7 /10 1 Votes
Genre Animated sitcom Original language(s) EnglishFrench | 7.3/10 IMDb 7.7/10 TV Country of origin Canada Theme song 6teen | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Created by Jennifer PertschTom McGillis Voices of Christian PotenzaBrooke D'OrsayStacey DePassMegan FahlenbockJess GibbonsTerry McGurrinJamie WatsonDarren FrostEmilie-Claire BarlowStephanie Anne MillsLauren Lipson Composer(s) Don BreithauptAnthony Vanderburgh Cast | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
6teen is a Canadian animated sitcom which premiered in Canada on November 7, 2004 on Teletoon. In the USA, 6teen first premiered on Nickelodeon on December 18, 2005 and was removed from the schedule on May 13, 2006. 6teen was previously aired on The N and Cartoon Network in the United States. With the first 78 episodes and both 45-minute-long specials produced by Nelvana and the final season by Fresh TV, 6teen ended with a total of four seasons of 95 22-minute-long episodes (including two one-hour specials). The series finale, "Bye Bye Nikki? Part 2", included an acoustic remake of the theme song by Brian Melo. DVD and iTunes releases have been made in both Canada and the USA. Though ended, the series creators Pertsch and McGillis both extended a willingness for a possible two-hour reunion telemovie or a feature film. On January 3, 2011, 6teen returned with reruns to Teletoon, where it airs weekend mornings at 3:00 a.m. EST, and it recently returned to its former weekday schedule at 7:00 p.m. EST. Reruns of the show currently air on YTV.
Contents
6teen
Plot
6teen is an animated sitcom for children, pre-teens, and teenagers. The plots take place almost entirely in a gigantic shopping mall. The mall could be based on any big mall in Canada and some fans suspect West Edmonton Mall in Edmonton, Alberta but as there are frequent references to the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team and none for the Edmonton Oilers, The Eaton Centre in Toronto, Ontario is more likely. The series follows the cast of six sixteen-year-old friends in their first part-time jobs and teenage lives.
6teen is focused on the common problems related to teenagers. The main characters are: Jude, Jen, Nikki, Jonesy, Caitlin, and Wyatt. They deal with first crushes, first jobs, first bank accounts, and a sweet taste of freedom. Nikki finds herself stuck working at The Khaki Barn, a store where she would not shop herself, while Jen has found her dream job at a sports shop, but makes some mistakes. Jonesy manages to get fired from a new store in every episode. Wyatt falls hopelessly in love with his older co-worker. Jude works at the hockey rink as a Zamboni driver. Caitlin endures the daily humiliation of working at the lowest store in the mall's hierarchy of cool – The Big Squeeze, a lemonade stand shaped like a giant lemon (she even has to wear a hat shaped like a lemon).
Production
6teen is created and directed through the use of a 2D digital software package known as Harmony, which was developed by the Toon Boom Animation studio in Montreal. Because this software ensures smoother animation and eliminates the need for black trace lines, the program can be fashioned entirely on computer without the use of paper.
6teen (the original working title for the series being The Mall) is scripted by a team of writers which includes series creators and directors Tom McGillis and Jennifer Pertsch, along with Sean Cullen (The Sean Cullen Show), and George Westerholm (This Hour Has 22 Minutes). On the subject of their work, McGillis concludes:
The show's principal characters were designed by Peter Avanzino. Original music is composed by Don Breithaupt and Anthony Vanderburgh. There are seven main cast members who voice 6teen. Brooke D'Orsay performs the voice of Caitlin, while Stacey DePass performs the voice of Nikki, Megan Fahlenbock voices Jen, Jess Gibbons voices Wyatt, Christian Potenza voices Jude, and Terry McGurrin voices Jonesy. Jamie Watson provides the voices of Coach Halder and Ron the Rent-a-Cop.
Characters
Reception
Throughout the show's run, 6teen has received critical acclaim. In the winter/spring of 2005, the program ranked among Teletoons' Top 10 for children ages ten years old and up in both English and French markets. It was also the only Canadian production to be nominated for a Pulcinella Award in 2005 under "TV Series for All Audiences". Furthermore, on June 2, 2007, 6teen received an award from the Alliance for Children and Television for being the best of children's television to fall under the age group of nine to fourteen years old that year. Carole Bonneau, vice-president in charge of Teletoon's programming, has remarked about 6teen:
In Canada, the show garners about 2.5 million viewers each episode. In the USA, 6teen's ratings were around 1.8 million viewers each episode, and ratings held there and then even increased, making it one of Cartoon Network's top shows (October 2008 – September 2009). The highest rating 6teen received on Cartoon Network was 3.7 million viewers, on Thursday, June 11, 2009, immediately after the season premiere of Total Drama Action. As time went on (starting in October 2009), 6teen began a slow drop in ratings. The 6teen series finale, which aired on June 21, 2010, received a total of 1.6 million viewers, which is lower than previous 6teen episodes.
In 2009, the show won the Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Original Song (Main Title and Promo) for its theme song, "6teen", which was performed by Phil Naro.
DVD releases
Canada:
United States: