10 Things I Hate About You is a 2009 American Teen Drama created by Carter Covington and broadcast on ABC Family (later Freeform) based on the 1999 film of the same name.
The Stratford sisters have just moved in from Ohio to California and are about to start their new year at school. But while the younger sister Bianca (Meaghan Martin) wants to try her best to stand out and be popular, her older sister Kat (Lindsey Shaw) is a cool, smart, strong-willed, forthright feminist who is looking to better the world and get out of school as fast as she can. When Kat meets the intense Patrick Verona (Ethan Peck), sparks begin to fly.
As they start a bumpy year at Padua High, Kat and Bianca attempt to navigate the popular crowd, boys and their overprotective dad Walter (Larry Miller). Bianca tries everything to be popular and become a cheerleader – although getting involved with Joey (Chris Zylka) the boyfriend of the most popular girl in school Chastity (Dana Davis) creates new challenges.
The series only lasted two years before it was Cut Short. Despite that it amassed an impressive fanbase and was generally considered better than expected for a series recycled from a film.
The show contains examples of:
- Abhorrent Admirer: Charlie Woo constantly hits on Kat, and her rebuffs only encourage him, until Mandella beats him up.
- Adaptation Dye-Job: Kat is a brunette on the show, while the character was blonde in the film.
- Adults Are Useless: Kat quickly finds out how utterly incompetent the teachers and school staff are as they tend to let Chastity get away with with things she shouldn’t.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: In the movie, Joey was a jerk who took Kat's virginity and then humiliated her, bullied Cameron and only wanted to sleep with Bianca. Here, he genuinely cares about Bianca and is nice to Kat, as well as Cameron and Patrick.
- All Gays Love Theatre: Bianca thinks that because Cameron likes Dreamgirls is proof that he's gay, despite his protest that he loves Motown, not musicals.
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: Patrick is very popular with girls due to this, including Kat.
- Alpha Bitch: Chastity who's the most popular girl in school that even the staff are eager to please (since her father funds the school). Being much nicer than the film version, she gets close to being a Lovable Alpha Bitch at times.
- Best Friend: Kat and Mandella quickly become best friends shortly after meeting.
- Blackmail: Bianca threatens to tell their dad Kat is no longer a virgin if she doesn't drive her to a party.
- Brainless Beauty: Joey who has a very short attention spaw and only cares about being a model. Also applies to Dawn.
- Brainy Brunette: Kat, since she's a brunette in the series and retains her intelligence.
- Cannot Keep a Secret: Chastity. When Michael tells her about being gay and not to tell anyone, the first thing she does is start gossiping about it.
- Cassandra Truth: Bianca tries to explain to people that she didn't have sex with her teacher but no one listened and he was arrested (although he was having sex with another girl)
- Cliffhanger Copout: The season one finale, which became the series finale when the show wasn't renewed. Walter walked in on Kat and Patrick right after they finished having sex. Bianca and Dawn quit the cheerleading squad in protest over their Chastity being unfairly kicked off, only to find out that Chastity is transferring schools and they didn't have to quit. Joey had become a contestant on a reality show and Bianca tunes in just in time to see him kissing another one of the contestants.
The creator of the show was nice enough to tell fans how things would have developed if the series had continued
Basically, Kat and Patrick's relationship would grow closer, though they'd eventually clash about college.(Kat wants to go and wants Patrick to go, Patrick doesn't think college is his thing.) We'd meet Patrick's mom and stepdad, and Walter would become a sort of father figure to Patrick. Kat's other possible love interest, Blank, would be around, but it wasn't quite going to turn into a full-fledged love triangle. Joey would get kicked off the reality show, causing him to lose a bit of his spark. His and Bianca's problems(from his cheating and bit of a personality change) would lead to Bianca confiding in Cameron, which would lead to a Bianca/Joey/Cameron love triangle. Chastity was going to be gone for good, since the actress quit the show, and Dawn would be given a bigger role to compensate. - Darkhorse Victory: Joey wins the talent show rather than any of the main characters
- Deadpan Snarker: A lot of Kat's dialogue consists of her sarcastic snarks.
- Dumb Blonde:
- Joey, who also represents Dumb Is Good
- Subverted with Bianca, though she isn't as smart as Kat, she is not dumb as stated by her teacher being dragged away by cops
- "Was this because I gave you an A-?"
