Hey! Don't look at me like that! I know I know teen dramas are for teenage girls whatever but you know what I'm still a teenager gosh darn it! Anyways so I've watched my fair share of teenage drama in my days (in real life and on t.v., ba dum tss) and while I found myself enjoying the show sometimes it was just too dramatic. It's all so exhausting the tropes, the stereotypes, the love triangle (two pasty white boys and an ethereal goddess), all the teenagers looking like models (because they're actually 20 years old), etc. As you can tell I've got quite a lot to say about this so without further ado, Top 10 Teen Dramas That Have Clearly Never Attended High School. For any of you who are still watching/wanting to watch these shows here's your official warning: *WARNING: SOME SPOILERS AHEAD*10. 13 Reasons Why (2017-present), Netflix Unlike the other shows on this list 13 Reasons Why is a different kind of unrealistic when it comes to drama. Two weeks after the tragic death of a girl named Hannah, a classmate named Clay finds a mysterious box on his porch. Inside the box are recordings made by Hannah -- on whom Clay had a crush -- in which she explains the 13 reasons why she chose to commit suicide. While many of the arguments of this show focus on the topic of whether or not it glorifies suicide I think what we really need to talk about whether or not it's realistic. Are the actors' ages realistic? No they never are you'll learn that soon enough. But I want to talk about is how the suicide is handled. While this show is very good about presenting the beginnings of particularly traumatic episodes with trigger warnings it doesn't actually tell the audience how to get help. There isn't a lot of mention of suicide hotlines or who to call if you're having suicidal thoughts and tendencies, and that's where the true problematic nature of the show lies. It handles such a sensitive topic yet the actual suicide story line, and most of story lines in the show, is so underdeveloped that it doesn't really do much to help. Sure it raises awareness which is great but what's the good of awareness if you don't help the people whose story you're using. 9. Degrassi (2001-2015) (2016-present), Netflix If you grew up in the 2000's watching TeenNick (or you just lived in Canada) then you have probably heard of this long running teen drama. This show was once known as Degrassi the Next Generation (2001-2015) and was originally made as a continuation of the 80's T.V. show Degrassi Junior High. However, the show recently received a sort of reboot in 2016 as it moved to Netflix under the title Degrassi: Next Class. So that brings us here today's latest Degrassi incarnation. Throughout its long run on T.V. Degrassi has been known as the show that "goes there" after one of it's most iconic episodes depicted a school shooting. During these new seasons alone they've tackled such issues as: coming out to an unsupportive family, mental illness, sexuality and gender, and suicide and depression. However, the show is not without its faults. In it's heyday Degrassi was known for casting age appropriate kids who actually looked like teenagers as opposed to the now accepted norm of casting 20 year old ethereal gods. However, whether it's because of the ever changing times or something else the show seems to be heading in the direction of casting quite the fashion model-esque group of teens. Also, the dialogue tends to be overtly campy and the writing and themes are sometimes a bit inconsistent. Also it's a bit over-dramatic I mean, how many times has your school gotten into a gang-like fight with another school or experienced a bus crash or had a shooter show up to a dance, or you know what... I think you get the point. 8. Marvel's Runaways (2017-present), Hulu This adaptation dubbed "The O.C. meets the MCU" is based of the early 2000's comics of the same name. In this show six Los Angeles teenagers stumble upon a terrible secret and realize that their parents have been lying to them for their entire lives (and kidnapping teenagers and killing them by turning them into pure energy, yeah it's a lot). The motely crew of kids is sort of like today's Breakfast Club as each of them hail from a different sort of high school stereotype. The leader of the group is Alex, the loyal nerdy hacker, and he accompanied by Nico, the goth wiccan who has a "magic" staff, Chase, the "dumb jock" who is actually a bit of an inventive genius, Molly, the youngest of the group who also happens to be a mutant with super strength, Gert, the "insufferable justice warrior" who has a telepathic connection with a dinosaur, and Karolina, the "perfect church girl" who also just happens to be a gay alien who literally turns into a glowing rainbow (I know right). While the show does a great job at paralleling the kids to their parents and defying their stereotypes and providing a decent superhero show it also has its flaws. To name a few: more than half of the cast is in their early to late 20's but are portraying teenagers, while diverse it really appeals more to the 1% demographic in L.A. (they're all super rich), the writing can be a little meh at times, and lastly the kids barely go to school just in general. But boy if that ain't going to stop me from watching season 2. 7. Grown-ish (2018-present), Freeform This spin-off of the award winning show Black-ish follows the Johnson's oldest child Zoey as she navigates the troubling time that is college. Yeah yeah I know this list is about teen dramas in high school but I only have so much to work with ok just cut me some slack. Anyways, the first episode introduces the audience to the main cast. There's Zoey, we already know her, Nomi, the good Jewish girl who's also bisexual, Vivek, the lower middle class minority turned drug dealer, the Forster twins Jazz and Sky, track stars from "the streets", Luca, sort of a rebel without a cause/doesn't really care, and Aaron, the upperclassmen activist. While this show has a beautiful and diverse cast with good chemistry it still has to put up with a standard fair of criticism. For example, many people criticize the fact that while the show has a majority cast full of people of color that the show itself and the humor and messages conveyed by it are more for white people. Also, the depiction of college is a little strange as by the second episode the main character is already addicted to Adderall? but it's not a big deal I guess??? Yeah the message on that is still a little unclear. Also the actress who plays Zoey's roommate Ana, a freshman in college, is almost 29??? like why, why must