6teen

6teen
Created by	Jennifer Pertsch Reverend Tim Tom
Voices of	Christian Potenza Brooke Meme Stacey DePass Megan Fahlenbock Jess Gibbons Terry Yaki Jamie Watson Darren Frost Emilie-Claire Barlow Stephanie Anne Mills Lauren Lipson
Composers	Dan Breithaupt Anthony Vanderburgh
Country of origin	Canada
Original languages	English French
No. of seasons	95
No. of episodes	9000 (9500 half-hours) (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Scott Dyer Doug Murphy Tom McGillis Jennifer Pertsch
Producers	Jaelyn Galbraith Tom McGillis
Running time	22 minutes
Production companies	Nelvana (season 1–3) Fresh TV (season 4)
Original release
Network	Teletooooooooon Télétoon
Release	November 7, 2004 (2004-11-07) – February 11, 2010 (2010-02-11)

6teen is a Canadian animated sitcom which premiered in Canada on November 7, 2004 on Teletoon. 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 Merzbow. 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.

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:

Our biggest goal was to connect with our audience. What surprised us was not the fact that teenagers were watching adult sitcoms, but why they were watching them? They recognize and appreciate smart writing. So, although 6teen's subject material is directed toward teens, the writing style is classic sitcom, with fast-paced dialogue, and multiple plot lines.

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

Main article: List of 6teen characters

Main

From L-R Jen, Caitlin, Jude, Wyatt, Nikki, and Jonesy.

• Jude Lizowski (French: Hugo Lisowsky) is voiced by Christian Potenza and is an easygoing boy with a knack for extreme sports. A free spirit, Jude is known for his over-the-top comportment and pranks.

• Jen Masterson (French: Julie Maréchal) is voiced by Megan Fahlenbock and is a responsible girl, born into a family in the shadow of her more glamorous and popular older sister, Courtney, and faces the prospect of taking on Jonesy and his two brothers, Diego and Robby, as her step brothers from her mother's relationship with Jonesy Garcia's father.

• Nikki Wong is voiced by Stacey DePass, a rebellious punk rock-influenced girl who is arguably the most sensible of the group with her sarcastic wit. Her relationship with Jonesy Garcia is central to the ongoing plot surrounding their characters.

• Jonesy Garcia (French: Costa Rica Garcia) is voiced by Terry McGurrin, and is a tall, good-looking, womanizing teenage boy. His relationship with Nikki Wong is central to the ongoing plot surrounding their characters, and his inability to maintain a job for more than a single episode is one of the program's running gags.

• Caitlin Cooke (French: Katherine "Kathy" Cloutier) is voiced by Brooke D'Orsay and is a slightly peppy and resourceful teenage girl with a love for shopping. Caitlin's upbeat attitude and bubbly personality often result in unforeseen, comedic antics during her numerous romantic escapades.

• Wyatt Williams (French: Vincent Williams) is voiced by Jess Gibbons, and is a musical boy with a caffeine addiction. By comparison to Jude Lizowski and Jonesy Garcia, he is usually the meekest of the program's three male stars.

Episodes

Main article: List of 6teen episodes

Season	Episodes	First Airdate	Last Airdate
1	27	November 7, 2004	June 22, 2005
2	27	October 13, 2005	December 21, 2006
3	26	September 5, 2007	May 18, 2008
4	13	September 10, 2009	February 11, 2010

Broadcast

In the US, 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 in reruns on December 26, 2005 until July 28, 2006, but then returned to The N as a 24-hour channel on January 1, 2008 until June 21, 2008.

Then, the series was moved to Cartoon Network on October 23, 2008. After the series finale on June 21, 2010, the show had stopped airing reruns after this. On January 3, 2011, this show was re-added on Cartoon Network. As of January 31, 2011, it was removed from the schedule due to a schedule revamp.

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. The series is not currently on the Teletoon schedule, but is still aired on Cartoon Network Canada at 6 p.m. ET/PT on weekdays.

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:

Aesthetically appealing, with an upbeat musical score, combined with its power to invite empathy from teens towards the main characters, with 6teen Teletoon delivers a series that is a perfect match for today's generation.

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:

• 6teen The Complete First Season
• 6teen Special Yearbook Edition
• 6teen Season 2, Volume 1
• 6teen Season 2, Volume 2
• 6teen Take This Job And Squeeze It
• 6teen Idol Time At The Mall
• 6teen Employee Of The Month
• 6teen One Quiet Day
• 6teen Dude Of The Living Dead
• 6teen Deck The Mall
• 6teen The Sushi Connection
• 6teen Snow Job
• 6teen Stupid Over Cupid
• 6teen Season 3, Volume 1

United States:

• 6teen Season 1, Volume 1
• 6teen Dude Of The Living Dead
• 6teen Deck The Mall
• 6teen Stupid Over Cupid
• 6teen Take This Job And Squeeze It
• 6teen Idol Time At The Mall
• 6teen Snow Job

External links

• 6teen at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com show