Kyle XY is an American science fiction television series created by Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber and produced by ABC Studios. The central character is a teenage boy (Matt Dallas) who awakens naked in a forest outside Seattle, Washington, with amnesia and no belly button. He is taken in by a family and given the name Kyle. The series follows Kyle as he tries to solve the puzzles of who he is and why he has no memory before that day. Although set in Seattle, the series was filmed in the Vancouver, British Columbia area.
The series premiered June 26, 2006, on the ABC Family cable channel. The series ran for three seasons, ending on March 16, 2009. The final episode featured several cliffhangers, which were eventually resolved in a special feature on the third season DVD.
Contents
Cast and characters
Main
Matt Dallas as Kyle Trager
Marguerite MacIntyre as Nicole Trager
Bruce Thomas as Stephen Trager
April Matson as Lori Trager
Jean-Luc Bilodeau as Josh Trager
Chris Olivero as Declan McDonough
Kirsten Prout as Amanda Bloom
Jaimie Alexander as Jessi Hollander (seasons 2–3)
Recurring
Chelan Simmons as Hillary
Nicholas Lea as Tom Foss
Teryl Rothery as Carol Bloom
Cory Monteith as Charlie Tanner (seasons 1–2)
J. Eddie Peck as Adam Baylin (seasons 1–2)
Sarah-Jane Redmond as Rebecca Thatcher (seasons 1–2)
Andrew Jackson as Cyrus Reynolds (seasons 1–2)
Bill Dow as Professor William Kern (seasons 1–2)
Kurt Max Runte as Detective Jason Breen (season 1)
Magda Apanowicz as Andy Jensen (seasons 2–3)
Martin Cummins as Brian Taylor (season 2)
Ally Sheedy as Sarah Emerson (seasons 2–3)
Leah Cairns as Emily Hollander (season 2)
Conrad Coates as Julian Ballantine (season 2)
Josh Zuckerman as Mark (seasons 2–3)
Jesse Hutch as Nate Harrison (season 3)
Hal Ozsan as Michael Cassidy (season 3)
Reception
Ratings
Kyle XY was ABC Family channel's highest-rated original series from June 2006 to July 2008; this position was eclipsed by the series premiere of The Secret Life of the American Teenager, which brought in 2.8 million viewers. The third-season premiere was 1.5 million total viewers, down 33 percent from the second-season opener, and most ABC Family shows significantly outperformed the show. The second episode slid to 1.426 million viewers.
In other media
Novels
Two novels based on the series have been published, both written by S. G. Wilkins. The first, Kyle XY: Nowhere to Hide, concerns Kyle's first Halloween, while the second, Kyle XY: Under the Radar, concerns the school's election for student president, with Kyle as a candidate.
Soundtrack and music
The music supervisor for the show was Chris Mollere. Michael Suby wrote the opening theme, and most of the score and cues; none of his work appeared on the soundtrack album, which was released in 2007.
Alternate reality game
Kyle XY featured an online alternate reality game during the first season in which players were "invited" to help solve the mystery of Kyle's actual identity. ABC Family and Touchstone hosted a website by the fictional business The Mada Corporation that served as the game's rabbit hole introducing players to the in-game universe, but the project ended during the second season.