'10 Things I Hate About You' Pilot

10 Things I Hate About You is a fun, entertaining adaptation of the smart, underrated teen movie from 1999. It captures the exuberant spirit of the source material while effectively updating it for a new decade, and features likeable performances from the entire cast, as well as a welcome return from Larry Miller, reprising his role from the film as the father to two very different teen girls. The movie’s premise may be tough to stretch out indefinitely into a series, but it’s off to a great start.

I’ve previously admitted my weakness for entertainment targeted at teen girls, and I think the original 10 Things I Hate About You film, inspired by no less lofty material than William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, is a perfect example of intelligent, funny, high-quality entertainment aimed at teens. Many of the movie’s stars—Julia Stiles, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, David Krumholtz, the late Heath Ledger—went on to bigger and better things, deservedly so, and this new TV-series remake, a decade later, captures a lot of what made the movie so much fun.

The premise here is basically the same: The teenage Stratford sisters Kat (Lindsey Shaw) and Bianca (Meaghan Martin) are polar opposites, with Kat a nonconforming feminist rebel and Bianca a peppy cheerleader wannabe. They head to a new school, where Kat meets a brooding biker and Bianca is pursued by a kind-hearted dork, but their dad (Larry Miller, returning from the movie, and funny as ever) has laid down a rule for the sisters: Bianca isn’t allowed to date until the antisocial Kat does as well.

The pilot sets up the premise and the basic relationships, and pretty much amounts to the same story beats from the movie’s first half-hour. That’s not really a problem: There are enough changes and updates (references to Facebook, etc.) for it to feel fresh, and the recycled elements worked the first time for a reason. Despite their differences, Kat and Bianca are both easy to identify with and root for, and their respective love interests show potential. Even the requisite snotty queen bee of the school has a nice sassy edge. If you appreciate well-written teen entertainment like Clueless, Popular or the original 10 Things I Hate About You, then you’ll find a lot here to like—no matter what your age or gender.