While not quite on the same playing field as Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Veronica Mars, I still use those two shows as examples when I try to describe Kyle XY to people. Why? Because all three have premises that sound really, really stupid, but they all turn out to be pretty good shows. I try to use Buffy and Veronica to say, "You think Kyle XY is going to be stupid, but you thought the same thing about these other two shows, and they ended up being totally bad-ass."

For those who don't know, Kyle XY is a show developed by ABC Family in the States and airing Sundays on A-Channel and Tuesdays on Space here in Canada. The show is centred around a handsome young lad who is discovered wandering around Seattle with no clothes on. Also? He doesn't have a belly button. Even though he doesn't speak at all, he's quickly adopted by the loving Trager family and named Kyle. Kyle learns English in about a day (kind of like Darryl Hannah in Splash) and is ridiculously smart. It becomes obvious that there's a big mystery and conspiracy that revolves around Kyle's existence.

I started watching XY in its first season because... there wasn't anything else on. I needed something playing in the background while I did other work, so I turned on XY and rolled my eyes at it a little. After all, any show made by ABC Family couldn't be all that good, and clearly they were trying to make the show a kind of Lost for kids. And as pretty as lead actor Matt Dallas is, he's not a very good actor. The first few episodes, admittedly, weren't anything special.

But the bastards sucked me in. Oddly enough, Dallas's stilted delivery works for the character, since he's pretty much confused by everything (in a surprisingly non-annoying way). The mystery about Kyle's background developed at a pace that didn't anger or frustrate me. Still, I was kind of annoyed because I knew it would take seasons and season to find out where Kyle came from.

Except that it took one season. We find out that Kyle was genetically engineered in a lab and was kept in a tank for about 16 years, which explains why he has no memories before wandering buck naked in Seattle. It also explains (in show-logic) why his extra-long gestation period makes him super smart and why there are so many people after him. And - dun dun DUNNN - he's not the only test subject the lab produced.

On any other show (coughLostcough), these kinds of answers would have taken years to get to. After all, if they solve all the mysteries, there's no point in watching, right? Don't forget Laura Palmer's death on Twin Peaks - ratings went way down when they finally revealed her killer.

But the XY writers completed an amazing feat: they created a set of characters and relationships so interesting and likeable that they revealed Kyle's entire background without losing any of the show's appeal. My main reason for tuning in wasn't to get more answers, it was to see the family interact with each other. Since ABC Family is owned by (notoriously conservative) Disney, you wouldn't expect XY to handle certain storylines as realistically and maturely as it does.

Lori Trager, the teenage daughter, goes to parties, has sex with guys and hides beer in her room. Amazingly, she's not presented as an out-of-control teenager on the verge of a breakdown. She makes mistakes. She tries to improve herself, and sometimes she succeeds and sometimes she fails. She can be manipulative in the way that only teenage girls can be, but she's also capable of being intelligent and thoughtful. On any other show (cough7th Heavencough), she would have been shipped off to Buffalo after drinking one beer, but XY understands that teenage girls (and anybody, really) can do bad things without being a basket case or a bad seed.

Josh, the teenage son, smokes pot a few times, and you know where he gets it? He finds his parents' stash. The "oh, shit" look on his parents' faces when they realize what happened is fantastic, and what follows is a great scene where Josh and his dad talk about hypocritical parenting and not hiding from your mistakes.

While the mystery behind Kyle's existence evolves, it never feels like the writers are buying time. The point of the show isn't to find out all the answers -- instead, the mystery is just a small part of a story with many facets. The problem with most family shows is that they pander to parents who don't want their children to do anything bad, and the end result is a show that no teenager would ever take seriously. Kyle XY manages to be great family show without insulting your intelligence.

And before you roll your eyes at it, consider this -- I am a deviant, foul-mouthed young broad who enjoys her whiskey a lot. If anyone was going to dismiss this show, it would be me. But Kyle XY stuck with me. It hasn't earned a place in my heart like Buffy and Veronica Mars did, but it's getting there.