Mr. Young is a Canadian comedy series that premiered on March 1, 2011 on YTV. The series is shot in front of a live audience in Burnaby, British Columbia. The series was created by Dan Signer (The Suite Life on Deck, A.N.T. Farm), and stars Brendan Meyer, Matreya Fedor and Gig Morton as attendants of Finnegan High School. Further main cast includes Kurt Ostlund, Emily Tennant, and Milo Shandel.
Premise
Mr. Young centers on child prodigy Adam Young (Brendan Meyer), who graduated from university at the age of 14. He decides to come back to high school to live the high school experience, only he becomes the science teacher at the school. He reunites with childhood best friend Derby (Gig Morton) and encounters the school bully, Slab (Kurt Ostlund), and a student in his class whom he has a crush on, named Echo (Matreya Fedor). However because he is 14, his students have little respect for him, and he often gets into trouble with the principal.[1]
Production
The series was created and is executive produced by Dan Signer. The series is filmed in front of a live studio audience at 5828 Byrne Road, in Burnaby, British Columbia.[1]
The series began taping on Thursday, September 30, 2010 and production of Season 1 was completed on Friday, April 15, 2011. Through their Facebook page, YTV announced on March 31, 2011 that Mr. Young was the #1 show on their network. On April 29, 2011 the series was renewed for a second season.[2][3] Filming of Season 2 began in early July 2011 and continued through to January 2012.[4]
Season 1
The series began taping in Thursday, September 30, 2010 and production of Season 1 was completed on Friday, April 15, 2011. Most of the episodes of Mr. Young on Season 1, is about Adam Young trying to impress Echo with the help of Derby in episodes such as Mr. Ballerina, Mr. Big Brother and Mr. Meteor. There are some romantic moments with Adam and Echo, shown in Mr. Picture Day, Mr. Detention and Mr. DNA. Students such as Derby and Slab (Kurt Ostlund) sometimes make Adam leave or try to make him appreciate them in episodes like Mr. Elderman and Mr. Space. Principal Tater (Milo Shandel) also gets pranked, like in Mr. DNA and Mr. Impossible. Adam and Ivy (Emily Tennant) don't really get along in the first episode. Mr. Space is the first 1 hour long special of Mr. Young. Mr. Mummy aired in the U.S along with the Disney XD show Kickin' It before it aired in Canada.
Season 2
On April 29, 2011 the series was renewed for a second season.[2][3] Filming of Season 2 began in early July 2011 and continued until January 2012.[4] Corus Entertainment’s YTV announced today that Mr. Young has been picked up for another season. Thunderbird Films will commence production of 26 new episodes in July, bringing the total number of episodes to 52. The live-action series premiered on March 1 and has quickly become one of the network’s top rated series. Filmed in front of a live studio audience in Burnaby, British Columbia, Mr. Young stars Brendan Meyer as Adam Young, a whiz-kid-turned-teen genius who hit the books hard enough to get into university at the age of 9. Now, at the age of 14, he’s headed back to high school – as a teacher. Being the same age as his students, Adam finds himself trapped between two worlds – coping with his co-workers, who happen to be twice his age, while teaching his best friend, the girl he has a crush on, and the class bully. With one foot in the lunch room and the other foot in the staff room, it’s Mr. Young’s social life that’s being put to the test.
Season 3
In April 2012 YTV and Disney XD renewed Mr. Young for a third season. Production of Mr. Young season 3 started on May 10, 2012 and ended on November 2, 2012. The season was never aired in America because there was a court cases involving the show. Season 3 has yet to be anounced its airing in USA. [5]
Season 4
On the Mr. Young facebook page, they have announced that there won't be a season 4 because the show ended with Mr. Finale in season 3.
Cast/Characters
Principal cast
- Brendan Meyer[6] as Adam Young a fourteen year old genius who is a science teacher at the fictional Finnegan High School. His best friends are Derby and Echo. He is Ivy's younger brother. He has a crush on Echo and does many things to attempt to get her attention. Adam Young is a somewhat awkward but good natured person. He is sometimes greedy when he wants something. His mother is Rachel Young and he has an older sister named Ivy. It is currently unknown who his father is.
- Matreya Fedor[7] as Echo Zizzleswift a student at Finnegan High School. She is in Adam's science class. Echo also cares deeply about the environment and other people. She is thoughtful, socially aware, and secretly likes all things to do with science-fiction. Adam has a crush on her, but she seems completely unaware to this. She is on and off as good friends and sometimes enemies with Adam, Ivy, Derby and Slab. Her last name was announced in "Mr. College".
- Gig Morton[8] as Derby a dimwitted student at Finnegan High School. He is Adam's best friend. He is attracted to many girls but is always rejected and ignored. He also has a tendency to wear and provide costumes. Derby is Adam's best friend and also his student, a line that Derby’s more than happy to blur. Derby is a class clown and is skilled in pranking.
- Kurt Ostlund[9] as Jordan 'Slab' Slabinski, the bully of Finnegan High School. Though his behavior is aggressive, "Slab" likes doing ballet, looking at the stars, and friendship. Though he tends to pull pranks on people, he says he does it to conceal his feelings. Though he often bullies Derby by putting him in trash cans, he occasionally helps him out. Although he is a bully he does have feelings for other people such as Brap.
