''The Best Years'' is a Canadian

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

television series about a group of college students at Charles University, a fictional

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference of eight Private university, private Research university, research universities in the Northeastern United States. It participates in the National Collegia ...

school in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

. It stars

Charity Shea Charity Shea real name Charity Guthrie (born December 4, 1983) is an American former actress. She is best known for her role as troubled teenager Samantha Best in ''The Best Years''. She has starred in films including ''Alpha Dog'' with Justin ...

as Samantha Best, an orphan who lived in the foster care system for ten years before receiving a scholarship to Charles. The show was created by Aaron Martin and produced by Wendy Grean. The first season aired on

Global Global may refer to: General *Globe, a spherical model of celestial bodies *Earth, the third planet from the Sun Entertainment * ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003 * ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007 * ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 198 ...

in Canada and on Noggin's teen block,

The N The N (standing for Noggin) was a prime time and late-night block programming, programming block on the Noggin (brand), Noggin television channel, aimed at preteens and teenagers. It was launched on April 1, 2002, by MTV Networks and Sesame Works ...

, in the United States. The second season was shown in the United States on The N and in Canada on E!, CanWest's secondary network.

Plot

The show revolves around Samantha Best (

). She receives a scholarship to attend Charles University, a fictional

college in

, after bouncing between foster homes for ten years. The first season included episodes about sensitive topics like

cocaine Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...

addiction, inappropriate teacher-student relationships, and

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

. The second and final season picked up eight months after season one with several characters absent and replaced with new characters and focused romantic entanglements.

Cast and characters

Main

as Samantha Best * Randal Edwards as Noah Jensen *

Jennifer Miller Jennifer Miller (born 1961) is an American circus entertainer, writer, and professor at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. She has lived with a beard for most of her life. She is a juggler and fire eater. Miller lives in New York City. Biog ...

as Kathryn Klarner *

Brandon Jay McLaren Brandon Jay McLaren (born October 15, 1981) is a Canadian actor. He made his first screen appearance in the television series ''Just Cause'' (2002). He has been known for his main and supporting roles in shows such as ''Graceland'', '' Power Ra ...

as Devon Sylver (season 1) *

Athena Karkanis Athena Karkanis (born September 7, 1981) is a Canadian television, film and voice actress. She played Grace Stone in the NBC/Netflix science fiction drama series '' Manifest'', and voiced Anne Maria in '' Total Drama''. Life and career Karkanis ...

as Dawn Vargaz (season 1) *

Niall Matter Niall Matter ( ; born October 20, 1980) is a Canadian-American actor. Following recovery from a serious accident sustained while working on an oil rig, Matter chose to pursue a full-time acting career. He received his first significant break in 2 ...

as Trent Hamilton (season 1) * Tommy Lioutas as Rich Powell (season 2) *

Michael Xavier Michael D. Xavier (born Michael David Smith; 27 November 1977) is an English actor and singer. He is a two-time Laurence Olivier Award nominee and has performed on Broadway and in the West End. Early life Michael David Smith (later known as M ...

as Delman (season 2) * Nadiya Chettiar as Poppi Bansal (season 2) *

Mishael Morgan Marie-Charms Mishael Morgan (born July 15, 1986) known professionally as Mishael Morgan, is a Trinidadian-Canadian actress known for the roles of Hilary Curtis and Amanda Sinclair on CBS Daytime soap opera, ''The Young and the Restless'', the latt ...

as Robyn Crawford (season 2)

Recurring

Sherry Miller Sherry Miller is a Canadian actress best known for her role as Jane on the CTV drama ''E.N.G.'' (1990), as Jennifer Taylor on the Showtime drama ''Queer As Folk'' (2000–2005), and as Dorothy O'Sullivan on the Global teen drama ''The Best Yea ...

as Dorothy O'Sullivan *

Lauren Collins Lauren Felice Collins (born August 29, 1986) is a Canadian actress, best known for portraying Paige Michalchuk on '' Degrassi: The Next Generation''. She has also had supporting roles in the films '' Take the Lead'' (2006) and ''Charlie Bartlett ...

as Alicia O'Sullivan (season 2; guest season 1) *

Ashley Newbrough Ashley Newbrough is an American actress. She is known for starring as Sage Baker in The CW drama series '' Privileged'' (2008–2009) and for starring in a number of predominantly Christmas-themed television films since 2015. Career She began he ...

as Sloane McCarthy (season 1) *

Ashley Diana Morris Ashley Diana Morris (born December 7, 1988) is a Canadian model and actress. In 2013, she became the newest Guess model after an accidental discovery in Vancouver. Morris was attending a concert by country music artist Dierks Bentley when she was ...

as Shannon Biel (season 1) * Alan Van Sprang as Lee Campbell (season 1) *

Evan Buliung Evan Buliung is a Canadian actor and singer, who is best known for his work in musical theatre. In 2006, Buliung originated the role of Aragorn in the world premiere production of '' Lord of the Rings'', which played at the Princess of Wales Th ...

as Professor Warren

Episodes

Season 1 (2007)

The first season of ''The Best Years'' was first shown in Canada on Global from May 22 to August 14, 2007. In the United States, it aired on The N from June 29 to September 21, 2007, at 8:30 to 9:30 pm EST on Friday nights.

Season 2 (2009)

Production notes

The show's theme song is titled "Infinite Possibility" and was written and performed by Mark Wiebe, also known as Markattack or Sinewave. Outdoor scenes from the show were filmed on the campus of the

University of Guelph The University of Guelph (abbreviated U of G) is a comprehensive Public university, public research university in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. It was established in 1964 after the amalgamation of Ontario Agricultural College (1874), the MacDonald I ...

in Guelph, Ontario, as well as the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

, and interior scenes of the campus were re-created at the Toronto Film Studios.

Home release

Entertainment One Lionsgate Canada is a Canadian entertainment company and a subsidiary of Lionsgate Studios. Based in Toronto, the company is primarily involved in the acquisition and production of films and television series. The company began on June 1, 1973 ...

has released the entire series on DVD in Region 1.

Ratings

According to Mediaweek, ratings the show debuted with 323,250 total viewers on Friday, June 29 at 8:30 p.m. ET, which more than doubled the time period average.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Best Years, The 2000s Canadian drama television series 2000s college television series 2007 Canadian television series debuts 2009 Canadian television series endings Canadian television soap operas Canadian English-language television shows Global Television Network original programming The N original programming Serial drama television series Television series by Lionsgate Canada Television shows filmed in Toronto Television shows set in Boston