Really Me

When I first came across this show, I didn't expect to like it. You do have to give it a chance to grow on you. The jokes, and all the characters are great. The 2 leads, Sydney Imbeau & Kiana Madeira, play best friends Maddy & Julia and they will charm you. But the characters I found to be the most hilarious are Wesley Morgan's & the SUPER chill-out relaxed producer's assistant, 'Feldman'. Morgan plays the muscular, dim-witted older brother- with some funny, original jokes will surprise you and have you laughing.

It's about a teen girl that wins a contest to get her own reality TV show. The production crew hang around Maddy's home and interact with her and her family. Even the dad and younger brother have some funny lines, PUNS, and antics.

One episode that stands out in my mind is the home-schooling one. Dad says to Brody (Morgan- Grading his 'exam') "You get an H!" ...Brody confused: "An H?! Is that good?!" ... I couldn't help but to laugh. If only I were a straight H student.

Give it a chance before passing judgment on it- you might be surprised. (currently on Netflix, 3/14/18)

This show was so bad I remember watching it as a kid and even then thinking it was too immature and boring. Literally nobody in my elementary school liked it and we were the target demographic. It was the show that would come on and you would watch it solely because up next was Hannah Montana or Life with Derrick, etc. It has become a part of niche Canadian nostalgia in that nobody from anywhere else in the world has heard of it and you really had to be there to have experienced it. This show almost enters the realm of "fever dream" but it sticks out in my mind over other failed Disney/Family shows because it was so distinctly immature and failed to connect with the audience.

It intended to go for "quirky" and bordered on camp but failed, trying to monopolize on the success of iCarly, YouTube and the growing interest children and tweens had with the internet, kid run content, etc. Where it failed was that the demographic that was the most interested in that brand of media were older/more mature than the gags the show tried to make. This show essentially scrapbooked together troupes and themes from other kids shows at the time but the execution and script just didn't work and it didn't land. Instead of going for something unique it felt like a bad copy and it was very obvious, even then, what shows it was imitating. Specifically: Hannah Montana, Big Time Rush, iCarly and Sonny with a Chance.

On a side note though: I love to see how the actors and others associated with this project have risen from this rough start- specifically Kiana, has gone on to become an absolute POWERHOUSE in Hollywood. It is also interesting to see how The Beaches (then Done with Dolls) made the theme song for this show and have become such a well established band creating hits that have reached mainstream audiences and attention.

This show is pretty much trying to copy the success of that other show for tween girls iCarly. I'm not a fan of that show either at all but in terms of the quality of a TV show iCarly is much better than Really Me. Basically Really Me had about the same level of acting, namely not great acting but for a show like this with basically just kids in it what level of acting can you actually expect? Actually to be honest I thought the kids/actors/characters in Really Me were less annoying than the ones on iCarly, who make me want to pull my own hair and scream every time they painfully deliver a line of dialogue. But the show is a lot cheaper and the main problem is that the stories are super old rehashes of the same stories we've all seen before over the years, just like iCarly, but the writing and jokes are even worse than what iCarly has to offer, which is hart to believe. Do yourself a favour and skip this show, it is terrible.