What Are You in For?

Red Band Society

During the 1980s John Hughes became the voice of a generation. Creating now classic films like Weird Science, Pretty in Pink, and Sixteen Candles, Hughes gave the world a glimpse into the minds of teenagers. Hughes most popular film, however, would have to be The Breakfast Club. Sharing detention on a Saturday, five high school students from different walks of life come together and bound by simply finding themselves. Now, 29 years later, FOX has a new show running with the same kind of premise. However, it’s not detention that brings the group of kids together; it’s living in a hospital. Welcome to the Red Band Society.

During the pilot episode of Red Band Society we are introduced to six kids, their nurse (Octavia Spencer The Help), and one of the pediatric doctors (Dave Annable Brothers and Sisters). Each teen has a different ailment ranging from enlarged heart to coma. As you can imagine, kids (or adults for that matter) in a coma can’t really interact with anyone, so Charlie (Griffin Gluck Just Go with It), kid in a coma, is our narrator.

I think the only real acting standout in this first episode is Octavia Spencer. Spencer is an under the radar actress, who is going to have her wonderful acting talent brought to the limelight very soon. In RBS, Spencer plays Nurse Jackson, who seems to be both nurse and mother-type figure for these kids. She has a hard outer shell, but underneath Nurse Jackson loves and cares for the kids. Spencer walks that line beautifully and gets us to love her.  Going to give the show a few more episodes to really build an opinion about the teens acting-wise, though, I do sense some potential in the group as a whole.

Taking the essence of The Breakfast Club and The Fault In Our Stars, RBS is a good mixture of comedy and drama that will captivate any age group. I just hope that the writers will find ways to keep us watching every week. Like new characters, victories for each character and of course the drama part of this dramedy

The Verdict: Worth Your Time.