Nowadays, if you hear MTV, you immediately think JerseyShore or one of the the umpteen Real World / Road Rules incarnations. While I do watch JS weekly, I rarely put the channel on otherwise. That however, changed after catching a few episodes of their reboot of from the 1985 movie starring Michael J. Fox, “Teen Wolf”.

I watched the first episode with trepidation, expecting utter shit. But surprisingly, I kind of liked it and gave it another shot the next week. Fuzzy feelings began to swell for the snarky dialogue, and I set the “record entire series” option on my trusty DVR. After 12 episodes, the season finale was this past Monday, and after all was said, done, and ripped I can say I have felt “the bite” for this show.

If you have not yet watched, let me give you the background on the show and its characters:

Scott McCall is a high school student who gets bitten by a werewolf while wandering in the woods. (Lesson: wandering in the woods is usually not a good idea.) Now, Scott is trying to maintain a normal life (you know, like having a girlfriend and playing H.S. lacrosse), while keeping his secret of being a werewolf from everyone. Everyone that is, except my favorite character, his best friend Stiles, who helps him undergo all the changes he experiences.

List of Characters:

Tyler Posey as Scott McCall
Crystal Reed as Allison Argent
Dylan O’Brien as “Stiles” Stilinski
Tyler Hoechlin as Derek Hale
Holland Roden asLydiaMartin
Colton Haynes as Jackson Whittemore
JR Bourne as Chris Argent (Allison’s Father)
Jill Wagner as Kate Argent (Allison’s Aunt)
Melissa Ponzio as Melissa McCall (Scott’s Mom)
Ian Bohen as Peter Hale (Derek’s Uncle)

I don’t want to ruin the plot direction of the season, in case some of you wish to catch up, but I will give the basics. Allison is the girlfriend I previously spoke about, and with a last name of Argent, I am sure you intelligent readers can guess something about her family. Jackson is the bully-esque character of the show. He is now co-captain of the lacrosse team instead of captain, since Scott’s werewolf abilities make him a star on the field. Jackson doesn’t really like that too much, and vows to uncover Scott’s “secret” that he thinks is steriods. The team’s lunatic coach promoted Scott to other co-captain. Lydia is Jackson’s girlfriend who Stiles is secretly in love with. Derek Hale is a dark, broody guy who ends up being a werewolf. (I can ruin that since obviously someone else has to be one.) His family was brutally murdered in a house fire, with his catatonic uncle Peter Hale being the only other survivor of the family. The rest of the Argents are important to the season, and Scott’s mom is just oblivious to everything.

All in all, the writing is pretty decent, you have regular high school moments, followed by a good amount of blood. For 12 episodes, there was quite a few deaths. Special effects, while not great by any means, are relatively ok for standards you would assume MTV would have. The werewolves themselves look more scary than say, those on Team Jacob. We didn’t get too much in terms of full-on changing, mostly eye and face changes, but again, it was only the first season.

The main differences between the series and movie are obvious – the first being it is a much darker drama instead of comedy. In the movie, Scott inherits the werewolf gene from his father, who tried to hide it. And instead of basketball, there’s lacrosse – so no wolfy slam dunks.

Original episodes for Season 2 will return sometime in 2012 on MTV Mondays at 10/9C. I suggest you catch up and watch this series when it comes back for more.