Review: Wildfire Season One (B-)

Wildfire Season One (2005)
Directed by Bradford May, Rachel Talalay, More
Starring Genevieve Cortese, Nicole Tubiola, Nana Visitor, Dennis Weaver and Greg Serano
MPAA: UR
Grade: B-

Review by Scott Standish

The marketing material for Wildfire Season One touts the show as "Dallas meets the O.C." As a hard core Dallas fanatic, I can tell you, Wildfire is no Dallas. Doesn't come close. Dallas had boozing, kidnapping, murder - need I go on? Heck, the first episode I ever saw of Dallas had Sue Ellen walking around in bra and panties, slugging back highballs. Wildfire is on the ABC Family channel, so there's not much envelope pushing going on here. It's pretty tame stuff.

However, criticizing a show like Wildfire for not pushing the envelope really isn't fair. Let's face it, the show is intended for family viewers that love horses. It's basically Black Beauty meets the Afterschool Special. And you know what? That's not so bad. For it's target audience, Wildfire gives them exactly what they want: teen romances and lots of horses. It's a teenage girl's dream. So, that's why I'm giving it a passing grade.

Oh yeah, one other thing. It's damn good to see Dennis Weaver again, I haven't seen this fine actor on the screen in a while. Weaver, as many will remember was a regular on Gunsmoke and also starred as McCloud in the 70's. Weaver is excellent in Wildfire and it's nice to see the series reach out to one of the screen's forgotten legends.

The scenery is good and the acting in Wildfire is passable for a soap opera. Go into this one with lowered expectations, folks. Wildfire is certainly not Dallas, but if you are simply looking for solid family fare, you could do a lot worse.

Buy Wildfire Season One On DVD