Romeo! Review

I revisited the show because I wanted to figure out the name of one of the vanity cards at the end. What's wrong with me?
(Going to cover this show today to prevent any monotony in potential future reviews, since I'll be focusing on the creations of one man, the same man I covered in my last LTA)

When you're young, anything seems awesome to you, and it could affect your judgement on it in the near future. You have no idea how good or bad something is until you hear it or read about it. By then, that thing leaves an impression on you, and when you find yourself outnumbered by the popular consensus, it'll be hard for you to talk badly about it. You're used to it and could find some enjoyment out of it. Sorta why I still like nu metal (aside from the fact that its biggest critics are total douche canals), and this show.

Background
In the early-2000s, chances are you would've at least heard of Lil' Romeo. That kid rapper that has as much relevance as Aaron Carter, and all he's doing nowadays is flip-flopping on his political beliefs. Lil' Romeo left so much of an impact to me... I only heard of him through this TV show, and the only thing I saw him in beyond that is that episode-long cameo he made in Static Shock (a better DC animated series than Teen Titans, the 2003 version).

The basis behind the series isn't too much of a mystery. Any celebrity outside of the television or movie industry is guaranteed their own show or a spot in an existing one for additional publicity and potential new career paths in the off-chance they lose their popularity. Lil' Romeo was starving for popularity in 2003 eventually. The show was spearheaded by Master P., Lil' Romeo's prime partner at the time (how prime? Both collaborated on a movie starring Kat Williams, and I'll leave it up to you to look that up. It sucks.)

Additional service was provided by Thomas W. Lynch, who if you don't know his work, he was involved in a number of music-oriented shows, so it isn't too out of place for him. He worked on Kids Incorporated (no celeb-ties) and Class of 3000 (with Andre Benjamin, that show honestly being better than Romeo!). In addition, Lynch was no stranger to Nickelodeon (Nickelodeon being the network the show aired on), for he worked on Catlin's Way, The Secret World of Alex Mack and The Troop (which itself relies on murder to stick in people's heads.)

The show evidentially didn't have too high of a budget to work with, so they had to shoot everything in Vancouver (supporting my everything's done cheaper in Canada theory), while the show is set in Washington. Though to be fair they did well covering that factoid. The show managed to last for 53 episodes within three seasons and had reruns up until 2008 on BET and The N. I'd say that means the show was liked enough to keep it going through reruns, but they could've just made due on syndication rules.

Critically, the show ranks in the fours on IMDb (where the elitists dwell), people picking on the show for its bad acting and the fact that it's a live-action Nick show that didn't air in the early-90s, which means it totally sucks, right? That it's hell to watch nowadays, right?

I made it through three episodes unscathed. I'd say people are overreacting, or I'm just used to what oughta be pain.

Framework
The series obviously stars Lil' Romeo as the typical mischievous main kid character. He's the son of Master P., a freak hybrid between the chill dad and the moralistic dad. Aiding the two are the stereotypical bratty teen with a heart of gold and the stereotypical nice youngest brother. I'm not a stickler for original characters, just as long as they could carry the show. And honestly, they do. For the first season, they also had a wacky nanny who used to work in a circus. Okay, didn't see that coming. Well executed and enough to bring a diversion to the chaos of the main plot. Most surprising of all is that the family includes an adopted white son. Back before we had a director who made the Human Torch black because he had "vanity project" on the mind, we had African Americans diversifying sitcoms by bringing in people of different races. Either that or they tore a page from the book from the basis of Different Strokes.

The kids are part of a low-low profile rap group, some episodes focus on expanding the band, other times it focuses on family issues, and it rarely goes beyond that. Had it not been for the fact that there's enough to keep your interest to the end, this review would be a hell of a lot more negative.

Let's get onto the biggest criticism of the show, in that key characters can't act. Having watched three episodes, with a focus on those from the first season since I remember those the most clearly... the acting isn't great, but it's not horrible. I was expecting monotone delivery, or a foretelling of Jaden Smith's character in After Earth. Here, we have actors trying their best, and succeeding. I've seen worse acting than what Romeo! could achieve. Heck, I believe that Juni from Spy Kids sounds somewhat worse than Romeo in the show.

I'd like to talk about the transition effects in the show now. To emphasize that the show is based on a rapper, there're transitions where the screen moves back and forth a lot when zooming, rapid angle shot changes and turntable scratches. They happen frequently, but somehow I got used to them. The rap portions are far more intolerable to me, I blame the lyricism. Less often, we have animated segments that represent the thoughts of Romeo. The animation is passe nowadays and... yeah. It's a product of its time, but they don't dominate the episode entirely so... fair play.

Closing
There really isn't that much to the show, and, I can't really recommend it to anyone. It's the kind of show where you had to be there when it came out. I saw this when I was around 7-8, so I ate that shit up. The show may be a slow burn for others, but you may be drawn in by how ridiculous it is now. I haven't seen this show in years, and going back into the episodes I remember the most, it wasn't a slog-fest.