Parents' Guide to Misfit: The Series

Candy-colored and bursting with music and dance, this Dutch series is like a lighter and less controversial Glee, with an emphasis on the students working together for a common goal. In this case, the common goal is resisting their new principal, Agnes Wilgenburg, who has vowed to change Highland High's image from creative to hard-working. She institutes school uniforms, clamps down on any song and dance, and forces the students to take a series of tests. If they don't collectively score high enough, Highland will be closed forever. Naturally, the students of Highland rebel, and plan to stage a gangbusters musical at an upcoming international presentation that will convince everyone that Highland's real strength is its creativity.

Cue the secret rehearsals! There's never any doubt that the talented Highland students will ultimately prevail, yet it's entertaining to watch members of all the school's "squads" (what cliques are called in the English translation) pull together to add their individual touches to the musical. The emphasis on students separating themselves into various interest groups is one of this show's only iffy features; after all, everyone contains multitudes and can be interested in many different things at once while holding down friendships with different types of people. In addition, some of the stereotypes are more questionable than others, like a group of "VIPs" who wear expensive clothing and talk frequently about image and luxury brands. But the overall message, that there's room for every voice in music and all talents are needed to make an amazing show, certainly can't be faulted, and Misfit: The Series goes down as easily as an ice-cream-colored dream.