10 Things I Hate About You: The TV Show

It is a fact universally acknowledged that 10 Things I Hate About You is the best teen movie of all time.

 Kat Stratford was a prickly, self-righteous, sort of mean leading lady, and man, she spoke to me-- a self-righteous and sort of mean teenager.  (I was just emerging from my no-friends* era of middle school, and Kat's disdain for the popular kids gave me an extra layer of self-defense that every friendless girl adopts because it means she's choosing to not have friends).

Patrick Verona was a dreamboat.

It was a match made in angry nerd-girl heaven.

So I was more than a little apprehensive when I heard that the Middle School Girl Channel (aka ABC Family) was making a TV show out of my beloved movie.  However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that while the show stays true to the theme of the movie, it quickly developed into its own thoroughly enjoyable little show that really deserved more than one season.

*Disclaimer:  I did have some friends in middle school, it was just that they mostly didn't go to my school where I was a literal pariah for all of 7th grade.  To the few kids (at my school and otherwise) who did stick with me through that, I am forever grateful.  I don't mean to be a downer, but I do want those people to know just how much their friendship meant to me during an incredibly difficult time.  I probably didn't acknowledge that at the time, but I should have.




Disclaimer #2: This show used to be on Netflix Instant, but it isn't anymore.  NETFLIX, YOU'RE KILLING ME.

As I said, 10 Things really did become its own unique show after a sort of rocky start.  The pilot isn't great, but things start picking up by the episode where Kat attempts to convert her car into a biodiesel.  The guys in autoshop (including Patrick) bet against her because she's a girl, so she sets out to prove them wrong.  Long story short, her dad comes to save the day despite her protestations-- and he points out that she's having trouble converting her car not because she's a woman, but because she isn't a mechanic.  Plus, Joey Donner is just a sweetly dimwitted model-wannabe, and Cameron gets (rightly) called out on his manipulations of Bianca.  Like I said, it takes the theme of the movie (be true to yourself, don't let other people treat you like dirt, and sensitive bad boys are the BEST) and runs with it, especially when it comes to pointing out that the popular kids don't have a monopoly on being shitty people.

To the characters!


Kat Stratford:

She's a lesbian on Pretty Little Liars now.

Clearly, Kat Stratford is a very important fictional character to me, so it's a huge testament to Lindsay Shaw that I like her Kat just as much as I like Julia Stiles' Kat.  She's angry and self-righteous, sometimes gets completely blinded by her own ideas of what's "right" and "wrong," and is a huge bitch about stuff.  She's wonderfully, delightfully flawed, and I love that.  Plus, Kat Stratford is probably the only teen heroine who is a self-proclaimed feminist and it's *not* played as a joke.  Sometimes, as with the biodiesel situation, it clouds her judgement because she's so set on making a point, but it is never portrayed as something she needs to get over in order to get a boyfriend.  This is so incredibly rare on TV that this show is worth watching just for that.


Patrick Verona:

Why so serious?

Patrick Verona is another very important fictional character to me, and to the casting agents of this show I say: WELL PLAYED.  This fine gentleman is Gregory Peck's** grandson (!!) and he manages to take a role that could forever say "Heath Ledger" and make it his own.  Where Heath was more disaffected than brooding, Peck the Younger is a bit angrier and more wounded.  The only false note in this is that Heath Ledger's character was scruffy enough that you could understand why he wasn't super popular, but that face up there?  That face makes you popular whether you want to be or not.  Sorry, but that's how high school works.  However, my absolute favorite change from the movie to the show revolves around Patrick and Kat: rather than him getting involved with her because he's paid to, (which sort of limits the conflict, since how long can you believably draw that out?) the problem is that they like each other but she wants to go out with him and he'd rather just...make out sometimes.  It is so completely high school, I love it.  Plus, towards the end they bring in a rival for Kat's affections: a total jerk who is nonetheless Kat's intellectual equal.  Patrick isn't dumb, but the show very believably puts a question mark next to how long the school nerd and bad boy can make it.

**Our generation is very lucky, since Steve McQueen's grandson plays Jeremy on Vampire Diaries.  God bless Hollywood nepotism, because yowzers.



Bianca Stratford:

The original Bianca is now on Pretty Little Liars as well.
ABC Family, never change.

Rather than the already-popular Bianca of the movies, this Bianca desperately wants to *be* popular (the TV Stratfords are new to town).  She develops a serious crush on Joey Donner, and works very hard to be accepted by the bitchy queen bee Chastity-- who just so happens to be Joey's girlfriend (DUN DUN DUN).  I like Bianca because much like in the movie, Bianca knows who she is and doesn't let her sister's incessant lecturing keep her from doing what she wants.



Joey Donner:

I just can't get over his chin.

Where movie Joey was a complete jackass, TV Joey is pretty much a golden retriever puppy with mild brain damage.  Plus, there's no backstory with Kat-- he's just the queen bee's dimbulb boyfriend.



Cameron

Everyone should watch this video.

I find the changes to Cameron to be the most interesting and plausible.  Instead of a sweet, lovesick puppy who gets sort-of-used by Bianca, Cameron is...well, he's sort of a creep.  He lets Bianca think he's gay so he can get close to her, which is incredibly manipulative, but is actually only the second most manipulative thing he does to her-- the first being steal her date's phone and sabotage his car so she gets stood up and then Cameron gets to be her white knight.  The show excellently points out that this behavior isn't adorable; it's gross and controlling.  Cameron is eventually redeemed, but I really appreciate their puncturing of the "overlooked guy is owed a girl-prize for not being popular" trap that way too many shows and movies fall into.


Bonus points:

The dad from the original movie is still around and still hilarious.  His MVP line from the show is describing Patrick as "disturbingly deep-voiced for a 17 year old."  It's no "My mama didn't raise no fool," but it's still good.

Once again, ABC Family gets props for characters that are well-rounded and also happen to be gay, although all the main characters here are straight.  Also, queen bee Chastity is black, which is quite a change from the Mandy-Moore-ish usual queen bee.  ABC Family: surprisingly diverse.

The "Kat-gets-drunk" scene here is probably even better than in the movie.  Because this drunk-Kat likes to do karaoke, which is way more embarrassing than dancing to Biggie Smalls.

When google image searching for these photos, it was almost entirely photos of Peck the Younger, no matter what name I put in before "10 Things TV show".  Except for when I searched for Cameron: then I got a bunch of pictures of the Joker.  The internet is a weird place.



Verdict:  Perfectly Awesome, with an extra "Congrats on Your Face" award to Mr. Ethan Peck.