Higher Ground

I love "Higher Ground" so much. I have been watching since the start and it is SO cool! The characters are so true and they deliver the messages so well. One would think that this would be another show like "7th Heaven" or something, where a new problem arises in every episode (unless the run out and just have it happen to someone else). No, this show carefully weaves in the dilemmas and concentrates on them in many episodes. Very real. Problems just don't go away like some shows make it seem. All the actors are great (Jewel Staite and Hayden Christensen...MY FAVS) and help make this show count!

If you're looking for 'Dawson's Creek,' this is not it. If you want mushy characters who fall apart when their clothes don't match, this is not it. If you want a show that is realistic, dramatic, thoughtful, and well-acted, look no further. 'Higher Ground' is it.

Located 25 miles from the nearest town, Mount Horizon High School is a school for teens who were struggling with their lives. The show focuses on one group of these teens, the Cliffhangers, the director of the school, and a few counselors. One teen is a vandal, one had an eating disorder, several were on drugs, and a couple were sexually abused. As their individual stories unfold, we can see deeper into their hearts, as well as our own.

Joe Lando (who plays Peter Scarbrow, the director of the school) makes an outstanding return to TV drama, and other standout performances include those of Hayden Christensen (playing Scott Barringer), A.J. Cook (playing Shelby Merrick), and Jewel Staite (playing Daisy Lipenowski).

It is utterly believable, thoughtful, poignant, and wonderful. You will cry with these teens, and you will love and want to understand each of them.

I was 15 when the show first aired and for once I saw a show that dealt with the same issues that I was dealing with in the beginning of my teenage years. The directors picked a different "Teenage Issue" every week. I thought this show like Freaks and Geeks was untimely canceled, but now with Hayden Christensen in the Star Wars Movie, there may be hope to rerun the previous episodes. This show was excellently written and directed and had an awesome breakthrough cast. I hope this show is put back on TV. Its a pity that this show was never able to shine.

First off, I would like to preface this by saying that I am a male that is probably twice the age of the average person that watched this show. That being said, I absolutely love(d) this show. My niece bought the shows off of e-bay and told me to watch the tapes, being that I am a high school teacher she thought I might like it. She was right. I thought the acting was outstanding and the stories very touching. I often see kids with many of the same attitudes/feelings and I can relate to some of the kids based on feelings that I had and currently have, although not quite to the extent of the characters on the show.

This show helps make me want to be a better teacher to all my kids, especially the ones that seem troubled. I have never seen a show that has made an impact like that on my career, and for that I am thankful. It's really too bad that with all the crap on television now days that a show that is inspirational in a positive way falls through the cracks.

Current TV shows reflecting the lives of teenagers are getting

pretty dismal and irritating because they all centralize on the

same themes of dead-end relationships and sex. "Dawson's Creek"

is a nauseous example. However, with the new hit TV drama

"Higher Ground," the genre of the teen drama is getting a new

image and personality. Hayden Christianson and Joe Lando head

this rugged show about emotional troubled teens who are sent to

a boot camp called Horizon. Their primary objectives in that one

camp is definitely not to fish, eat toasted marshmellows or to

sing songs around the campfire. Oh no. These adolescents are

sent there to encounter their inner troubles and to find a

better well being. In other words, those kids are being trained

to "straighten up and fly right."

With great dramatical performances by the cast, "Higher Ground"

is not a typical kid soap opera. This show is