State of Georgia Canceled.

Her latest project was “State of Georgia,” an ABC family comedy that starred Raven-Symone as an aspiring actress who leaves the South to become a big star. The comedy, which ran last summer, was canceled Friday after failing to attract viewers. (via)

“This is so surprising!”  said no one.

Guest post: This chart was created by one of readers, Gabi, and not only does it accurately sum up ABC Family’s programming, but it’s also incredibly relevant to all of our interests here at TV Hangover.

There’s a one hour block of State of Georgia tonight including the season finale. What better way to celebrate this television EVENT than with a drinking game? This is TV Hangover after all.

Drink whenever:

• Georgia references wanting to be famous
• Jo wears a child sized shirt over another shirt
• Aunt Honey wears pajamas
• Georgia sings
• Jo uses the computer
• Aunt Honey sex innuendo
• Joke about Jo being awkward or a nerd
• Joke about Jo’s hair
• Georgia makes a ‘That’s So Raven’ face.
• Aunt Honey drinks or holds a glass
• Georgia is selfish
• Aunt Honey name drops a celebrity
• Drink Twice when You actually laugh at a joke

There were four episodes of State of Georgia on last week and I sat down for two hours and watched all four.  I thought for awhile about recapping each episode, but figured you wouldn’t want to read that and, honestly, neither would I.  What I have been thinking about, a lot, is how certain TV shows make it and certain TV shows don’t.  What it takes to make it beyond a season or even a few episodes?  What makes a certain show get picked up after the pilot is aired and how some shows just never see the light of day even though they may be better shows than ones that are actually on the air.

Let’s look at one of the episodes from the four that aired last week as an example. The episode titled “Mo’ Honey, Mo’ Problems” gives us Georgia and Jo thinking Aunt Honey is broke (they saw a bank account statement) then they get all Intervention on her while simultaneously making us miss Biggie & Ma$e.  It later turns out that Aunt Honey isn’t broke, but just put her money in an account in Barbados.  This episode was written by two people who I am sure thought they were writing a great story for Georgia. I get it. I’ve written scripts that I thought were great until someone else read it and said otherwise and I’ve also received good feedback.  The difference between them and me though is that they are getting paid to put this stuff on television.  Are there certain standards to which we should hold writers to? Well, duh, but who OKs this kind of storyline?  Someone obviously said, “Yes! This is exactly what we need! Aunt Honey will be the chairperson for a charity called The Poor Women Outreach Resource Network, aka PWORN, pronounced like porn! LOL’ing y’all!”  The thing is I don’t think anyone was really LOL’ing at least not as indicated by the amount of viewers it has had.  At this point I can’t imagine this show getting a second season.  I could be wrong.  Worse show have received a second season. (I AM LOOKING AT YOU HAPPILY DIVORCED).

If the script was written better could it actually be a better show?  I kind of doubt it and I think that comes to its star.  Raven-Symone is just not that good of an actress and I know I have mentioned this before it just seems really odd that she is playing an aspiring (over)actress.  I love Loretta Devine, but even her character, while fun & campy, is just too over the top and preachy.  There is always a lesson to learn with her.  I never watched Roswell so I can’t tell you how Majandra Delfino, Jo, was on that show compared to this one, but I can tell you the writers have made her too quirky.  I actually think she’s the best actor in this show (don’t get me wrong here I think Loretta Devine is amazing, but in the context of this show is what I’m talking about).

I would love to know what the executives of ABC Family saw when they watched the pilot?  Did they actually see a real future for this show?  Did they think maybe this was going to be an adult That’s So Raven? Would Raven’s audience grow up with her and move on to her next show?  I think what is more likely is that her audience grew up and moved on.  There’s only so much bad physical comedy and facial acting that people can tolerate in an ‘Adult’ program. 

I will be looking forward to seeing Raven in a independent movie playing against character in the next few years, but for now I will be reviewing State of Georgia until the end of the season.  Don’t miss an episode (Wednesdays on ABC Family) and we can discuss it over on Twitter where I will be live-tweeting each episode.

