''Everything Sucks!'' is an American

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

streaming television Streaming television is the digital distribution of television content, such as TV shows, as streaming media delivered over the Internet. Streaming television stands in contrast to dedicated terrestrial television delivered by over-the-air aer ...

series created by

Ben York Jones Ben York Jones (born February 11, 1984) is an American screenwriter and film actor best known for writing and co-starring in '' Like Crazy'' (2011) which won the Dramatic Grand Jury Prize at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. Early life and caree ...

and Michael Mohan that parodies teen culture of the mid-1990s. Ten half-hour episodes were ordered by Netflix and the series was released on February 16, 2018. The series is set in the real-life town of Boring, Oregon in 1996, and focuses on a group of teenagers who attend the fictional Boring High School as they proceed to make a movie together while dealing with issues such as finding their sexualities, mental health, and growing up. On April 6, 2018, it was announced that Netflix had cancelled the series after one season.

Plot

''Everything Sucks!'' revolves around students at Boring High School in Oregon in 1996; centering around the A/V Club, and the Drama Club, with both groups seen as misfits. Luke O'Neil is a freshman at Boring, along with his best friends, McQuaid, a pessimistic geek, and Tyler Bowen, a squeaky-voiced, immature teen. Immediately, the boys are seen as social outcasts and join the A/V Club, where Luke develops a crush on Kate Messner, the principal's daughter and a sophomore at Boring. Kate, however, starts questioning her sexuality and develops a crush on drama student Emaline Addario, who is dating fellow drama student Oliver Schermerhorn. However, Kate starts dating Luke after rumors of her being gay are spread around the school. When an accidental destruction of the sets, inadvertently caused by Kate, causes the play to be cancelled, Luke and his friends suggest the A/V Club and Drama Club make a movie together, which would then be screened to the whole high school. Meanwhile, Luke deals with discovering VHS tapes that his father made before leaving him and his mother years prior. Throughout the season, Luke's mother, Sherry, begins to grow close to Ken Messner, Kate's father and the principal of Boring, and Kate is struggling with her identity and sexuality, Tyler struggles with his friends' interest in girls, and McQuaid develops a crush on Emaline, only to be rejected.

Cast

Main cast

* Jahi Di'Allo Winston as Luke O'Neil, a freshman in A/V club who has a crush on Kate Messner. His father, Leroy, abandoned him and his mother when he was a child. *

Peyton Kennedy Peyton Kennedy (born January 4, 2004) is a Canadian actress. She is best known for her role as Betty Nelson on the ABC television drama series ''Grey’s Anatomy'' (2018–2019). She is also known for her film roles in '' The Captive'' (2014), ' ...

as Kate Messner, the daughter of the principal and a sophomore in A/V club. She starts questioning her sexuality and develops a crush on Emaline Addario. * Patch Darragh as Ken Messner, the principal and Kate's dad who starts to connect with Sherry, Luke's mother. His wife, Kate's mother, died when Kate was five. * Claudine Mboligikpelani Nako as Sherry O'Neil, Luke's mother and a flight attendant who starts to become romantically close to Ken * Quinn Liebling as Tyler Bowen, a freshman in A/V club and one of Luke's best friends. He has ADHD and dyslexia. * Elijah Stevenson as Oliver Schermerhorn, a senior in drama club and Emaline's boyfriend, who eventually runs away to New York * Sydney Sweeney as Emaline Addario, a junior in drama club and Oliver's ex-girlfriend with a flair for drama *

Rio Mangini Rio Mangini (born October 6, 2002) is an American actor, musician, and composer. He is known for his roles as Ace McFumbles in ''Bella and the Bulldogs'' and as McQuaid in ''Everything Sucks!'' Life and career Rio Mangini is the son of Academy ...

as McQuaid, a freshman in A/V club, one of Luke's best friends

Recurring cast

* Abi Brittle as Leslie, a religious member of A/V club, who is friends with Kate and later develops a crush on Tyler * Jalon Howard as Cedric, a member of the drama club * Connor Muhl as Scott Pocket, a pervy student who reads the morning announcements with Jessica * Nicole McCullough as Jessica Betts, a perfectionist who reads the morning announcements with Scott *

as Mr. Stargrove, the quirky A/V club teacher

Guest stars

* Zachary Ray Sherman as Leroy O'Neil, Luke's father who left when he was 7 years old *

Jen Taylor Jennifer Taylor is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Cortana in ''Halo'' games and the intelligent personal assistant. Career Jen Taylor taught herself how to do voice work by recording the radio and imitating what she ...

as Miss Stock, a teacher of Boring High School

Episodes

Production

Filming for the series took place in Oregon in the towns of Boring, Oregon City,

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

and at Fort Rock State Natural Area near Bend in summer 2017. The crew managed to film in a real

Blockbuster Blockbuster or Block Buster may refer to: *Blockbuster (entertainment) a term coined for an extremely successful movie, from which most other uses are derived. Corporations * Blockbuster (retailer), a defunct video and game rental chain ** Bl ...

in Sandy which eventually closed after they finished shooting.

Reception

''Everything Sucks!'' received positive reviews from critics.

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

gave the first season an approval rating of 72% based on 47 reviews, and an average rating of 6.1/10. The site's critical consensus states, "A flawed series that ticks off all the nostalgia boxes, ''Everything Sucks!'' still manages to tug at the heartstrings."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

gave the first season a

weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

score of 62 out of 100 based on reviews from 19 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". The series is frequently compared to ''

Stranger Things ''Stranger Things'' is an American science fiction horror drama television series created by the Duffer Brothers, who also serve as showrunners and are executive producers along with Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen. Produced by Monkey Massacre Prod ...

'', ''

Freaks and Geeks ''Freaks and Geeks'' is an American teen drama, teen comedy-drama television series created by Paul Feig and executive producer, executive-produced by Judd Apatow that aired on NBC during the 1999–2000 United States network television schedul ...

'', as well as ''

Degrassi ''Degrassi'' is a Canadian television franchise created by Kit Hood and Linda Schuyler in 1979. It is centred on a multigenerational teen drama about an ensemble cast of teenagers attending the namesake Toronto school as they navigate their ad ...

''. ''Everything Sucks!'', although well received, was criticized for its over-the-top use of tropes, sometimes unrealistic situations, as well as not developing its supporting characters. However, the coming out storyline and the performances of the ensemble cast, particularly Winston and Kennedy, received much praise. Emine Saner from ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' wrote that the creators "took the idea of nostalgia and teenhood so far they just ended up repeating tropes", however praised Kate's storyline as well as Winston and Kennedy's performances. On the other hand, Jen Chaney of ''

Vulture A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including Condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to North and ...

'' gave ''Everything Sucks!'' a positive review, praising its "treatment of its young characters", and once again, praised Kennedy and Winston's performances. However, she did criticize some dialogue choices, some of the music, and the under developed supporting characters. Caroline Framke of '' Vox'' said, that it "takes too long to figure out its twist on a typical coming-of-age romance. But once it gets there, it’s great" and gave particular praise to Kate's storyline.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Everything Sucks 2010s American comedy-drama television series 2010s American high school television series 2010s American LGBT-related comedy television series 2010s American LGBT-related drama television series 2010s American romantic comedy television series 2010s American teen drama television series 2010s romantic drama television series 2018 American television series debuts 2018 American television series endings American romantic drama television series English-language Netflix original programming Television series about teenagers Television series set in 1996 Television shows filmed in Oregon Television shows set in Oregon Coming-of-age television shows Bisexuality-related television series