# Anyone watching "Kyle XY"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 11, 2006, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-watching-kyle-xy/364014 "2006-07-11T13:12:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-watching-kyle-xy/364014/1 "2006-07-11T13:12:51Z")
It’s a new series on ABC Family Monday nights. Sort of a “John Doe Jr.” Teenager wakes up naked and amnesiac in the woods of the Pacific Northwest. Picked up by the cops, taken to juvie where a kindhearted social worker takes him home to her family. He’s super-smart and has some super-strength. No encyclopedic knowledge but seems to have instinctive problem solving abilities. He has no navel. The show’s trying to walk the line between teen drama and supernatural mystery. There’s a mysterious unnamed group with a mysterious symbol, and a murder. I’m kind of bored when they veer too much into the teen drama (I found teen angst dull even when I was having it) but there’s some humor derived from Kyle’s not knowing anything about basic human social interaction like white lies or modesty. And the guy playing [Kyle](http://imdb.com/name/nm1678720/) is a cutie, and he’s in his 20s so I don’t feel pervy for finding him hot. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-watching-kyle-xy/364014/2 "2006-07-11T13:24:18Z")
Yeah, we’re watching it here. Meh. ---
**Author:** ![Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spatial_Rift_47)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-watching-kyle-xy/364014/3 "2006-07-11T14:20:46Z")
I’ve been watching it. It has some potential, but one thing in the pilot reeeeally cheesed my grits. They were doing so well with describing how someone like Kyle would learn social interaction, and then they went and gave him an MRI. That in and of itself is okay. It’s what the radiologist said to the little brother while he was in there: “At any given time most humans use 7% of their brains. Einstein used 8%. This kid’s whole brain is lit up.” (paraphrased) And then he went on about how that could lead to seizures or whatever. But COME ON. This pervasive urban legend is complete and utter nonsense, and above all else a _radiologist_ should know that. _grumble_ Okay, I’m done ranting now. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-watching-kyle-xy/364014/4 "2006-07-11T14:28:36Z")
> [@Spatial Rift 47](#): > > I’ve been watching it. It has some potential, but one thing in the pilot reeeeally cheesed my grits. Okay, but to get to that part, you had to get through the part where the psychologist mother, after only meeting him two hours before, leaves an obviously confused, mis-adjusted, strong young male alone in the house with her sexually ravenous young daughter. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-watching-kyle-xy/364014/5 "2006-07-11T14:45:07Z")
I found the first episode cheesy and boring, and the entire premise is not all that exciting. Nor is it original. Haven’t we already had the “amazing freak boy living with unsuspecting suburban family” movie before? Kyle might be cute, but I found him and his stupid smiling to be both vapid and over-the-top. For a family movie, however, I sure wasn’t expecting the masterbation/Playboy scene. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-watching-kyle-xy/364014/6 "2006-07-11T17:45:14Z")
I watched last night but it was too much teen drama for me. I missed any more sci-fi or intriguing parts. Is the “XY” just supposed to be that he is presumably a human male?? ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-watching-kyle-xy/364014/7 "2006-07-11T18:26:10Z")
They haven’t said yet but that’s my assumption. The intriguing parts in last night’s episode was that the police discovered skeletal remains in the woods near where Kyle was found, along with a keycard-like card with a mysterious symbol on it, resembling a stylized X or infinity symbol wrapped around a circle. Kyle draws a lot, and the mother figured out that seemingly unconnected black lines on the drawings, when laid out properly, form the mystery symbol. Also a mysterious man in a mysterious car was driving around the neighborhood talking on a mysterious cell phone, mysteriously. The sci fi parts were that he disassembled and repaired a server in like three minutes, read and absorbed a satallite dish manual in about 11 seconds and after repairing the dish jumped off the roof (about 15-20 feet) without getting hurt. I agree with the criticism about the mother bringing Kyle home with her, and that has continued to be the thing that grates on me the most. I dislike the “Dad is ready to chuck him out but then Kyle does something nifty so he buys himself another week” routine. Although now since they’ve given him his own room I guess they’re dropping that aspect for a while. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-watching-kyle-xy/364014/8 "2006-07-11T20:04:25Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > read and absorbed a satallite dish manual in about 11 seconds OMG, they didn’t have him flip the pages really fast and move his head back and forth like _Small Wonder_, did they? That could bring me around to being a dedicated viewer. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-watching-kyle-xy/364014/9 "2006-07-11T20:06:48Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > Yeah, we’re watching it here. Meh. Oh crap! It was on last night? I take that back then. ---
**Author:** ![Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spatial_Rift_47)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-watching-kyle-xy/364014/10 "2006-07-11T20:11:21Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > Okay, but to get to that part, you had to get through the part where the psychologist mother, after only meeting him two hours before, leaves an obviously confused, mis-adjusted, strong young male alone in the house with her sexually ravenous young daughter. :rolleyes: Touché. Anyway, the only reason I’m still watching it is to figure out if my guess is right: he’s a government experiment in genetics. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-watching-kyle-xy/364014/11 "2006-07-11T22:54:54Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > OMG, they didn’t have him flip the pages really fast and move his head back and forth like _Small Wonder_, did they? That could bring me around to being a dedicated viewer. Flip pages yes. Head back and forth not so much. > [@UncleRojelio](#): > > Oh crap! It was on last night? I take that back then. I think ABC’s been repeating them Friday or Saturday nights. ---
**Author:** ![DaveRaver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daveraver/32/1078_2.png) [@DaveRaver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaveRaver)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-watching-kyle-xy/364014/12 "2006-07-12T00:55:15Z")
Maybe he’s Superman.