Radio Free Roscoe - The Series Finale

Radio Free Roscoe - The Series Finale
Originally uploaded by duckydale.

Lily, Travis, Ray and Robbie� RFR, we barely knew ya! Jon and I happened upon RFR in the last third of their first season and it was a cute show with independent sensibility. 4 High School friends created an alternative, underground pirate radio station to fight the status quo and the social norms of their school Roscoe High while battling their own inner clique-ness, love triangles, and sense of self.

I enjoyed the show; while it was no �Must See� like Degrassi but as it was scheduled after Degrassi on Friday nights, so we usually caught RFR and learned to love it or at least ignore some of the bad acting for the stand out stars and RFR�s affinity for unknown emo/alt bands (both live and on the air).

I always loved Lily Randall played by the soon to be superstar Kate Todd. She�s pretty but not model pretty, she�s talented but not pretentious, she�s a musician but not a musician turned actor, she�s the breakout star of RFR and will hopefully one day be a huge success as she was the most believable and emotionally in tune actor on the show and the one every boy wanted to date and every girl wanted to be. She had a love triangle with her best friend Ray and the newcomer to Roscoe, Travis (The worldly eccentric with mad musical knowledge and a bad-boy attitude. Not to mention he has the largest chest on a man I�ve ever seen. I�m not talking manboobs, but he just has this massive chest. I don�t think it muscle either though as he�s just not a big guy. I don�t know what�s going on there)�

Lily eventually went on to choose neither in Season 2 and dated RFR�s nemesis River Pierce (who literally always referred to himself as River Pierce. It was a Jordan Catalano homage I think as you never just heard �River� and I loved it). In the finale though, she chose her true-love Ray (well at least until senior year when they break up for college romps and road-side groupies).

Lily�s band �No Man�s Land� provided much of the fun and tension this year as they worked their way from coffee house gigs to opening for larger venues after winning local contests. As RFR came to a close, No Man�s Land was just chosen to headline a North American Mall Tour for the summer, leaving the state of their underground empire at peril.

Also throwing RFR into oblivion was the announcement that unusually large chested Travis Strong would be moving back to Japan at the end of the school year. It was a sad goodbye for Travis and his whacked out girlfriend and No Man�s Land bassist Parker. Parker was introduced at the end of season one, the new girl in school and quickly became Lily�s best friend and the wit-machine in the RFR dialogue department. She was kooky, out of control and fun to watch. Her relationship with Travis was short but sweet and welcomed as that whole Lily-Ray-Travis thing was getting old. Parker had a Nanny Haines-ism for each episode where she spouted non-sensical wisdom from her Nanny Haines. It was an on-going gag that actually worked and was usually funny. Who ever wrote for Parker needed to take their skills to every character as it would have improved RFR�s credibility and maybe given them another year.

All in all, it was a fun show that tried to show kids there is an alternative and that the alternative does not always mean you have to be a lonely depressed teen. It was about finding your individuality and expressing your opinions to prove you have a voice. RFR signed off the air after a mere two seasons leaving us with only 52 episodes of fun. Can you imagine how I will be when Degrassi decides to end this next generation? I will jump from a rooftop with despair. I love me some Degrassi.