First rate family entertainment There are so many adjectives I can apply to Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street: funny, refreshing, charming, winning, moving, sweet… My list could go on and on. My oldest child is eleven, my youngest six, so it can be difficult for us to find entertainment that satisfies my husband and I, and the kids at the same time. After experiencing many, many years of “children’s” entertainment, I can say it’s a rare experience for me to find something that I enjoy as much as–if not more–than my kids. Most kids’ entertainment is insipid at best, and while we have found a few gems here and there, they’re rare, lost in a sea of sub-par offerings that adults have to suffer through. Gortimer Gibbon’s is part of that rare breed, a show that appeals to every member of the family.Each episode centers around a “message of the day” situation, but don’t let that fool you. This show is anything but preachy, and it takes its characters’ concerns very seriously, tackling plenty of difficult issues in a way that’s accessible to kids. Over the season, the show has explored everything from the desire to win at all cost and its consequences to trying to force a loved one to be someone they’re not. The characters learn important life lessons in each episode, and they provide a really great jumping off point for discussion with the kids. What’s particularly clever about it, in my opinion, is that instead of coming off as after school special-ish, the show uses magical realism as a device, thus enabling it to handle sophisticated issues in a way that’s whimsical and thought-provoking. Just to give a few examples, in one episode a character has a magic pencil whose eraser allows him to write down the things he wants to forget and then erase them from his memory as he erases them from the paper. In another episode, a girl who’s an introvert is invisible, only appearing when she feels comfortable and securely removed from the spotlight. Another stellar episode deals with being consumed by a desire to win through use of a robot who becomes far too ruthless for its inventor’s comfort.The main cast consists of the rather serious and somewhat troubled Gortimer, whose parents have recently gone through a divorce. He’s a good kid, but he has a lot of feelings he isn’t sure what to do with, and the show explores that theme throughout the season. Gortimer is a very sympathetic character, a kid trying to figure out his place in the world as he transitions from being a kid to being a teenager (all of the characters start the season at around twelve, with Gortimer turning thirteen in the finale). His best friends are Ranger, a kind of goofy kid who’s obsessed with ninjas, and who learns a hard lesson about what happens if you let others take the fall for your mistakes. Ranger is a real winner, using food expression such as “pasta fagioli!” in his quest to avoid using nasty language. He’s that somewhat oddball kid who makes life interesting. Rounding the cast out is Mel, a smart, science-loving girl who sometimes lets her ambition get the best of her. The three characters compliment one another very well, and their friendship is eminently believable. They don’t always get along, and the finale in particular deals with what happens when friendship is really put to the test.One thing that show does so, so, so right is it allows its kid characters to be kids. It always takes them seriously, but they behave the way kids do. Their train of thought it sometimes wild, but they are also capable of a lot of wisdom and introspection. Throughout the season, the show presents a variety of other kids, and all of them bring something to the show. Better yet, they aren’t just episode-of-the-week characters, and they turn up in later episodes to make further significant contributions. Mel is especially welcome to me, after enduring years of glossily made up and fussily dressed girl-women on other shows. She’s too busy doing science to have time for mooning over boys, and it’s clear she has goals and ambitions in life, something that’s not always clear in other shows targeted at the tween market, in which the girl characters often obsess over boys to the exclusion of all else. Mel is a whole person, and it’s more than a little sad that this is a very significant statement about her character. That’s not a critique of the show at all; instead, what I mean is to point out that this show does what few others do: it treats its female characters the same way it treats its male characters.Adults don’t factor into the show a great deal, but they are present, and they’re important players in the kids’ lives, which is nice. The kids don’t see them as adversaries, and they turn to their parents and other adults when they have questions or worries, as well as relying on one another. The adults, while not getting a ton of screen time (understandable, given that this is a show about young characters,…
