Youngers

I believe that E4 can make great shows--since I'm a huge fan of skins and misfits--I decided to give this show a go, and I gotta say I was hooked from the very first beginning. the show is loud IN A GOOD WAY, and keeps you hooked. the comedy is light, which I didn't like a t first since I was expecting a hilarious show since its genre is "comedy", but as the show goes along I loved how witty the show is; it's funny yet there is some dramatic sides in it. we get to see a side of their emotions which will make us look forward for a fabulous show, well, hopefully. If you're into music and you're sick of watching lame shows such as Glee. Youngers is the right show for you.

This show appears to be quite underrated, it might just be me but I feel like it was barely marketed. I saw it on Netflix having never heard of it and was unaware that it had been aired on E4. I would rate this as a very good TV show; it is right up my street as it is a genre that I am very interested in.

The show starts with two friends leaving school and getting their GCSE results. One has his head screwed on and wants to go to college while the other is more streetwise and interested in making it big without further education. Both of them make music together and have dreams of making it big in the industry. They record tracks in Yemi's bedroom at his 'studio'; Jay is rapper whilst Yemi is the producer. Before long they recruit another member to their crew; a female singer – Davina. They then record tracks, send them off to labels and perform at unsigned open mic nights.

The 'mandem on the wall' are also hilarious, although with little screen time they are not used enough in my opinion! It is described as a comedy on IMDb but I would disagree on that, it is a lot more serious than that. Of course it has its funny moments and it does have a certain light hearted feel to it but it is not an outright comedy.

The acting is great, with very strong performances from the two leads (Jay and Yemi), Davina is certainly the weakest of the three but she still does a convincing enough job. The first series is 8 episodes long with each episode just over 20 minutes long. The show highlights the troubles of growing up, mixing business and pleasure and also teenage peer pressure.

The soundtrack also – wow! A real grime/UK urban soundtrack with plenty of snippets of songs in each episode. The songs that the Youngers make are also decent and are realistic enough to believe that this is the type of music they would produce in real life.

The only negative with the show is that is quite predictable and with only having short 20 minute episodes it seems they have tried to fit too much in to them. Relationships change and scenarios can change multiple times within one episode which hinders its opportunity to build any depth to situations.

I haven't seen series two yet but I will certainly be looking out for it and I would recommend this to anyone interested in the grime music industry and UK Urban cinema.

8/10

To be honest, Youngers leaves me feeling a bit torn. I really WANT it to be good, and therefore I have to stop myself from not being critical of some of the acting, characters and plot development.

Shavani Seth (Davina) is not very convincing. She doesn't seem to have any real acting chops, while the other two main characters Jay and Yemi, played by Calvin Demba and Ade Oyefeso respectively, are completely the opposite, nailing their performances almost every time. Especially Ade Oyefeso, although that might be because his character is more restraint, while Calvin Demba's character is much more energetic, for the most part. This, of course a classic TV-show setup, nonetheless works very well. Davina's only purpose seems to be to provide friction between the two guys, which is a bit thin and doesn't really leave actress Shavani with much to work with.

Then there's the slang, the banter and the titles. I read another reviewer saying something along the lines that it was over the top and nobody talked actually talked like that. While that might be, and I sort of get what he is saying. Being from Northern Scandinavia, I really need to be focused on the dialogue to be able to make out the words at times, even though I consider myself proficient in English and am not completely ignorant of the grime scene.

Curtis Walker (Uncle Errol) cracks me up. I really think they nailed the hammer on the head with having him being a bit of comic relief. I just pray they don't over do it, because the whole point of comic relief is having somebody appear only when the situation requires it.

The remaining characters surrounding them are OK. They do the job and not much more. But seeing as this is series 1, there is no reason to be anything other than optimistic that it will get better and perhaps much better.

The plot. It's OK as well. Somebody (I suspect it was the same reviewer as before) said it was stereotypical regarding black youths only being able to make it in the music business. When speaking about the plot, the poster was not only mistaken, I think he missed the point entirely. For the first part. Yemi is going to college with straight A's, as is the case with Davina, so they could go on to whatever conventional career they chose, IF they liked, without much problems. Not exactly the greatest premise for a TV-show though. And secondly, it seems to me, that the stereotypes are more satirical rather than exploited for the sake of "easy recognition", thus making it possible for the writers to skip over any character development in favor of an easy stereotype, which we all know, love or hate.

I don't think this is the case, although I'll concede that even I had juggled the same thought, especially after learning that "the guys on the wall", were Youtube stars. I did however watch their first video on Youtube and it was actually quite entertaining. Rough, but comedically well made and timed to perfection at times. They, like "Uncle Errol" have great potential as being comic relief. Were this series made in America I suspect the writers would be falling over themselves to give "Mandem on the wall" a bigger and bigger role in the series. I think that would be wrong, and seeing as this is made in the UK, I doubt they will entertain the idea very seriously.

In conclusion. I think it's a show with real potential. If it continues to develop the characters and continues to keep the story "cool" and clever (ex. Yemi composing over Swan Lake, while Jay get's mugged - just brilliant) it has real potential.

Although I actually think the show is more on a 7 on the IMDb scale at this point, I did give it an 8, seeing as it seems to be flailing beneath a 6 at the moment, which I think is deeply unfair. Bring it above a 6 average. It at least deserves that much.

This show is underrated and I hope it gets picked up for another season. At first I had a hard time with it, but the more I watched the more I liked it. The show is about 2 kids who make music together. Jay is a urban kid who is raised by a single father and is a ladies man and rapper. Where Yemmi is a wise school boy who makes beats and is the producer. Then when Yemmi goes to advanced school he meets a Girl named Devine who is an inspiring singer. Yemmi invites her to some "studio time" aka his bedroom. There they make music and paired with Jays rap they make a song and decide to bring her in to the group.

The show does a good job of mixing the struggles of real life with, comedy and at the same time having music that helps move the story and gets you pumped. The show has ups and downs and always has you ready to watch the next episode you leaving you on the cliff asking what happens next? I recommend it to anyone who loves hip hop and comedy and British TV.

Its rather sad that it didn't get picked up for another season, because the stories are so good, I saw a bit of me in the characters, just trying to make their dreams come true. They actually make really good songs on the show as well, till today i still have the "hotter than the sun" song on my favourites playlist. If you like British TV and great music definitely a show for you.The mandem on the wall guys actually bring their internet short video comedy to this show and the producers make it all come together, it doesn't feel disjointed at all, like they were forced into the show. It's really about what people can/willing to do to achieve their dreams, it would have been nice if they just did a special episode so we could at least see where they all ended up, all in all AMAZING show