Going Greek

Once again this summer ABCFamily and the N seem to be having all the same ideas. Last summer it was Falcon Beach and Beyond the Break (both beach shows) and now this summer it's Greek and The Best Years (both college shows). Beyond the Break definitely won last year's matchup but this year I think it's ABCFamily's turn. I thought the premiere of the Best Years was alright, but the second episode was pretty bad. I think the problem is that they seem to be trying very hard to make the show "realistic" but are getting so many of the details wrong. While the show is set in Boston, it's pretty obvious that the writers are Canadian. In the States it's freshman, not first year. And no one says "residence," it's the dorm. And the thing with Sam's "business class" professor was just bizarre. In my experience, college professors don't go out of their way to personally embarrass and weed out students: they let their papers and exams do it for them. And why is the Dean of Students/Admissions EVERYWHERE? And how many times is Sam really going to get in trouble and then get another chance, really?

So maybe the reason I like Greek better is because I wasn't part of the frat/sorority scene in college at all so I don't know a lot about it and can't really complain about inaccuracies or whatnot. I think the premise of the show is really strong actually: Rusty is the geeky freshman intent on having the full fraternity college experience, and his older sister, Casey, is the pretty, popular junior aiming to be president of her sorority (who hasn't even told anyone that she has a brother). The feel of the show is more fun in general, kind of more reminiscent of the OC, where the drama was heavy but the comedy was generally light, than Dawson's Creek, where everything was angst and everyone took everything too seriously.

Anyway, the acting on Greek wasn't so bad either. There's no one that recognizable in the cast, except for Spencer Grammer, who is Kelsey Grammer's daughter, and Clark Duke, who's recently been making the online video rounds with his series with Michael Cera of Arrested Development fame. Also, Jessica Lee Rose (aka lonelygirl15) made a brief appearance and according to IMDB, she'll be a recurring character. The supporting characters include Calvin, Rusty's smooth (and gay?) rush buddy; Dale, Rusty's Southern Christian fellow engineering honors roommate; Evan, Casey's cheating boyfriend and member of the elite fraternity on campus; and Cappie, Casey's ex-boyfriend and president of the Kappa Tau, the freewheeling slacker frat.

Is ABCFamily on a roll? First I get hooked on Wildfire, then Kyle XY, and now Greek?