|
Newly-Reviewed Programs
TV on DVD
All Shows: A-Z Index
Advanced Search
2008-09 Midseason
2008 Fall Season
2008 Summer Season
2007-08 Midseason
2007 Fall Season
2007 Summer Season
2006-07 Midseason
2006 Fall Season
2006 Summer Season
2005-06 Midseason
2005 Fall Season
Best Of 2008
Best Of 2007
Best Of 2006
Best Of 2005
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss TV In Our Forums
|
High School Confidential
SERIES: WE, Monday 10:00p (60 minutes)
Starring
Wendy K. Gray
Life is not a musical for the 12 Kansas teenagers in the eight-episode long documentary.
| GENRE(S): |
Documentary
|
| CREATED BY: |
Sharon Liese
|
| FIRST AIR DATE: |
March 10, 2008 |
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
80
Hollywood Reporter Barry Garron
The series, from Liese's Herizon Prods. and New Line Television, is remarkable for the way it compresses time and hones in on pivotal moments.
80
Miami Herald Glenn Garvin
This unsettling documentary series on the cable WE network, which follows a dozen Kansas City girls through four years in their suburban high school, suggests we've come a long, hard way from "Grease."
80
Boston Globe Joanna Weiss
As much as this is a story of the pressures facing teenage girls, it's also a striking, honest look at the parent-child relationship, with its ebbs and flows of communication and trust.
80
San Jose Mercury News Charlie McCollum
Although a bit rough at times (it's nowhere near as slick as "Laguna Beach"), Confidential is strong, emotionally charged stuff with the kind of real kids not often seen on TV.
75
New York Daily News David Hinckley
The result is a picture that feels true. It's very likely incomplete because few people tell everything to a camera, but the insecurities and the growing confidence are conveyed with language and an attitude that seem fairly natural.
75
New York Post Adam Buckman
High School Confidential is an illuminating documentary series more in the tradition of director Michael Apted's series of films, starting with "Seven Up!," that have been tracing the lives of its subjects since 1964.
70
Salon Heather Havrilesky
Clumsy and tone-deaf as it sometimes is, High School Confidential offers a fascinating look at the challenges and heartbreaks facing today's teenage girl.
70
The New York Times Ginia Bellafante
While High School Confidential has its flaws--it is choppily edited and far too spare in its depictions of the girls living rather than talking--it does us a service by portraying teenagers beyond the media’s typical parameters of exceptionalism
70
Variety Brian Lowry
Certainly nothing here is "groundbreaking," as WE's production notes claim, given past exercises such as Michael Apted's landmark "7 Up!" series. Yet High School Confidential is the kind of personal document that merits attention--inviting curiosity not just regarding how these teens navigated through high school, but what their lives will be like seven years from now and beyond.
70
Philadelphia Inquirer Jonathan Storm
The lives shown here, in surprisingly frank profiles, are fascinating enough to sustain interest.
70
Chicago Tribune Maureen Ryan
Some episodes feel a little padded, and the show occasionally skates nervously over the more painful aspects of these girls' lives, but High School Confidential is a mostly compelling study of the lives of 12 girls in a middle-class Kansas community.
60
Slate Troy Patterson
Failing to realize high ambitions, High School Confidential skims across the lives of 12 teenage girls growing up in placid Kansas.
60
Philadelphia Daily News Ellen Gray
I can't say I was riveted by either of the episodes I watched, which largely consisted of interviews with the girls and their parents, together and separately, interspersed with scenes from extracurricular activities and parties. But if there are parents who can actually get their teens to watch with them, it might get a conversation going.
50
Washington Post
Somehow, even after following these girls from ninth through 12th grade, Confidential manages to make their stories boring.
 The average user rating for this tv show is 6.3 (out of 10) based on 3 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Discuss this tv show in our forums
|
|
