Young Americans

WB | The WB | Release Date: July 12, 2000

CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION

53	METASCORE Mixed or average reviews based on 12 Critic Reviews

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

Critic Reviews

Critic score Publication By date

David ZurawikMar 23, 2022

Season 1 Review: I'll take the heavy-handed product placement and all the gratuitous skin shots in the world for a drama that celebrates academic accomplishment and tries to communicate to its teen viewers the danger, exhilaration and joy of daring to exceed social-class expectations. [12 Jul 2000]

Linda StasiMar 17, 2022

Season 1 Review: The acting is really, really good. And there’s not a clunker in the group. Read full review

Rob OwenMar 17, 2022

Season 1 Review: It doesn't make for an original TV show, of course, but Young Americans still manages to be guilty summer fun. Mindless and cliche, to be sure, but escapist entertainment nonetheless. Read full review

Tom ShalesMar 17, 2022

Season 1 Review: What a tacky way to begin the show. But things get better as the premiere goes on, and as the series goes on, who knows? They might even get good. Read full review

John LevesqueMar 23, 2022

Season 1 Review: The only sparkle comes from Bosworth, who seems to be aware that "Young Americans" might work better as spoof than as semiserious drama. [12 Jul 2000]

Ken TuckerMar 17, 2022

Season 1 Review: Its sexual-confusion subplots alone will make for a summer’s worth of sincere young actors reducing its target audience of skeptical young people to shrieks of appalled amusement. Read full review

Ann HodgesMar 23, 2022

Season 1 Review: A bubbling stew of raging hormones, buff bodies and the culture shock of rich meets poor. [12 Jul 2000]

Scott D. PierceMar 17, 2022

Season 1 Review: The show could turn out to be one of those guilty pleasures like the early years of Dynasty or Melrose Place — a show that's fun because it is so melodramatic and dumb. Read full review

Matthew GilbertMar 23, 2022

Season 1 Review: If the show stimulates anything above the neck, it's the realization that prettier-than-thou programming like "Young Americans" is little more than glossy magazine ads set to motion.

Jonathan StormMar 23, 2022

Season 1 Review: Time marches on, or crawls very slowly, if you happen to be watching Young Americans. [12 Jul 2000, p.D01]

Steve JohnsonMar 17, 2022

Season 1 Review: Give WB credit, at least, for trying to pretend this show is not a regular-season reject they're airing in summer for accounting purposes. Read full review

Marisa GuthrieMar 23, 2022

Season 1 Review: Just when you thought the teen melodrama was completely played out, along comes another trite "Dawson's Creek" clone to cause cringes of annoyance and pangs of distress. [12 Jul 2000]