TV Reviews : ‘Like We Care’ Is Like Hip for Teens

It’s to MTV’s credit that its magazine series, “Like We Care,” which debuted Monday and airs weekdays at 5 and 9:30 p.m., is thoroughly tuned in to its teen-age audience. Though it occasionally forays into serious issues, the show is at its tongue-in-cheek best hashing out every permutation of that eternal dilemma: how to deal with the opposite sex.

An ongoing segment, “Way Dumped,” lets teens write in and rake bad dates over the coals. A randy expose gleefully demonstrated how to give, then camouflage, a hickey.

Even with more standard magazine-show fare, “Like We Care” practically screams, “Don’t, like, take this too seriously.”

A rote “Entertainment Tonight”-type interview with heartthrob Jason Priestly, for example, was spiced up when a gray-haired man accidentally wandered into the background. While Priestly continued talking, an arrow, with the words, “Who is this guy?” pointed briefly to the hapless intruder. Such friendly in-jokes give “Like We Care” an aura of hip exclusivity.

But “Like We Care” isn’t as good at being serious, which it tries at least once a show, mostly because the segments don’t go far--or long--enough. Perhaps MTV was trying not to bore its fickle viewers during pieces on teen pregnancy or weapon searches in school, but a lot of information was left out.

One segment began by saying fewer than 40% of 18- to 24-year-olds voted in 1988 and encouraged viewers to “rebel, take back the system, register to vote.” The message was inspirational, but specific information--where, exactly, can teens find out their state’s registration deadlines?--was hard to come by.

“Like We Care” is in a perfect position to counteract the “MTV generation’s” widely publicized apathy. If it can better balance its desire to be both class clown and valedictorian, it is, at least compared to other current events shows, most likely to succeed.