Say what you will about ABC Family but you can't argue that their certainly attempting to grab a piece of your family time. Several shows have come out over the past few years in an effort to appeal to a broad audience. Some have been successful while others have left something to be desired but throughout it all Wildfire has been something of a mainstay. The show is going into its four season which is impressive considering the somewhat humble beginnings.

Back in 2005 we were introduced to Kris Furillo (Genevieve Cortese) who had just received her get out of juvie free card. She wound up behind bars thanks to a little grand theft auto and though she maintains a gruff exterior inside she just wants to be treated like everyone else. Through her buddy Pablo (Greg Serano) she landed a job working at a place called Raintree Farm and it was there that she was able to let her love of horses show. During the first season she developed a relationship with one of their thoroughbreds known as Wildfire and helped Raintree slowly gain back its reputation for excellence.

You see, in the world of Wildfire the horseracing scene is a highly competitive and romanticized thing. Back in the day Raintree used to be the pinnacle of excellence but the ranch has fallen on some hard times. A show like this wouldn't be as compelling if it weren't for a rival, and along those lines the Davis ranch fits the role like a glove. They have more money and more influence than Raintree does and through this conflict a lot of stuff surfaces.

One of the biggest things to come out of the Davis/Raintree rivalry is a cast of young characters who form a love quadrangle. Before Kris came along the son of Raintree owner Jean Ritter (Nana Visitor), Matt, had something of a relationship with Danielle Davis and also happened to be friends with Danielle's brother Junior. Well, Kris' beautiful exterior and I-just-want-to-be-loved-bad-girl interior added a lot of teenage hormonal craziness to the mix. To say the relationship between the four characters was complex would be an understatement and before long the first season became something of a soap opera of jockey proportions.

After watching the entire first year of Wildfire it was painfully evident that unless you had a strong interest in the material the show would be lost on you. Sure it was nice to see Nana Visitor on screen again and yes, the late Dennis Weaver as Henry Ritter provided plenty of Gunsmoke flashbacks, but the fact remained that this series wasn't for everyone. Unfortunately the second season didn't really change my opinion but it added to the overall story in a way that should please fans.

The sophomore year starts off with things moving in interesting directions. Danielle has some questions regarding the identity of her true mother, Junior leaves home, and Kris' rivalry with Traci heats up. In between it all Kris and Wildfire gain some notoriety with the media and wind up landing some commercial endorsements. Sure it's just for a hot sauce advertising spot but once she realizes that the money would help Raintree she decides to suck it up and agree to it. After Junior's disappearance in the first episode he comes back here and winds up in the middle of things with Kris.

As the season progresses there are several subplots that rise up and go away just as quickly. The most interesting of which include Isabelle's role in the kid's lives and what her true motives are and Pablo's mysterious past. While each episode here is fairly standalone these storylines come up time and time again and work their way into episodes where they otherwise wouldn't even be involved. Add to all of that Junior and Matt's workings at a club and Danielle's break away from the Davis Ranch and you have a season that is every bit as much about horse racing as it is a daytime soap opera. I swear, everything is here except for the murdering, one-eyed cheater of an ex-husband brought back from the dead.

Despite the cheesy qualities that some of these storylines represent there are plenty of nice things that happen to Kris and the rest of the cast. Later in the season Wildfire is invited to the Breeders' Invitational and Kris gets the opportunity of a lifetime that puts her job with Raintree in jeopardy. I don't want to divulge too much but let's just say if you have been a fan up to this point you'll probably be eagerly anticipating the third season but the end of this one.

Overall the second season of Wildfire wasn't bad but it certainly didn't push the show forward into any new directions. The series remains something of a guilty pleasure and if you can get past the cheesiness of the romantic soap opera stuff you'll find an entertaining show about a unique subject matter. The only problem with this year's outing is that the relationship mumbo-jumbo overshadows everything else. It can be difficult to follow who is hating or loving each other and what one twist has to do with something else that happened. With the passing of Weaver I felt that Wildfire lost one of its charms but the likes of Visitor and Serano helped keep the overwhelmingly young cast in check.

The bottom line is if you liked the first season you'll probably enjoy the second just as much. As I've said before Wildfire is a show with a very narrow target audience but it's entertaining enough for the whole family. If you can get past the soap-opera mentality you'll find a series with interesting characters and a concept that you don't see every day. Despite some of my reservations regarding the series the writing and acting holds up well and though this second year wasn't quite as solid as the first, it's still good just the same.

Wildfire's second season is presented with 1.78:1 widescreen and features a transfer remarkably similar to the broadcast and the first DVD release. 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, especially during riding moments and at the track. The sound that is here is very clean, free of flaw, and features good volume control but it's not particularly thrilling to say the least.

The first season of Wildfire supplied fans with a wealth of bonus material that gave a strong look at what it took to put the series together. Kicking things off is an eight minute documentary about the music of the show. If you consider yourself to be in the target audience of this series then you'll appreciate the pop laden soundtrack and I'd be hard-pressed to say that it doesn't fit the mood. This featurette takes a somewhat light look at the musical direction but it's interesting just the same.

Sadly that's the only documentary-like feature available on this release. The rest of the supplied bonus content is made up of audio commentaries for every one of the thirteen episodes of season two. For the most part each of these commentaries is presented by a producer, director, or writer. They are interesting enough and provide a lot of detail about what it took to make certain episodes and their opinions about how things panned out. It's not until the third disc for the episodes "Who Are You" and "For Love or Money" that the commentaries get a little more life thanks to the presence of actors from the show. Their bits may be less informational but I found their chemistry was all around better and they had more fun with the discussion.

I'm not going to beat around the bush; Wildfire is a teenage soap opera set on a horse ranch. If that sounds interesting to you then you're in for one heck of a ride because the writing and acting compliments the series well. Even naysayers may be surprised by some of the quality that is worked into the program but I'm certainly not going to say that this is a show for everyone. The demographic is small for this show and if you're not part of that you'll undoubtedly roll your eyes at various points throughout.

This second season doesn't push the envelope or change the working formula a whole lot but it is successful with what it attempts to do. Because of that I'm going to recommend it for fans of the show or newcomers who are intrigued by the concept. Folks without much interest in horse racing or soap operas can skip it and go on living though because Wildfire isn't a series that has wide appeal.

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