Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Review of a TV Show: "Red Band Society"

By Tia Yancey
   The TV show the “Red Band Society” caught my attention when I saw in the commercials that Octavia Spencer and Ciara Bravo were starring in it. I recognized Octavia from the movie “The Help”  where she was known as Minny, and I recognized Ciara Bravo from a Nickelodeon show from a couple of years ago. I like both of the actresses, and it seemed interesting to me to see them both on the same show. I was curious.
    In the previews, it looked like a TV show about kids with cancer in the hospital. At the time, I thought that if you were a patient with a red band on your wrist, then you had some type of cancer. Although, in the show, the band means that you have had surgery. Most of the characters in “Red Band Society” are children in the hospital. “Red Band Society” would just be a regular show if Margaret Nagle, the producer, hadn’t flipped the switch and made the show about kids’ lives in hospitals. It shows that even if kids have a sickness or don’t have the same type of living style as us, their lives are like us in more ways than we think.
    The cast is a typical group of teenagers: the mean girl, Kara Souders, the cool one, Dash, the newcomer, Jordi Palacios, and the love triangle, Leo Roth and Emma Chota. Octavia Spencer is known as Nurse Jackson. She’s like the mother nurse of all the children, or to some, also known as the scary, strict nurse. Dr. Jack McAndrew is the head doctor of the patients. He’s hard working and takes care of the kids the best that he can.
   The narrator, twelve year old Charlie, is in a coma. Throughout the show, you can see how people relate to him and how they are so close to him. Kara has heart failure and is at the bottom of the list for a transplant due to her history of drug and alcohol abuse. Dash is one of the best characters on the show. He has lung cancer and even though there aren’t a lot of scenes involving his personal life you can tell by his personality that he’s a funny chill guy. All of the actors have special characters in the show which they play very well. They are all there for one reason or another, whether its working with the kids or because they are the kids with an illness. Through all of the stuff that goes on, they become close, the nurses and the patients.
   “Red Band Society” is appropriate for children 13 and older because it involves drug use, illnesses, and teenager life struggles. It’s message is something that all ages could share but some of the content may not be appropriate for younger views.

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