Giving Miley a Break, Pinpointing Jericho's Fatal Flaws, Reacting to Prison Break's Mind-blowing Twist and More!
Miley Cyrus
Question: This is in response to
the recent letter about
Miley Cyrus. As a 31-year-old female, I want to throw in my two cents and admit to enjoying
Hannah Montana. As a child of the '80s, I grew up watching sweet (but cheesy) family sitcoms like
Growing Pains,
The Facts of Life,
Who's the Boss and
The Hogan Family, and what I like about
Hannah Montana is how much it reminds me of those simple, innocent family shows of yore. I wonder if these family sitcoms ever would've made it to network TV today. I can imagine that
The Facts of Life probably would have ended up on Disney Channel, Nickelodeon or even ABC Family rather than a major network. I'm an adult, and I can enjoy the humor in
Hannah Montana. It makes me laugh, and television could use a few good laughs these days, since there aren't many comedies gracing the major networks. And just for the record, I also enjoy shows like
The Office and
How I Met Your Mother, and I absolutely adored
Arrested Development. But that doesn't mean I can't find something charming in a show for the tweens as well. As for Miley Cyrus being all over the place, I can remember being a tween that couldn't pass by a teen magazine that didn't have Kirk Cameron on the cover.
— Jenn
Matt Roush: In my case, I seem to remember living through the Bobby Sherman and David Cassidy phases, among others I've happily forgotten. I figured that unexpected rant against Miley/Hannah would get a response, and so it did, but this one tied it back into TV the best. Every time I see a kids' cable breakthrough like Hannah Montana or the High School Musical movies, I am struck by how clueless the broadcast networks are to be ignoring this large and lucrative audience. The classic "TGIF" comedies were never critical favorites — I've dissed a few in my time, and I remember as a kid being ticked at the TV Guide critic of that era when he beat up on shows like The Brady Bunch and (gulp) Nanny and the Professor — but harmless comedies like these will always have their place, and should have a place on regular network TV. This would be one relatively inexpensive alternative to the current glut of reality/game shows.
