Caitlin's Way - Saturday Shows I Miss

Caitlin's Way focuses on Caitlin Seeger (played by Lindsay Felton), a troubled girl who lives on the streets of Philadelphia. After being arrested, Caitlin is given the option of going to a youth detention center or living with her mother's cousin in Montana. She chooses to live with Dori, Jim, and Griffen on their ranch and experiences a culture shock. Caitlin is still upset about her mom's unexpected death when she was eight. All Caitlin really wants is a loving family and a permanent home. The ranch was actually near High River in southeastern Alberta, Canada. There were scenes shot in town (around the many murals, as well as in local schools), and in Calgary where the C-Train was occasionally seen in the background.



When I was teaching I did most of my marking and planning on Saturday afternoon after cartoons and a good breakfast. One of the shows that always seemed to be on was 'Caitlin's Way'. It got to be my 'go to' program that I went looking for to put me in the prober mental headspace for work. It also came on after Degrassi High and Higher Ground which I never missed.

They do lay it on a bit thick in the first episode but the charm and presence that Lindsay Felton has in front of the camera is immediately evident. Even playing a stereotypical 'bad girl' she make interesting choices as an actress. Her voice and her body language are tinged with anger and bitterness but it all come together to form a real person.

Linday's talent allowed her to create a very sympathetic and believable character - and play bitchy, cranky, sullen, indignant teenage to the max. Anyone who has lived with an older sister can relate to all of Caitlin's moods.

Don't judge the entire series on the short part of the pilot I've included here. Lindsay does the best with the material she is given and makes you want to watch more. You root for her to succeed because you can see alot of yourself in Caitlin. The scripts got much better as the series progressed and a nice comfortable rhythm between the family and their adventures was set early on. Sure it follows a 'lesson of the week' format but the stories never get preachy. Many of the antics of Griffen and his small town friends are laugh out loud funny. Everything here rings true.

The family stuff here is particularly strong. The parents are actually smarter than the kids, a rarity in most half-hour family shows. The issues are real life mundane daily issues. There is alot of material about the meaning of family and how a person fits into a new environment. The show rarely offered up easy answers of 22 minute solutions. Healing takes time and that is what brought me back to the show year after year. The re-runs hold up well to this day. I am surprised that I don't see this one syndicated on one of the teen channels or even, yes, the religious-based networks. There is no mention of God in the program but the family values here are strong and admirable. It showed on YTV and Nickelodeon back when it first ran from 2000 - 2002.

The setting is of course the beautiful foothills of the Rocky Mountains near High River. Many shows that have that kind of big sky landscape figured into their storylines (Heartland, Hell on Wheels) are well served by the area. I like that the locations are practically in my back yard. The show is much like Heartland in it being a story about a girl and her horse. Caitlin's relationship with the wild horse she rescues - Bandit - becomes a metaphor for everything she is going through as an orphan and a young woman.

It's about a girl who is trying to find another way of dealing with her problems. Caitlin's anger comes from her abandonment issues and her desire for some real stability in her young life. She uses her camera to record her opinion of the world around her. The lessons come from her understanding that her first perceptions of anything will always be tainted by her experiences. She has to get over her crappy childhood if she is ever going to survive to adulthood. Watching her struggle with what could possibly be her last chance at a happy family life is interesting and rewarding.

As I already mention, Lindsay Felton is the meaty center of this drama but she has a strong supporting cast around her. All the child actors are excellent, especially he kid who plays her step-brother Griffen. He is as stubborn and individual as she is and their squabbles make for funny and touching television.

LOL, Caitlin’s Way might be single handily responsible for the reason I tried to be a little badass in middle school and high school. She had that buckskin horse and a camera, she was a beast. Caitlin’s Way was my jam !