- Emily Tennant[10] as Ivy Young, Adam's dimwitted elder sister. She loves shopping and bossing Adam around. Though deep down she truly does care about Adam and other people and will help them out. She has a crush on Hutch Anderson. Ivy is a stereotypical blonde and is attractive to the male students. She also is a reporter for the school newspaper, along with Echo.
- Milo Shandel[11] as Principal Tater, the main antagonist, the principal of Finnegan High School who often checks up on Mr. Young and his class.
Recurring cast
- Raugi Yu as Dang, he is the school's janitor. He usually appears out of nowhere when people mention his name, as well as he also has clones of himself. He is very skilled at martial arts. He also is shown to have a passion for leaf monkeys, Halloween, and says the word "demon" several times. Occasionally he wears a giant purple cowboy hat with feathers, which he calls his "Fancy Hat". He lives at Finnegan High and almost never wants to leave because leaf monkey's do not live there, who steal his fancy hat. Dang has a brother named Ding that he disliked because Ding married a duck named Alexa Anderson. Dang forgave his brother who was Echo disguised as Ding (Dang cannot tell the difference between Echo in disguise and his brother) because he saw Slab's mother and exclaimed, "There are worse things to marry than duck!".
- Paula Shaw as Ms. Byrne, an elderly history teacher who is in charge of the science club and school newspaper. She has bad memory, often shown to forget things that she saw or heard a few seconds ago. She always teaches the same thing every class: The War of 1812, always starting off as "Who has heard of the War of 1812?" before all the students raise up their hands. It has also been suggested in several episodes that she is extremely old, though she disagrees. Notable examples include "Mr. Younger Man" where she claims to have seen Hailey's Comet 6 times already which if true would prove that she is between 375 to 456 years old, and in "Mr. Servant" where she is seen to have been "Miss Constantinople." It is revealed that her mother is still alive and even her grandma. It is also shown that she has many elderly grandchildren.
- Anna Galvin as Rachel Young, Ivy's and Adam's mother. She delivers meals to seniors and can sometimes be helpful. She can be dishonest (she claimed during the school carnival that there was a giant man-eating chicken in her booth, when in reality it was a tall man eating chicken) and sometimes does not care about Adam's feelings (once she sold his comic collection with his knowledge). She was schoolmates with Principal Tater once and was framed and suspended for putting glue in the mascot's costume which made Tater Bald. She was once a cheerleader at Finnegan High.
- Brett Dier as Hutch Anderson. He is Ivy's crush and is on and off as Ivy's boyfriend (he has had other girlfriends). He is very gentleman-like and is a lifeguard and tried to save Adam (who was dressed like a mummy) because of his oath. He helped Ivy's mother take out the trash in one episode. He played Romeo in the school play Romeo and Juliet, but had to leave because Ivy put itching powder makeup on him to stop him from kissing Echo.
- Amit Josan as Fortran. He is the nerd that Slab and Derby pick on. He has allergies and takes allergy medicine. He plays the violin.
- Nathan Kress as Pete. He is a special guest star on the last two episodes of Mr. Young. He is known for his role in ICarly and other Nick shows. He played as a new janitor and has stated that he never graduated from highschool. He said that Slab is lucky to graduate.
International release and distribution
On September 7, 2011, Corus Entertainment's[1] Nelvana Enterprises and Thunderbird Films announced that they had sold the live-action comedy series to Disney XD[12] channels in the U.S. and around the world. Territories in addition to the U.S. include the U.K., Spain, Portugal, Italy, the Netherlands, Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Australia and New Zealand.[13] The series is set to premiere in most territories this year. Nelvana Enterprises is the international distribution agent for Mr. Young, while Nelvana and Thunderbird are co-distributing the series in the United States.[14][15]
On September 27, 2011, Nelvana Entertprises announced that it had also sold distribution rights to the series to the Latin American version of Cartoon Network, which premiered on April 30, 2012.[16]
Country / Region | Channel | Series premiere | Tittle in country |
---|---|---|---|
Canada | YTV | March 1, 2011 March 24, 2012 |
Mr.Young |
Israel | Arutz HaYeladim | September 18, 2011 | מר יאנג |
United States | Disney Channel | October 22, 2011 October 23, 2011 |
Mr.Young |
Disney XD | September 26, 2011 | ||
Poland | Disney XD (Poland) | December 3, 2011 | Mr. Young |