- Helicopter Parents: Walter, who's paranoid about his daughters getting hurt or getting involved into anything sexual.
- Hide Your Gays: Mandella is hinted at being a lesbian and appears sporadically until it's confirmed and she disappears. Michael disappears for several episodes only to return to come out.
- High School: The setting, Padua High where the main characters attend.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Cameron with Bianca and Dawn.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: It's yet another show that names episodes after songs, "I Want You To Want Me" was episode two.
- In-Series Nickname: Joey affectionately refers to Bianca as "Five" based on her forehead being a "five head". It Makes Sense in Context.
- Insult Backfire: When Bianca asks Kat about her appearance:Bianca: "How do I look?"Kat: "Shallow."Bianca: "Thank You!"
- Irony: Walter gets on Bianca for sneaking out, putting Kat on a pedestal when in reality Kat has done the same. The guilt makes Kat confess and show him her fake ID.
- Lighter and Softer: Everyone in the series is much nicer than their movie counterparts, especially Joey. Plus other things like the Stratford's Missing Mom being deceased as opposed to abandoning them.
- Love at First Sight: Cameron falls in love with Bianca the first time he spots her in the school hall.
- Missing Mom: Kat and Bianca's mother died, instead of abandoning them like in the film.
- Mistaken for Gay: Bianca thinks this of Cameron when Michael who really is gay gives him a makeover.
- Modesty Bedsheet: Kat and Patric in the season finale after they have sex. Lucky for them, since Walter barges in on them moments after.
- The Mourning After: Walter continues to wear his wedding ring after he is widowed, and claims to be married when a woman flirts with him. (Though he does later go on an enjoyable date with this woman.)
- No Antagonist: Bianca and Joey are both much nicer than their movie counterparts, Chastity is sort of a Lovable Alpha Bitch, even Blank is actually a pretty nice guy. The closest thing would be Walter but he's just trying to look out for his daughters.
- Not What It Looks Like: While at her house, Bianca spills juice on Joey, forcing him to take off his shirt and she takes it to clean it leaving him alone, just as Walter walks him to find a shirtless boy at his house. He immediately throws him out.
- One Head Taller: Cameron with everyone. Dawn has to stand on a platform in order to kiss him.
- Perfectly Cromulent Word: Bianca on several occasions uses the term slore which is a portmanteau of slut and whore
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
- Bianca is actually quite good at delivering them and has on more than one occasion called Chastity out.
- She also receives a brutal one from Cameron. It's not exactly true as it is his false perception of her.
- Shirtless Scene: In "Don't Give Up", Both Patrick and Joey have to take off their shirts after Kat and Joey accidentally spill liquid on them, causing both sisters to be momentarily Distracted by the Sexy.
- Slap-Slap-Kiss: Kat and Patrick's relationship. They even Lampshade in the season finale while in bed enjoying the afterglow of Their First Time.Patrick: This is like a new record for us we haven't got into one single fight.Kat: See this is what the world needs. More sex, less war.
- Soapbox Sadie: Kat is a radical feminist who has very strong opinions about anybody and anything and constantly butt heads with people.
- Spoiled Brat: Chastity, who is spoiled even by the school staff since most of the funding comes from her father.
- Stalker with a Crush: Cameron sometimes comes off as this towards Bianca.
- Talent Show: In the episode 'The Winner Takes All'.
- Their First Time: Kat and Patrick plan to sleep together for the first time in "Changes", but they end up fighting and call it off. They go for it in the season finale.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: The Stratford sisters with Kat as the Tomboy and Bianca as the Girly Girl.
- Unrequited Love Switcheroo: Although Bianca's feeling for Joey always seems to be genuine, she seems to have a really hard time coming to terms with the fact that Cameron moved on and is now dating Dawn.
- What the Hell, Hero?: After Cameron hears Bianca's date wants to have sex with her he goes out of his way to sabotage the date rather than telling her. She hates him briefly when she finds out
- Wrench Wench: Kat in "Don't Give Up", when she tries to turn her car into biodiesel. All the guys in auto make a bet against her, but she does succeed in the end.
- Younger Than They Look: Patrick, who is supposed to be 17, was played by a 21-year-old and looked like it, mainly due to his muscular build, very deep voice, mature facial features, and the way he dressed. Walter even pointed this out in one episode, calling him out to Kat as "your friend with the disturbingly deep voice who looks much older than 17".
