Young Americans

"Young Americans" was my favorite TV show mini series of all time. Each of the characters were interesting and developed very natural and I became a fan within the first fifteen minutes of the first episode.

Each episode of the series, which was set at a boy's college, contained some very positive lessons that were thoughtfully presented by the Professor Finn so as not to 'preach'.

Over the course of the 8 episodes that aired we became intimately involved in the lives of these people and became involved with them.

The WB Network really did not thoughtfully give this series a fighting chance, there were weeks when the show did not air in it's set time slot, which I believe is a must, if you want to develop an audience, and it was almost impossible to find out when it was going to be on, unless you watched The WB 24 hours a day and were lucky enough to catch the one or two promos for the next airing.

Unfortunately we will never know what happened in the interwoven lives of these characters because it was cancelled after only 8 sporadic episodes.

It would be nice if WB would put it out on DVD, as far as the music rights, the music was promoted on each episode, and if any of it is still available today, I would think the artists and labels (much of which was WB Records) should welcome the new publicity.

Completely distracting: beautiful, young white people with doe eyes that drink in the rural, summer Connecticut sunlight that's reflecting off the peaceful lake where all the main characters take English classes on the docks after a tastefully sweaty session of rowing (crew). A sex farce: to rebel against her mother, Jacqueline dons a boob-girdle and attends Rawley, an exclusive boys high school. The dean's son, Hamilton, falls in love with "Jake" and she with him. "Ham," played by Guess Jeans model Ian Somerhalter, and whose blue eyes are lit from the inside, thinks he's gay for loving "him," and is relieved when Jake looses the trusses one night.

Beautiful townie girl: one brown eye, one blue eye, and a thin layer of peach/melon lipstick on her soft lips at all times, you can't stop looking at Bella. She falls in love with Scout, a Rawley boy whose pleading eyes won't quit. Unfortunately, she discovers early on, he's her half-brother. Scout played Keith Partridge last year according to IMDB.

Will, the townie narrator who has scholarshipped his way into a summer session in this Rawley world, draws everyone together. He also played Will, Dawson's friend and pool shark, in a latter Dawsons Creek episode.

This show practically ruined my summer. Every Wednesday I had to be in front of the television. And the funny thing is, almost none of these actors has acted before. Am I nuts? I am a 45-year-old woman. These people are living my childhood fantasy! English on the docks!

Mag 13

What a great TV show. Thank God this is not "Beverly Hills 90210" and not "Dawsons Creek". It is more serious, romantic, warm-hearted, told with humor and without any stereotypes. Good actors like Ed Quinn who plays a great teacher called Mr. Finn and good stories make "Young Americans" a lot better than usual Teenie-Soaps. The first three episodes have the sensitive songs of Nick Drake in the background. Unfortunately this great show ended after 8 episodes. A TV series that talks about Thoreau, Emerson and Whitman seems a bit too intellectual for a Teenie-show. I wish that one day the producers and the audience will find out how good it was and will continue with the stories.

I just wanted to say that I just saw the series and as from the first five minutes I was already ADDICTED to it!!!! I especially LOVED the the role of 'Jake and Hamilton'.. I think that 'Young American' is really great and that its a sham that there is not second season.. I would have really loved to continuer watching it and it surely changes from 'Buffy..' and all the rest.. Hope that there will be more seasons to come.. :)

I first heard about this show back in 2000 because of Rodney Scott and his guest appearance at Dawson's Creek. I am not a fan of Dawson's Creek, but there were a lot of articles on Seventeen/YM/Teen on this "summer series" and articles related to the show and DC, and so I got intrigued when they finally aired it in here. It was fresh, funny and extremely interesting. But I didn't know that it suddenly got canceled without WB finishing the story. After seeing the 8th episode I thought, "Well, I hope they air the next season!" To my dismay, there was no next season. ARGH. Agonies of life. If they were going to cancel it, at least close the story! Open endings suck.

Anyway, this is a really unique show. The characters are interesting, although the only storyline I'm REALLY interested is Jake and Hamilton's story.

It's such a shame that we'll never know what happened to Jake and Hamilton, Scout and Bella and the dramatic life of Will Krudski. Please make a DVD!