United Kingdom | Disney XD (UK & Ireland) | December 2011 (sneak peek) January 15, 2012 (premiere) |
Mr.Young |
Italy | Disney XD (Italy) | January 16, 2012 February 7, 2012 |
Professor Young |
Netherlands | Disney XD (Netherlands) | April 16, 2012 | Mr.Young |
Turkey | Disney XD (Turkey) | April 1, 2012 | Sayın Genç |
France | Canal J | August 28, 2011 | M. Young |
South Africa | Disney XD (South Africa) | April 16, 2012 | Mr.Young |
Chile | Cartoon Network Latin America | April 30, 2012 | El Sr. Young |
Colombia | |||
Honduras | |||
Peru | |||
Mexico | |||
Panama | |||
Uruguay | |||
Venezuela | |||
Dominican Republic | |||
Argentina | Cartoon Network (Argentina) | April 30, 2012 | El Sr. Young |
Brazil | Cartoon Network (Brazil) | April 30, 2012 | Senhor Young |
Spain | Disney XD and Disney Channel | 2012 | El Sr. Young |
Hungary | A fiatal tanár | ||
Romania | Tanar professor | ||
Czech Republic | Mladá učitelka | ||
Greece | Ο κύριος. νέος | ||
Ukraine | Містер. молодий | ||
Bulgaria | Младият учител | ||
Portugal | O jovem professor | ||
Middle East | Disney XD | 2012 | Mr. Young |
Australia | Disney Channel (Australia) | July 2, 2012 | Mr.Young |
New Zealand | |||
Pakistan | Disney Channel Middle East/Disney XD | 2012 | Mr.Young |
Sri Lanka | |||
Philippines | Disney Channel Asia | 2012 | Mr. Young |
Bangladesh | |||
Brunei | Mr.Young | ||
Hong Kong | 先生年轻 | ||
Malaysia | Mr.Young | ||
Singapore | |||
Thailand | นายหนุ่มสาว | ||
Vietnam | Ông trẻ | ||
Indonesia | Mr.Young | ||
Taiwan | 先生年轻 |
Episodes
Main article: List of Mr. Young episodes
Season | Episodes | Originally aired | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Season premiere | Season finale | |||
1 | 26 | March 1, 2011 (CAN) September 26, 2011 (USA)[17] |
December 13, 2011(CAN) February 13, 2012 (USA) | |
2 | 26 | March 12, 2012 (CAN) June 11, 2012 (USA) |
December 2012 (CAN) 2013 (USA) | |
3[18] | 21 | March 2013 (CAN) Never Determined (USA) |
Never aired in US due to a court case |
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The Court Case
Back in late 2012, the show was involved with a trade and copyright dispute. The producers of Mr. Young were sued for copyright infringment by the American company Radcliffe LLC. because the show had similarities to their work of "Student Teacher". In 2009, the idea of "Student Teacher" was deemed not fit for the American audience. The American company claimed that the Canadian Producers, Walt Disney, Thunderbird Films, and William Morris Entertainment mostly copied its work and got the business benefits. in 2013, the cases was brought up to the U.S. International Trade Commission, where E.T. Radcliffe LLC sued Walt Disney for copyright from the American airing of Mr. Young, which was produced in Canada. Season 3 of the show did not air in America because of a court order. In early 2014, Disney won the court case. The court ruled that Mr. Young was produced independently before Radcliffe LLC.'s claim and that Mr. Young did not have enough similarities to justify copyright. As a result, nobody knows whether or not Season 3 will be released in America. So far, the producers have not released a date nor known response.
References
- ^ a b c Corus Entertainment Corporate Press Release
- ^ a b Wendy Goldman Getzler (April 29, 2011). "YTV’s Mr. Young gets second season". Kidscreen. Retrieved May 19, 2011.
- ^ a b Young Mr. Young goes to high school by Amanda Ash [1], The Vancouver Sun, March 1, 2011.
- ^ a b Mr. Young renewed for Season 2 [2], TV-Eh, April 28, 2011.
- ^ http://www.tv-eh.com/2012/04/24/mr-young-season-3-going-into-production/
- ^ "YTV Shows: Top Kids Shows and Movies from YTV". YTV.com. Retrieved 2012-05-07.
- ^ "YTV Shows: Top Kids Shows and Movies from YTV". YTV.com. Retrieved 2012-05-07.
- ^ "YTV Shows: Top Kids Shows and Movies from YTV". YTV.com. Retrieved 2012-05-07.
- ^ "YTV Shows: Top Kids Shows and Movies from YTV". YTV.com. Retrieved 2012-05-07.
- ^ "YTV Shows: Top Kids Shows and Movies from YTV". YTV.com. Retrieved 2012-05-07.
- ^ "YTV Shows: Top Kids Shows and Movies from YTV". YTV.com. Retrieved 2012-05-07.
- ^ Disney XD
- ^ http://www.tv-eh.com/2011/04/28/mr-young-renewed-for-season-2/
- ^ Disney Buys Vancouver-made Kids TV Show - The Province
- ^ Whiz kid turned teen genius Mr. Young acquired by Disney XD around the World - Stockhouse [3]
- ^ Nelvana Sells Comedy Series to Latin American Cartoon Network, Broadcaster Magazine, September 27, 2011.
- ^ http://www.locatetv.com/tv/mr-young/season-1/7320624
- ^ http://kidscreen.com/2012/04/10/disney-xd-picks-up-new-season-of-mr-young/
- http://www.burnabynewsleader.com/entertainment/176801691.html
- http://www.law360.com/articles/448698/disney-hit-with-itc-copyright-suit-over-mr-young-show
- http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/disney-beats-writers-claim-stealing-683338