Are you watching The Outs? You should be.

The Outs

I had first seen a few photo posts on Tumblr as well as a few articles about Adam Goldman’s web show, The Outs, before I decided to take the plunge and watch it. I loaded the seven episodes to my “Watch Later” list on Vimeo, hopped into bed, threw on my headphones and launched the Vimeo app on my phone.

After watching another gay-themed web show last year, I didn’t have high expectations for The Outs. But even though Sasha Winters’ character, Oona, was truly the only redeeming quality of the first episode I decided that I’d push on and try out the trailer for the second episode. I was hooked. Mainly because of Oona. She’s such a great character and I liked her immediately.

Why you should be watching

If you can get past the first episode, it’s honestly such an addicting show. It has drama, comedy, and heart but it’s also not your average series. To me, it just felt like an honest portrayal of gay life in New York. But that isn’t to say that nobody but gay men can enjoy it. It’s only slightly NSFW, but it doesn’t really delve too deep into nudity or on-screen sex scenes (the raunchiest scene is probably in the first few minutes of the first episode). The only issue I had with the series as a whole was that it had too much drug use (which, for me, any drug use besides alcohol is really unnecessary). But at the same time, almost any gay-themed series or movie tends to include drug use. Which is a completely different topic I’ll most likely post about in the future.

At its bones, The Outs is about three things we have all experienced: friendship, love, and heartbreak. In this season, the three core characters (Mitchell, Oona, and Jack) each take on one of those three things as their main issue in life - while simultaneously tackling the other two. What’s really interesting is that in one of the episodes, the history of these three people is explained and it just completely changed how I view each character. 

Warning: Slightly NSFW.

Watch the first episode above, on Vimeo, or at the official website. And when you’re done, tell me what you thought of the finale. We need a second season of The Outs. Get it trending, people!

Next week on Veronica Mars…

Alternate Universe (Veronica Mars | Teen Wolf): 

Something is happening in Beacon Hills and neither Derek nor Scott will take Stiles’ concerns seriously. So he feels he has no choice but to go to the one person who will investigate – Veronica Mars.

Holland Roden Appreciation Post 

Why I fell in love with the actress behind Teen Wolf’s Lydia Martin

My first time through the current seasons of MTV’s Teen Wolf, I was not a fan of Lydia Martin (played by Holland Roden). Holland does this thing with her lips that reminded me a lot of Willa Holland (Arrow, The O.C.), and made Lydia this incredibly unlikable character at first. She was rude and entirely too self-absorbed and it took much longer to warm up to her (which is untrue of similar characters like The O.C.’s Summer Roberts or Gossip Girl’s Blair Waldorf). But when Lydia’s storyline developed and gave her more personality than Beacon Hills High’s very own “Queen Bee,” Holland Roden suddenly was given the opportunity to play a much more complex character - and she ran with it. Thankfully, Lydia Martin is here to stay and is - in my opinion - one of the best teen characters on television right now.

After convincing my parents that they would enjoy the Teen Wolf series, I started my rewatch and learned more about the character and found myself liking Lydia more and more. With the extra features on the series’ first season DVD box set, I was also able to gain more insight into Holland as a person.

Just as an example, on the cast commentary for the episode “Co-Captain,” you can clearly see that Holland takes her job seriously and thoroughly enjoys it. I think I really started to appreciate her as an actress while watching this episode with the audio commentary simply because she took the time to give shout-outs to various members of the crew and explain specific things that were being discussed which weren’t obvious to the average viewer/listener. As someone with a background in film and an interest in working in the television industry, Holland’s support for everyone behind making Teen Wolf such an enjoyable series made an impact.

I think Teen Wolf’s casting director, Wendy O’Brien did a fantastic job! What do you think of Holland Roden? 

Downloadable wallpaper → Desktop - iPad - iPhone 4/iPhone 5

Welcome to Beacon Hills, b*tch! 

A look at the Core Four of both Teen Wolf and The O.C.

When I first started watching MTV’s Teen Wolf (Jeff Davis) I instantly became a fan of the friendship between Scott (portrayed by Tyler Posey) and Stiles (portrayed by Dylan O’Brien). It wasn’t until a little later on in the first season that I saw the parallels to one of my favorite teen soaps, The O.C. (Josh Schwartz). Scott and Stiles’ dynamic, as well as their individual personalities is so strikingly similar to The O.C.’s Ryan and Seth.

Digging deeper, one can notice other comparisons between the two series:

Scott McCall Teen Wolf → a high school athlete who becomes a werewolf, and just so happens to fall in love with the girl (Allison) whose family hunts supernatural beings. 

Ryan Atwood The O.C. → a poor juvenile delinquent who is essentially rescued and adopted by Seth’s public defender/lawyer father.  Ryan also falls for his classmate and neighbor, Marissa, who is from a wealthy family which disapproves of the relationship.

Allison Argent Teen Wolf → a strong character that, even though she gets a lot of hardship thrown at her, still manages to maintain her personal values. She accepts her role in the “family business” but still attempts to continue her relationship with a werewolf.

Marissa Cooper The O.C. → though not as strong of a character as Allison, her ability to handle and cope with the challenges of every day life as well as the misfortunes she suffers throughout her adolescence are commendable. For the most part, she follows her heart and struggles to have a fulfilling relationship with Ryan despite the disapproval of her family.

“Stiles” Stilinski Teen Wolf → serves as comedic relief, with his sarcastic remarks and quick wit. He is the unpopular, but devoted best friend who accepts Scott’s wolflihood without any hesitation. Stiles has been hopelessly in love with Lydia, the popular girl at school who is also Allison’s best friend, since childhood

Seth Cohen The O.C. → possibly even more unpopular than Stiles, though his friendship with Ryan could be considered even stronger. He befriends Ryan quickly after meeting him and eventually spearheads a campaign in the hopes that his parents will adopt him, making them brothers. Seth becomes known on the series for his sarcasm and ability to make light of most situations (and definitely helped pave the way for characters like Stiles). Seth has similarly been in love with Marissa’s popular best friend Summer since they were children.

Lydia Martin Teen Wolf → essentially is proposed to the audience as the popular girl at school who “finds it in her heart” to reach out to the new girl, Allison. It is only until later on that we realize that she is not merely the stereotypical well-liked (or feared) fashionable best friend. Lydia turns out to be highly intelligent and a joy to watch develop throughout the series. She clearly has a soft-spot for Stiles, but either does not want to give in to her feelings or just hasn’t seriously considered him as a possibility yet.

Summer Roberts The O.C. → like Lydia, she is the one-dimensional popular party girl at the beginning of the series. She is rude to anyone not in her circle of friends, and is interested in fashion and her appearance. While she has been close friends with Marissa for years, she shares in the disapproval of Ryan, and is quite vocal about it at first with Marissa. She later comes to like Ryan, and falls in love with Seth. Again, she shatters the beliefs about her having a low IQ later on in the season with the revelation of her stunning SAT scores and eventual passion for politics and the environment.

…and that’s just a glimpse at the many links between the two series. I’m hoping to spend more time researching both Teen Wolf and The O.C. and will present more findings in the future. What other connections have you noticed?