"Dallas meets The OC," you said?

The above quote was on the DVD for Wildfire's first season and all I can say is "Yes please." Just when Instant Star was making me wonder if I had grown too big for the kiddie table, I'm back for seconds. I quickly burned through the first 13 episodes and purchased the second and third seasons on iTunes.

Sure, I've got lingering questions: How old are the kids? In the first season they seem to be about to begin their senior year of high school, but we've never seen them darken the door of an educational facility and by season three they're drinking legally (?) in bars and moving in with stuffy British girlfriends. Also, how much time has passed? Has each season been a year or are we entering Lost/Grey's Anatomy/One Tree Hill territory, in which time is malleable and several seasons encompass a single year?

Questions aside, I love this show. The Junior/Kris/Matt love triangle is reminiscent of Logan/Veronica/Duncan, wherein no one’s rooting for the wooden nice guy, but he's still okay to have around. Lilly Kane herself pops up to play Junior's romantic foil for a stint in season two. Not shockingly, she's great. Other guest stars include Amy Jo Johnson of Felicity as a bitch on wheels jockey, that Aussie dude from the second season of One Tree Hill as a slick sports agent, Joe Lando from Higher Ground as a wayward father with a gambling problem and the thin London twin as a scary bookie with a gold-plated heart.

Against the high stakes backdrop of thoroughbred horse racing, former juvie inmate Kris Furillo and a failed racehorse named Wildfire struggle to overcome their sad lots in life and thrive in a world of beauty, privilege and familial loyalty. Genevieve Cortese stands out as the star of a near-perfect cast, but all the characters are well drawn and fallible. Bitchy, villainous Dani is startlingly three-dimensional and Matt’s gambling problem was dropped in early on and simmered to a dangerous boil over an entire season. You won’t find subtly like that on Instant Star…

Season one is out on DVD; season two is being uploaded weekly onto abcfamily.com; all three are on iTunes