Jen: Say hello to your friends!
Mary: Yay!
Emily: hiii
Mary: Hello, fellow babysitters.
Just kidding, I have zero babysitting experience.
Jen: We did a summer camp! That kind of counts?
Mary: Oh yeah! I think that counts.
Emily: I've done a ton of babysitting.
Jen: You are our actual babysitting expert!
Last week, Netflix released a reboot of the Babysitters Club, based on the series by Ann M. Martin in the 80s and 90s! It is focused on a group of young girls who decide to start their own babysitting business, but it's also really about the friendships they form along the way!
(Minor spoilers for BSC ahead.)
Emily: I remember as a kid feeling like there was something so appealing about this club idea.
Mary: Me too, even though I hadn't seen the show. I really wanted a club of friends. But I was the sad girl who never had a ton of friends—especially girl friends.
Emily: This group of girls go into business and get to hang out and schedule babysitting appointments. You know how I love scheduling.
Mary: Yes, you'd be the one in charge of scheduling!
Emily: Do you mean you hadn't read the books?
Mary: Yeah, I never read the books and I never watched the TV shows (except for a couple of episodes here and there). BUT, I got fully on board with this new adaptation for Netflix. And I love it.
Jen: I was obsessed with the Babysitters Club as a kid, and I read into the 100s in the book series, I think. I made it to Abby joining the club and having a couple of books (spoilers!). I really loved the adaptation! I like that it's so accessible for people who have not read the books while still really building on the core of Ann M. Martin's goals for the series!
Mary: Emily, you're a fan of the books, too, aren't you?
Emily: Yeah, I had shelves of them as a kid. I read all of them. The regular ones, the specials, the super specials, the mysteries. I think the only ones I didn't get so into were the little sisters ones.
Jen: I loved the other series, too! I also didn't really read the Little Sister books, but Karen Brewer in the new series is making me think I should have given them more of a chance!
Emily: Yeah, I really want to go back and read them again.
Mary: Where should we even begin with the new show? As fans of the book series, do you guys think the new adaptation is doing the series justice?
Jen: I absolutely do! One of Ann M. Martin's goals for the series was to be inclusive and show that there are many different ways to be a girl. She also wanted to showcase multiple types of families and show that they all are valid. There were limits to what they were able to do with the original series due to the time, and they didn't always achieve it perfectly, but I'm so glad that they've gotten to build an even more inclusive Stoneybrook!
Emily: Yes, I think the show did a really good job of updating what inclusivity looks like in 2020. I like that the cast is more diverse than the original BSC show. And they touched on a lot of really important issues in 10 short episodes. For instance, gender identity and classism.
I know that Mary and I have talked about this, but I love that they made Dawn Latina. In the books, she was this blonde Cali girl. But you know, there is a big Latinx population in Cali as well, so this was a nice change to add more representation.
Mary: Yes, it makes perfect sense for Dawn to be Latina! She's still a Cali girl, but she's also bringing a different perspective of girlhood to the show.
Jen: Yes! I was so excited about the casting! Also, Xochitl Gomez is amazing in the role!
Mary: Yes, she was great.
That leads to a good point about the show: the cast is so great. They seem like ACTUAL kids, not CW-style 30 year olds playing 15 year olds. The cast was strong on their own merit and seemed believable as tweens. That means something! If kids are watching the show, it's good that the girls they see starring actually look like themselves, not much older girls.
It just stinks when a 12 year old sees a 16 year old playing 12 and thinks, huh that's what I should look like.
Believable tween fashions.
Jen: Yeah, the Babysitters Club movie was not great on that front at all. I loved that they let the babysitters be kids in the new show. I think that in some ways was most evident with Stacey because in the books, she's the one that is the most sophisticated according to the other girls. In the new series, she is a little more glamorous (the Marie Antoinette costume!), but they made her insecurities and general dorkiness a little more prominent.
Emily: For sure.
Jen: (In the Babysitters Club movie, her plotline was dating an 18 year old who didn't know that she was 13. I think? It's been a while since I saw the movie)
Emily: Yeah, I wasn't very attached to any of the prior adaptations. I've always been a book girl.
Can we talk about who our favorites are?
Mary: Yes please!
Emily: Jen, who was your favorite in the books and who was your favorite in the show?
Jen: My favorite as a kid was Stacey, but personality wise, I was more of a Mary Anne or Mallory. In the new series, it is really, really hard for me to pick a favorite. It might be Claudia, though!
Emily: For me, Kristy was always my favorite in the books. I love Kristy in the series as well, but Dawn also really stood out.
Mary: I also feel really drawn to Claudia, Jen! I love her obsession with art and fashion and her confidence to be herself. That being said, I think I'm probably more of a Mary Anne in real life. Kristy is aspirational for me because I want to be that much of a boss.
Jen: I think everyone wants to be as much of a boss as Kristy! Also, one of the many standout scenes in the TV series was Dawn and Kristy's confrontation at the Barrett house where Kristy finally admits out loud her father issues to Dawn.
