and also, straight-to-video releases with Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. It's possible she reads more teen fiction than she should. She hails from Los Angeles, her hometown and soul mate, but she lives in Brooklyn, the fling she'll never forget.
Olivia Purnell left Ohio for sunny Los Angeles; then found that she couldn’t ignore New York City’s call, and brought herself to Brooklyn where she has worked with GenArt, BlackBook, the School of American Ballet, and finished an M.A. in Creative Writing from N.Y.U. She loves one-liners with sting and hates the stench of the subway in the summer. That said, she can’t get enough of either.
Jake Kalish is a freelance journalist and humorist whose work has appeared in Details, Maxim, Stuff, New York Press, Spin, Blender, Men's Fitness, Poets and Writers, and Playboy, among other publications. He is also the author of Santa vs. Satan: The Official Compendium of Imaginary Fights.
Ben Kallen is an entertainment, health and humor writer who's been lectured to by Sidney Poitier, argued with by Lea Thompson and smiled at by Jennifer Connelly. He's the coauthor of The No S Diet and author of The Year in Weird, along with hundreds of magazine articles. He lives near the beach in Los Angeles, just like the gang from Three's Company.
Nicole Ankowski has lived in Ohio, Oakland, and on the high plains of South Dakota, but is now proud to call Brooklyn home. She wrote for alternative weekly papers in the first two states, and tried to learn Lakota in the last. (The vowels can be tricky.) She just earned her MFA in Creative Writing and has been published in Beeswax literary journal. She is unable to resist good writing or bad TV.
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