Big Time Rush-A Parent Review


I will be straight with you-I loathe Boy Bands with an unbridled
passion, I think their mere existence was created to provide a
purgatory on earth to make us suffer for the human race creating teen
idols as we evolved. As one from the New Age meets Punk Rock age of the
80's-my children heard The Ramones, Queen and Metallica as opposed to
Raffi. One of my proud moments was my daughter borrowing my Ramones
shirt to wear to school, and my son bonding with his previously
impossible Social Studies teacher based on their mutual love of Cream
and The Rolling Stones. The concept of me enjoying a show about a
pre-fab four boy band, fish outta water situation-they come from the
Mid-West United States and are relocated West Coast-would normally be
inconceivable.

However-I am a huge fan of parody and laughing. The show is a paradox
because Nickelodeon wants to market the boys and sell their CDs,
however they decided to go back to their roots-the Nickelodeon I recall
watching endlessly during the age of "You Can't Do That On
Television"-twisted, silly and true to the spirit of many of their
shows, slinking in references to a variety of movies, pop culture
references etc. with some twisted humor a la "Pete & Pete". This is why
it is watchable for me.

Why, one may ask-do I watch this show? Simply because I believe it is
my responsibility as a parent to watch TV with my children, to know
what they see, what influences them etc. Ratings are nothing to me-I
know what my children can handle and although I embark on several
outdoor activities with them, at the end of the day after work-I am
tired-however rather than lock myself in my room for "me time", I make
it a point to have "we time" and watch with the children.

Upon learning the concept of this show-I was worried. However, these
boys are adept at comedy. Add in David Anthony Higgins as the greedy
Landlord and Steven Kramer Glickman as foils for the boys and you get
some serious laughs.

The show has a skewed sense of humor, sound effects giving it a Chuck
Jones feel to it. The cameo of Eric Estrada as Carlos' Policeman father
was nothing short of brilliant-parents could laugh at the CHIPS
reference and Estrada showed a great comedic talent. Fabio also made a
cameo as a dream man-who the children kidnap to give the obviously
widowed Mrs. Knight (Kendall's mother and the groups chaperone in CA) a
perfect date. There is Buddah Bob-the handyman character that is
introduced as someone that Mrs. Knight assumes is an Ax Murderer which
is set up on a series of humorous scenarios where it looks like he is-a
very telling side story on judging people-which also had the sweet
enough to rot teeth perky neighbor girl end up being a psycho.

And it works. I laugh every episode. Gustavo-the band's manager-refers
to the boys as dogs-but you eventually learn he actually LIKES
them-noted by his assistant Kelly who really loves the boys since they
are so goofy, silly and real.

The friendship shown between the boys-who we learn have relocated to
California to form their band is cute. We find out they are simply
hockey players who wound up being discovered. One of them, Carlos wears
his helmet all the time-a running joke throughout the show. Kendall,
the sort of leader of the boys has his mom and his adorable little
sister, Katie (brilliantly portrayed by a talented Ciara Bravo) is
shown to be adjusting to his new status, Logan is the group's geek
genius, Carlos is the goof one,James is the least explored so I am
hoping they give some more definition. The boys are adjusting to a new
world of competitive musicians, dealing with normal teen stuff like
girls and things like that. The show is too silly to deal with actual
issues like drug use, however they replace normally contraversal issues
with a humorous version of it-Buddah Bob's introduction as a storyline
on judging people.

All in all though, the show reminds us constantly that it isn't reality
by the slapstick and silly situations. It laughs at itself, which is
the best of comedy.

The performances, the silly stories etc make the show very watchable-a
good bonus when one watches TV with their kids. Watch, laugh and don't feel guilty-watching it with your kids makes for a bonus family time and relaxing time rolled into one.