La Vie selon Annie

When I first saw Naturally Sadie I was naturally bored, but I slowly got into it. The show is not Disney's normal real-life-but-exaggerated-which-is-mainly-gags. The show is not centered around a teenage girl who is obsessed with looks, boys, and shopping. The main character, Sadie Harthorn, is quite the opposite. Sadie is into nature and science. In each episode she tries to figure out the strange ways of teenage life by comparing it to animals. Like most Disney Channel shows, this one has two stories going on. One with the main character and one with someone close to the main character, in this show it's usually one of Sadie's two friends. The show does tend to drag on and get boring at parts, but you need to remember that it is not much of a humor show like That's So Raven and Phil of the Future. It certainly is a naturally unique show.

I was skeptical about this show when it premiered on the Disney Channel, but in just a few months, I think it is finally starting to catch on. The show centers around Sadie Hawthorne, a high school science buff who specializes in life sciences. The show follows her observations of the unique species of wildlife known commonly as "teenagers."

I love the idea that Sadie compares teenage behavior to animal behavior. It really gives us an interesting view of teenage life that would probably have gone unnoticed.

The show is not as funny as other Disney Channel shows, like Even Stevens, Lizzie McGuire, or That's So Raven, but it's still funny in its own unique way, thanks in part to Sadie's friends, like Hal, Rain and Mallory.

All in all, I hope this show is around for a long time.

"Naturally Sadie" is very atypical of the current Disney Channel lineup, probably because it is made by a Canadian production company. The Canadian writers have actually managed to create a cerebral children's show, inside a package that is like a blend of 'The Saddle Club" and "Even Stevens".

It probably would be a better fit on Discovery Kids because it is a bit over the head of the standard Disney Channel viewer (at least judging by some of the comments and messages on IMDb). "Zack and Cody", "Hannah Montana", and "Raven" are basically "I Love Lucy" episodes in content (zany slap-slick with little attention to a theme) and much like "The Honeymooners" in their cartoonish production design. So you would not expect many in that audience to connect with something like "Naturally Sadie", which actually has a message as well as a realistic look.

"Naturally Sadie" is really working on three levels. There is a commentary by the title character (Charlotte Arnold-who looks like a younger and shorter Misha Barton) relating the human world to the animal world, this is sometimes a voice-over and other times Sadie looks directly into the camera and talks to viewers. There are the standard teen comedy adventures centering on family and school. Finally, there is the friendship dynamic between Sadie and her two best friends, Margaret Browning-Lesveque (Jasmine Richards) and Rain Papadakis(Michael D'Ascenzo). The writers give each episode a semi-serious theme, often about this friendship dynamic.

"Naturally Sadie" is more like a coming of age feature film than a television show. The nature emphasis is appropriately symbolic of Sadie's growth. Each episode she learns something, gains more perspective, and grows wiser.

With her red hair and freckles, Arnold is effortlessly charming and like the other younger members of the cast has become considerably more polished as the series has progressed. The newest episodes show a nuance and subtlety in her acting that was not there when the series started.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

Now, if we all realize that there are a finite number of plots a Teen show can have, it is easy to see that Naturally Sadie (NS) is one of the better shows out there right now. Early teens who "grew up" with Lizzie Macguire will only recognize the similar plots, but viewers who take the long view will see that NS has a fresh take on the teen show. The title character is interested in things other than how she looks or what boys think of her (though there is a boy involved). It took me a few episodes top "get into" NS, but now I recognize it as being the best thing out there in the Jr high category. It is much better than the gimmick-reliant "That is so Raven," and "Phil of the Future." I place it slightly ahead of "Drake and Josh," which is the second best show in this age range.

I just saw a couple of episodes of Disneychannel's newest show, and I don't think it's bad at all. It's about Sadie, who is a nature freak (in a good way) and her friends. You get inside her head as she tells you how she handles her social problems. Sadie Hawthorne is a 14-year-old freshman in high school with grades to die for and social skills to run away from. You travel with her through her first weeks in high school as she gets tangled up in all sort of situation that happen to the average freshman girl. I like this show. It's no FRIENDS, but I'm sure that it'll run for a few seasons.

Sadie is a normal girl who just enjoys life the way to comes to her. I love the way you can see her think, literally! You kinda see her head telling you her dilemma's in a picture frame, which is stuck in a scrapbook. It gives quite a cool effect actually! She gets into all sorts of situations that, just like any other disneychannel series, tells you about the do's and don'ts of teenage life. This is a definite watch for the 9- 15 year old!