If you grew up in the early 90s, and your parents weren’t Mennonites or college professors, you probably have many fond memories of watching Nickelodeon’s string of kids’ shows with their own breed of absurd humor – Saved by the Bell knock-offs with tongue-in-cheek writing that was just enjoyable at the time as it is in hindsight. Shows like Pete & Pete and Welcome Freshman made a generation that is most amused by non sequiturs and arbitrary mispronunciations… but I may just be speaking for myself.
This tangent is not completely out of the blue. If you happen to catch tonight’s premiere of VH1’s I Hate My 30s, you’ll probably notice its unusual style is reminiscent of the aforementioned programs – though it follows the social woes of an age group that just missed them. The idea of a sitcom on VH1 does not seem like an intelligent one, but the excessive narration and lack of story make it a more appropriate foray into scripted television for VH1. People who find themselves turning to the channel for Flavor of Love or The Surreal Life will be just as satisfied by I Hate My 30s. They’re also bound to score a few more viewers with the self-referential title that I’m sure will trick less savvy tubers into thinking they’re watching one of their umpteen I *HEART* _____s.
As for me, my motivation is less organic. Stars Liam Sullivan and Rachael Lawrence both appear in the string of Kelly music videos that once dominated my time on YouTube and forever destroyed my vocabulary. It won’t happen on the pilot, but look forward to this Kelly cameo in an upcoming episode: