Television Review: Mentors

By Andrea Graham

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What Parents Should Know
Parents need to know that this entertaining, educational series revolves around the daily challenges of a growing teen being raised by his single mom. Famous historical figures help him learn about everything from forgiveness and social responsibility to communication and love (teenage romance plays a role in the show). The show may inspire kids to do further research on these famous folks and to develop a greater appreciation for history.

Families can talk about the featured historical figures and how they contributed not only to the development of human kind, but also to how Oliver learned to personally incorporate their teachings into his own life. Why are these people still role models in our contemporary world? How do Oliver's problems relate to his mentors' life struggles? What do these historical heroes teach us about making a difference in the world?

MENTORS follows the adventures of teenager Oliver Cates (Chad Krowchuk) and his girlfriend Dee Sampson (Sarah Lind). Growing up in suburban Canada is tough for Oliver as he deals with his parents' recent divorce and the increasing responsibilities of young adulthood. A computer whiz, Oliver mistakenly time warps Albert Einstein into the modern world -- and soon discovers that he has the power to transport any historical figure into his life for 36 hours. He names his invention the Visicron and uses it to seek the advice of the great minds when life gets tough.

In an age where celebrities, rap stars, and athletes are shaping the dreams of adolescents worldwide, Mentors offers young people a deeper, more fulfilling look at the historical heroes who have helped shape our world. Mentors takes the everyday realities and problems facing today's teens and offers them positive examples of role models who have insightful ways of dealing with the issue at hand.

Mentors is funny, entertaining, and historically interesting. The only drawback is that since Mentors was originally filmed in the 1990s, the technology may seem a little outdated to kids of the tech-friendly Generation Y. That aside, Mentors is a great historical program that may even inspire kids to develop a greater appreciation of history, science, philosophy, and civic responsibility.