South of Nowhere

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South of Nowhere
Genre Teen drama
Running time Half hour
22 mintues (with commercials)
Creator(s) Thomas W. Lynch
Starring Gabrielle Christian
Mandy Musgrave
Matt Cohen
Danso Gordon
Chris Hunter
Eileen April Boylan
(Season 2-)
Rob Moran
Maeve Quinlan
Austen Parros
Valery Ortiz
Opening theme "I Don't Want to Know (If You Don't Want Me)"
The Donnas
(Season 1)
"Wasted"
L.P.
(Season 2)
Country of origin Flag of United States United States
Original channel The-N
Original run November 4, 2005–present
No. of episodes 24
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

South of Nowhere is an American television series that first aired on The N on November 4, 2005 with outstanding reviews from TV Guide, The Boston Tribute, New York Post, New York Daily News, Entertainment Weekly, and Variety. It is one of four original series on The N.

Season 1: The program's tagline is: "It's not where you've been, it's where you're going."

Season 2: The program's tagline is: Temperatures Rising...

Contents

[edit] Background

The show has tackled edgy subject matters for a teen soap like homosexuality, racism, and religion. It also features a main character named Spencer who is confused about her own sexuality, which created some controversy before the show's airdate.

Each episode of South of Nowhere is half an hour in length with commercials (23-25 minutes of actual program); the pilot episode was one hour (approximately 47 minutes of actual program). The N initially ordered 11 episodes of the series. Many people thought that The N cut the season in half, but all they did was give South of Nowhere a four week break. The show returned to The N's lineup in January 2006 with the remaining episodes from the original order to air. During the break between episodes, interviews were shown with two of the stars, Gabrielle Christian and Matt Cohen, during commercial breaks.

The network officially announced through The Futon Critic that South of Nowhere received a second season and 13 episodes have been ordered.[1]

The second season was originally set to begin on October 6, 2006, but was pushed up to September 29, 2006. Its season premiere followed the sixth season premiere of Degrassi: The Next Generation. Ratings for the second season are up by 35% from season 1 and on November 17, the series reached a series high among teens with a 2.16 rating.[2]

Season three starts production in mid 2007 and should air early 2008 or possibly earlier.[3]

[edit] Season synopses

See also: List of South of Nowhere episodes

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Season 1 premiered on November 4, 2005. It introduces us to the Carlin family, primarily Spencer, the main character. It focuses on her adjustments to life in Los Angeles as opposed to her old home in Ohio. She makes new friends at her new high school, and her two best new friends quickly turn out to be Aiden and Ashley. By the end of the season, Spencer has developed a relationship with Ashley so deep that they will most likely be in a relationship beyond friendship into the second season.

Season 2 premiered on September 29, 2006. As stated above, 13 episodes were ordered by The-N. Season two focuses on Ashley's relationship with her half-sister she just found out about, Spencer coming out to her parents, Clay and his pregnant girlfriend, and Glen being addicted to pain killers.

