User reviews

I'm 25, and a straight male, so I'm going to have to fake it here: "Awkward." is one of the best new shows on MTV right now, which unfortunately in this day and age, does not really count for much. After a myriad of repeats of everything from "Teen Mom" to "Jersey Shore," it's nice to see a decent teen comedy show on the air once again.

I really mean it when I say that "Awkward." is a decent show. No, correction: it's an above average show that manages to actually be very funny, in addition to being very raunchy. Think about MTV's other semi-good teen comedy series, "The Hard Times of RJ Berger." Like "Hard Times," "Awkward." has been easily influenced by the recent wave of popular teen comedies at the movies, most notably 2010's "Easy A" (this show's premise borrows a central plot element from that film).

"Awkward." is also heavily influenced by the films of the late John Hughes (1950-2009), that Brat Pack filmmaker behind such classics as "Sixteen Candles" (1984), "The Breakfast Club" (1985) (my personal favorite), and "Pretty in Pink" (1986). Using those movies as an influence for its plot basis, "Awkward." tells the story of Jenna Hamilton (Ashley Rickards), a virtual 15-year-old nobody at a posh Southern California high school. She narrates the show through her online blog postings.

It's clearly established early on that Jenna is in fact, quite wise beyond her years, so obviously that has got to make her a target from the more popular students. Rickards is able to give her character a sense of humanity and vulnerability, and Social "Awkward"-ness, that makes her seem like a real person and not a Molly Ringwald stereotype (a moment extremely late in the third episode really makes this clear). In fact, Rickards's Jenna Hamilton and Ringwald's bright-and-beautiful-but-socially-rejected John Hughes-era characters - Samantha Baker in "Sixteen Candles" and Andie Walsh in "Pretty in Pink," namely - are so close in age (and emotional maturity) that it's entirely possible that Jenna *could* be Ringwald's offspring from those years.

During the summer, Jenna had a brief affair with Matty (Beau Mirchoff), the hottest hunk in school, and said affair ultimately resulted in her losing her virginity. The problem is that Jenna and every other girl in school is lusting after Matty, who does in fact appear to have genuine feelings for Jenna but does not want to take their relationship public, for obvious reasons. As the season begins, the new school year has just started and we're shown Jenna's daily life as a societal outcast at her school, her promiscuous best friend Tamara (Jillian Rose Reed), and her overweight cheer-leading nemesis - and resident mean girl/queen bee - Sadie (Molly Tarlov).

Before you know it, a freak accident one night in her bathroom results in a misconstrued rumor that Jenna had tried to commit suicide, and the rumor mill at her school goes ballistic with the news. A la Emma Stone's social-climbing Olive Pendergast in "Easy A," Jenna is thrust to the top of the high school social ladder - she's the new "it" girl that everyone is talking about, for better or for worse - and she also has to deal with the common trials & tribulations of being a socially Awkward teenager on the verge of adulthood.

"Awkward." is a genuinely funny and entertaining show, if you have a thing for teen shows. Sure it rehashes a lot of what we've seen in the past to the point that it's pretty much overkill. And Lord knows we've seen enough teen comedies over the years to know what to expect from shows like this. But where "Awkward." gets points is, I think, is its knowledge of its influences, namely the works of John Hughes. Hughes was known for complex, yet uniquely human portrayals of teenagers in his films and "Awkward." appears to display some of the humanist complexities that Hughes had made his trademark back in the '80s. You can see it with Jenna and how torn she is between Matty and another popular hunk named Jake (Brett Davern).

With this in mind, this series definitely shows promise, promise that I hope is not squandered on stupid sex jokes, humor, and raunchiness - although there is already plenty of that here.

Awkward.

8/10

I've watched every episode of 'Awkward' from start to finish. The drama, acting, and comedy are well produced and it seems like MTV didn't even create this show that has almost everyone begging for more. Season two had me on edge the whole entire time, the plots were great. I've never seen that much good acting on a show produced by MTV before.

Stereotypes kind of take away from the show though, there's the classic "girl who wants to be popular" (Tamara), "sexually attached girl" (Jenna), etc. MTV has a big problem with creating stereotypes with every show they have created.

In conclusion, Awkward. is a great show that has a little stupidness in it like every other show.

Not the typical, American teenagers lives are perfect show and there's no singing or dancing after every drama.

