The show debuted on July 12, 2000, on The WB network as a summer replacement for, and spin-off from another Columbia TriStar Television production, Dawson's Creek.

The series was originally ordered for the 1999–2000 United States television season with a planned fall debut, but was delayed due to unresolved matters between Columbia TriStar and The WB.

Will Krudski, a working class New Englander, earns a scholarship to his hometown's posh boarding school, starting with the summer session, as a means of escaping his abusive father.

So now that it is my time to speak I just hope that I have something to say and I am going to set my expectations high and one day will exceed them.Throughout the series, Will faces moral dilemmas as he struggles to find his place at school while not alienating his friends in town.

Jacqueline Pratt, in an attempt to see if her mother notices her, enrolls at Rawley Academy posing as a male student with the name Jake.

The story lines do not converge until the final two episodes of the show as Bella seeks the truth about her biological father.

[1] The pilot's soundtrack contained recognizable tracks by Fatboy Slim, New Radicals, and The Flys, but after the reshoots, Antin replaced them with favorites like Nick Drake's "Pink Moon" and Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's "Over the Rainbow", which at the same time became fashionable in commercials for Volkswagen's Cabrio convertible and eToys.com.

[1] A subplot in the pilot involving an affair between Finn and the dean's wife was dropped and later inserted into the third episode of the series.

[1] The series was filmed in Havre de Grace, Maryland where a new "town square", gas station and Friendly's restaurant were built for the production of the show at the intersection of Congress Avenue and North Washington Street.

[7] The character of Will Krudski was then written into Dawson's Creek to associate Young Americans with one of The WB's established shows.

Scout's father Senator Calhoun makes an unexpected visit for parents' weekend and the regatta, as does Jake's mother.

Bella writes a confessional letter to senator Calhoun and hides it in her jacket, which her younger sister, Grace, subsequently borrows and loses.

The theme song "Six Pacs" by The Getaway People from the album Turnpike Diaries[21] was changed at the request of the producers to remove the original reference to cigarettes in the lyric.

"[22] David Zurawik of The Baltimore Sun described the series as "Shakespeare Summer Lite, with some gender-bending and woodland trysts to go along with the star-crossed lovers.

"[23] In comparing the series to another debut Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly found that "it at least avoids the unearned angst of the summer's other 15-year-olds-in-school show, Fox's hapless Opposite Sex".

[24] Harvard creative writing professor Jane Rosenzweig found that Young Americans "has a breadth of focus that's far more true to life than the so-called reality-based shows like MTV's Real World and CBS's summer hit Survivor.

"[26] Michele Hewitson of The New Zealand Herald compared the show to the film Dead Poets Society and said that it is not often "an American television series manages to exceed all expectations - of utter awfulness.

"[27] Despite being a spin-off of one of the most popular WB shows, Young Americans received low ratings throughout its summer run and was cancelled in August 2000.