A.N.T. Farm

Advanced Natural Talent, that's what an ANT is in the world of high school Magic Kingdom style. Some of these kids are stretching the boundaries of what might be talent. One young lady has a photographic memory, another kid makes robots, one is an aspiring gymnast. But our protagonist young Chyna Ann McLain only sings beautifully. All the kids are too young for high school and none of them really fit in, nor do the others try. In fact one of them is Carlon Jeffrey who is Chyna's older brother and he's more of a traditional misfit.

ANT Farm is neither the best or the worst of Disney's juvenile comedy shows. It's like Hannah Montana in that it really only comes alive when a very talented young lady like Miley Cyrus opens up and sings.

This is definitely in the top 3 worst Disney Channel sitcoms. What an obnoxious, loud and unfunny show. Also, this show was Disney trying to create another Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana with China Anne McClain and it flopped miserably.

They even model the characters after the one on Hannah Montana

China = Miley, Olive = Lilly, Fletcher = Oliver, The Dad = Robbie, Cameron = Jackson, Lexi & Paisley = Amber & Ashley

This show's premise is idiotic and makes zero sense. You have these 11 year old's' who skip all the way to high school because they're talented in singing and painting? What??? How are these valid reasons to skip a grade. What a lame idea for a sitcom.

The acting is terrible! Everybody obnoxiously overacts, chews up the scenery and screams their lines. Sierra McCormick obnoxiously yells at her lines and China Anne McClain is a horrible actress with weak comedic timing. I despise that low and high voice thing she does when tries to make a sarcastic joke. Ugh....

The characters all SUCK! China is a Mary Sue who can do wrong, is the best at everything, and everybody loves her except Lexi. I hate her singing. She over sings and thinks she best ever!She's selfish, manipulating, mean, egoistic. Olive is an annoying know it all, Fletcher is a wimp who has a creepy obsession with China, Angus is the annoying loser fat kid, Lexi is a mean girl jerk, Paisley is her dumb side-kick, Cameron is the loser older brother who sucks at everything, the dad is an idiot, the mom is irrelevant, Gibson is the idiot man child guidance mentor, the principal is bitchy old fart, Violet is little girl with anger issues. Poor underdeveloped characters that are obnoxious, detached, and cartoonish.

The plots are stupid and shallow. The "jokes" and comedy are lowest common denominator of childish.

I hate this stupid trend of putting the shows title into the name of the episode. Some of the episode names are (Ballet DANTser, Slumber Party ANTics) So stupid!

They make China's character dress and act older than she is. Why is that? Oh and China Anne McClain has to sing in every single episode just so they make money off albums.

They've completely white washed this show. KC Undercover and That's So Raven are black shows. In this show China and her brother are tokens on their show and are surround by a mostly white cast.

Bottom Line.... this show is utter garbage and a failed attempt at trying to create another Hannah Monatana and iCarly! The only episode I liked was when China lost her voice. We didn't have to hear that obnoxious brat's insufferably annoying singing.

I had no high hopes for this show, and I was right, this show is awful. Let me start with the characters, we have: The smart fun girl(Chyna Parks); The crazy wacky Girl (Olive Doyle) ; And the Guy who hangs out with them (Fletcher Quimby) and has a crush on Chyna. Hasn't iCarly already done this? The characters are 2 dimensional, by that I mean they have no deep character what-so-ever. The acting is mediocre and sounds too forced and fake, making the show quite bad in general. Also, the premise is very simple and plain, I'm assuming the idea was: "Hey! How about we take middle-schoolers, and put them in High School! Genius!" The comedy is very dull and annoying, relying on randomness and visual gags. For example, Chyna opens her locker and a bunch of plastic balls fall out; Fletcher paints his teacher as a skeleton, etc. This show also uses young children in attempt to connect to the audience, which doesn't work.

Take my advice, watch something else.

I have watched Disney Channel since I was 6. At that age, they had some good shows, like Lizzie McGuire and That's So Raven, and Phil of the Future and Life With Derek, as well as So Weird, also worked too. However, with the birth of "Hannah Montana," Disney went majorly down-hill. Wizards and Good luck Charlie were amusing and tolerable, but Fish Hooks is really stupid and annoying -and Shake it Up?!?! Come on, I loathe the THEME SONG of that...that...(It's so dumb I cannot even call it a show.) However, A.N.T. Farm (and maybe their new show,Jessie) may bring Disney, while not to its former prime (that can never happen again), at least a bigger fan base and less patheticness.I think A.N.T. Farm is, while sometimes cheesy,Cute, eye catching, and watchable! I like the principal a LOT, and Wacky The Wolf random appearances,well...that's ant-tastic! Hahahahahahahahhaaaaaaaa! OK, that's enough random ANT-humor.

As much as I did grow up on Disney, I do dislike most of the stuff on the Disney Channel nowadays. I do like very much Sonny with a Chance, Good Luck Charlie and Phineas and Ferb, but there are some like Hannah Montana and Shake it Up that I can't stand, I find those shows irritating and unfunny.

I actually wasn't expecting much from A.N.T Farm, but got far more than I expected and in a good way. I can understand though why some mayn't like A.N.T. Farm, some of it is cheesy(with a rather edgy reference to Satan at one point) and the pilot episode is not as funny or as exciting as the other episodes(the haunted locker episode was one of the better episodes).

That said, I do think A.N.T. Farm has potential to grow. A lot of TV series when they first start are rocky to start with, and get better until they're great. Although A.N.T. Farm has only just started, it's not bad, in fact I like it.

For instance, the production values are well above average, with trendy fashions, sets that don't look tacky and good(if not award-worthy) photography. The music is also very memorable and catchy, with nice melodies and lyrics that make sense and are intelligible.

The writing is amusing mostly, some of it is cheesy, but the dialogue does make me laugh and the jokes are not as clichéd or as stale as they can be on some Disney Channel shows. The story lines may have some predictable moments, but overall they're interesting and well paced.

I personally really like the characters. Chyna is very charismatic and fun, and the actress who plays her seems to be having a ball playing her, but my favourites are Lexi and Olive, played very appealingly by Stefanie Scott and Sierra McCormick. Paisley, Gibson and especially Fletcher are also fun characters. The actors do have chemistry, and I was most surprised by the singing, the lead actress has real talent and could go a long way with a voice like that.

In conclusion, this show to start with is not perfect, but it's far better than expected and has room to grow. 8/10 Bethany Cox