Braceface

What’s the Story?

In BRACEFACE, Sharon Spitz (voiced by Clueless' Alicia Silverstone) is a pretty, blond 14-year-old, starting high school and learning a lot about growing up. Surrounded by friends and family, she has one major obstacle to prevent her life from running smoothly -- her braces sometimes create a magnetic field that causes various kinds of trouble, such as opening her best friend's diary or sticking her to the chandelier.

Is It Any Good?

is typical of a lot of TV fare about teens -- strange braces aside, life seems a lot simpler for these characters than most teens probably find it. But the show addresses the major issues of adolescence -- freedom and responsibility, the social perils of high school, starting relationships, and so on -- in a nicely straightforward way. The situations are fairly clichéd: Sharon's mother goes out of town, and the kids throw a huge party; Sharon likes a new boy but leaves a message for him on someone else's cell phone; Sharon's best friend has a crush on her English teacher.

And, of course, each episode is punctuated by Sharon's braces acting weird. The show might be better without this device. It does attempt to take on some of the real issues facing teens. But ultimately it's rather lightweight and, well, cartoony. There's nothing wrong with that, but it could use a bit more substance and less silliness.