‘Caitlin’s Way’ fit for teen audience

Nickelodeon’s latest offering deals with a question that plagues many young people: Where do they fit in?

“Caitlin’s Way,” which debuts at 9 p.m. Saturday before settling into its regular 8 p.m. Sunday timeslot March 12, is hardly heavy-duty drama, but it is effective in bringing across such messages as facing coming-of-age fears and dispelling small-town prejudices to the show’s projected teen audience.

The titular character is Caitlin Seeger (played by Lindsay Felton), a 14-year-old loner who has been in and out of a series of foster homes since her mother’s death several years before. She’s been in trouble, and has developed a hardened exterior to help her deal with the mean streets of Philadelphia. But glimpses of the intelligent, sensitive teen within keep coming through. Yup, she’s a juvenile deliquent with a heart of gold, looking for a place to call her own.

But following a theft which indirectly led to a car accident, Caitlin soon finds herself with a limited number of options: she can either go to juvenile hall or move in with a distant relative in Montana. This being on Nickelodeon and not Fox, she opted for Big Sky country.

She soon moves in with the Western version of a Rockwell family. Her cousin, Dori (Cynthia Belliveau), is a vet, while Dori’s husband Jim (Ken Tremblett) is the town sheriff. Caitlin develops an instant mutual dislike with their 14-year-old son, Griffen (Jeremy Foley), a science geek who also likes to ride mountain bikes. Also the defensive, plain-speaking Caitlin doesn’t gain quick acceptance at school, as the natives aren’t ready for the punk-dressing, green-haired newcomer.

She does make one friend rather quickly, Bandit, a wild horse that she frees from a rustler’s rope. He is named after a horse in a book beloved by Caitlin and her late mother.

Felton (“Thunder Alley”) does an admirable job bringing the multifaceted Caitlin to life. The members of her new family are underdeveloped, but perhaps that will come in time.

“Caitlin’s Way” is a pretty innocent one, but still the show, the product of Nickelodeon uberproducer Tommy Lynch, has some thought-provoking moments buried amid its simplicity.