Awkward shows how life can be brutal for kids in school and there there are a lot of bitches about, everybody can relate to something in there one way or another, but does also address some serious issues like weight and depression. Just a funny and honest show, with a big personality that everyone whatever sex you are can enjoy can enjoy. :')

Plus the episodes aren't enormous so you won't get sick of it by the time next weeks episode is released, you'll be looking forward to your snippet of class teen comedy.

Would highly recommend. 10/10 hilarious.

This show is amazing and while the writing may be a bit over the top, it addresses real life issues not only teens face, but adults as well with a great message. The lead, Ashley Rickards, brings a realism and unique style to the show that makes us all love Jenna and relate to her struggles.

The supporting actors all work great together. The two male leads balance each other well. Each bring depth to their characters and present Jenna with two very different alternatives (physical vs. intellectual attraction). We all are waiting to see if she recognizes this and if so, how will she deal with it.

The rest of the supporting staff, while over the top at times with their delivery and energy, do bring good humor and balance to the show and story line.

Each show ends with me wanting to know more. MTV has finally gotten it right. I LOVE it.

This show really captured my interest right from the first episode. Since I have both a son and daughter (now grown), I thought the show did a great job of showing the entire convoluted ecosystem high school kids live in, and what it looks like from their perspective (clearly, often a complete minefield). The stories are clever, well written, and interesting, 3 things sadly lacking in about 95% of TV content today. The cast is great, from Jenna right to the evil cheerleader. I didn't really expect to find this kind of show anywhere, MTV was a true surprise, and I think a lot of people (no matter what age) will enjoy this, if they ever find it. Maybe a bit too spicy for younger kids, but very impressive for everyone else.

If you consider the first three seasons this show is a 10/10

Everything after that is a slow decline which will make you wish the producers had the common sense to let the show end with dignity.

OK, technically, I should be too old for this show. I'm at the point in my life when I should be over the shows about high school kids. And I am. Except for this show. I'm in my 20s (still a kid, I know, but certainly far removed from a sophomore in high school). This show is witty. It has me laughing out loud in every episode. I am usually patient about new episodes of my favorite shows. With this show, however, I yell at my TV with the episode ends. I wish it was an hour-long. I have never been more excited to hear about a show being renewed for another season. But I digress...

Jenna is quirky and smart. Yes, she's awkward, but in the most lovable of ways. She has impeccable taste in men, and I couldn't be more proud of the growth of her character in this show. I love watching ALL these characters grow. They are actually maturing, and I can't wait to see where the writers take them. Most of the characters are relatable. (We all knew "that girl" or "that guy" in high school). And they're lovable too. Or, you know, "love to hate"- every good show has one of those.

Anyway, give it a chance. It won't disappoint. Even if you're well past high school (like this quarter century old gal (plus or minus a few years...)).

While it's combination of almost surreal humor and real emotion can sometimes be… well… awkward, the first season is still among the better and more honest series about teenagers I've seen.

I'm a male over 50, so I'm certainly not the target audience for this MTV show about a spunky blogging 15 year old girl dealing with the confusions and absurdities of sex, love, high school social politics, and well meaning but humorously dysfunctional parents and guidance counselors.

But after friends recommended it I started watching and found I appreciated it's frankness, quirky characters and good natured humor. I also liked how it dealt with issues like sex and drinking as simply a part of teenage life, neither preaching morality (kids have sex and no one gets pregnant, they know to wear condoms, and they do sometimes get their hearts broken) nor striving to shock.

The acting is all over the place, often cartoony, and a number of characters are little more than comic clichés, but as the the show goes along a surprising number of them reveal new sides and new depth. If not quite great, Awkward season 1 is quite good and very easy to enjoy... if you don't mind bringing back some of your own awkward memories as you realize the teen years really aren't so different now.

The second season seemed weaker to me, it started to push plot twists over character, and began to feel a little soapy. It still is a cut above average, but in reaching for more tension and 'what will happen?' moments, it lost some of the easy looseness that made season 1 so much fun.

I love this show and these kind of shows are under valued and always seem to be taken off the air before people can form a proper opinion about them. I really hope they don't do that with this show because it is probably one of the only decent shows on TV at the moment, everything that shows some form of promise seems to be thrown out for more and more idiotic reality TV shows that show no more reality than a pig on skates.