For cranberry’s sake, just watch it! âI has a sad and itâs all Amazonâs fault. See, last weekend I finally got around to watching Gortimer Gibbinâs Life on Normal Street; most of the time Iâm multitasking and that particular show insisted I actually pay attention so it had to wait until I found some free time. Once I did, I realized that is was most definitely a show that deserved undivided attention and got just that â possibly to the detriment of my writing time â for days until the final episode played on my television. So why the sad, you ask? Well, because itâs over. Done. Gone. In the realm of no more. Who wouldnât be sad when a show as good as this one is cancelled (which was the plan from the start and not something forced upon them by Amazon)?âYou might be sitting there going but itâs just some silly kidsâ show and Iâm here to tell you are no nothing about good television. Gortimer Gibbonâs Life on Normal Street isnât your run-of-the-mill silly sitcom reliant on old, boring clichés and barely tolerable, groan-including acting that even the worst telenovela would shun. Amazonâs weird, family-friendly take on the mystical is far more than that; it has excellent writing, phenomenal acting and a believable heart at the center of its often far-fetched premises.THE WRITINGâDavid Anaxagoras, the man who created Gortimer Gibbonâs Life on Normal Street, is, in my opinion, Joss Whedon-level in his skills. He was able to take an age old stable â three friends on adventures â and mold it into something extraordinary and unique. Unlike other writers who continue to rely on tired stereotypes about the non-existent differences between boys and girls, he crafted characters with actual personalities; Gortimer, Ranger and Mel are fully developed, living and breathing people populating Anaxagorasâ world, not just caricatures used to move the story from point A to B.THE STORIESThereâs a supernatural base at the stories that play out on Normal Street; from the Frog of Ultimate Doom to The End, nothing is ever simply or, well, normal. Much like Whedonâs Buffy the Vampire Slayer, thereâs magic everywhere they go and that magic tends to run roughshod over our protagonistsâ lives. But no matter how weird things get, it always comes back to the simple things in life: love and commitment. Gortimer, Ranger and Mel, often joined by Stanley, Catherine and Abigail, continually find themselves facing seemingly impossible challenges that, many times, are only overcome because of their intense bond.Itâs freaking addictive; before you know it, youâll be stuck in a showhole and filled with dread at a future without any new episodes to find yourself lost in. Okay, maybe not dread but when the credits play for the final time, youâll be feeling the same sads I did and youâll scour the interwebs for proof that thereâs more to come. But there isnât. And thatâs something we all must now live with.âAnd speaking of the sads⦠Gortimer Gibbonâs Life on Normal Street wants you to cry so hard. We all know Iâve got an ice cold diamond encased in a steel storage shed where my heart should be yet there were still times it managed to reach in, grab those heart strings, and do its dangest to tip âem right out. I never actually crossed that line but Iâm not ashamed to admit I cam dang close. I wonât give anything away but the episodes that really try and work those emotions were The Fabled Flower of Normal Street, The Fault in Our Street and The End; be sure to keep those Kleenex close, yâall.THE ACTINGDavid Bloom (Stanley Zielinski), Chandler Kinney (Catherine Dillman) Coco Grayson (Abigail) are the peripheral friends of Normal Street. They donât show up every episode but when they do they bring their A-game and prove their worth in every scene. Ashley Boettcher (Mel Fuller) and Drew Justice (Ranger Bowen) shine as Gortimerâs best friends and their talents add to the realism that is the center of the otherwise preternatural series. And, of course, thereâs Sloane Morgan Siegel as the heart and soul of Normal Street, Gortimer Gibbon.Okay, excuse while I gush.Siegel is truly a master of his craft; without a word, he was able to deftly convey Gortimerâs range of emotions with a quivering lips, shaky voice, slumped shoulders; his performance never ventured into cheesy pantomiming as everything he did seemed natural. To watch him act is to understand that an actorâs greatest challenge is to convince the viewer there is no acting taking place. Heâs that natural in front of the camera.âOh, and I canât not mention the incomparable Kim Rhodes (Vicki Bowen) who retains every bit of the charm and attitude-infused grace I remember from her Suite Life of Zack and Codyâ days. It was a real treat seeing her on screen again.THE VERDICTLike you really canât tell how much I adored this show? My only complaint is Amazonâs not making any…