I was a little worried that we would never see more of the State of Georgia workplace dramedy again.  Thank goodness I was wrong.  This week Georgia and Jo are back at work helping customers with separate items. Georgia uses sex appeal to help sell a dress (obvs) and Jo, well, Jo tells the customer to go to the department store down the street where they have nice jackets.  Their boss comes over and tells them that corporate is coming in this week and they need to ‘Focus’.  They assure him that this is no problem which leads me to assume that, of course, there will be a problem.  Jo may not be a lesbian after all!  There is the caveman like employee named Doug that appears and has to go work in The Cave, a small area for wallets and belts, but not before Jo starts twirling her hair while talking to him.

Georgia walks into their apartment announcing that she has her first acting gig for the 9th best overnight mattress wholesaler in New York while Jo is trying to hack into work’s employee database to find out more about Doug.  She Googles (I’m guessing) ‘Bearded Doug’ and is appalled at what she finds.  Of course, I did the same and was very disappointed.  I mean couldn’t they have come up with a much better search term?  I even had my Safe Search off and not one graphic picture!  Aunt Honey walks down the stairs and she’s back to wearing her silky pajamas!!! Thank Jesus, you guys.  Georgia tells Aunt Honey about Doug and she then tells them about this one time she was with Bruce Jenner.  What she said next may have been my first real laugh from this show, like honest laughing at a joke.  I never thought that would happen…did you?  Aunt Honey says, ”You girls just know him as the weird old lady in the Kardashian house.”  I laugh because it’s true.  Aunt Honey always one to meddle in Jo’s love life (remember the math student?) says she’ll come down to the store and check out the situation.

The next day back at work, Jo is talking to her boss trying to explain why Georgia (who is at her rehearsal) isn’t actually at work.  She doesn’t have to finish because he gets called away, but not before he tells her to light a candle.  How convenient Doug appears with a lighter.  See more caveman humor.  Doug only communicates in grunts apparently and this is supposed to be funny.  Georgia returns and tells Jo that right after work they will be filming her commercial.  The boss soon returns and tells them that corporate is coming the next day and they will have to stay all night to clean the store.  What will Georgia DO? WWGD?  The two girls decide to drive customers out of their section all day until closing so they don’t have to clean after work, that is until Aunt Honey arrives.  She throws a pile of clothes she doesn’t want on to a table and asks Georgia to put them away.  Aunt Honey walks away to pick up her fur coat with Georgia’s boss whom she recognizes from somewhere, but can’t place just yet (another moral I am sure will be coming).  Georgia ends up Winona Rydering a customer so she doesn’t have to put them away.

At break time Georgia and Jo rap about getting snacks out of the vending machine, see Doug draw a picture of where kebabs come from, and realize that maybe Doug is in fact a caveman.  The end of the work day finally arrives and Georgia tells her boss that their section is clean and she’s gonna get going.  He tells her no that they are going to rearrange the store until it wow’s him and the last time he was wowed was when he saw Sex & the City 2.  I saw that movie and I can tell you for certain that I was not wowed.  He tells her if she leaves she is fired.  Georgia tries to make Jo come along, but she says no.  Damn, look at Jo standing up for herself. You go, Jo!  

In typical Aunt Honey fashion (five episodes allows something to be typical trust me), she gives Georgia a third act lecture revealing some sort of secret that allows Georgia to see the error of her ways.  Georgia tells her she quit her job to go to her acting gig and Aunt Honey tells her that she finally remembers where she remembered seeing her boss.  Her boss was once an actor and played Joseph in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.  I feel a final act apology and maybe a song?

So I was wrong about the song, but was right about the apology.  Georgia apologized to her boss.  He told her that she should follow her dreams, is bigger than this job, and will probably be a star just don’t take the last piece of shrimp toast from Sir Andrew Llyod Webber.  Georgia and Jo apologized to each other and everything was cool with them.  Jo finally asked Doug out for a date and soon realized it was a mistake when he tells her he makes doll furniture.  WAIT! Apparently between the commercial breaks there was a song! They must not have had the budget to incorporate it into the actual show.  Aunt Honey walks down stairs to where the girls are wearing a USA track jacket.  Apparently she is having an affair with Bruce Jenner?  I am going to have to check in with Kris and see what’s the deal.

