‘Love Simon’ really touched so I was elated to find that there was going to be a television show spinoff from it. From Hulu comes ‘Love, Victor,’ about a teenager, George Salazar, who moves to Georgia from Texas, the same world where Simon Spiers (Nick Robinson’s character in the film) inhibited. Victor’s journey isn’t as easy as Simon’s – he has more conservative parents and is quickly drawn to situations that will make him fit in his new school – dating a girl. I am about halfway through the series and I have some thoughts.

First, I know this was developed for Disney+ and was banished to Hulu, perhaps because they deemed the material too racy for Disney. Puh-leese – this is as safe as a series gets, and the first half shows it was clearly meant for the Disney audience, manly tween girls, Victor starts dating a girl, even as he questions his orientation. This is clearly meant to satisfy that audience. At times I felt like I was watching the wrong show – is this about a straight teenage couple? I hope the latter half improves on that front.

But i can’t knock the show – it is cute and charming and the cast is great. Michael Cimino as Victor is superb, able to show vulnerability even as he is awkward and self-deprecating. And George Sear as his male love interest is cute, and I gotta admit I was drawn into that cute scene where Benji starts singing ‘Call Me Maybe’ on stage because that’s become their theme, a wink to the secret the audience only knows. By the end of the fifth episode, the path isn’t clearer, and it just whets my appetite for what’s to come next.