Wildfire

I'm 22 and certainly not a girly girl. This was a friends suggestion and I started watching it with no small amount of trepidation.

And I was very happily surprised! The characters have more depth than I've come to expect from teen dramas and having watched a several episodes of the O.C and various series of a similar vein I have to say - This blows them out of the water.

The main character is also a fabulous role model for any younger teens watching the series, its truly refreshing to see a strong character with a bit of bite and without the vain flailing most series seem to give their female leads.

The biggest praise I can give is to tell anyone reading to -watch- it. No matter age or anything else, give it a try.

"Wildfire" isn't exactly a breakthrough teen drama series, by any means. Much of the dialogue wouldn't be out of place in an episode of "Dawson's Creek" or "The OC," and neither, to some extent, would be the story "Wildfire" tells. And yet, the show has a real charm that makes it just fun to watch.

Kris Furillo (Genevieve Cortese) is a girl who seems to specialize in being in the wrong place at the wrong time. When we first meet her, she's a prisoner at a juvenile detention facility, paying for the crime of helping to steal a car and resisting arrest. In her time in prison, she's not only "learned a little discipline" (which, after watching a couple episodes of the show, really makes you wonder what she was like BEFORE she got locked up) but also learned to ride and love horses, with the help of Pablo Betart (Greg Serano). Betart, an ex-con himself, also works at a horse ranch called Raintree, which is owned by the Ritters: Jean, Jean's father, and Jean's two sons, Matt and Todd. As Kris settles into life at Raintree, she makes really good friends -- Pablo, the Ritters (Matt in particular), Matt's friend, Junior Davis -- and really bad enemies -- Matt's ex-girlfriend Dani Davis and her friends, and others that seem to just keep on coming. Watch as Kris faces challenges and learns more about horses, and herself.

It's a guilty pleasure show, but it's definitely a pleasure. "Wildfire" airs Monday nights at 8pm on ABC family. The DVDs for the first season are available in some stores, and episodes are easy to buy on iTunes, for $1.99 each!

I love this show. It is kind of like "The O.C.", except for a family crowd. And a little gender role reversal. It's great. The guys are cute, and the people have issues. That is all I ask for in a good TV show. I hope that the story lines maintain their greatness. So far, the quality hasn't declined, like many other shows I have seen. I will continue to watch this show, and I encourage everyone else to watch it, too. I'm glad that I can watch it with my parents without having to have any embarrassing talks about weird stuff that I get when I watch "The O.C." And I also love the horses. They are so beautiful. Especially Wildfire himself. I love this show! Yay!

I'm on season 1 and the acting is horrible but the storyline makes watch and now I can't stop.

My 14 year old horse loving daughter loves this show which means that the entire house has to watch.

I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the writing and acting of some characters--notably Genevieve Cortese, Arye Gross, and the especially talented Nana Visitor. Sadly, all of the acting is not of that quality. Greg Serano as Pablo seems stiff and stoic in every scene.

Production quality could be stepped up a bit, but I suspect they're squeezing everything possible from the budget.

There have been a few scenes that might be too sexually charged or violent for young children, but the rating system works. Use it if you have young children watching television.