Premiere teen programming, and a cool, refreshing Coca-Cola
Written: Jul 13 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: I guess if you are only watching to see people take their shirts off, then that would be a good point.
Cons: the most stereotypical and pretentious teen drama I can currently imagine.
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| chancel's Full Review: Young Americans |
Young Americans (a Coca-Cola summer presentation) is set at a prestigious boys' summer school/actual school (?) called Rawley, not Raleigh, which is what I expected. Hey, the WB apparently has contacts all over NC. I was half guessing they were filming in Chapel Hill just because of the name. Anyway, four main-character guys (Will, Scout, Hamilton and Jake) have been accepted to this prestigious summer program, move into a VERY fancy dorm with huge casement windows and wood paneling everywhere, and proceed to apparently have no classes, no curfews, and no limits. Besides the key four, there is a girl named Bella at the garage down the street. This being a boarding-school-oriented series, I'm sure there will be a lot of putting the moves on various girls (probably from Rawley Girls' Academy, across the lake-oh, please) throughout.
So. Characters. Will Krudski, who has the worst possible name, especially since it's made up and the writers ought to be able to do better than that, is from whatever the town Rawley is in (which they apparently neglected to mention). He's all "wrong side of the tracks" and "I never had anything" and "my dad hates me" (which appears to be literally true), but still manages to keep up an immaculate Abercrombie wardrobe and chest. He's always wanted to go to Rawley, idolizes it, anyone who goes there can do anything, yadda yadda. Whatever, Will. This is summer school, not college, and not Yale, either.
Scout Calhoun, another Terrible name, is Will's roommate, rich, and in serious lust with Bella. He is possibly the most overtly sculpted body on the show, with a triangular jawline to rival an actual triangle, and Never Stops Smiling, even in situations in which it would be highly out of place. He appears to be trying to put this off as an endearing aren't-I-nervous-yet-romantic character trait, but it just looks strange.
Bella, whose last name isn't on the WB annoying popup window, works at her father's garage, is apparently from the same wrong side of the tracks as Will ("Willy Krudski? Is it you??"), and also, surprise surprise, manages to keep her tiny blond self in an immaculate Abercrombie wardrobe. And chest. I have no idea what her personality is supposed to be, but cute and boring is a good guess.
Those are the three main characters. The other two are there for subplot effect.
Hamilton Fleming is the son of the dean, grew up literally at Rawley instead of just in town, and has the most dramatic facial structure of the cast. He looks just like Liam and/or Noel Gallagher would if they weren't trying so hard to be the Beatles. Also wears too much blush. He walks into people's rooms without asking all the time, and has a long string of dialogue that is essentially, "girls think this, and guys think this." Ooh, thank you for telling me what I think, Mr. Authority on Rawley and Apparently Everything Else.
Finally, Jake, the little computer-hacker who keeps switching schools, waiting for his parents to notice, is actually a girl in disguise, and doing a pretty good job of it. Oh, I'm not giving anything away, she takes off nearly everything to give the audience the idea. She has a thing for Hamilton for some reason, but I like her by far the best. The one redeeming character so far.
There is also a stereotypical greasy-haired convention-breaking cool teacher, who appears to be teaching them crew and "English," by which I mean "words of pretentious, condescending wisdom," and also tells Will that he's a writer, when he is CLEARLY NOT.
Anyway. This first episode, which was on last night, does the usual job of introducing the characters and trying to drum up some interest in the show, so it can be picked up for an actual season. In order to achieve this, they decide to do two main things:
1. show a whole lot of chest and leg in all the characters, and
2. have a whole lot of stunning revelatory developments occur.
One: They start the year by some not-exactly-hazing event in which everyone strips to various undergarments and runs into the lake, mostly because the girls from the other side of the lake appear to be doing the same thing, and then people get blindfolded and dropped downtown. So we get an eyeful of Will and Scout for an extended period of time as they walk home. Things proceed from there; since there's a lake, everyone is in a swimsuit at one point or other (I think this will be an issue for Jake in future), and at one point Bella runs at the camera--gracious me, I am quite shocked. Think of the children!
Two: Well, Jake is a girl--gasp! But she likes Hamilton--gasp! Scout and Bella like each other, but--gasp! Will cheated on the entrance exam--double gasp! I guess he really did have something in common with Andie McPhee when he guested on Dawson, then. The teacher found out that Will cheated on the test--triple gasp!! WHAT WILL HAPPEN??? I CAN'T STAND THE SUSPENSE!!! I must watch the WB...I must drink many product-placed bottles of refreshing Coca-Cola...the WB has excellent programming for Young Adults like me...Coca-Cola is romantic, since Scout gave a bottle to Bella...Coca-Cola is the essence of summer....
Ack! What happened? Ack!! Get it away from me!! Get away!
I don't think I can write this review any more. The show is too bad to think about. I'm going to have a refreshing Dr. Pepper.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
chancel
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Member: Eileen
Location: Ann Arbor, MI
Reviews written: 40
Trusted by: 35 members
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