Tonight there is a special 2-hour block of State of Georgia.  What this means I don’t know yet.  I haven’t heard if the show has been renewed or canceled yet, so it seems a little weird that they are rushing to get all the shows on to air.  I will be investigating this further and will let all my Georgia fans know once I do!

I will be here all summer reviewing State of Georgia so please don’t miss an episode (Wednesdays on ABC Family) and we can discuss it over on Twitter where I will be live-tweeting each episode.

We open this week with some saucy jokes (that’s foreshadow joke telling at its worst). Georgia and Jo are sitting in a restaurant and Jo is eating some wings and getting sauce all over her face. Georgia notices that a man sitting at the counter keeps looking over at her and when Jo looks at him he notices that the two are talking about him. He takes this as his cue to head on over and talk to the two. He asks Georgia out and the two agree to go out on a date after Georgia makes sure they will be going out to an actual restaurant and not a drive through. There are also some really bad jokes in this sequence, but the best (worst) is when Georgia tells Jo “You know a wingman is not someone who actually eats wings.” Like any normal person these days you Google a prospective date, stalk their Facebook, twitter, blog, whatever is available on the internet and that’s what Georgia does with her future date. Unfortunately he has a very common name and they can’t seem to track him down. Aunt Honey is listening to this conversation and thinks the girls are crazy. Georgia makes a joke about Aunt Honey being old and Honey delivers what may be my new favorite State of Georgia line, “Honey, don’t make me put my glass down.” (Don’t think I forgot about Going Full Georgia, though).

Jo begins tutoring a math student to make extra money and Aunt Honey soon thinks that he is in love with Jo. Jo doesn’t believe it because who would be in love with her? Georgia asks Jo to continue to search for the real identity of her date, but Jo is coming up empty handed. Georgia decides to ask the guy out on a pre-date so she can learn more about him before their real date on Saturday. While on the date she has Jo on speaker so she can be using this info to narrow down the correct guys for her internet search. This super stealth plan backfires and they don’t find anything new about him to help in the google search. There are tons of red flags waving all about, but Georgia refuses to see them cause he’s fine. The night of the date Jo is tutoring the math student Aunt Honey convinced her was in love with her. Jo believes this and confronts him, afterall he is wearing a suit and carrying a bouquet of flowers. When he tells her they are for his girlfriend she feels stupid as does Aunt Honey.

Meanwhile, Georgia is out on her date with the mystery man. He tells her (after she asks) why he doesn’t have an Internet presence. Everyone has a personal brand these days! He tells her he had a mole removed from his face when he was younger and the doctors used skin from his ass as a graft on his face and kids in his school found out and called him Ass Face. Back on the other side of town (I’m assuming it’s on the other side for story sake), Jo and the math student (well, mostly the math student) start working on a formula or something to find out who Georgia is actually on a date with.

Georgia and her date are eating at the restaurant when Jo and the math student come bursting in and they tell her that he is married. Womp, womp.  Maybe Georgia will never find love in the big apple? Maybe she will? Let’s stay tuned to find out!

I will be here all summer reviewing State of Georgia so please don’t miss an episode (Wednesdays at 8:30 on ABC Family) and we can discuss it over on Twitter where I will be live-tweeting each episode. 

This week we get what feels like an intimate moment in Georgia and Jo’s life: their morning routine in the bathroom (and then we get it again and again and again.  State of Georgia totally Groundhog Day’d)  They brush (barely) their hair, put on lotion, talk about their dreams, and even floss together.  They floss with one large piece of floss.  One piece of floss.  I can’t even begin to tell you how much this grossed me out.  They didn’t use the same part of the floss or actually do a thorough job of it, but that’s a special moment reserved for just you and your floss.  After rinsing their mouths out with some mouth wash Georgia tells Jo about her improv class and does an EMMY™ worthy impersonation of Ice Cube.  There’s some obvious foreshadowing here about how Georgia and Jo can’t seem to get their schedules to match up so they can hang out together.  They also cook a bagel with a curling iron and just when I thought the writers left that recurring joke go, bam!, we’re back with a bad hair joke for Jo.

