There's nothing to hate here

It’s the Stratford sisters’ first day at a new school, and Dad has some advice for them.

“Don’t get pregnant,” he says in the pilot of “10 Things I Hate About You,” a new ABC Family series that premieres at 8 p.m. July 7.

It’s good to know Mr. Stratford’s often blunt ways haven’t changed in the 10 years since the release of the movie on which this series is based. Heck, he’s even played by the same actor, Larry Miller.

I didn’t want to like this show because of its unoriginal premise. I worried about the state of our television future if writers were so desperate for material that they had to resort to reviving ’90s teen comedies.

What’s next — “American Pie: The Series?”

But this incarnation of “10 Things” didn’t feel at all like the tired rehash I was expecting. It was entertaining, with good humor, likeable, well-rounded characters and — the real way to my heart — witty pop culture references.

The story, however, remains the same.

The Stratford girls are complete opposites: older sister Kat is a feminist always ready with a biting retort, while the perky Bianca only cares about being popular.

The girls have a typical love-hate sister relationship, heightened by the fact that their overprotective father won’t let Bianca date until Kat does, a feat that seems unlikely, given her surly attitude.

But all hope is not lost for Bianca; Kat soon meets her match in the mysterious Patrick Verona, a bad boy who rides a motorcycle and has all of two lines in the first episode.

Actor Ethan Peck, taking over the role originated by Heath Ledger, makes up for the silent treatment by throwing lots of intense gazes Kat’s way. I’m telling you, it won’t be long before girls everywhere are going gaga for this guy. The boy-crazy teenager in me sure is. (And here’s a fun fact: Peck is the grandson of legendary actor Gregory Peck.)

As for the other characters, I actually like the sisters more here than in the movie. Kat, played by Lindsey Shaw, is more believably snarky than Julia Stiles, and Bianca, played by Meaghan Martin, isn’t nearly as shrill or annoying as Larisa Oleynik’s Bianca was.

The only character I’d change is Bianca’s love interest, Cameron, a geek desperate for some new female blood at school because everyone else remembers that time in fourth grade when he wet his pants.

So it’s love at first sight when he spots Bianca, but his awkwardness often gets in the way.

I remember liking him more in the movie, in which Joseph Gordon-Levitt played him in a less dorky and more earnest way, although I did love the TV version’s Harry Potter shout-out: “I don’t have much time until her social status is determined,” he says about his new crush. “It’s like she’s about to reach into the sorting hat at Hogwarts.”

There are plenty of things to hate about TV these days — the train wreck that is fellow ABC Family series “Secret Life of the American Teenager,” anything involving Heidi and Spencer Pratt, and that creep Wes on “The Bachelorette,” to name a few.

This show definitely isn’t one of them.