ABC Family is a channel that obviously is trying to develop a reputation for wholesome "family" entertainment. With series like Smallville, 7th Heaven, and Gilmore Girls resting comfortably in their primetime lineup, it's no surprise that Wildfire found a new stable at the ABC ranch. The show is already well into its second season but for those of you who are uninitiated the first season has just arrived on DVD.

If you take a look at the cover of the package you'll see in bold letters a quote from Star Magazine stating that the show is "'Dallas' Meets 'The O.C.'". In reality that's kind of false advertising because I didn't really find Wildfire to be like either of those. Yes it's a teen drama and yes there are more hormonal relationships than you can shake a stick at, but the target audience for the show is significantly limited. Let's just say that if you're a teenage girl who loves horses and cute guys you'll be much more in to the show than anyone over the age of twenty. Of course, that's not to say that Wildfire is bad in any way. I just mean to say that the show has a specific audience that will appreciate it more than others.

Incase you are unfamiliar with the concept behind the series allow me to fill you in. Kris Furillo (Genevieve Cortese) is a 17 year old with all sorts of problems, but things become better for her when she gets out of prison. You see, she had been serving eighteen months behind bars at a "camp" as she calls it, for participating in a little grand theft auto. Despite being a prisoner, all throughout her stay there she got the opportunity to work with some horses from the local PD. Well I say some, but Kris really focused her attention on one in particular named Wildfire.

Now that she's a free girl again Kris is in need of a job in order to keep the parole officers off her back. Thanks to her friend Pablo (Greg Serano) she gets hooked up with a ranch known as Raintree Farm. Through them she gets introduced to the world of breeding horses and begins to learn the ins and outs of racing.

Raintree is a family owned property that is run by Jean Ritter (Nana Visitor) that trains horses to race but lately the place has been stuck in a rut. The local competition from the highly successful Davis Ranch has put a pretty big damper on their profits and they are on the verge of having to shut down or sell. It's kind of funny because from the perspective of our characters the Davis' run the evil empire of horse ranches.

So anyways, Kris comes along to Raintree and instantly becomes an object of desire for Jean's son Matt (Micah Alberti) and his friend Junior Davis (Ryan Sypek). This causes all sorts of problems as you'd imagine, but things only get worse once Junior's sister Danielle (Nicole Tubiola) sets her eyes on Kris. You see, Danielle has a thing for Matt, but he shifts his attention to the new girl when she shows up. This infuriates Danielle and she overreacts and schemes in ways that would make an evil genius proud. Needless to say, this girl is bad news and the rivalry that develops from her jealousy gets downright crazy at times.

Wildfire certainly has all of the pieces to the teenage drama puzzle. You have plenty of love triangles, attractive young people, and immature jokes, but the whole show carries the feeling of an after school special. Well… correct that; an after school special filled with lots of horses.

The episodes in the first season vary greatly in quality, though for the most part the writing is pretty good. Considering the fact that I tend to watch a lot of TV shows on DVD, I particularly appreciated that Wildfire had a great deal of continuity. Events from one episode spilled over into the next and much of the material became self-referential at times. Some of the stories may jump from one point in time to another but for the most part things are very consistent.

While most all of the actors do a decent job on the show, it was a real treat to see Nana Visitor and Dennis Weaver again. Visitor has been a favorite of mine since I first saw her on Star Trek: DS9, though I have only seen her in smaller roles since then. Weaver however, portrays one of the best characters on Wildfire and I absolutely adored his role as Grandfather Henry Ritter. This man makes a great cowboy and that's something he proved way back when Gunsmoke started airing in 1955.

Wildfire has a certain charm to it that's kind of hard to put my finger on. The writing is solid, the characters are interesting, and the show has a spunky attitude. My only complaint is that with all of the teenage soap opera bits, playing with horses, and often cliché plot twists, the series doesn't garner a wide audience. It's solid family entertainment and some older viewers may fall for the show, but it really all comes down to what you're looking to watch.

Wildfire is presented on DVD with 1.78:1 widescreen and features a transfer remarkably similar to the broadcast. The image hasn't really been enhanced but that's fine considering the clear quality and vibrant nature of the show. Darker points featured some slight grain and at times edge enhancement became noticeable, but neither of these really detracted from the experience. Overall the show looks decent enough though it's certainly nothing that I would label as breathtaking.

As far as sound quality goes the material here is fair enough with a decent balance between music and dialogue. Don't expect a lot of directionality to the audio because the DVD is presented with a Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo track. Granted the show is mostly all talky bits anyway, but a nice 5.1 treatment could have gone a long way. The sound that is here is very clean, free of flaw, and features good volume control.

Wildfire Season One comes with a decent amount of bonus content. For the most part these are scattered across the four discs of the set and tailored to specific episodes, but there is a small collection on the last DVD. Apart from some bios for the cast, and a trailer for the show, there is also a decent compilation of commentaries and deleted scenes.

In total there are six commentary tracks on the set, even though they only cover four episodes. "Wildfire" and "The Rescue" feature a group effort from Genevieve Cortese (Kris), Micah Alberti (Matt), Ryan Sypek (Junior), Nicole Tubiola (Dani), and Executive Producer Lloyd Segan. These episodes also include secondary commentaries by Co-Executive Producer Shawn Piller, Director Steve Miner, and Lloyd Segan. Both of these commentaries bring a lot to the table as far as information is concerned. At times they tend to narrate points in the episodes, but for the most part they stay on track and are as interesting as they are entertaining. There are also commentary tracks included for "Lost and Found" and "Loyalty".

There are also a slew of deleted scenes for "Guilty", "The Claiming Race", "Lost and Found", "The Party", "Tina Sharp", "Impressions", and "Loyalty". In total there are sixteen scenes that were cut from the broadcast and they are presented in context with the episode itself. The kept content is in black and white while the axed material is featured in color. I found that this material didn't really add a lot to the feature, but it would have been interesting if there was a commentary on why they were left out.

On the last disc in the set there are two extras worth looking at; Building Raintree Ranch and The Horses of Wildfire. Building Raintree Ranch (10:25) was really interesting because it shows what the producers went through to create the massive set. The Horses of Wildfire (14:26) featured most all of the cast talking about the experience of working with horses and riding them every day. Fans of Seabiscuit will be pleased to learn that Wildfire is actually a double from that film.

As far as teenage soap operas go, Wildfire is pretty entertaining. The writing is decent, the characters are well developed, and the overall concept is fairly interesting. The only problem is that in order to really appreciate the series you have to fall into a certain demographic of audience. I personally don't fit that category but I believe that the show is good enough to warrant a recommendation. Of course if you're a teenage girl or someone that loves horses, you can probably bump that suggestion up to a high recommendation.

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