This TV show actually shows the problems that can happen to teenagers nowadays instead of dramatizing unlikely events for the sake of ratings.

I highly recommend 'Awkward', definitely shouldn't be missed.

:D

I'm not a teen and haven't been for... well, let's just say a long time. This is entertaining and amusing for adults, even if there are some typical ridiculous sitcom moments and characters.

Things start to go off the rails in season 4 and by season 5 it becomes a train wreck. The ridiculous characters have graduated to simply insane and even the main characters are acting nuts. I find myself skipping big chunks of each episode and I'm not sure I'm going to keep going.

Edit: I'm done @episode 15.

I am so, so relieved to see other reviewers near my age range (26) have been watching this AND praising it. To be honest, I was a little embarrassed to be watching this show at my age and actually the pilot didn't capture me, but then recently I saw the ads here for the Matty / Jake conflict on MTV (Spain's a bit slower on the release dates!) and boy was I hooked, watched it online from the 2nd season backwards. It is SO damn funny! And well paced! Great comedic actors and timing. Setting, good story, man it's all there but it's really the writing that gets me.

It is so well written, it's a show I could only dream of writing one day. I watch it with my husband sitting in the background and even he is snickering (he is 37!)

"What's with all the long faces in here, is it a Sarah Jessica parker party or what?"

Ha come on, that's an amazing line!! I think there is also something to that comment since Jenna writes a blog, Carrie wrote articles... underlying theme there to hash out their thoughts/emotions on the computer to figure out how they're feeling. I think it's an element that really makes the show work. For me mainly it's the adults that steal the show, they only have brief appearances, but my god, so many great lines. Adults saying/acting what they all probably think but would never say. The mum is just superb!

"Oh don't be upset, drink more wine, pretty soon it'll start to taste like love".

Ha, amazing! But teens might not get those lines... The little Jenna love story it's so cute, almost twilight themed I felt. LOVE LOVE LOVE this show. I could about it write all night, but I'm sure most of you have stopped reading by now.

I can't wait to see Season 3, I applaud the writers! We want more!!

Relaxing and refreshing

Let's face it, this is an MTV series, which lowers expectations by default. Also, this is a teenage "coming of age" melodramatic comedy. Expectations go down a few more steps. Now, when you start watching "Awkward" from this starting point, the series will certainly not disappoint you. What's more, for its genre and production, it is above average.

The story is quite realistic, without excessive drama and without excessive caricature, just as awkward as the life of an average high school student is. All technical and essential aspects are at a satisfactory level, nothing spectacularly good, but there are no major flaws either. The actors are charismatic with good mutual chemistry, the pacing is well measured and, if you don't have too high expectations, the series will honestly entertain you, occasionally make you genuinely laugh, and even cause a tear here and there.

Its biggest drawback is the drop in quality from season to season. While some respect only the first season, some defend the next two as well, while the last one is really an unnecessary stretch, although without it the story would remain incomplete. The strongest asset, at least from my perspective, is that it is natural, unartificial, unencumbered by the aggressive Woke culture/propaganda that increasingly dominates television.

7/10.

First of all. I'm writing this after watching episode 21 of season 4.

Awkward is your typical 'high-school odd girl gets in trouble all the time' kind of show. The first couple of seasons were really funny: great stereotypical characters, great dynamics between them, funny stories, etc. but after season 3 things started getting weird to the point it's annoying to hear Jenna talk about her love life all the time, like nothing else matters (she doesn't even have a hobby). I could ignore that if the same dynamic wasn't being applied to every single character in the show.

This show is now all about sexual promiscuity, infidelity, banalization of love, homosexuality and polygamy to an annoying level for a show that targets the teenager audience. The title of the show doesn't even make sense anymore.

What to expect though? After all this show is aired on MTV.

