MTV’s new sitcom “Faking It” spotlights two high school pariahs who suddenly become popular when they are mistakenly outed as lesbians.
From the stupidest of premises sometimes comes the best of shows.
The scripted comedy from Clark Covington (“Greek,” “10 Things I Hate About You”) bounces between snark and sweet and with a side of pathos.
BFFs Karma (Connecticut native Katie Stevens) and Amy (Rita Volk) suffer in obscurity at Hester High, an Austin, Texas, school so hip that the outcasts are cool — and the jocks and the cheerleaders who rule every other school on the planet are at the bottom of the food chain. That includes Amy’s stepsister Lauren (Bailey Buntain, “Bunheads”), a bitter cheerleader whose venom would fit right in with “Glee’s” Cheerios.
There’s nothing about Karma and Amy that stands out — at least to their fellow students, so Karma comes up with the brilliant idea of pretending to be blind and planning a miraculous recovery right around prom — all so they can get invited to a hot party.
“We hate high school during the day,” says Amy, the more grounded and sardonic of the two. “I doubt we’d like it better at night after we’ve been drinking.”
But someone makes a crack about the island of Lesbos and that snowballs, and out-and-proud student Shane (Michael Willett, “United States of Tara”) pegs them, erroneously, as girlfriends.
Suddenly everyone wants to be their friends.
Karma digs the attention — and the free baked, gluten-free treats that suddenly everyone is handing them.
Amy is politely horrified.
“Everyone has a lesbian phase in college,” Karma reasons. “We’re just moving ours up.”
Karma is crushing on school hottie Liam (Gregg Sulkin, “The Wizards of Waverly Place”), who is intrigued at the idea of dating a lesbian.
I don’t want to give away one of the key twists here (or even hint at it, as I’m sure, ahem, lesser publications will), but “Faking It” has some real heart as Karma and Amy try to figure out if their friendship can survive such a deception.
In the third episode that MTV supplied for review, the politically aware kids go ballistic after a tech company tries to buy up all their personal data in exchange for a donation.
Karma discovers she has a romantic rival for Liam — a girl who shows up for a “promance” — a protest romance as the kids go on a hunger strike.
Amy meets a guy and is surprised she doesn’t want to poke out his eyes.
Stevens finished in eighth place on the 2009 season of Fox’s “American Idol,” and the show wisely capitalizes on her singing voice — she’s good. Volk underplays some unexpectedly poignant moments. Both actresses deserve great careers.
“Faking It’s” screener drops a couple of F-bombs, and I find it hard to believe basic cable channel MTV will air them.
Still, there’s something hilarious and twisted about outcasts running a school and turning out to be as much idiots as the typically popular kids.
“Faking It” is the real deal.
Article source: http://bostonherald.com/entertainment/television/2014/04/you_ll_fall_for_mtv_s_funny_heartfelt_faking_it