average life

Ever since I’ve found fuse I’ve barely looked twice at MTV when flipping through the program guide on the TV at the office…I mean…somewhere else. The one thing the MTV does well and is the only thing that keeps it from completely selling its soul (or at least lowering the price to $29.99) is documentaries. Its new doc, Two-A-Days is no exception.

The show follows the 2005 football season of the Hoover High School in Hoover, Alabama. A nationally-ranked school, the Buccaneers face the beginning of the season with 4 state championships and 25 straight wins behind them. No pressure or nothin’.

If I remember my Alabama high school football correctly – didn’t play, didn’t really care – the show paints a fairly accurate picture of what it is like to be a star high school in the south. Businesses close on game days as the whole neighborhood becomes engrossed in the game and its players – on and off the field. My favorite scene is when rumors that Alex (the show’s main focus) cheated on his girlfriend. These rumors spread as quickly through the parents as quickly as it does through the students even causing Alex and his girlfriend’s parents to discuss it while the game is going on. Yes, my friends, this is high school.

The pressures facing these kids are amazing. Aside from being constantly watched by their communities, they have the whole nation to face. The first game of the season is broadcast live via ESPN. Yeah ESPN, not even ESPN2. Having parents and coaches constantly reminding you that your entire future depends on your performance on the field on Saturday doesn’t really help, either.

The documentary has a distinct MTV feel to it. It is peppered with the latest in pop/rock music and includes enough Laguna Beach-style relationship drama to keep the 14 year-old girls interested, but it doesn’t dwell on these plot lines so much as to annoy the target audience of 14 year-old boys. This is a show about football, make no mistake about it.

If MTV is never going to air music videos again, I’ll settle for well-produced shows like this where you actually care about the subjects instead of hope they are run over by an H2 (seriously, those girls on My Super Sweet Sixteen are just terrible people). Here’s hoping MTV’s Juvies which premieres Sept. 5 is also worth watching. You can check out the whole first episode of Two-A-Days on MTV’s Overdrive (which now works with Firefox and Macs).

Rated TV-PG: Kids vomiting at football practice. That is about it.

[rating:4]