skliaj

I was curious to check out this show, having grown up with Dan Schneider and marveled at his weird staying power among 12-year-old girls. The idea seemed solid on paper: buddy comedy star Kel Mitchell of yesteryear teams up with fresh faces, then the games they make are released in app form so kids can bleed Nickelodeon 24/7. What could go wrong? Well, pretty much everything. This show is a frantic mess that can't go five minutes without somebody exploding, falling down, screaming at another character, or having an absurdly cartoonish overreaction lest any viewers accidentally get bored. The whole thing is terribly cobbled together, like the producer told the writers, "I want flashy gadgets, white people rapping, cute animals, and sentimentalism with the depth of a kiddie pool. GO!" The characters don't mesh at all, with each one spouting a few lines and then preening awkwardly for the camera. Cue explosion, laugh track, or anything else that covers up the fact that this show can't segue to save its life. Frankly that seems to be the biggest issue, is just a lack of any likable roles. What happened, Dan? iCarly, Kenan & Kel, Drake & Josh...sure, they weren't Masterpiece Theater, but their stars were enjoyable enough that fans wanted to keep up with them. Game Shakers is polluted with one flat, dull, irksome stereotype after another--where's the fun, or the surprise in that, or the desire to not throw the remote at the TV? This was the chance for a fresh start. The iCarly/Victorious/spin-off era is gone, new actors were hired, and this idea just sounded great. Instead it's the same old schtick, yet worse somehow, with another generation of tired gags for kid actors who don't even have the appeal or the comic timing of their predecessors. Granted the tween crowd has more forgiveness for dopey humor than I do, but a character can only fall down so many times before it stops being funny. Incredibly, this show has already reached that limit.