Aunt Honey is dressed again in this episode.  This is really disappointing, you know?  I was hoping that Loretta Devine would be in her silky nightgowns for every episode.  Georgia brings a few boxes out of the closet containing some of Aunt Honey’s old stuff.  She snatched her yearbook away from Georgia when a small photos falls out.  It is a picture of Honey and her best friend Patrice.  They lost touch at some point, but Honey is intentionally vague leading us to instantly believe something bad happened between the two of them.  I’m just not sure how Georgia doesn’t see that?  Oh right, I know, then we wouldn’t really have an episode this week.

Later that night, Jo and Georgia meet at the movie theatre, unfortunately, it’s not the same theatre.  They are talking on their cell phones in the theatre (How rude, right? I mean do they not see all those PSAs about not talking on your cell?) and Georgia comes up with a plan to track down Aunt Honey’s long lost best friend Patrice and reunite the two ladies.  Jo ends up hugging a stranger who mistakes a pashmina for a red feather boa, I mean who hasn’t done that?  

The next morning we get to see their morning routine breaking down, NO!!!, not like their friendship, not like Aunt Honey and Patrice! No fear, this is only the third episode they have to stay friends in hope of syndication (lol jks syndication).  The two friends argue about what the right theatre was, talk about two guys Jo is working with called The Snuggle Bunnies, and then Georgia gets all Michael Jackson by burning her hair with that bagel cooking curling iron.  Jo leaves the house without her pants and Georgia laments, “We’re so falling apart.”

The next 30 seconds, which is really a long time in a 22 minute sitcom, are spent with Jo trying to settle an argument with her classmates about what a Vulcan and Ewok baby would look like.  Jo ends the argument and tells them that they need to get back to work without having anymore distractions.  “Surprise!” Georgia appears.  She quickly offends everyone in the room sending them running.  In an effort to change the subject, she tells Jo that she found Patrice thanks to the Internet she then also ruins some crazy formula on the white board in turn angering Jo.  Just before she leaves she steps on someone’s glasses cause it makes sense that they were just lying on the floor.
Georgia is at Improv class doing an exercise where she has to act like a chicken.  Of course, she’s not just any chicken, but a chicken in love with a fox that she knows will kill her.  “It’s kind of like Twilight.” Any sitcom would be remiss without a Twilight joke.  Guess who walks in seconds later? Ok, it’s Jo.  She tries to give Georgia a taste of her own medicine.  The two are then volunteered by the instructor to lead the next Improv activity called Buzz.  Each time the instructor says, “Buzz!” They have to change characters.  Georgia and Jo workshop through their problems like any normal person.  The discover while Jo is a drunk munchkin and Georgia has a cockney accent (obviously) that their relationship is doomed.

Back to the bathroom again and this time it’s soo much worse: a lip balm gets flushed down the toilet.  As Georgia and Jo lament the end of their friendship, Georgia gets a text from Patrice that she is there are the apartment.  Georgia called to tell her that she’s a bride-to-be since Patrice is a wedding planner.  Patrice (The Jenifer Lewis) walks in and starts talking weddings when Georgia tells her that there isn’t actually a wedding, but a big surprise.  “A blast from your past.” To which Patrice replies, “I know you’re not my long-lost daughter, because that one’s accounted for and paid off.”  Jo brings Aunt Honey into the room for the surprise and then what ensues is nothing less than a Diva-Off.  Patrice leaves and once again Aunt Honey puts everything into perspective for Georgia and Jo.  She tells them they are nothing like she and Patrice and that since they have less in common they won’t be competing for the same things and can thus be there to support each other.  Words of Wisdom by Aunt Honey.  

