The Inbetweeners - Revenge of the Nerds II

If Glee isn’t your cup of tea, or even if it is, another entry worth checking out in the teenage-misery-as-comedy genre is The Inbetweeners (BBC America).  This show follows four friends, all male, going through the highs and lows of adolescence in suburban London, in a tidy under 30 minute package of non-stop gags.  It is blessedly free of the annoying laughter on cue of a studio audience or the even more abhorrent canned laugh track…..I like it already.

As the series begins, Will MacKenzie finds himself a fish out of water when his father leaves his mother and him, and he has to transfer from private school to public school.  He’s assigned a student mentor, Simon, and begins hanging out with Simon and friends Neil and Jay.  It’s readily apparent that Will and the gang aren’t top feeders in the sixth form social jungle.

Each episode finds the lads involved in a coming-of age challenge – buying liquor for a day of skipping school, surviving an amorous driver’s license examiner but meeting one’s match in having to drive a hideous bright yellow car, dealing with the humiliation of new-kid hazing (much, MUCH worse in the age of camera phones - yikes).  The boys’ constant swearing (in the Queen’s English!) cracks me up, but even more so the incessant bleeping that’s been added to fit American broadcast standards.  You know, because we don’t have a clue what they were saying when we hear “f-bleeeeeep!”

The Inbetweeners is in its third season on BBC, but BBC America just began airing the first season in late January.  I was able to find the two episodes I missed with my cable provider’s On Demand function.  I've since upgraded this to weekly recording status on my DVR.  I hope this one catches on well enough for BBC America to continue showing it -- I'd love to know more of Will and his mates.