“The Best Years” Season 1 (2007, The-N), episodes 1-10 – The summer’s most impressive new series, “The Best Years,” is enough to cure any doldrums. The hour-long drama airs on The-N, so it’s mostly ignored by mainstream TV media, but the adventures of Samantha Best (Charity Shea) at fictional Charles University will provide breezy fun to those willing to click higher up the dial.
Executive produced by Aaron Martin, “The Best Years” doesn’t reinvent the genre, but it does punch it up.
Like every campus-based show, it boasts a hot hangout spot, but Colony seems just a little more glitzy and exciting than the norm. The school grounds have an Ivy League look, and while there are snobbish characters such as Sam’s nemesis Kathryn (Jennifer Miller), most of these folks are quite relatable.
Give “The Best Years” credit for being a bit edgier than its ilk. The pilot goes through the standard steps of having Sam make friends, but it pulls a fast one by having one fall to his death from a roof during a drinking binge.
The cliche-dodging character would’ve made a great addition to the case – he was built like an offensive lineman but had a love for the finer arts – but thankfully, he’s the rule, not the exception.
The female and male leads – Shea and Brandon Jay McLaren, who plays hoops star Devon Sylver – both have wonderfully expressive faces upon which any emotion can be pasted. Unlike the jerks on “Greek,” Sam and Devon are mature, polite people – but not so mature that they don’t have the usual classroom and relationship problems.
Sam was raised in foster homes and barely got into college thanks to a generous scholarship. Because she doesn’t fit a stereotype, she has been able to make friends with a member of just about every clique.
In addition to jock Devon, Sam also pals around with Canadian Noah (Randal Edwards), who puts a less-annoying spin on the comic-relief role, and Korean Cynthia (Siu Ta), the sweet studious girl who is trying to reinvent herself at college.
Thematically, “The Best Years” is standard fare for the teen-courting N – Sam, Devon, Noah and Cynthia find themselves in a love rectangle within three episodes – but it has fun pushing the boundaries. Unisex showers – why not? It is TV, after all.
Cynthia is a fan of “Bel-Air High,” which stars Dawn (Athena Karkanis), who is, conveniently, also one of Sam’s friends. “Bel-Air High” is a blatant parody of over-the-top “Degrassi” plotlines; “Degrassi” actors even guest-star in the clips.
Granted, this is essentially self-parody – producer Martin cut his teeth on “Degrassi” and the shows draw the exact same audience. But the inside jokes demonstrate a willingness to create a community that the Big Five networks, with their increasingly split audiences, can only dream about.
Tune into “The Best Years,” and you’ll find that Sam and her buddies will quickly become your friends, Colony will become your favorite nightclub and that marketing class project will suddenly be the only thing in the world that matters.
As a drama, “The Best Years” is solid. But, rare in today’s TV climate, it’s also just plain fun to be a part of.
If you watch
What: “The Best Years” Season 1
When: 7:30 p.m. Fridays
Network: The-N
Grade: B+
– John Hansen, ” ‘Best Years’ is summer’s best new program,” Brainerd Dispatch, July 26, 2007