Flintstones Vitamins And Pregnancy Tests
Watch enough episodes of the CW Network's "Gossip Girl," and going back to high school can seem like an appealing proposition. Amid the designer duds, chauffeur-driven cars, and hotel-suite parties depicted on the small screen, it's easy to forget about the gum-encrusted desks, mystery cafeteria food, and libelous bathroom graffiti that make high school, for most Americans, anything but glamorous.
"High School Confidential," a new eight-episode series that makes its premiere Monday on the WE network, injects a dose of reality into the equation. The show follows real teenage girls through their four years at Blue Valley Northwest High School, situated in Overland Park, Kan., an upper-middle-class community of 163,000 people.
The project was the brainchild of filmmaker (and single mother of a teenage daughter) Sharon Liese, who began interviewing her 12 subjects as freshmen and followed each of them through to their graduation date. Ms. Liese was granted access to the students' homes, house parties, houses of worship, hospital rooms, and, perhaps most notably, their high school. We see the girls race between classrooms and lockers, attend pep rallies, and vie for spots on sports teams and the homecoming court.
"High School Confidential" bears little resemblance to the reality television that viewers have come to expect of late — that is, vulgar and voyeuristic ("Keeping Up With the Kardashians," "The Real Housewives") or service-y and seemingly scripted ( "Bulging Brides," "Clean House"). And it certainly doesn't smack of being rushed out to fill airtime in the wake of a writers' strike, or its aftermath ("Crowned," "Dance War: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann").
Ms. Liese began filming the show in 2002, when reality television was, if not exactly in its infancy, not bursting at the saturation point, either. And, given its scope and sincerity — the filmmaker mostly resists the temptation to jam her subjects into singular, stock classifications (cheerleaders, geeks, rebels, etc.) — the finished product is more in the vein of a documentary. Each episode of "High School Confidential" is self-sustained, focusing on the inner and family lives of one, two, or three girls who reappear only in the final show, culminating with senior prom and graduation festivities.
Among Ms. Liese's subjects is Jessi, who, as a winsome freshman, is anxious about navigating the 1,200-student school and its social hierarchy. "I just found my locker today, and I almost locked myself in it, somehow," she says when we meet her at the beginning of an hour-long show that spans her high school career. In it, Jessi — the only daughter of a single mother — struggles with her schoolwork, descends into a depression for which she is hospitalized, becomes pregnant ("I got on Flintstones vitamins as my prenatal"), and suffers a miscarriage.
Throughout the series, viewers are introduced to a contrastive group of girls. There's Lauren G., who enters high school determined to make the school's drill team, the Dazzlers. ("When she didn't make it, it was devastating for all of us — that was going to be her life," her mother says.) As a sophomore, Lauren clinches a spot on the team, but soon learns that she is suffering from a brain tumor, and requires surgery. There's Cappie, who, as a freshman, disapproves of drinking and promiscuous behavior, but by the 11th grade has earned her reputation as a party girl. ("I don't really drink to the point that I'm throwing up and passing out. That's only happened, like, twice.") There's Kim, an A student who struggles with her perfectionist tendencies. ("If I'm not on the verge of tears, I don't think I'm doing enough.") And, among others, there's Cate, who, having trouble adjusting to her new step-family, resorts to starving and cutting herself. ("I was so mad; I felt like it was a release for me; I used a razor blade.")
The changes that transpire onscreen are worthy of "Extreme Makeover." Sure, we see the baby fat shed, the teeth straightened, and the acne cleared. More drastic, though, are the emotional strides we see the girls make as they face health crises, pregnancy scares, substance abuse, and the sudden deaths of parents and friends. They struggle and err, but most right themselves — at least for the cameras — by the time graduation rolls around.
Unlike "Gossip Girl," "High School Confidential" won't likely influence your haircut or inspire your next shopping spree — and it certainly won't make you nostalgic for your teenage years. But it will make you want to keep watching.