We come full circle in the episode again, you guessed it, back to the morning routine in the bathroom.  Jo and Georgia are getting ready and everything is back to normal.  Georgia asks Jo if her bagel is ready, but Jo says, “No. I bought a flatiron, so I made an egg sandwich.” (I’m paraphrasing there cause I just couldn’t watch the episode again for the 4th time, but that’s basically what happened).  The decide to meet later for food at their fave place, but Jo stops to confirm it’s their favorite place on 60th before leaving without putting on her pants again.  “You have a good day too.”  That’s right everyone, what normal 20 something lady-about-town doesn’t leave the house without her pants on every so often?

I will be here all summer reviewing State of Georgia so please don’t miss an episode (Wednesdays at 8:30 on ABC Family) and we can discuss it over on Twitter where I will be live-tweeting each episode. 

I’ve decided that we need to make ‘Going Full Georgia’ a thing, ok?  Ok, great. Now let’s get Full Georgia on this recap.

My first thought as this week’s episode of State of Georgia started was “Raven-Symone lost some weight!” Not that it’s a really big deal, especially since the pilot episode and the episodes that follow usually are filmed apart from each other, but it was just that she was showing some skin and looking sexy (Going Full Georgia…I’ll stop).  Georgia and Jo are eating frozen yogurt at a Pinkberryesque establishment when Georgia sees a man behind the counter and wants to “sample that!”  Jo reminds Georgia that every time she finds a place to eat back home Georgia ends up chewing & screwing (not literally leaving the restaurant, but screwing the guy and this is ABC Family!) which leaves Jo out of another place to eat.  My first pink alarm goes off in this situation. Pink Alarm? Yes, I’m thinking Jo is a lesbian.  She looks at the hot guy and is all “Why isn’t he wearing a jacket?” not “Get it, gurl!”  I’m probably reading into this too much and it was just a simple way to get a not so great joke in.  The yogurt guy comes over, offers samples, and then leaves.  Jo makes Georgia promise not to ask him out, she say that she won’t go Full Georgia (this time I’m just quoting the show, promise) and they leave.

This week we get to see Jo as a fully realized character, not just Georgia’s sidekick.  She is presumably enrolled in grad school and working on a project with her classmates.  AND STOP EVERYTHING YOU ARE DOING AND REALIZE THIS!!!  KEVIN COVAIS AKA CHICKEN LITTLE FROM AMERICAN IDOL IS ON THIS SHOW. Jo is the program leader and we get to hear one really bad joke after another.  I am concerned that the writers have been watching too much Big Bang Theory and tried to make their own version of it in this show like no one would notice.  Oh, we noticed.

Georgia and the yogurt guy are soon making out on her couch “You taste like waffle cones” when Jo walks in.  Georgia basically motorboats him herself until Jo leaves the room, like she didn’t know who he was.  He gets up to leave, but not before he fist bumps her. FIST BUMPS.  Really?  This is going to be his ‘thing’?  Jo tells it like it is “I can’t believe the fist bump guy keeps calling me.” Georgia agrees and in saunters Aunt Honey.  She name drops three celebrities that she’s slept with: George Clooney (not the real one), Wolfgang Puck, and Denzel Washington.  Aunty Honey also plays the Yoda character in this series by telling the girls what they need to do to get out of this situation “What do I need to do?” and thus giving us some direction for the next fourteen minutes.

Jo is back in the Big Bang Theory and explains to the group that they are putting their current project aside to work on figuring out how to make the yougurt from the Pinkberryesque store before Georgia completely breaks it off with the yougurt guy.  The three guys she is working with go back and forth arguing with each other and the “best” joke to come out of this “I’m going to CTRL ALT DEL you” OMG the LOLs!

Georgia, Jo, and the yogurt guy are at the yogurt store trying out a new flavor and then the most frightening series of events occurs.  Let me break it down for you in a simple bulleted list.

• Georgia and Yogurt Guy fist bump
• Yogurt Guy blows Georgia a fist bump
• Georgia and Yogurt Guy rock the fist baby
• Georgia and Yogurt Guy burp the fist baby

This is something that actually happened on television.  You remember the movie The Ring and it’s tagline Before You Die, You See the Ring, well this scene was like that, except with fist bumps.

