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Switched At Birth puts a new twist on an old theme

Have you been watching ABC Family's new drama 'Switched At Birth'? If not, here are some reasons why you should.

It’s no secret to anyone who reads my reviews that I’m a fan of several ABC Family shows. So why should the new series Switched At Birth be any different? Well, the show is different — but in a really good way. I’m excited to keep watching.

The show, for those of you who haven’t seen it, features Katie Leclerc as Daphne and Vanessa Marano as Bay, two teenagers who were — you guessed it — switched at birth due to a mix-up at the hospital. (There seems to be more to the story than that, however; hopefully we’ll learn more as the finale nears.) One twist on an oft-used tale, however, is that one of the main characters — as well as a handful of secondary characters — is deaf. Therefore, American Sign Language plays its own role in the show, sometimes in unexpected ways.

Here are some reasons the show (which airs Mondays at 9 p.m.)  is really making an impression on me:

  • It’s putting deaf characters, and ASL, into the mainstream. In addition, the ways in which the characters — both deaf and hearing — communicate on the show is unique to each character’s personality, preferences, and relationship between who’s having the conversation. For example, Daphne can read lips, so she doesn’t sign with her biological family, but she does sign with Regina, her non-biological mom who raised her. Also, Daphne’s best friend, Emmett, who is also deaf, only signs and reads lips, but does not use standard (speaking) English to converse. So certain scenes, like the ones he and Daphne share, are captioned, and silent save for some background noise. It’s very interesting, and like nothing I’ve seen on television before.
  • I always like seeing strong characters that I’ve enjoyed in other roles.  Vanessa Marano (Bay) played April, Luke’s daughter, in Gilmore Girls. I loved her then, and I love her now! (Funny, though, that she also participated in an experiment on Gilmore Girls to find her biological father …)
  • The show’s main focus isn’t only on the girls’ new-found family dynamic or on being deaf. It’s also tackled such difficult topics as alcoholism and gambling addiction.
  • Even though Lea Thompson‘s character, Kathryn, bothers me in certain situations, it brings a smile to my face to remember her as Marty McFly’s mom in Back to the Future and as Eric Stoltz’s love interest in Some Kind of Wonderful.
Switched At Birth shows a great deal of promise, deals with real issues, and is engaging. Have you been watching? What do you like most about it?
                                       
Photo Credit: ABC Family

Categories: | Clack | General | TV Shows |

6 Responses to “Switched At Birth puts a new twist on an old theme”

July 25, 2011 at 5:30 PM

I’ve really enjoyed the show, also. The only complaint I’ve had so far is the brother’s cliche gambling problem. Why is it that when shows are trying to find a problem for a teenage boy, they always go to gambling addiction?

July 25, 2011 at 8:26 PM

Ha ha, you’re right. It’s sort of like Brandon from 90210 … except Toby’s not as good looking. :)

July 26, 2011 at 7:00 AM

And the new 90210 recycled its storyline and let Dixon gamble. :p

July 26, 2011 at 5:56 AM

Except, that Brandon developed, confronted and defeated his “addiction” in the course of a single episode. “Tonight, on a very special 90210…”

;-)

July 27, 2011 at 8:01 PM

Lea Thompson will aways be Andie to me (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091993/)

Ironically, though, she’s the reason I’ve lost touch with this show … well, not her specifically, but her character, for the reasons Rachel mentions. Every time you think we’ve seen some character growth, she devolves again, and again, and again (Same for her husband).

July 29, 2011 at 5:59 PM

I really love this show. No real villains on it, everyone has good intentions and acts for good reasons. I have massive crushes on Daphne and Emmett, and Bay and Emmett together are so cute! And holy crap, the guitar case!

The one strange quibble I have is that they set up the two boyfriend love interests (Ty and Liam) and then whipped them offstage real fast and threw in Wilkie(!) as a replacement (Emmett was already around). Makes more sense with Ty than with Liam, who still goes to school with Bay and co and it’s odd that he’s totally gone and not in a cooking class either.

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