Many in America have unfairly criticized this new Disney Channel TV-series as being yet another "Lizzie McGuire," simply because the show is for and about a girl in her early teens. For the record, I'd like to point out that this is a Canadian TV-show, and that shows like "American Dragon; Jake Long," and "The Suite Life of Zack & Cody" don't have preteen girls as main characters at all, even if Brenda Song & Ashley Tisdale outshine the Sprouse Twins.Charlotte Arnold, who looks more like Emma Taylor-Isherwood of "Strange Days at Blake Holsey High," plays Sadie Hawthore, an aspiring animal, insect, and reptile biologist in her freshman year at R.B. Bennett High School, who thinks the laws that apply to nature apply to the ways of mankind as well. Her best friends, Margaret Browning-Lesveque(Jasmine Richards) and Rain Papadakis(Michael D'Ascenzo) are a fashion queen and an unlucky guy respectively. Her older brother Hal(Justin Bradley), is a standard goof-ball, jerky-idiot sibling with a fledgling rock band. She also has a crush on a boy on the school football team named Owen Anthony(Kyle Kassadjian, who shortened his name), but unlike Lizzie McGuire's Ethan Kraft, and Daria's Kevin Thompson, he actually has a brain under that helmet(Also, Daria didn't have a crush on Kevin).No, Charlotte Arnold is no Hilary Duff, and while that's not a condemnation of Duff, it's still fine with me. It's also what makes her such a likable character. The show itself was written by those who wrote the Canadian kid's show "Our Hero," but you can easily figure that out by the narration between the scenes. Perhaps fewer Americans have seen those shows and that's why they make a false comparison to Lizzie. And while other children's programming that's shown on both cable television and network affiliates get the "Educational/Informative" label in order to fend off the wrath of anti-media zealots, this one deserves such a label.When I originally wrote this comment, the show was focused on Sadie's love of nature. In the second season, that primary feature, which is what made both the main character and the show so unique, is slowly being whittled away. Not that this is enough to make me turn away from the show, but I can only hope the natural aspect of it isn't completely forgotten.

Many people felt that the first season was unworthy of their time and patience and this was well true, NOW however they have fixed it up and made it more teen and less animal planet. Give it ANOTHER chance, PLEASE, you will NOT be sorry!! It is much easier to watch and there's a new romance. GIVE it another shot you WON'T regret it! They have all had a makeover. Sadie still loves her animals, but she has mellowed down, gotten more girly and has a new crush. Margaret has straightened her hair and Rain has gotten his braces taken off. This has made is appeal to wider audiences. I too felt like most of you during the first season but it's like the first season never happened. Give it a fresh start!

AUGH! I absolutely hate this show with all my heart and soul. I watch it only to see if it will get better, and yet, it doesn't. Even if the show itself doesn't straight-out annoy me, by the end i've been subliminally annoyed to death. The show is full of freaks and bad actors, and Sadie Hawthorne compares every little thing that happens in her life to bugs, animals, arachnids, mammals. A person in her class is a bad swimmer, like a distressed hippo, her friend's boyfriend/girlfriend relationships, like a Mayfly! IT'S ANNOYING! And on week-ends this moves around the time slots of BETTER shows such as Kim Possible, American Dragon: Jake Long, Suite Life of Zack and Cody, etc... This is by far the WORST show for Disney to dish out, even worse then The Buzz on Maggie. I give it a '1'!

Now, if we all realize that there are a finite number of plots a Teen show can have, it is easy to see that Naturally Sadie (NS) is one of the better shows out there right now. Early teens who "grew up" with Lizzie Macguire will only recognize the similar plots, but viewers who take the long view will see that NS has a fresh take on the teen show. The title character is interested in things other than how she looks or what boys think of her (though there is a boy involved). It took me a few episodes top "get into" NS, but now I recognize it as being the best thing out there in the Jr high category. It is much better than the gimmick-reliant "That is so Raven," and "Phil of the Future." I place it slightly ahead of "Drake and Josh," which is the second best show in this age range.