Drama
Phony
Hulu’s ‘Phony’ has plenty of mystery and intrigue, but harsh content concerns and a convoluted plot add up to a lot of phony baloney.
The doors of Hollywood Arts High School are open once again. It’s been over a decade since the initial run of Victorious concluded on Nickelodeon, but the prestigious acting and music school is now accepting talented oddballs and tortured poets alike.
After long-time acting teacher Erwin Sikowitz finally retires (in the middle of class, to leave on a road trip to Japan with his family) a “famous” alumni of Hollywood Arts temporarily steps in to teach a new batch of talented future stars. Sure, Trina may not be the more popular Vega sibling compared to her world-renowned pop star sister, Tori, but for this troupe of eccentric kids (and this slightly desperate legacy sequel) she’ll have to do.
Initially, Trina’s motivations for teaching are self-serving: She’s hoping one of her new pupils’ nepo baby status can launch her stagnant acting career back into stardom. But time spent with this new generation of students soon helps Trina discover that she may have a hidden talent of her own: teaching.
Students Jen Z and Pepper could someday carve out successful acting or music careers for themselves, if they could just stop fighting over the same boy. Usually relegating herself to the tech side of the arts, Emmy has a buried vocal talent that rivals the best voices at Hollywood Arts. However, a life spent in the shadow of her more popular brother, Oscar, has forced her to hide her chops. And as far as Qwest goes … well, in order to stay at the prestigious arts school, he has been lying to his parents for years, telling them he’s a star basketball player. In reality, Qwest wishes to kickstart a music career—something we’re told his parents would vehemently disapprove of.
Seems like the kind of setup in which a series might find ways for its characters to learn humility, confidence, how to get along with peers and ways they can be honest to those around them while being true to themselves and their dreams. But I guess only time will tell for these young stars in the making.
Victorious is not the first early 2010s Nickelodeon show to get a sequel series or movie, capitalizing on the nostalgia of Gen Zers such as myself. And while Hollywood Arts is the only of those recent reboots that I’ve seen personally, critic reviews of all of these efforts suggest this might be the “best” one—although that doesn’t seem like a high metric.
To give credit where it’s due, this series does deliver some light humor with the same conventionally cheesy melodrama that made those older Nick shows so endearing. While perhaps not as witty as its predecessor, Hollywood Arts does pack a fair amount of heart into its (for some reason) hour-long episodes. High schoolers are encouraged to be themselves, follow their passions and better understand those around them. While some female students bicker over boys and one pupil lies to his parents as a major plot point, these themes are about the extent of the drama at play. And for a modern update, parents will be happy to know that equally modern gender ideologies are, at the time of this review, not explicitly present in the show.
All of that to say, many viewers like myself may leave wondering why Hollywood Arts needed to be a sequel to Victorious at all. Other than a few returning ancillary characters, and frequent mentions of the leads from that show, this new reboot hardly attaches itself to its predecessor. Fans of Victorious are now likely too mature for this somewhat juvenile reboot, and new viewers of the series won’t understand the frequent callbacks to past characters who roamed the halls of Hollywood Arts.
Which begs the same question that many of these legacy sequels do: Who is this show for?
(Editor’s Note: Plugged In is rarely able to watch every episode of a given series for review. As such, there’s always a chance that you might see a problem that we didn’t. If you notice content that you feel should be included in our review, send us an email at letters@pluggedin.com, or contact us via Facebook or Instagram, and be sure to let us know the episode number, title and season so that we can check it out.)
After long-time acting teacher Erwin Sikowitz retires, Hollywood Arts alumnus Trina Vega takes the temporary teaching gig to further her own career. But she quickly finds herself growing to really appreciate her small class of pupils. Meanwhile, wannabe musician Qwest lies to his parents about his basketball success (on a nonexistent team), which catches up to him after his father demands to see him play in a game. And reserved sound tech Emmy begins to grow restless in the shadow of her popular brother, Oscar. Emmy wants to snag a bit of the spotlight herself—and she certainly has the singing voice to do so.
A few comedic falls and some light squabbling are the extent of any violence. Although a girl “poisons” her classmate to get a good role in a musical, the extent of said poisoning just causes the classmate to briefly lose her voice.
Harsh language is almost nonexistent, with just a few misuses of God’s name and phrases like “good Ghandi” and “holy Moses” rounding out any cautionary phrases beyond “gosh,” “darn” and “heck.” A character distinguishes the difference between holograms and ghosts. Song lyrics mention David and Goliath, as well as the slingshot that took the giant down. A character requests a gospel choir be present in their performance.
A teacher wears some outfits that are not quite school appropriate, with shirts being a bit tighter and skirts a tad shorter than parents might appreciate. Some students wear cheerleader outfits with short skirts, and high schoolers’ outfits expose some midriff. In a comedic scene, a self-obsessed boy plays two roles in a play, one male and one female.
Qwest’s lie to his parents persists throughout the episode, and his friends help him further that lie.
Our characters frequent a karaoke establishment that serves colorful drinks—though the fact that high schoolers are in attendance makes one believe they aren’t alcoholic. Pop songs such as SIA’s “Chandelier,” Amy Winehouse’s “Valerie” and Cindy Lauper’s “Girl’s Just Wanna Have Fun” are sung in musical performances.
Jonah Parker’s first interaction with Plugged In came when he was just five years old, after his parents read a review for The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian and deemed the content too intense for him. What started out as a contentious relationship between Jonah and a staff of reviewers who knew not of his existence would later turn into an appreciation for the site’s ability to present media content in a way that was accurate and fair. Jonah enjoys analyzing how our entertainment echoes the creativity of our Creator while finding glimpses of Biblical truths within every genre. He believes that Robert Pattinson’s Batmobile is the perfect mix of cool and practical.
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