Never Too Young

"Never Too Young " is a great teen-age soap opera. Chet (Tony Dow) is a predecssor to Fonzie in that he drifts around as a mechanic. Alfie is the former rock and roll singer who doesn't want to be tied down. Tommy Rettig as Jo-Jo is the hilarious nerd type who keeps trying to find girls the right way. Throw in some spoled rich kids, brainy kids, serious medical students, and there you have it.

The daytime Soap Opera "Never Too Young" was an attempt by ABC-TV to attract the teenage market with this offbeat soap entry which had guest stars like Motown greats Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder and other artists like Johnny Rivers and the Ramsey Lewis Trio who would stop by occasionally to sing at the local cafe hangout. After all,the series only lasted one season on the ABC-TV network from the premiere episode on September 27,1965 until the final installment of the series on June 24,1966. However in the summer of 1966,repeats of the daytime soap opera only ran during the months of June through August of that year. It would have been great if the series lasted long enough to make the transition to color,but all of the episodes were in classic black and white.

As far as the adolescents who starred in the short-lived series consisted of Chet(Tony Dow),a race car driver and the coolest kid on the block who basically dated other girls to make his steady girlfriend Joy(Robin Grace)jealous. Tad(Michael Blodgett),the high school football player who faced a career-threatening injury;and Barbara (Pat Connolly),who upset her boyfriend Alfie(David Watson)by her meddlesome efforts to help him further his ambitions. Frank and Rhoda (John Lupton and Patrice Wymore),the prime adults involved with the group,had their own unsteady relationship. The stories for this series were supposed to take place in the upscale high action and hipper scene of Malibu,California,but a Hollywood studio lot filled with sand provided what beach atmosphere there was.

As far as the actors were concerned only several are very recognizable here. The part of Chet,a cool-reckless,troublemaking,Fonzie looking,care free race car driver was played by Tony Dow. And for Dow,this role was a far cry from the All-American properly mannerisms of Wally Cleaver during his years on the television series "Leave It To Beaver". Also involved here is Chet's sidekick Joesph,aka Jo-Jo played by Tommy Rettig. This role for Rettig(and a different approach as well)was a far cry from his days as Jeff on the classic children series "Lassie". The only adults in this teenage soap opera were John Lupton and Patrice Wymore. For actor John Lupton,this was a first for him starring in daytime television,who was better known for his prime-time work especially starring in the 1950's TV western "Broken Arrow". The other actors involved were Dack Rambo in the role of the teenage character of Tim. Rambo would make a name for himself as well later on, starring opposite Walter Brennan(of The Real McCoys fame)in the short-lived western series,"The Guns Of Will Sonnett".

Never Too Young was one of my favorite soaps on TV. Wish it could have lasted longer. Enjoyed watching Michael J. Blodgett, Joanna Barnes and John Upton over the years and have often wondered whatever happened to them since the 80's. I loved Debbie Watson as Gidget in Gidget Goes Hawaiian as well. Would like to know what she is doing now in the 21st century.

I can remember seeing the Ramsey Lewis Trio on the show.

I was senior in high school when NTY started. Can hardly believe it's 40 years since it was on TV.

If anyone has any information on the cast I would love to hear it.

Is there any way in which to get in touch with Michael, Joanna and Debbie to let them know how much I enjoyed them?

Never Too Young was a teenage soap opera with a lot of teen angst every week from its various cast members. It had trouble trying to find itself an audience and in its second season switched to some adult cast members like Patrice Wymore, John Lupton, and Merry Anders and some adult themed stories. I remember in the end it was a murder to be solved and one of the aforementioned adults did the deed.

The formula had to wait a score of years before Baywatch premiered. We did see a lot of scantily clad boys and girls every week always an audience pleaser. For the girls it was Cindy Carol and for the guys it was Michael Blodgett, talk about a golden couple.

It was the California beach scene, but in response to the British invasion British guy David Watson took over the hangout where all the kids congregated. He dispensed wisdom and advice to the young and that accent sure made it sound like he knew what he was talking about.

Never Too Young never found its audience, but those who did watch it have fond memories.

I remember NTY fondly. I was a junior in high school just outside Philadelphia. Loved the show, it looked like it was filmed before a live audience. Several classmates faithfully watched the show and enjoyed the staged scenes of the Malibu beaches and the background music, and the special drop in guests. Living on the east coast , we could only dream of what California beaches looked like. Unfortunately the show had no permanent sponsor (pays the shows' bills), and our local ABC affiliate did not carry the show so we saw it on low power UHF channel 29 which required a converter for the then-state of the art black and white TVs. Note that Channel 29 operated out of an apartment with their tower on top of the apartment building. It took tinfoil on the rabbit ears to bring in a snowy picture. UHF has just come to Philly the previous month. Another crush was chopping five minutes off for "Arlene Dahl's Beauty Spot", in color yet, at 4:25 eastern, reducing NTY to about 17 minutes after commercials.

I remember watching the final episode on the "big" TV in our family room and shedding a few tears when the final credits faded to black. School had just ended and tis was kind of a downer losing my favorite after school show. Never got into Dark Shadows although it was a moneymaker for ABC.