Emily: Yes. I cried.
Mary: Oh gosh, that was so good. I'm not ashamed that this show made me emotional a lot.
Jen: I had so many feelings watching the show! I think my two main moments where I teared up were Mary Anne's defense of Bailey in the hospital and the scene with Kristy and her mom after the wedding.
Mary: That's part of the beauty of this adaptation though, I think—it actually has the power to make adults a little teary. It's kid issues, sure, but it’s kid issues that also translate to adulthood really well. Everyone has thoughts and feelings about their parents, or being unsure about sharing a part of themselves. Those aren't things that just go away with age.
Emily: Yes, and I think in a time where all of us are filled with different degrees of uncertainty and even despair, this show and the way it dealt with these issues was really comforting. Like, this show was wholesome but not sappy.
Mary: I totally agree.
Jen: I agree, too! It definitely felt comforting, in a quiet way. It's more focused on kids dealing with normal issues and trying to make the world a better place on a local level, and I really liked that aspect of it.
Claudia’s room is the coolest tbh.
Mary: Yeah, and it introduced a lot of issues in a casual way that makes sense to me. There's a lesbian couple that uses the girls as sitters, and no one seems to bat an eye at it. Dawn mentions that her dad is gay and seems to have a healthy relationship with him and his partner. And of course, how could we overlook Dawn and Claudia's campaign for equality at summer camp? The girls are motivated to help people, and that is part of what makes it such a wholesome show. The conflict of the show isn't anything that can't be solved (friends being mad at each other, etc.), and things that are conflicts in real life are just kind of part of the world in a nice way.
Emily: Yes, and I'd also like to mention the rival club
Mary: OMG yes
Emily: Early in the series, the BSC is threatened by a high school club of sitters, but in the end, the BSC girls win out despite their being younger and not being able to stay out as late. Because they actually care and do their job well. Like, yes, caring about your job should make a difference. It doesn't always in real life, but it should.
Mary: The BSC world is kind of idealistic in that way, but it's a type of idealism that makes it the perfect escape. Especially, as you said Emily, right now when the world is basically on fire.
Jen: Yes! Though it was weird to me that the parents’ first response to the rival Babysitters cyberbullying Stacey about her medical condition was not to immediately drop them. The "press conference" meeting in the living room did feel very BSC, though!
It still is super idealistic, though, in a good way! I like how earnest the series is. I have enjoyed some edgy teen versions of series I loved as a child (the new Nancy Drew, for example), but I would have been disappointed if they had gone that route for the Babysitters Club.
Emily: Yes, this suited the tone of the novels but in an updated way. It was pretty much perfect. My main complaint is that it wasn't longer.
Mary: I know! I just wanted more.
Emily: I watched this all in one day.
Mary: Give us more, Netflix.
Emily: What do you guys want to see from a second season if they get to do one?
Mary: I definitely want to see if Mary Anne's dad and Dawn's mom continue to date. I loved that plotline.
Emily: Spoiler: they do. LOL.
Mary: Yessssss.
Jen: Yes! Richard Spier and Sharon Porter are wonderful! I'm looking forward to seeing Jessi and Mallory get more included. I'm betting that Jessi's Secret Language will be an episode.
Emily: Yes! I loved getting a little peek at Jessi and Mallory at the end of this season.
Mary: Junior members!
Jen: I have some predictions that are spoilery, some of which I don't necessarily want to happen! I do think Stacey's parents will get divorced in the next season. They weren't really featured this season, but that was a major part of the early series.
Mary: Ooooh, possibly. I think that it's a story line that would be relevant to a lot of kids. Divorce is crappy.
What are your predictions, Emily? Or your hopes?
Emily: I'm really looking forward to Jessi and Mallory, as I said. I'd also like to see Logan and Mary Ann's relationship, because that was a huge part of the book series. We get a teeny bit of it in this season.
Mary: Just a little peek.
Emily: At this point, some of these characters felt more like Easter eggs for people who have read the books. Because we know they're going to be important later.
Jen: Yes! Definitely!
Mary: I like that. It was fun for me as someone who didn't know, and it's fun for y'all who did. It's a bonus.
Emily: I hope the next season is more than 10 episodes.
Mary: Give us 20!
Jen: 20 is a good number! There will be more babysitters. Also, they were in the eighth grade for so long in the books that they have more ground to cover!
Mary: Oh gosh, I remember you saying this, Jen. They just keep staying in the same grade forever.
I just love this series and want everyone to watch it.
It should be noted that both Todd and Ben were like, hmmm I'm unsure if I want to see this, and by the end they were both very into it.
Emily: Yep.
Jen: I wholeheartedly recommend the series! Also, watch the Claudia Kishi Club, which is now on Netflix! It's a short documentary on the impact of Claudia Kishi on Asian American readers!
Mary: It's on my list for sure.
Emily: Yes! I want to watch that.
Well, it's been real.
Mary:Yay! Thanks everyone!
We love them. Girl power!