Couch Potato: Onward with "Awkward"

Couch Potato is a weekly blog focusing on the current happenings in the world of television. Come back next Tuesday for the next edition.

"Awkward" is back! And …there's a pregnancy? But wait, let's rewind.

"Awkward" is about the specific incidents in high school years that define the person in question—sometimes for the better, and sometimes for the worst. The protagonist in the show is Jenna Hamilton (Ashley Richards), who experiences the typical teen dilemma: she thinks that she is invisible. After a terrible misunderstanding, the school comes to believe that Jenna tried to commit suicide. This unfortunate mishap makes her wish come true as she's now the center of attention. Spoiler alert: this show contains many awkward incidents. Jenna's life is animated with her love interest, Matty McKibben (Beau Mirchoff), who is part of the in-crowd.

The First Two Seasons
The first season was very successful due to the opportunity to be empathetic to Jenna's problems. Jenna feels that even when she does have Matty as her boyfriend, that he's distant and drifting away. It is interesting to see her thought process and her struggles with the teenage world. It is not like the average teen show, as its random jokes and quotable one-liners stand out. For example, Jenna's guidance counselor, Valerie Marks (Desi Lydic), never gives Jenna insightful advice and is an awkward character herself, making for an ironic situational comedy.

The second season was very frustrating and dragged out, because when Jake, Matty's best friend,(Brett Davern), interrupts Matty and Jenna's relationship with his chivalrous and sweet invitation to winter formal, a predicament arises: who should Jenna choose? This, though an interesting twist, took away from the show because the dilemma took about six episodes to be resolved. Even then, Team Jake fans were disappointed, as the story cycled back to the beginning and Jenna ended up with Matty. However, the writers of "Awkward" still threw another unpredictable twist at the viewers as Jake and Tamara's (Jillian Rose Reed) relationship blossomed.

The Current season

What had set this show apart from other MTV shows was its crude humor and funny erratic mishaps. This season premiere, although it was up to par when it came to its humor, this time the writers took it too far with their unpredictable plot twist when they made Jenna have a pregnancy scare. It wasn't additive to the plot, and was cliche.

Regardless of its rocky start, "Awkward" season three is bound to be as hilarious and engaging as its previous seasons, so watch it. "…You're welcome."