When things get a bit tough I retreat to a world of American teen tv – where angst and dilemmas are all ultimately resolved and everyone goes on to live a nice happy life with really white teeth.
I own the entire Dawson’s Creek series on DVD, which is all good clean fun and finishes nicely to leave you with a sense of closure.
Last week I discovered Kyle XY – a show with a similar set of character dynamics.
The all-round nice guy Dawson is replaced with Kyle – a teenager with a brain like a computer and no memory of his past because he doesn’t have one. Taken in by a lovely family, his overwhelming desire is to connect with people and make the world a better place.
His love interest is the goody-goody Amanda, a budding pianist who begins the series with a lousy love-rate boyfriend and a stomped-on expression but who starts to show a bit of backbone in season 3.
Dawson’s Jen character is replaced by Jessie – a new girl in town (she’s also superhuman) with a chequered (albeit short) past and a tendency to make trouble. Who will Kyle choose? Or will it be a case of first one, then the other?
Dawson’s unnaturally clued-up parents (Mitch and Gail) are replaced by Kyle’s foster mom and dad – Nicole (a child psychologist) and Stephen (a technical genius).
And there’s the usual additions of a few special supporting characters – in Kyle we have Declan the jock who grows up and Lori and Josh provide sibling interaction.
The main difference with Kyle XY is that on top of the normal run-of-the-mill teenage angst and growing pains, the characters have to deal with the fact that Kyle has special powers and there are bad people in the world who want to kill him or exploit him. So I guess it’s a bit like Dawson meets Buffy.
And there’s another difference. Unlike Dawson’s Creek, which ran for 6 seasons and was allowed to finish properly and tie up its loose ends, Kyle XY has been cancelled. The season 3 finale, which ends on a cliffhanger, will be the last ever episode.
So we won’t find out who Kyle chooses, whether Declan and Lori ever get back together and if Andi comes back from Cleveland to mend Josh’s broken heart. Of course there’s the usual rash of internet campaigns and petitions to bring the show back, but when did one of those ever work?
It was a sad moment in tv history when the high-ups killed Kyle, and I’ll miss him. But if you want to give him a go then the season 1 DVD boxset is available now in the UK. The US are lucky enough to have season 2 already….
