''6teen'' (originally titled ''The Mall'') is a Canadian

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

television series originally produced by

Nelvana Nelvana Enterprises, Inc. (; previously known as Nelvana Limited, sometimes known as Nelvana Animation and simply Nelvana or Nelvana Communications) is a Canadian animation studio and entertainment company owned by Corus Entertainment. Founded ...

, with the final two seasons being produced by Fresh TV. It began airing on November 7, 2004 until its final episode aired on February 11, 2010 on

Teletoon Teletoon (stylized as TELETOON) is a Canadian English-language specialty channel owned by Teletoon Canada, Inc., a subsidiary of Corus Entertainment. Its name is a portmanteau of "television" and "cartoon". The channel primarily broadcasts an ...

. In the U.S., the series was first aired on

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Group. It ...

on December 18, 2005, and was removed from the schedule on May 13, 2006. The show was later aired on

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, ...

(along with ''

Total Drama Island ''Total Drama Island'' (sometimes shortened to ''TDI'') is the first season of ''Total Drama'', a Canadian animated comedy television series created by Tom McGillis and Jennifer Pertsch. The series premiered in Canada on Teletoon on July 8, 200 ...

and Stoked)'' on October 23, 2008 until June 21, 2010. With the first 78 episodes 15 September 2020 and both 45-minute-long specials produced by Nelvana, ''6teen'' ended with a total of four seasons of 93 22-minute-long episodes (including two one-hour specials).

Plot

''6teen'' is an animated comedy for older children, preteens, and teenagers. The plots take place almost entirely in a megaplex

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually Anchor tenant, anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant pedestrian zone, a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that ...

known as the Galleria Mall. The Galleria Mall is a cross between the Toronto Eaton Centre and the West Edmonton Mall. The series follows the cast of six 16-year-old friends in everyday lives, including their first part-time jobs. The show is rated TV-PG. ''6teen'' is focused on the common issues related to teenagers. The main characters are: Jude, Jen, Nikki, Jonesy, Caitlin, and Wyatt. They deal with first infatuations, 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 sporting goods store, but makes some mistakes. As a

running gag A running gag, or running joke, is a literary device that takes the form of an amusing joke or a comical reference and appears repeatedly throughout a work of literature or other form of storytelling. Though they are similar, catchphrases are no ...

, Jonesy manages to get fired from a new store in almost every episode with a few exceptions. Wyatt falls hopelessly in love with his older co-worker. Jude works at the Food on a stick. 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, where she's required to wear a hat shaped like a lemon as a part of her uniform.

Production and revival

''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 Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

, Quebec. ''6teen'' (the original working title for the series being ''The Mall'') is scripted by a team of writers which includes the series' creators and directors Tom McGillis and

Jennifer Pertsch Jennifer Pertsch is a Canadian writer, producer, story editor, and one of the founding partners of Fresh TV, a Toronto-based production studio specializing in teen and family oriented television projects. She began her career as a writer for Nelvana ...

, along with Sean Cullen (''

The Sean Cullen Show ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

''), and George Westerholm ('' This Hour Has 22 Minutes''). On the subject of their work, McGillis explained, The series' main characters were designed by Brad Coombs and the music 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 provides the voice of Nikki, Megan Fahlenbock voices Jen, Jess Gibbons voices Wyatt,

Christian Potenza Christian Potenza (born December 23, 1972) is a Canadian actor and comedian. He is best known for voicing Jude Lizowski on '' 6teen'' and Chris McLean in the ''Total Drama'' franchise. Career He has been on television since 1997, when he first ...

voices Jude, and Terry McGurrin voices Jonesy. Jamie Watson provides the voices of Coach Halder and Ron the Rent-a-Cop. With the first 78 episodes and both 45-minute-long specials produced by Nelvana, ''6teen'' ended with a total of four seasons of 93 22-minute-long episodes (including two one-hour specials). In the final episode ("Bye Bye Nikki?"), it included an acoustic version of the theme music by Brian Melo. A special reunion PSA titled "Vote, Dude!" was released on September 12, 2018, with the original voice cast reprising their respective roles to raise awareness for voting in the 2018 US midterm elections, though no plans to bring back the show have been announced.

Characters

Episodes

Canada

United States

Reception and honours

Throughout the show's run, ''6teen'' has received critical acclaim. In the winter/spring of 2005, the program ranked among Teletoon's Top 10 for children ages ten years old and up in both

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

and

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

-language markets in Canada. 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. Wikinews:Wikinews Entertainment Shorts: June 2, 2007 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 U.S., 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 2008September 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. 6teen's final episode, which aired on June 21, 2010, received a total of 1.6 million viewers, which is lower than the past 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.

Censorship

Because ''6teen'' was targeted towards a more mature audience ( preteens and teenagers), in certain episodes were considered too risque or inappropriate by the U.S. channels such as

and Paramount's

. This led to 24 episodes being censored or removed in the U.S. With the Canadian legalization of

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being Mexico, constituting ...

occurring around the time of the series' release, many episodes of ''6teen'' included references and innuendos to

homosexuality Homosexuality is Romance (love), romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romant ...

, most of which were censored in the U.S. Other censorships and bans in the U.S. included a plot line that focused on shoplifting, and nude images that were modified from the series' original blur-out to a full black bar.

References

External links