TV Tuesday: Genera+ion (HBO MAXX)

Alright so for some reason... my Boyfriend and I watched Genera+ion on HBO Maxx... I'm unsure whether this was also on HBO- but we watched it on HBO Maxx... and we hated it at first... but we ended up really liking it in the end. I'd watch another season. You guys should also know Justice Smith is in it... and for some reason I think I'm a Justice Smith Stan.

So... this show is a teen drama that focuses mostly on LGBT teens... I wouldn't say that it's only about LGBT issues but that seems to be a theme... most of the characters are LGBT or have family members that are LGBT. The main character Chester is played by Justice Smith- who recently came out and he plays an openly gay teen who gets in trouble for wearing provacative clothes in the first episode and meets the new Guidance counselor who is also openly gay and Chester develops feelings for him. There's also the storyline of Nathan who comes out as Bisexual after hooking up with his sister's boyfriend... There's also a really sweet first crush story between Greta- who's kind of just coming out as a lesbian and... I believe her name is Riley. I didn't like Greta's story at first but at the end she was kind of one of my favorites and I think she's a fan favorite and I can see why.

The show also starts with a girl giving birth in the mall- not realizing she was pregnant. And... man did that kind of draw me in but it was TOTALLY UNECESSARY to present the show that way. Each episode shows a little more of that story and then at the end we get the full story. It doesn't make that much sense for the rest of the episode... but I guess it was a good way to tell that story. The only bad thing is we get to find out who the mother of the show is and character development from her way too late. Also its VERY unrealistic and please- if you are having a baby... GO TO THE HOSPITAL! Don't just have the baby in the mall with your teenage friends. Get actual experienced doctors. This could have been so dangerous to the baby and the teenage mother.

Anyway this show also reminded us a little bit of another show we watched on Netflix called Grand Army... but the only thing is... Grand Army sucks... for a lot of reasons. Especially compared to this show. For one Grand Army had a lot of drama behind the scenes. I think most if not all the non white writers quit the show because they were mistreated and their ideas were not listened to leading to... some stereotypical character arcs that I think everyone is tired of. Also... a black woman was asked to leave because her hair made the creator feel uncomfortable... So... there was a lot of crappy racially insensitive behavior that kind of created a lackluster show- albeit with some really great young actors... so if you want to see Grand Army to support the actors... just know there are some problems with it that I hope they work on if they do another season... which I kind of hope they don't.

I think the main problem with this show is just that there are too many characters and there is not enough character development for a lot of them. Nathan was seen a lot at the start of the show- but not much towards the last few episodes. And they introduced a new character in one of the last episodes... and I don't even remember his name... so it was just a lot. I liked the characters we have and what we got from them... but they could have maybe had one or 2 less characters or 1 or 2 more episodes or longer episodes or something. It's something they can totally fix in season 2 if they make a season 2 or whatever... but... just kind of know that.

And it definitely doesn't really seem like any real teenagers would act the way they do on this show... it's been a while since I've been a teenager but... It seemed like adults writing teenagers. Which I think makes the show more appealing to adults but... just keep it in mind.

The first few episodes are a little boring- but once you start seeing more of the friendships and more Chester... it's pretty good.

I hope you guys like this!

Bye!

-Shannon