I watched the first season of High School Reunion back when it was ten year reunions and on The WB. When TV Land took over the franchise in the third season, they switched it to twenty year reunions to fit more with their demographic. It's surprising how much an additional ten years doesn't do much to change a lot of these people.
Other than the ages of the participants, everything about High School Reunion seems the same as I remember it. This third T Land season (fifth overall) features the Chaparral High School class of '89, and out of more than 600 students, they picked out about a dozen of them. Among them is "The Trouble Maker," who's become the alcoholic asshole. Actually, I have no idea if he's an alcoholic, but he is always shown drinking and he certainly acts like the asshole ones I've known.
In fact, I'd say John (the asshole in question) is one of the most surprising things I saw in the two episodes TV Land sent my way to preview the new season. How can one person go through twenty years of life and not change one bit. Actually, I take that back. As Elena ("The Popular Girl") pointed out, he's actually gotten worse.
I'm not quite to my twenty-year reunion yet, but I do remember my ten-year get-together. It wasn't anywhere near as lush and beautiful as this; think a dimly lit ballroom and there wasn't even any dancing. But you can't help to start thinking back to your high school experience when you watch this show. You remember which cliques you were in, and start wondering about the people in the other clicks and how they might have turned out.
The Summer Girls was the "hot girls" clique at Chaparral High, even more so than the cheerleaders, which usually take that crown at most high schools. In fact, there was apparently a rivarly between the two groups, so it's fitting that there were two representatives from each group, to see if they could keep that rivalry going. Nothing like tension and drama to keep things interesting.
We got the nerdy girl, who grew into a pretty, and far more confident, young woman with an interesting secret. And we got Rachelle ("The Late Bloomer"). Easily the most beautiful cast member, she couples her amazing figure and looks with the most genuine and sweetest personality of the people we've met so far.
High School Reunion falls into one of the reality show traps that I hate the most; spending almost as much time talking about what's coming up next, or in future installments, as they do in the current episode. There's enough going on right now, you don't need to tease me about three wedding proposals, and show me scenes featuring intimate moments between cast members we haven't even met yet. Shorten the teasers, and push me along bit by bit. You don't want to spoil all the surprises right away. If we like what we're seeing now, we'll stick around.
High School Reunion premieres Wednesday, January 13, and continues Wednesdays at 10 PM ET on TV Land.
