Never Too Young

I was 13 when Never Too Young premiered. My girlfriend (what we girls used to call our pals back then) watched it faithfully. It was followed by Where the Action Is, also a Dick Clark production. Loved Paul Revere and the Raiders. To kcapehart, Never Too Young might have been inspired by a 1960 Dick Clark movie, Because They're Young.

I remember at age 14 thinking that Pat Connolly looked too mature and "old" from my perspective to be believable as a teen. She was probably only 20-something! Liked Cindy Carol, the former Carol Sydes, and thought she and John Lupton were very well cast as daughter and father. She was 20 when Never Too Young debuted but looked about 16. My friend immediately got hooked on Dark Shadows after NTY went off the air, so there must be something addictive about the continuing story line format.

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.

"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.

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?