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Heather’s Top 3 Summer Shows: #2 MTV’s Teen Wolf 

Heather M, September 7, 2011  
Photo Credit: MTV

Slot #2 in my top three shows of summer countdown goes to MTV’s Teen Wolf. Even though I am SO not the demographic, and am fiercely loyal to the original film (I was 14 when it was in theaters!), MTV’s take on the story turned out to be a thematic cousin to The Vampire Diaries, which means I dug the hell out of it. I know!

The series kept the name of the main character and key bits of humor but pretty much pitched all the rest. The werewolfdom happens from a bite, not heredity, and the game at which Scott becomes a phenom is lacrosse, not basketball. There’s a girl, because there’s always a girl in these types of shows, and here she is Allison Argent, Juliet to Scott’s Romeo, because her family are werewolf hunters, something she eventually finds out and defies.

What I really liked about the show was the mix of horror and humor and that it had a continuing thread but didn’t move at the same breakneck pace of TVD (a girl needs a breather now and again), so you had a minute to process the immediate “what the hell?” before the next one rolled along. Refreshingly, by season’s end, pretty much all the key players knew Scott was a werewolf and Allison was a hunter-in-training, so no “gotta keep it secret” shenanigans, the main big bads were vanquished, and the stage was set for a new big bad. As far as finales go, this one kicked ass.

Tyler Posey, who plays Scott, Tyler Hoechner, who plays werewolf Derek, and Colton Haynes, who was funnily enough a werewolf on ABC’s The Gates last summer but here is a jealous jock/wannabe werewolf–have previous TV experience while Crystal Reed, who plays Allison, and Dylan O’Brien, who plays Stiles with just a genius sense of timing, are relative newbies to TV work. They all gelled impressively well.

Other little bonuses–it filmed in Atlanta (but was set in California), so in addition to being thematically similar to TVD (which also shoots in Atlanta), it shared a similar look and feel, too. Another TVD tie–Susan Walters, who plays werewolf Tyler’s mama on TVD, had a role here as secret genius/mean girl Lydia’s mama, and her real-life husband, Linden Ashby, played Stiles’ dad.

So glad the show will be back next year. I’m hoping for an MTV marathon in October on one (or all) of its many networks because I lost all of the episodes except the finale in The DVR Debacle of 2011. In the meantime, you can catch the whole season over at mtv.com.

Tags #Colton Haynes #Crystal Reed #Dylan O'Brien #Heather M #Linden Ashby #MTV #Susan Walters #Teen Wolf #The Vampire Diaries #Tyler Hoechner #Tyler Posey
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Heather M
Senior Writer/Columnist: Heather began writing about TV way back when Jensen Ackles was Alec on Dark Angel (so, "dibs.") EDITOR NOTE: No dibs!. She never got on the reality bandwagon. Instead, her TV viewing must be scripted. She's intensely loyal to actors, writers, and directors and loves comedy, drama, suspense, and sci-fi equally. If it was filmed in Vancouver (or Canada, really), she's going to be all over it. Don't look for snark. If she's made the time to watch it, she likes it (or loves it), because life's too short to watch sh-tty TV. But she will call BS when it's right there for the taking. By day, she writes marketing communications for the IT sector. She's a lifelong Texan (minus the pre-K years), so you'll have to accept the liberal use of "y'all." You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @approximofnice.

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