1. Ryan Gosling in Blue Valentine (2010) with Michelle Williams
2. Michelle Williams in Brokeback Mountain (2005) with Kate Mara
3. Kate Mara in American Horror Story (2011) with Ashley Rickards
4. Ashley Rickards in Awkward. (2011-present)

In case you didn’t know, MTV has been on a roll lately with its original shows. With Teen Wolf, Awkward. and Skins all breaking TV ratings and amassing intense fans who blog about them on Tumblr, MTV is on its way to becoming a destination for exciting, young programming. Okay, maybe not so much with Skins. But before you judge shows like Awkward., maybe you should check out an episode first (plus, the entire first season is on MTV.com).

The show starts out as a weird situational comedy and takes a few episodes to find its footing. In the first episode, Jenna breaks her arm and in a horrible string of misunderstandings, everyone thinks she tried to commit suicide. The set up is zany, and thankfully the show becomes more of a clever high school romp (with actors who actually look like high schoolers) and a fun love triangle dramedy. And who doesn’t love a good love triangle?

Ashley Rickards, who plays Jenna (the girl between the letterman jacket and the abs above) really carries the show, and in a better world, she would get an Emmy nomination for Comedy Actress when the nominations are announced tomorrow. Or at least a Teen Choice Award? Or something? She refuses to play Jenna as mopey, as other, less intuitive young actresses might.

If you equated this show with something like Zoey 101 before this blog entry, I hope I have convinced you to give it a chance. Because it’s a truly intelligent show that refuses to go for the easy, cliche crisis-of-the-week structure. Liking this show isn’t awkward at all; in fact, it’s easy.