First rate family entertainment There are so many adjectives I can apply to Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street: funny, refreshing, charming, winning, moving, sweet… My list could go on and on. My oldest child is eleven, my youngest six, so it can be difficult for us to find entertainment that satisfies my husband and I, and the kids at the same time. After experiencing many, many years of “children’s” entertainment, I can say it’s a rare experience for me to find something that I enjoy as much as–if not more–than my kids. Most kids’ entertainment is insipid at best, and while we have found a few gems here and there, they’re rare, lost in a sea of sub-par offerings that adults have to suffer through. Gortimer Gibbon’s is part of that rare breed, a show that appeals to every member of the family.Each episode centers around a “message of the day” situation, but don’t let that fool you. This show is anything but preachy, and it takes its characters’ concerns very seriously, tackling plenty of difficult issues in a way that’s accessible to kids. Over the season, the show has explored everything from the desire to win at all cost and its consequences to trying to force a loved one to be someone they’re not. The characters learn important life lessons in each episode, and they provide a really great jumping off point for discussion with the kids. What’s particularly clever about it, in my opinion, is that instead of coming off as after school special-ish, the show uses magical realism as a device, thus enabling it to handle sophisticated issues in a way that’s whimsical and thought-provoking. Just to give a few examples, in one episode a character has a magic pencil whose eraser allows him to write down the things he wants to forget and then erase them from his memory as he erases them from the paper. In another episode, a girl who’s an introvert is invisible, only appearing when she feels comfortable and securely removed from the spotlight. Another stellar episode deals with being consumed by a desire to win through use of a robot who becomes far too ruthless for its inventor’s comfort.The main cast consists of the rather serious and somewhat troubled Gortimer, whose parents have recently gone through a divorce. He’s a good kid, but he has a lot of feelings he isn’t sure what to do with, and the show explores that theme throughout the season. Gortimer is a very sympathetic character, a kid trying to figure out his place in the world as he transitions from being a kid to being a teenager (all of the characters start the season at around twelve, with Gortimer turning thirteen in the finale). His best friends are Ranger, a kind of goofy kid who’s obsessed with ninjas, and who learns a hard lesson about what happens if you let others take the fall for your mistakes. Ranger is a real winner, using food expression such as “pasta fagioli!” in his quest to avoid using nasty language. He’s that somewhat oddball kid who makes life interesting. Rounding the cast out is Mel, a smart, science-loving girl who sometimes lets her ambition get the best of her. The three characters compliment one another very well, and their friendship is eminently believable. They don’t always get along, and the finale in particular deals with what happens when friendship is really put to the test.One thing that show does so, so, so right is it allows its kid characters to be kids. It always takes them seriously, but they behave the way kids do. Their train of thought it sometimes wild, but they are also capable of a lot of wisdom and introspection. Throughout the season, the show presents a variety of other kids, and all of them bring something to the show. Better yet, they aren’t just episode-of-the-week characters, and they turn up in later episodes to make further significant contributions. Mel is especially welcome to me, after enduring years of glossily made up and fussily dressed girl-women on other shows. She’s too busy doing science to have time for mooning over boys, and it’s clear she has goals and ambitions in life, something that’s not always clear in other shows targeted at the tween market, in which the girl characters often obsess over boys to the exclusion of all else. Mel is a whole person, and it’s more than a little sad that this is a very significant statement about her character. That’s not a critique of the show at all; instead, what I mean is to point out that this show does what few others do: it treats its female characters the same way it treats its male characters.Adults don’t factor into the show a great deal, but they are present, and they’re important players in the kids’ lives, which is nice. The kids don’t see them as adversaries, and they turn to their parents and other adults when they have questions or worries, as well as relying on one another. The adults, while not getting a ton of screen time (understandable, given that this is a show about young characters,…