Jo and The Big Bang Theory guys are back to work when Chicken Little (his name is Lewis on the show) comes in and tells everyone that Jo lied about Project: Yogurt.  They can’t believe Jo lied! She tries to convince them with a very moving monologue, but it fails until she does the only thing she can think of to reel them back in: ‘Whoever figures out the recipe first gets a kiss.”  Well, it seems as though these three guy are horny enough to do that and Project: Yogurt is back in business.  Quick interlude here:  In this scene Jo is wearing the same t-shirt my 7 year old son owns.  Who is the costume designer for Jo?  Who would do that?

Georgia and the Yogurt Guy are back at her apartment after a date and Georgia quickly tells him that she’s over the fist bump.  This signals to him that the relationship is ready to go to the next level.  The next level for him is a fist bump that explodes!  Jo walks in, conveniently, and this saves Georgia.  Yogurt Guy leaves and the two start talking about how bad he is and how much the fist bumps are killing Georgia when all of a sudden…BEEP BEEP.  Georgia gets a text message from Yogurt Guy telling her that she butt dialed him and he heard everything they said.  Guess they won’t be able to go to the yogurt place anymore.

Aunt Honey and Georgia have a heart to heart, sorta, while Aunt Honey is searching for her S&M gear.  Georgia breaks down the situation thanks to some reverse psychology from Aunt Honey and realizes she should have just acted like an adult and broke up with Yogurt Guy sooner and then she and Jo would be allowed to go back to the yogurt store.  Aunt Honey is all “mmm” and Georgia sees that Aunt Honey tricked her into figuring out her own problems.  Oh, Aunt Honey, you so crazy (no like literally I think she’s crazy, she is never not in her silk nightgowns).

Jo is back with the BBT guys and is eating yogurt.  Is it the right recipe?  The moaning and jumping around indicate that yes, it is!  A quick Bursitis joke and then it’s revealed that Lewis came up with the recipe so he gets the kiss, group hug, and then one of the guys gets a boner (seriously).  Jo is too smart for this trickery, though, and discovers that the yogurt actually came from the yogurt shop.

Georgia and Jo head back to the yogurt shop so Jo can get some goodbye yogurt and Georgia can apologize to the Yogurt Guy.  He accepts, but just doesn’t reciprocate her attempt at a fist bump “I just don’t do that with anyone.”  He reserves his fist bumps for committed relationships, like we all should.  Georgia then notices another hot yogurt guy and goes up to get a sample to feed to him.  Jo says goodbye to her yogurt.

Since this is only the second episode, I’m not sure if this is going to be a thing, but the last scene is the two girls back at their apartment breaking it all down.  They watch The Bachelor, drink wine, and eat pizza.  They are just like us!  Georgia doesn’t like the other yogurt guy because of a stray nose hair and they re banned from the store.  A quick gay joke about the pizza place before everything wraps up, maybe proving my theory that Jo is in fact a lesbian.  The final few seconds leaves us with a joke from Aunt Honey again.

“It may be, but it still gets me on Tavis Smiley every year,” says Aunt Honey.
Georgia asks, “When were you on his show?”
To which Aunt Honey replies, “He has a show?”

I will be here all summer reviewing State of Georgia so please don’t miss an episode (Wednesdays at 8:30 on ABC Family) and we can discuss it over on Twitter where I will be live-tweeting each episode.  

And remember, Go Full Georgia won’t you?

“I’m back!” This is what I imagine Raven-Symoné said once she got the lead role in her new ABC Family show State of Georgia.  This show marks her triumphant return to television after That’s So Raven ended four years ago. 

Raven plays Georgia Chamberlain and is an aspiring actress from the south who wants to become a big-time actress, so she moves to New York City with her best friend, Jo.  The two girls get jobs at a department store selling perfume.  In the opening scene she is pimping out Britney Spears’ perfume Curious.  “Curious.  Are you Curious?”  We soon, like seconds later, find out that Georgia needs to go on an audition for her signature role of Lola in Damn Yankees, but is stuck at work.  She cause her best friend Jo, who also works with her, to have an allergic reaction to perfume.  I assume it was some fragrance by Fergie (who isn’t allergic to that?).  She and Jo run out of the store to the “hospital” and cue credits!  The credits play like an iphone (or android idk) photo album; it’s fun! and gives us a glimpse at all the fun! things Georgia and Jo get to do.

