Faking It

This series is still in its second episode and I find it quite enjoyable, but I don't know whether I should be outraged by it or not.

On one hand, I feel like it could be an attempt at representing the LGBTQIA community (or at least homosexuals) in a show that feels light and portrays an acceptant society; on the other, I fear it might be just exploiting an under-represented group to create humorous situations.

The series itself is fun, its fast pace and short episodes are quite successful at catching one's attention and the situations the characters are put in are a mix of uniqueness (due to the alternative setting they find themselves in) and typicality of teenage drama shows.

Considering the girls are neither actively lesbians (at the beginning, at least - Karma is probably bisexual, Amy COULD be a lesbian), nor too familiar with the queer community, the misconceptions seem to be justifiable, but it worries me that people who don't have considerable understanding of queerness might take them as true.

The story has a lot of potential to become an inspiration to teenagers who are struggling with their sexual identities, but it needs to be developed with caution, considering our society isn't as acceptable as the girls' school.

"Faking It" is, of course, MTV's new scripted teen comedy series, following the unwanted departure of "The Hard Times of RJ Berger" and on the heels of the wildly popular "Awkward." (the best scripted comedy series MTV has put out in the last four years and which I sadly suspect may be on its way off the air and into television oblivion once this new season is up).

Like everything else MTV, "Faking It" is comic, edgy trashiness of the first degree; in the 21st century, comic and edgy trashiness of the first degree is an absolute must for modern television programming, especially when it comes to MTV. And yet, like "Awkward." and "Hard Times," there's something oddly compelling about it, even moving.

Because it's only the first episode, a brief synopsis should be sufficient: life-long best friends - the social-climbing, un-ironically named Karma Ashcroft (Katie Stevens) and her gal-pal, the cynical, straight-laced Amy Raudenfeld (Rita Volk) - are a pair of desperate wannabes looking to fit into their liberal-minded, open and socially accepting Austin, Texas, high school, where even they appear to be outsiders desperately looking to join in on the club.

Before you know it, a series of misunderstandings and innuendos unexpectedly propels both girls into the celebrity limelight, where they are mistakenly "outed" as, and thus decide to pretend to be, lesbians, much to the satisfaction of the openly gay king bee Shane Harvey (Michael Willett), and the detriment of their mutual nemesis and resident mean girl/wannabe queen bee Lauren Cooper (Bailey Buntain), who is also Amy's new step-sister.

My impression from this first episode is that "Faking It" looks quite promising. "Faking It" looks to be an inspired take on the lengths we'll go to "fake it" in order to just fit in, bullying, intolerance, and 21st-century political-correctness. This goes to show that like "Awkward." and "The Hard Times of RJ Berger," and just because it's MTV, it may not be as dumb as it appears to be at first.

To their credit, and to our amazement, "Faking It" looks to do the impossible, and that is to be a scripted MTV teen comedy series that actually says something about our 21st-century perceptions of tolerance and acceptance (that it's even saying something at all is a magical feat in and of itself).

Things are looking good, so far...

8/10

Everything you need to know to decide whether to watch this awesome show!

Watch if you: 1. Like funny shows! 2. Are in high school 3. Confused about your sexuality 4. Love your best friend

Do not watch if: 1. You are not tolerant of the LGBT community

Yes, I cannot think of any other reason not to watch this amazing show! I love the main characters. They all have great development and the story line is good. You'll find yourself rooting for almost all of them while laughing out loud at the same time. I watched the entire first season in a matter of few hours and find myself eagerly waiting for the second season. This show sneaked up on me and took me by surprise.

In my opinion this show (on MTV) is primarily meant for teens. Now i have read some user reviews that find it stupid, offensive, too stereotypic etc etc. . .

Well OK i'm not a teen anymore - in fact it's been some thirty years since i was a teen - but i know that gay/lesbian teens are still as uncertain and uncomfortable with their feelings and emotions as WE were some thirty years ago. Now back in those days we didn't have shows like FAKING IT where we could see that it is in fact OK to be gay/lesbian; that it is just another sexual orientation and that there's nothing wrong with being attracted to the same sex!

So the way i see it, it is very good having this show (although some find it lame or stereotypic or whatever . . !) and i hope it reaches and helps gay/lesbian teens in the difficult process of self-acceptance and dealing with their sexual orientation!

You definitely have to watch more than one episode. I like how the teenages actually swear, how they make fun of highschool television and how out there they went with it. Even made references to Glee haha. I think anyone who is a TV Buff should definitely just try it. The acting is fairly good too. I liked it cause it made something so unoriginal (highschool TV) original in the way it was made. Yeah it has stereotypes eg. beautiful girls unpopular, uncool kids cool and what not but thats the whole point of it. Using the typical aspects and doing something different with them eg. lesbian theme, irony and swearing.