not bad, ABC family!

We all have those things we hate that everyone else seems to like.  Kettle corn.  Intimacy.  Children's laughter.

For me, #1 on that list has always been 10 Things I Hate About You.  Or should I say, 10 Things I Hate About 10 Things I Hate About You!

Huh. Didn't know they had tumbleweeds in this part of the country.

There are two moments from high school tennis that I remember as alienating.  The first was when the team decided to make our uniform matching Abercrombie&T-shirts and I was the only one who saw this as hilariously unintentional self-parody.

The second was when we stopped by Stadium High on the way to a game in Tacoma to "take pictures." As many of you know, Stadium High is the picturesque, mansion-esque high school where they filmed 10 Things I Hate About You:

It's a nice school, sure, but worthy of a pilgrimage? No way.  Yes, Stadium High is Tacoma's Stone Henge, but Tacoma also sucks.
My dislike of 10 Things I Hate About you is at least partly due to my not entirely rational hatred of Julia Stiles and all that she stands for.  Here's how most my conversations about Julia Stiles go:

Friend:  Julia Stiles is doing Shakespeare in the park.

Me:  Ugh.  What a phony!

Friend: Why? She's a huge Shakespeare buff.

Me:  Yeah, I hate her too.

But really, it's because the movie is just plain ultra-lame.  So you can imagine my surprise -- and consternation, don't even get me started on the consternation -- when I watched an episode of the ABC Family series version of 10 Things About You and actually......kind of liked it.  

I've always considered sitcoms to be a form of escapism.  Not just because they take place in a world where writing a sex column in a B-list paper makes you mysteriously wealthy, but  also because sitcoms are a world where trading cruel and devastatingly clever asides is an acceptable way of relating to people.  

Seriously, I don't think I've ever watched a sitcom and not asked myself at one time or another, "Why are these people still friends?"  At the same time, if I had an acquaintance who was witty enough to say to me, "What are you, an immigrant?" in my hour of need, I would make her my maid of honor.  We all have a special place in our hearts for the mean-but-entertaining person in our lives, and some of us are that person.  

Amazingly, some of the characters in 10 Things I Hate About You fit this category.  For one thing, Kat (which was the role played by Julia "I'm an unlikable feminazi caricature" Stiles) is actually kind of funny.  Like, when the town has to evacuate to the local high school because of a fire and Bianca tries to get her curling iron, Kat says,

"Geez, there could be people who are really hurt and all you care about is your hair. You're as bad as Anderson Cooper."

Timely, funny, and "you know it's true!"  Oh, and Patrick, the love interest? Also semi-funny.  Take this exchange:

Kat: Where's your family?

Patrick: I killed them all. They were slowing me down.

Edgy, aisle five?

Seriously. The sassy old ladies are sassy ("Lighten up! I know alot of cat ladies that started out like you."), The mean popular girls are, like, really mean ("I know you're really stressed about losing all your dead mom stuff."), and even the Pontential Love Interest for the Single Dad -- a sub-plot of family sitcom that is always either creepy or boring -- has her moments ("Oh, no...are you married, separated, big fat cheater?")

I'm not saying 10 Things I Hate About You is the best thing that ever happened to me.  But if 30 Rock and The Office are funny's varsity tennis team, 10 Things I Hate About You is its underclassmen alternate who has potential and tries really hard.  Case and point.  If you drop Julia Stiles, then you, too, can become a tennis star.  Though I would like to disclaim that hating Julia Stiles does not preclude you from double-faulting an entire set and being hit in the face by your own lob-ball.