October Road Discussion Thread

[JackPeyton]

i graduated in 05 and listend to it as well.

and no, it wasnt ur crowd. cuz me n my friends are kinda the pretty populer kids and thats what we listen to - just not in public.

[Scotty]

Wasn't it?!?! I think it is one of the best shows on ABC right now.

[EricMontreal22]

WOW I'm surprised nearly everyone seemed to like-love it.

I thought it stunk.

I wanted to like it--we could use more dramas like this--and I liked the look of it and I liked most of the actors. On the other hand I hated most of the characters they played, I found the writing lazy lazy LAZY (Would that kid's mom even KEEP peanut butte rin the house if her son had peanut allergies??) cliched or way too hard wannabe "whimsical".

I'm a 27 year old with little clear direction in my life and STILL i found these "quirky" guys, the main characters friends, pathetic losers. They still tease the "fat" girl at the bar, they still do DAILY lip syncs to old 70s songs that I can only watch from between my fingers, I just dont' see anythign appealing about it. And they've telegraphed the character sso much--while cliched it woulda been kinda neat if his girlfriend ended upw ith his best friend--then the audience would be torn and we'd understand it--instead she's stuck with the clear villain of the piece and the audience *already* knows clearly who to root for! BORING. His overweight best friend is clearly a really nice guy (who still snickers at the much skinnier waitress' fat jokes) and it's CLEAR his wife, whoc heated on him, is already being painte din broadly unsympathetic "I don't even smile" strokes. YAWWWWWN

You can't clear out a FULL auditorium of PAYING college students by one panic attack and the dialogue with the new girl he meets there was probably the worse in the whole show. It's like early Dawson's Creek dialogue on steroids. (at least with past quirky speak shows like Northern Exposure the nicknames, etc are cute--here they're just very unappealing as was framing the show around the hideous sounding expression "this [random thing] is still in diapers")

Don't even get me started on the cliched "home is where you really belong" moralizing, the fact that clearly the writers wanted to set it in their own teenaged/20somethign era 9hence why nearly EVERY pop culture reference is to something 70s despite a Kurt Cobain gratuirous poster shot) the inanity of him trying to get into an apartment in the MIDDLE of the nigth (after midnight!) cuz he wrote his book there, etc, etc...

If this were a movie NO ONE would fall for the lazy set up and situations you can guess at a mile away. It' snot though--it's a TV pilot and so has to set up a lot and so... I'm gonna give it another chance. Not that I think it has any chance to become even a minor hit anyway (qwhich normally would be too bad as I'm rooting for this *type of show* just not this show--ABC passed on the 20something drama 1/4 Life, whose script youc an read online by the creators of Once and Again and My So-Called Life, and picked up THIS??) --I feel these characters will only get more trite and obnoxious with time.

E

[R!ck]

Haha, So us Hippie/Artsy kids did have something in common with the preppies

[Toups]

In the pilot, what was that 80's song that played when Nick was leaving and his friends was lip singing?

Glad to see Odette Yustman (Aubrey) again.

[Steve]

I liked the first episode, but some of the flaws you pointed out were even more apparent in the second, which I thought was just awful!

The dean of the college hired Nick after he threw rocks at her window and sang badly to her. WTF??????

It's beyond obvious that Sam is Nick's son, but Sam had never heard of playing catch? Are the writers morons or do they think the viewers are?

I don't have a problem with guys who never grow up, probably because some of my relatives are like that. However, the "talking squirrel" bit came off as just so stupid that I couldn't believe the college girl would stick around for it.

I also have a problem with Hannah's boyfriend being the villain of the show. It also bothers me that he's the only main character with money so we're supposed to know he's evil. Then, there's the way he lets his kids beat up on Sam. Yeah, it's overkill and really destroys the potential for the drama of Hannah falling back in love with Nick when she already has a good guy who stood beside her all along.