First season was good and I got impression that this was going to be something original & interesting. Sadly after 2nd season I started to dislike the heroine and it seemed like she was an emotional mess with questionable moral standards. Other characters stayed rather true to themselves but I didn't know where the heck the Jenna Hamilton character was going. She was all over the place and changed her mind about loving someone almost daily. A good portion of the series Jenna was twitching her face all the time while thinking her relationship with Matty. In the beginning it had seemed cute but started to annoy a lot when the supposed strong leading female character was insecure as hell. Someone should have counted how many times Jenna & Matty fell of the wagon & back to loving each other throughout the series. It was ridiculous and ruined seasons 3, 4 and 5 completely and even in the end there was not a happy ending. I was left wondering if this character goes through her life questioning everything. Never settling and never actually having a meaningful long relationship. And she was supposed to be the smart one of the group. Maybe the writers tried to create sex and the city for teens. Or maybe Jenna was what writers want to be or are. It definitely wasn't what viewers want to see & what would be smart to write. So this series goes to the bin with other "too many seasons with nothing to tell" and "cant write a decent ending even if my life depended on it". I liked, with serious intention not to, Jenna's friends Tamara, Lissa, Sadie and Jake, Valerie, Ally & Sergio most. Especially Sadie, Valerie & Ally were great characters.

Its the BEST teenager drama series i've ever watched!! its kind of funny as well so overall i'll give it a ten star rating ♥ Ashley Rickards' acting is AWESOME!!! Its a must watch!!! What I personally like about this drama is that it has romance and humor combined together and so its an EPIC!!! this makes it kind of unique! plus a thirty minute drama doesn't bores you i must say!!! it is about an ordinary girl Jenna who has to decide between love(Matty) and loyalty(Jake)! She has to face many problems and so act as a guideline for girls everywhere that to do in difficult situations!!! Overall it contains all sort of information a teenager drama or movie should have...and nothing over exaggerating!!! So its definitely a must watch!

I wish they would start making seasons of this again. I'm super obsessed with it and I was so happy Matty and Jenna were finally going to be together again. I cried so many times during this show.

I love this show; I just discovered it a couple of weeks ago on Amazon Prime and I've been catching up. Ashley Rickards is great as an "awkward" yet charmingly sincere high school student. The supporting cast is fantastic, and the writing is witty.

As your basic scrawny and awkward male geek all through high school and university, I didn't "get any". No girlfriend, no dates, no dances, no relationship drama. Just books and violin and parties with other geeks where we'd talk about Star Wars and games and you name it. In fact, I find this whole show to be almost completely alien to my own experiences; these characters seem to spend all their time on relationships and almost none of it on academics.

Yet, it's fun to watch nonetheless, a vicarious re-living of high school the way the big advertisers would want you to have done--spending a lot of time on makeup, clothing, cars, consumer electronics, and of course glamorous outfits and parties and bedroom liaisons.

Next to finding Atlantis and the Loch Ness monster, one of the great Quests in our modern age has been the quest for the zippy, perky, well-written, teen-slash-highschool comedy.

Every year we get at least one, sometimes many.

T'was ever thus, this trend (believe it or don't) actually goes back to the 60s. And used to have a lot more beach scenes. And someone called Dobie Gillis.

The bottom line however remains the same: the two best feature films ever done in this genre were Ferris Bueller and Easy A. (With honorable mention to Mean Girls with the Fantastic Ms Fey).

As for the other pretenders, this reviewer has been steadfast in observing the failings of the dozens of other wannabees, even at the risk of encouraging erstwhile fans into monkey-hammering the "not useful" button.

And then, out of nowhere, comes this zippy little number offering some of the sharpest writing to grace the small screen in years. If you are a music student, you know that every piece of music has its own beat and cadence. It either works or it does not.

Writing is the same. It works or it doesn't. Here the writers know their craft and the episodes are generally fun, frothy, and contain unexpected gems.

Great series. Hard candy shell and all.

Checked it out today - 4 episodes - after seeing a lot of good reviews.

Its seems OK. Acting is good, the story line though predictable is entertaining enough.

Also it seems a little too 'teen focused', which might alienate the older audience. There seem to be too many silly things, and since we have all seen so many teen dramas, almost everything seems like a cliché. The cheer leaders/jocks/geeks/outsiders/silly teachers etc, etc..............

Its not a Felicity, but has more depth than Gossip Girl or Dawson's Creek. Doesn't break any new ground.

So - the verdict - its a good timepass. :-)................ Check it out to see if its to your taste.

Cheers!!

In its first seasons this show was okay. Funny, awkward, teen drama etc. But season 5 is such a drag. I got tired of Jenna talking only about boys, specifically Matty. No character development for her. If the show was about Tamara it would have been more interesting.