Once at the audition, Georgia lets everyone know that they are looking at a star.  I wonder how many auditions the actual Raven-Symoné went on before landing this role.  Can you say art imitating life here?  Inside the casting room the agent is crushing dreams and overacting.  I thought he was the worst actor in the short few minutes of the show, but then his ‘insanely hot girlfriend” stood up and I am pretty sure she was a robot.  He goes out to the waiting room and picks Jo to audition next (she’s not an actress, I mean, on the show, in real life that’s still debatable).  He makes a few remarks about her hair and she states that she has “uncombable hair syndrome also known as pili Trianguli et Canaliculi.”  I am 100% positive that this hair joke is going to be a recurring theme.  Jo also burps when she is “stared at.”  She calls Georgia in and Georgia quickly takes over the audition.  Starting right in on ‘Whatever Lola Wants’ the agent says she has a great voice and then puts her down again by making a few jabs at her weight.  Georgia gives it right back to him cause she’s SASSY! “It’s not honey, it’s Georgia, with a ‘G’.”

Back at the department store the two are hocking Britney Spears’ perfume again, but this time Georgia is feeling pretty down and rejected.  Jo starts to act weird when a man walks in.  Georgia is convinced that Jo likes this man, but he is actually the head of the physics department that Jo applied to and then left before the interview because she was nervous.  More hair jokes!  The two girls head home and start arguing about why Jo should go back to the interview when Aunt Honey appears.  Aunt Honey is played by the ineffable Loretta Devine, who plays this role like she just took one step out of bed.  She also speaks every line as if she has just completed a 20K road race, completely breathy.  Ah! Aunt Honey just had hours of sex!  Maybe this will be a recurring joke too?  I’ll report back on that later.  Aunt Honey gives Georgia a pep talk and convinces Georgia to go back and talk to the casting agent. 

Georgia enters the casting room with a basket full of fried chicken, gravy, and biscuits and starts to sell her assets…I mean breasts!! This apparently drives the agent crazy.  He can’t focus on anything except chicken and breasts.  There are some, or rather many, awkward moments here as she tries to seduce him into giving her an audition.  This was undoubtedly the worst segment of the show.  I wish the writers wouldn’t reduce Raven to using bad slapstick and horrible one-liners and let her act (lol jks, I know I can’t believe I said that either).  While the agent is in the bathroom Jo calls up on the intercom to stop Georgia from having sex with him, but Jo is surprised by the agent’s robot girlfriend.  Now here’s a tip from me to all you wanna-be actors out there: If this woman can get a role on a TV show, trust me, you can too.  Don’t give up!  Jo tells the robot that she is an undercover exterminator (so clever).  The two head upstairs and Georgia might be in trouble! Oh no!

With one last tempting of the agent with her breasts (That’s So Not Raven!), she convinces him that she needs a callback and that is her cover story for when the robot comes in to the room to discover Georgia there late at night alone with her boyfriend.  Apparently, whatever Georgia wants, Georgia gets (zing). 

Georgia and Jo are back at the department store the next morning “smelling like Brit”.  Jo is bummed that Georgia got what she wanted, but she didn’t…oh wait a minute…in walks the professor she needs to interview to get into the Physics Graduate Program.  She convinces him with a funny physics joke and gets an interview. 

The pilot episode of State of Georgia ends with a joke about Aunt Honey’s riding boots.  Georgia says, “Aunt Honey, I didn’t know you rode horses” to which Aunt Honey responds, “Oh child, I’ve never been on a horse in my life!”  Oh snap!  The jokes don’t stop cause Aunt Honey lays one more joke on us to take with us.  “I just wanna look at my singles ads.” Jo interjects, “Those are the obituaries.” Aunt Honey gives us, “They’re single now.  Flu season has been good to me!” 

I will be here all summer reviewing State of Georgia so please don’t miss an episode (Wednesdays at 8:30 on ABC Family) so we can discuss it over on Twitter where I will be live-tweeting each episode.