Friday, March 25, 2011

Few regular viewers to CBBC would have missed seeing at least one of the trailers for the Channel's "biggest party of the year so far" - Finale Friday. The party, it seems, was to celebrate the season finales of two series: Tracy Beaker and Sadie J.

Perhaps Fag-end Friday would have been a more fitting description for the so-called party, as this evening's last two episodes of Sadie J were particularly dire.

Newsround Blog reviewed Sadie J in January, soon after it began. Despite very good performances from the cast, what started off promisingly soon became repetitious and tiresome. Sadie's life appeared to revolve around having fun and going to parties; we rarely saw anything much deeper in her character. Her two best friends were also one-dimensional, and I was left with the distinct impression that the writer was afraid to develop the stories into anything more serious. Hints that Kit might have been gay remained just that - hints. In contrast, it was clear that, as usual with CBBC, the programme was full to the brim with heteronormative and heterosexual references.

The lack of invention was especially noticeable in the last two episodes this evening. About three quarters of the time we were watching flashbacks to previous episodes in the series. And I mean this literally: it was atrocious. For the last few minutes CBBC resorted to outtakes - a sure sign of desperation.

Sadie J could have been so much better.

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