I can imagine it is hard being famous and still trying to be a normal teenager, but for Ryan Sheckler, growing up as a professional skateboarder takes its toll on his social life and family life. A recurring theme throughout Life of Ryan: The Complete Series is trying to find Ryan a girlfriend that is "chill" and cool with him being gone so often. During the first season, while he was still in high school, he went through at least three girls and each one ended badly. The first had an ex-boyfriend that she fled back to, the second couldn't convince her parents that he was good enough, and the third he described as "too dramatic" and not "chill" enough. I use the word "chill" because apparently everything in sunny California is cold because Ryan's friends and family use "chill" extremely often. He doesn't ever find one to settle with and when he gets his own house at the end of the second season, you don't really hear about it too much afterwards because you assume that he goes through too many to devote to air time.
The other main conflict is how Ryan's parents are in the midst of a divorce while he still wants to be close to both of them. Ryan often finds himself caught in the middle of his mom and dad and he doesn't think he can handle it. He stresses that family is important to him since he has two younger brothers, Shane and Kane, and he feels that he has to be the man of the house since his dad doesn't live with them anymore. His younger brother Kane is only seven years old and honestly, he was the only reason I continued to watch Life of Ryan. Kane was funny, cute, insightful, and understands situations as only a child can.
Besides his family life and personal drama, the other main draw to watch Life of Ryan is to follow his career throughout various tour stops and watch him win competitions. It is a shame that a show about a skateboarder is 25 minutes long and only five minutes of each episode is devoted to actual skate footage. This is most definitely not a show for people expecting exciting footage of skateboarding. If Ryan's vocal fanbase is any indication, this is a show for teenage girls that want him as a boyfriend and would buy this DVD set so they could look at him and fantasize about marrying him whenever they want.
The set contains the entire series which includes three seasons. There are some bonus features that include actual skate videos, but all they contain are clips from the show and that seems too little for the set. Why not film an actual skate video with lines and tricks and (gasp) other skaters?
The other important purchasing factor is that season three hasn't aired yet. This set includes all of season three while the network has yet to air it so if you are a huge fan, you can see what happens before everyone else if you buy this box set.
The whole show's concept is an amalgam of three things I really don't like about televison: reality television, spoiled teenagers, and manufactured drama. While I am clearly not the target audience, there is someone out there that enjoys this kind of thing and if you fit that description, then you really can't go wrong with Life of Ryan: The Complete Series. Ryan's dad doles out sage advice, his friends and brothers have their own subplots that are actually quite interesting, and when they decide to show skate footage, it becomes much more exciting. Honestly, I think I like everything about the show except Ryan himself. There is much worse out there, but Life of Ryan isn't all bad. Just know that if you didn't have any interest going into it, then nothing is really going to change your mind by the end of it.
