Cheyenne

What’s the Story?

Cheyenne Kimball isn't exactly your average teen: The mature 15-year-old singer/songwriter/guitarist won America's Most Talented Kid at age 12, and now she's starring in her own MTV reality series. CHEYENNE follows the young singer as she writes and produces her first album and embarks on her first performances. Cheyenne's talent lives up to the hype, while she, rather impressively, stays quite grounded. She often seems more mature than her manager/home-school teacher mother and her "cool" dad, who, along with an older sister, have moved from Texas to Los Angeles in an effort to further solidify Cheyenne's career. Cheyenne is more reserved than they are in front of the camera and seems happiest on stage, with her boyfriend, or hanging out with her best friend.

Is It Any Good?

In the mold of Ashley Parker Angel: There and Back and The Ashlee Simpson Show, Cheyenne uses a narrative structure to create the illusion of sequenced events, and scenes feel so staged that viewers can almost hear the director yelling "action!" In addition to the bad impression left by its somewhat forced "reality," Cheyenne would fare better on a different network, like The N. Cheyenne's baby face and tiny self seem too young for MTV audiences, who are used to watching 18-year-olds take center stage (regardless of the fact that so many of MTV's viewers are under 15). The fresh-faced teen has barely left tweendom behind, and she's all too innocent for the coveted 10-Spot. While she has potential for role-model status, her sweet voice may be lost among the hip-hop hype of such a commercially driven network.