Naturally, Sadie

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!

Many in America have unfairly criticized this new Disney Channel TV-series as being yet another "Lizzie McGuire," simply because the show is for and about a girl in her early teens. For the record, I'd like to point out that this is a Canadian TV-show, and that shows like "American Dragon; Jake Long," and "The Suite Life of Zack & Cody" don't have preteen girls as main characters at all, even if Brenda Song & Ashley Tisdale outshine the Sprouse Twins.

Charlotte Arnold, who looks more like Emma Taylor-Isherwood of "Strange Days at Blake Holsey High," plays Sadie Hawthore, an aspiring animal, insect, and reptile biologist in her freshman year at R.B. Bennett High School, who thinks the laws that apply to nature apply to the ways of mankind as well. Her best friends, Margaret Browning-Lesveque(Jasmine Richards) and Rain Papadakis(Michael D'Ascenzo) are a fashion queen and an unlucky guy respectively. Her older brother Hal(Justin Bradley), is a standard goof-ball, jerky-idiot sibling with a fledgling rock band. She also has a crush on a boy on the school football team named Owen Anthony(Kyle Kassadjian, who shortened his name), but unlike Lizzie McGuire's Ethan Kraft, and Daria's Kevin Thompson, he actually has a brain under that helmet(Also, Daria didn't have a crush on Kevin).

No, Charlotte Arnold is no Hilary Duff, and while that's not a condemnation of Duff, it's still fine with me. It's also what makes her such a likable character. The show itself was written by those who wrote the Canadian kid's show "Our Hero," but you can easily figure that out by the narration between the scenes. Perhaps fewer Americans have seen those shows and that's why they make a false comparison to Lizzie. And while other children's programming that's shown on both cable television and network affiliates get the "Educational/Informative" label in order to fend off the wrath of anti-media zealots, this one deserves such a label.

When I originally wrote this comment, the show was focused on Sadie's love of nature. In the second season, that primary feature, which is what made both the main character and the show so unique, is slowly being whittled away. Not that this is enough to make me turn away from the show, but I can only hope the natural aspect of it isn't completely forgotten.

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.

"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.

Many people felt that the first season was unworthy of their time and patience and this was well true, NOW however they have fixed it up and made it more teen and less animal planet. Give it ANOTHER chance, PLEASE, you will NOT be sorry!! It is much easier to watch and there's a new romance. GIVE it another shot you WON'T regret it! They have all had a makeover. Sadie still loves her animals, but she has mellowed down, gotten more girly and has a new crush. Margaret has straightened her hair and Rain has gotten his braces taken off. This has made is appeal to wider audiences. I too felt like most of you during the first season but it's like the first season never happened. Give it a fresh start!