The Hard Times of RJ Berger

"The Hard Times of RJ Berger" is a mildly entertaining comedy from the good folks over at MTV. This is a strange and very scandalous show (I suspect that an unrated DVD is in the works) that walks a very fine line between John Hughes-style teen comedy and full-blown adult sex romp (like "American Pie" combined with "The 40-Year-Old Virgin").

"Hard Times" follows the comic misadventures in love and lust of high schooler R.J. Berger (Paul Iacano) as he lusts after the pretty popular girl Jenny Swanson (Amber Lancaster). Of course there's an overweight best friend, and his name is Miles (Jareb Dauplaise). Even though R.J. is unlucky with the ladies, he has no idea that another classmate named Lily (Kara Taitz) is actually lusting AFTER HIM, and she's always trying her best to lure him into her clutches with many scandalous come-ons that are just too scandalous to list here.

This is a mildly funny and entertaining teen comedy with OK acting performances from its cast. R.J. is a likable lead character who is representative of all the high school nerds who were over-looked in those days by all the pretty popular girls. His friend Miles is pretty much the typical best friend and provides many of the show's best comedic moments and mature-rated dialogue.

But being that this is MTV, they have no problem whatsoever giving teenage characters sensationally raunchy dialogue and portraying them as horny, under-sexed outsiders (what else are such characters to be in these types of set-ups?). But this is MTV; what else do you expect? I wouldn't advise teenagers to watch this show because of the adult-sounding dialogue, but my warning has no meaning here. I stated my case, and it's up to today's teens if they want to watch this show.

8/10

This is one of the funniest shows that I have every watched. Everything about it is funny, but the story writer to this TV show kind of sucks. I'm not going to spoil it for you but the show kind of went out of its purpose for viewers in the second season. They should at least make the kid RJ still chase his dream, or if not slowly go back to his dream. Even though he stopped chasing his dream, the show still makes me curious of the next episode.

I am going to definitely miss this show. This is a show that every teen would love because it is straight forward to a high school teens life. I guarantee that if this show was on non cable channel like ABC, Fox, or CBS, it would be one of the most famous shows because every teen will like it.

R.J. Berger (Paul Iacono) is a teenage loser who is picked on. When a jock pulls down his pants, a big surprise is revealed. Miles Jenner (Jareb Dauplaise) is RJ's best friend. He's pretty good as the big fat friend. Lily Miran (Kara Taitz) has a longterm crush on RJ. She does a funny creepy aggressive friend. Jenny Swanson (Amber Lancaster) is the cheerleader crush of RJ. She's kinda stiff.

This is an MTV show. While Paul has the geeky look, he looks much older than 15. There are a lot of sexually inappropriate story lines. Some of which are hilarious, while others are cringe worthy.... really really creepy. It lasted 2 seasons or 24 episodes. There was a noticeable drop in the 2nd season, and I really wouldn't want a 3rd season.

At first I did not expect much of this show, but it surprised me. Paul Lacono is funny and believable as RJ Berger. Amber Lancaster is very beautiful and sweet, even though she plays a 16 year old while she is 30 (Looks young enough though!) But the person who steals the show is Jareb Dauplaise as sidekick Miles Jenner! This guy is hilarious and has a very nice energy on screen. It makes me wanna watch more of his work! I've seen about 8 episodes and it's still funny. I surely hope they will keep up this level of entertainment. I'm very curious where the storyline will take us. Sure, it will probably not win an Emmy, but it's more then worth watching the adventures of this nerd. The only shame is that all the curse words are bleeped out. That's a bit childish, but maybe that's because I'm European and they can swear on TV here. Go and watch this, it will make you laugh or you will enjoy every second Amber Lancaster is on the screen.

I was not expecting much from this series at first, but I actually liked it after getting into it. It was really hilarious and totally kept me entertained. Over the years I kinda kept away from MTV because most of the programming seemed to be reality based. Now I feel a little bit more interested in MTV now that I found a series that is funny and somewhat interesting.

The guy that played RJ Berger has some talent in teen comedy, I wasn't expecting much from the cast but that guy is funny.

Hopefully we will see more from this hilarious show!!

10/10