On the surface, what’s noticeable about Liz Lee is her dyed red hair, bright-colored sneakers and diverse assortment of vintage T-shirts (including one with an image of Admiral Ackbar from “Return of the Jedi”). But what is more striking than Lee’s hair color is her irresistible personality and intelligence.

The teen with her own TV show was generous enough to spend some time on the phone talking to The Courier-Herald about her new life in New York, her take on movies and what she misses about Burleson, Texas.

“My Life as Liz” began as the follow-up to “The Paper,” MTV’s 2008 documentary series about a high school newspaper class. The show would now follow a video production class, but producers saw something they liked in video production student Lee and made her the story. The shortest time spent watching Lee makes it easy to understand why MTV found her so appealing and this appeal has fans throughout the country tuning in to see what happens next in Lee’s life, but not everyone is as pleased.

Burleson Mayor Kenneth Shetter said the show’s depiction of the town as church-laden and narrow-minded is “terribly unfair and irresponsible.”

Liz finds this complaint off-base and said she is frustrated by someone in a different stage of their life who thinks they know what it’s like to be a modern high school student.

“You’re a political figure. It’s an MTV show. Really?”

She says a little more, being careful not to say anything which would stir up more controversy, before pausing and then concluding with, “I don’t know what to say to him.”

Liz Lee seems like the kind of girl who couldn’t possibly have any enemies, but this is sadly not the case.

In the halls of her former high school in Burleson lurked a well-manicured menace named Cori Cooper, who like Rachel McAdams’ character in “Mean Girls” was to Lindsay Lohan’s character, sought to make school a nightmare for Liz Lee.

Lee was once a member of Cooper’s teen-queen posse, but when Lee began making friends with people who didn’t meet Cooper’s clique criteria, the two had a falling out and became nemeses.

While some shows would focus on the rift between them and have a new conflict between the two each week, “My Life as Liz” wisely keeps the camera on Lee and her circle of friends.

What is so wonderful about this show is it gives viewers a protagonist who is someone the audience wants to be friends with. It also helps that she has a heart as big as, well, Texas.

Anyone questioning the authenticity of “My Life as Liz” would be reassured to hear Lee’s response to whether she speaks to Cooper.

“No, I hate her!”

This is understandable, since among other misdeeds, Cooper arranged to have Valentine’s Day flowers from a fictitious secret admirer sent to Lee, which culminated in her waiting in vain for the sender to show up at the Valentine dance.

Televised events in Lee’s life were recorded during the 2008-09 school year as cameras followed Lee almost all the time, but cameras weren’t allowed everywhere at school.

“Sometimes they would come in and shoot, but they couldn’t shoot for all my classes,” she said.

Lee said despite these restrictions MTV presents an accurate depiction of her life as Liz.

In the first episode, she is seen watching the original “Night of the Living Dead” and perhaps not surprisingly, while discussing her interest in horror movies, she has the knowledge and experience to draw on. She said she was disappointed in the remake of George A. Romero’s “The Crazies” and had a similar opinion about the remake of “The Last House on the Left.” She likes Alfred Hitchcock’s classic TV show and her favorite Hitchcock film is “Vertigo” because it was so revolutionary, but she hesitates to say this, since it’s a cliche in her opinion to do so.

Her love of comic books brings her nerd credibility and her aforementioned enthusiasm for ‚”Star Wars‚” led to her being featured on the official “Star Wars” Web site.

Lee was 14 when the last “Star Wars” film came out and said her stepfather introduced her to the series when she was in third grade through “Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace.”

“I loved “Episode I” when I was younger, but of course after seeing the original trilogy, “Episode I” is actually really disappointing.”

She needs no time deciding whether she prefers the original trilogy or the prequels.

“The original! All the way!”

Lee’s nerdy interests make her the dream girl for many boys and her fierce independence and unwillingness to give in to mean-girl pressure make her the idol of many girls.

Precocious and unique, Lee is a standout at not only her high school, but her town of Burleson. In a publicity photo of her, she is wearing a blue T-shirt which states, “Democrats know how to party.”

“Wearing that T-shirt to school was not smart,” she said.

Her viewpoints have drawn the ire of more than just her blond enemy Cooper.

“People have accused me of being a socialist,” she said.

When Lee tried to bring some of her iconoclastic ideas into her video production class, she faced her disapproving teacher and some of these conflicts were put on TV. In the first episode, Lee pitches a story idea about religion, which is dismissed as too controversial and she is instead assigned to do a documentary on Taylor Terry, the bubbly cohort of Cooper. In the course of documenting Terry, a process which entails watching Terry squeeze her glutes as she gears up for a bikini contest, the two make the first in a series of friendly understandings. In another episode Terry stands up to Cooper on Lee’s behalf and it’s an applause-worthy moment. Upon submitting her documentary piece on hunting, which animal-lover Lee describes as one of Texas’ proudest traditions, Lee watches nervously as her teacher views the video. Finally, her teacher tells her there’s no way she would air it, partly because the piece mocks hunters. Lee said these disagreements were common between the two.

“My Life as Liz” gives viewers the kind of rousing and emotional experience long absent from other networks, let alone MTV.

Love and friendship are major themes of the show as evidenced by Terry’s surprise support and the close group of friends Lee has. The camaraderie between Lee and her friends are obvious and when Lee speaks over the phone of her mother, her voice is more sincere, and the words flow from her with gravity.

“She’s a really strong and amazing woman,” Lee said.

Lee said her mother was single for much of Lee’s childhood.

“For a long time it was just me and her,” she said.

Lee continues with the kindest of praise.

“I love her more than anything in the world,” she said. “At the end of the day she is my rock.”

When Lee is preparing to head off for college, her mom enters her room and after reflecting on her daughter and her accomplishments, leaves the room in tears of joy and pride. After shutting the door, Lee turns toward the camera and brings her hands to her face as she attempts to stifle the few tears shed by her in the course of the show.

Lee neither confirms nor denies the arrival of a second season, saying only “maybe,” but demand is there with sites including www.petitionspot.com calling for it.

In the meantime Lee is adjusting to her new life at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, N.Y., where she is studying art history, a subject she became interested in a couple years ago. Before that she wanted to go into the films industry in a position behind the scenes.

Her show features hangouts like the malt shop and Myrtle’s Burgers and she hasn’t found spots like that to socialize at in Brooklyn.

“The fries at Myrtle’s Burgers are delish,” she said.

Adjusting to her new surroundings in New York is a culture shock to Lee, but it’s allowing her to appreciate some things about back home. She misses the open space of Texas, being surrounded by fields and driving around at night with a clear view of the starry sky.

“I feel like I took that for granted,” she said.