By TeeJay Petit | Published
If you grew up watching the golden age of Nickelodeon programming, including classic shows such as Drake and Josh, iCarlyAnd Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guideyou probably know the prolific actress turned author Jennette McCurdy. The young woman who revealed her moving memoirs I’m glad my mother died in 2022, is best known for starring as Sam Puckett on shows such as iCarly and Sam and Kat, although she continued to star in a handful of roles before turning exclusively to writing. One such forgotten series featuring McCurdy includes Betweena critical sci-fi release that is currently streaming on Netflix.
Jennette McCurdy plays in between
Like most people who watched BetweenI stumbled across the thumbnail while browsing Netflix recently. The series, which looks like the sort of thing you might expect from a student film on YouTube, caught my attention once I recognized the familiar face of Jennette McCurdy.
Given that I had just finished reading her heartbreaking book for the third time, she was fresh in my mind, and even fresher in my algorithm. I had mixed feelings about watching the series, given McCurdy’s doubts about her acting career depicted in I’m glad my mother is deadalthough ultimately my curiosity got the better of me.
For those who have never heard of it Betweenthe Netflix series centers on a group of teenagers in a small suburb called Pretty Lake. One day, a mysterious disease descends on the town, quickly infecting and killing anyone over the age of 21. Obviously, this development plunges the neighborhood into a state of chaos. Lord of Flies-style Abject chaos, which is only exacerbated when the entire area is deemed a quarantine zone and cut off from the outside world.
Behind the scenes problems
Between ultimately only lasted two seasons, both of which are available in their entirety on Netflix, although the real interesting story of the series seems to be the many stories of behind-the-scenes chaos. As you might expect in any series featuring child and young adult actors, there was a lot of teenage angst floating around the set, making it extremely difficult to maintain continuity.
The actors regularly changed their looks and hairstyles without the studio’s permission, leaving the show’s costume designers, makeup artists, and hairstylists scrambling to keep up. Additionally, Jennette McCurdy was forced to play a deeply pregnant character during filming. Betweendespite the fact that she was suffering from eating disorders and body dysmorphia at the time.
While some stories about the production of Between on Netflix look like ordinary Hollywood problems, others are significantly more serious. Apparently, a live tiger was released while the series was in active production after the wild beast escaped from its master. Fortunately, no one was injured, but the situation was obviously untenable and could have quickly turned into a serious tragedy.
Streaming on Netflix
Critics were quick to lambast the series for its use of clichés, stiff acting, and shoddy visual effects. Today, Between boasts a completely rotten critical score of just 22 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. Still, the series, which originally aired in Canada on Citytv, found new life on Netflix, primarily with viewers like me who were curious to see McCurdy take on a role beyond his tenure at Nickelodeon. Those who want to check this one out can stream Between on Netflix today.