South of Nowhere

South of Nowhere is an American teen drama television series created by Thomas W. Lynch. It first aired on November 4, 2005, on Noggin as part of its teen programming block, The N. The show was produced by Noggin LLC in association with the creator's studio, Tom Lynch Company. It ran for three seasons and 40 episodes in total, the last of which aired on December 12, 2008. Live webisodes were also created to accompany each episode in the season-two storyline, and were seen exclusively through The N's website on the Click. The show follows the lives of the members of the Carlin family (Paula, Arthur, Glen, Clay, and Spencer) as they adjust to moving from Ohio to Los Angeles, California. One of the main focuses include the relationship between Spencer Carlin (Gabrielle Christian) and her bisexual friend, Ashley Davies (Mandy Musgrave). The close friendship between Ashley and Spencer led Spencer to question her own sexuality, a subject which created controversy before the show first aired. It was the first series on The N to deal with such a subject relating to the primary characters. South of Nowhere was positively reviewed by publications such as Variety, The Boston Globe, and The New York Times. Rare for a teen series, but fitting with Noggin/The N's goals as a "thinking channel", the show was created with loose educational goals in mind. Parent discussion guides were available for each episode on The N's website. The guides offered tips and questions about the topics raised in South of Nowhere, especially those centered around sexual identity, to use as discussion starters with teenagers. Plot