The one point I would argue with you on is having peanut butter in the house. Hannah might want it for herself even if Sam can't have it. My friend Jason is allergic to peanuts and his boyfriend, Travis, still has foods that contain nuts in the house for himself.

Damn ABC, though, for picking this show over 1/4 Life. Herskovitz & Zwick are far superior to any other writing team on television in the past 20 years!

[Southern Honey]

Wow. I liked it because I think I wanted to like it, because like you, I think we need more dramas like this and I want to give it a chance but you bring up some excellent points. I think the show has a good groundwork but there are some definite flaws.

I like the actors, main character is such a hottie, and the 2nd competing girl for his affections is adorable. Nice scenery, nice setting for the Northeastern quaint Bostonianish town.

What kinda irritated me were the gratitous rap music references. It seemed out of place, like they were trying to hard to include everyone in despite the initial show not having black "main" characters (I'm not arguing that there should be, I'm not particularly looking for any in this setting). I just thought it was odd that they referenced some white guy having a huge Notorious BIG tatoo, and two other references that escape me for the moment.

I found Eddie to be such a caricature of the hurt friend, I mean his speech about "forgetting what side of October Road" seems such of a cliche, and the way he acted boorish and overdone. His anger seemed too all over the place, he basically said he missed him but then went back to being a goon.

I agree with you definitely on the villianizing Big Cat issue. It would have been more understandable if he paired with the best friend and there was a real and true conflict. Instead, we are already told who is good, and who is bad. I definitely feel you on the thing with Owen's wife. Another villian, who is clearly unimpressed with Nick.

And like you said, if I paid my tuition, I'm not leaving off some panic attack.

The 2nd episode was garbage, nothing to see there. I found the idea of the girl who was pissed at this guy for trying to beat up her friend, going somewhere with the guy a few days later ridiculous. He denied even knowing Nick despite the big speech about "October Road" and she didn't question it? She didn't question his antics despite knowing the deal with Nick and the book? And she is so attracted to Nick anyway, that the idea of her going off with boorish Eddie was just stupid. She wouldn't have fallen for him. Not the way they have her set up. Her going out with him was out of place.

Still, all and alll, I want to like it, want to give it a chance but you brought up some great points.

[EricMontreal22]

so despite my rant I've watched eps 2 and 3... is anyone still watching?

And Amen Steve for your props to Herskovitz/Zwick

[JackPeyton]

this show is freakin amazong i love it. not since once & again have i loved a show this much!

tho it is kinda odd to see donna from that 70s show with jake from one tree hill... i think they ahev great chem.

i also love all of the supporting char's.

cant wait to see more.

[EricMontreal22]

The comparison to Once and AGain makes them not picking up the 20something drama 1/4Life and picking this up hurt all the more

[Laurie]

I love this show. Loved last night's episode. Poor Sam So want Nick, Hannah and Sam to become the family they are so meant to be imo

[JinkiesP]

You know I like this show but I finally put my finger on why I can miss an episode and not be in a panic. Despite being late 20s, they still act like they are in high school. Its like watching Dawson's Creek: Ten Years Later. But I like this show for some reason.

I was so disappointed that Eddie didn't pick up Janet. Get over yourself, man. Pretty soon your going to have a beer gut and a receding hairline and non of the "pretty" girls will be interested.

[JackPeyton]

thats why i love this show so much i think.. it is soooo dawsons creek 10 years later.

and i heart eddie!! he and jent rok.

that ending was so sad!

the previews looked so good.

[King]

This show is so awful and cheesey.

I love it.

[Southern Honey]

I love this show. It has its flaws but I still love it. The past two episodes have been cute. I love the chemistry between Nick and Aubrey, its very natural. Poor Sam. I understand him being freaked about seeing Aubrey kiss his (he pretty much suspects that's his) dad but he also knew he was in mortal danger with that allergy. I don't understand, Nick would have helped him better than anyone. I was a little teary seeing him passed out. He's such a cute kid.