[edit] Character bios

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
  • Spencer Carlin played by Gabrielle Christian - Spencer and her family recently moved from a small town in Ohio to Los Angeles. With her new best friend Ashley Davies, she is mostly focused on the issue of her own sexual orientation. She maintained an awkward semi-romantic relationship with Ashley in season 1. In the season 1 finale, Spencer comes to the conclusion that she isn't straight, and she and Ashley kissed (and later, in season 2, we learn they slept together.) When her mother, Paula, walked in on them in a compromising position, Ashley was somewhat violently thrown out of the house and Spencer was kept away from Ashley. Her mother attempted to make a therapist "fix" her, but her father, Arthur, wouldn't stand for it. Spencer couldn't stand it any longer either, and when Ashley came by to run away with her, she leapt at the chance.
  • Glen Carlin played by Chris Hunter - Glen Carlin is the athlete of the family. Glen plays basketball for the school team and maintains a rivalry with Aiden, the former star of the team before Glen's arrival. He began dating Madison after she broke up with Aiden. Once he busted his ACL, Madison broke up with him. He soon after started taking drugs but goes into rehab 3 times a week after he was arrested for buying drugs.
  • Clay Carlin played by Danso Gordon - Clay Carlin was eight when the Carlin family adopted him. Clay is the only black kid in an all white family. After moving to Los Angeles Clay has been forced to deal with many issues concerning race and discrimination. He currently dates Chelsea who is now pregnant by him. He also meets his real mother and is starting to form a bond with her.
  • Ashley Davies played by Mandy Musgrave - Ashley comes from a rich family, due to the fact that her father is famous rock star, "Raife Davies", played by C.C. DeVille. However she faces many family issues, mostly neglect. She formerly dated Aiden Dennison and it is revealed that she was once pregnant with his child. After she lost the baby, she decided that she's "mostly into girls" and has refered to herself as "a gay lesbian". At first she became Spencer's best friend and helped her discover her sexual identity. At the end of the first season after Spencer comes to the conclusion that she is into girls, Ashley and Spencer kiss. In the beginning of the second season, Ashley's father is killed in a car crash and she is shocked to discover he had another child at the same time as her birth, her newly discovered half-sister, Kyla. She doesnt get along with Kyla but they eventually learn to live together. She runs away with Spencer after Paula discovers that Spencer and Ashley are together.
  • Aiden Dennison played by Matt Cohen - Aiden was the former star of the basketball team before Glen came along. At the time he was dating Madison, although he is still not over his breakup with Ashley. Once Spencer came on the scene he became friends with Spencer and began hanging out with her and Ashley, causing Madison jealously to break up with him. Following his breakup with Madison he became primarily focused on Spencer. However after discovering that Spencer would rather be with Ashley than him, he slept with Madison, but soon ended up breaking up with her. He started dating Kyla Woods but decided to stop when he finds out that she has left town for a while to see her ex-boyfriend.
  • Sean Miller played by Austen Parros - Sean is Clay's best friend and helps him deal with many race-based issues. While being very smart he tends to sometimes hang out in the wrong areas or and get himself into trouble.
  • Arthur Carlin played by Rob Moran - Arthur is the father of the Carlin family and was a "hero" social worker back in Ohio. However, after moving to L.A. because of his wife's job, he is having trouble adapting to big city life.
  • Paula Carlin played by Maeve Quinlan - Paula is the main reason the Carlin family moved so that she could begin a new job in the E.R. in Los Angeles. Her new job has put a large strain on her family life, as well as her marriage. At the end of the episode "Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are", she discovered her daughter and Ashley are together.
  • Madison Duarte played by Valery Ortiz - Madison is the stereotypical "queen" cheerleader. At the start of the series, she dated Aiden. However, once Glen became the new basketball star, she moved on and started dating Glen. However, after Glen injured his knee and lost any chance getting a scholarship to a nice college, she went back to dating Aiden. Aiden ended up dumping her, but she still refuses to go back out with Glen. Madison finds out about Kyla's ex-boyfriend and slyly reveals this to Aiden.
  • Chelsea Lewis played by Aasha Davis - Chelsea is currently dating Clay and helps him through many of the issues he faces following the move. She is currently pregnant with Clay's baby.
  • Sherry Pena played by Marisa Lauren - Sherry is one of the popular cheerleaders at King High and is Madison's best friend. She and Madison make things difficult for anyone they don't like; therefore, Ashley and Spencer usually get taunted by them about their sexuality.
  • Kyla Woods played by Eileen April Boylan - Ashley's long-lost half-sister, who appears after the death of their father, Raife Davies. She starts having a relationship with Aiden but leaves town for a while to see her ex.
  • Boz played by Quentin Prescott Price- Boz is Sean's more street-savvy cousin. He is often involved in some type of controversy or trouble, but is nonetheless loyal to those he hangs around. He serves as the voice for those in lower economic bracket. He is a "street kid with a heart of gold."
Spoilers end here.

[edit] Music and media

Music: See Music from South of Nowhere for a full itemizing of the songs in each episode.

  • The show's first season theme song was "I Don't Want to Know (If You Don't Want Me)" by the female rock band The Donnas.
  • The show's second season theme song is "Wasted" by L.P.
  • The song used in the trailers leading up to the show's airdate was "No Money Fun" by Oly.
  • The song used in a few of the recent promos for the show is "Perfect Vision" by Montag.

Media: South of Nowhere is available to download online on the "TV Shows" section of Apple's iTunes Music Store and the episodes are formatted for use with the Apple iPod Video.

The first season can be streamed on The N's video service "The Click" from their official website.

[edit] References

  1. ^ THE N GREENLIGHTS SECOND SEASON OF HIT TEEN DRAMA 'SOUTH OF NOWHERE'. the futon critic.
  2. ^ The N's South of Nowhere Reaches a New Zenith'. mediaweek.
  3. ^ Cohn, Angel (November 3, 2006). South of Nowhere's Mandy Musgrave (Ashley) Kisses and Tells!. TVGuide.com.
    Cohn: Will we see Ashley and Aiden together, or is Ashley happy with Spencer? Musgrave: I don't know. I hope all throughout the second season, and even the third season, she remains with Spencer.

[edit] External links

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