you do that. All in all this show is perfect if you like Freeform's often hyperbolic few of life. 6. Teen Wolf (2011-2017), MTV Listen I'm going to be straight with you right here and right now, I've only seen one episode of Teen Wolf and it was just the pilot. We open with Scott a sort of nerdy loner type who is trying to break away from the anonymity of his life by trying out for lacrosse (the standard white boy sport for all teen dramas). But soon his life will be changed forever (shocker) in the most mysterious way. While walking in the woods one night Scott encounters a creature, is bitten in the side, and his life is forever changed. Is he a human or a werewolf? Or a little bit of both? Now he must uncover the mystery of not only the werewolf or human/creature that bit him but also the group of hunters that seem to be after him. With his stereotypical goofy sidekick best friend Stiles he is determined to get to the bottom of this mystery. And here's the big twist the hunter that's been hunting him is actually the girl he has a crush on's (Allison) father. Wow never could've seen that coming. The show is riddled with some out of date stereotypes and references not to mention the subpar MTV writing. And that my friends is why I only watched one episode. 5. The Vampire Diaries (2009-2017), the CW Oh the CW you never fail to disappoint with your hilariously bad attempts at understanding teenagers. This supernatural drama is none other than, you guessed it, a T.V. Twilight. I kid I kid, anyways. The Vampire Diaries follows the life of Elena Gilbert, a teenage girl who has just lost both parents in a car accident, as she falls in love with a 162-year-old vampire named Stefan. Their relationship becomes increasingly complicated as Stefan's mysterious older brother Damon returns, with a plan to bring back their past lover Katherine Pierce, a vampire who looks exactly like Elena. Yes that's right ladies and gentleman the love triangle between two pasty vampires and the girl who practically looks like a supermodel. I mean that's basically it, that's the show for eight seasons. Fighting off supernatural badies in the middle of a love triangle. Also let's not even talk about the whole Elena's brother is a drug dealer story line let's not. As you can probably guess high school in Virginia isn't exactly full of overly attractive foreign exchange students and drug dealers. Or maybe it is I've never really been to Virginia. 4. Shadowhunters (2016-present), Freeform Based off of the Mortal Instruments series of books by Cassandra Clare, Shadowhunters shows us the story of Clary Fray (second time is a charm, let's not talk about the movie). On Clary's 18th birthday she discovers that she is not who she thinks she is (gasp!)-- she comes from a long line of human-angel hybrids, called Shadowhunters, who hunt demons. After her mother is kidnapped, Clary is thrust into the world of demon-hunting. Clary relies on mysterious Jace and fellow hunters Isabelle and Alec to help her navigate the dark world. What happens when you don't want to put just one supernatural creature into a show? That's right cram 'em all into one show. You name it this show has it, werewolves, vampires, demons, angels, etc. Throw in another pasy white male love triangle and a sprinkle of LGBT representation for the gays and you've got yourself a "progressive" Freeform show. While I'm, mostly, kidding this show has a pretty straightforward plot but some pretty mediocre writing and editing overall. Honestly these writers really need to learn how teenagers actually talk. (not to mention the whole slightly incestuous subplot they had a little while ago but let's just ignore that). All in all, this show is pretty substandard in campy drama department but is way too over-saturated. #3. The 100 (2014-present), the CW Oh the 100 we were rooting for you so hard, and you let us down. A promising and original sci-fi teen drama about one hundred juvenile prisoners who are sent down to post-apocalyptic Earth only do discover that not only is it habitable, there is also people on Earth! The goal of the 100 juveniles are led by the daughter of a council member, Clarke Griffin is to simply just survive. And then after the first season (which was a banger) things get weird and honestly I barely know what's happening in this show anymore. After the extremely controversial decision to kill off one of the main characters, the commander Lexa, the show just gets worse and worse. Like just the writing steadily decreases in quality and the plot and the characters get weaker and it seems as though the writers are just pulling any interesting things they can think of out of thin air. I just I can't take it seriously anymore just take me to the next show. #2. Pretty Little Liars (2010-2017), Freeform Where do I even begin with Pretty Little Liars. Let's start with the Wikipedia synopsis, "Set in the small suburban town of Rosewood, Pennsylvania, the series follows the lives of five girls: Spencer Hastings, Alison DiLaurentis, Aria Montgomery, Hanna Marin and Emily Fields, whose clique falls apart after the leader of the group, Alison, goes missing. One year later, the remaining estranged friends are reunited as they begin receiving messages from a mysterious villain named "A" and later from "A.D.", who threatens and tortures them for the mistakes they have made before and after Alison's death. At first, they think it is Alison herself, but after her body is found, the girls realize that someone else is planning on ruining their lives." Seems pretty suspenseful right? Wrong. Also are we supposed to like the main characters because they're all pretty terrible people. Spencer constantly "steals" her sisters boyfriends. Allison is manipulative, and Arya is a high school student sleeping with her teacher?!!!! But he's young and hot so who cares???? (wow really healthy messages Freeform good job) Also the show is the epitome of bad lazy teen drama writing. YOU CAN'T JUST CHANGE THE VILLAIN OF THE STORY FIVE TIMES WHENEVER IT SUITS YOU WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!!! I can't I can't just take me to Riverdale. #1 Riverdale (2017-present), the CW Riverdale is the new, fresh-faced reboot of the old, classic Archie Comics that people have been reading since the 1940's. Needless to say this show had some big shoes to fill. In the first season the fresh faced 20 year-old high school sophomore (yeah I know) Archie Andrews is struggling between choosing his music and playing football...oh and he was having a relationship with his teacher Ms. Grundy (yeah I know what's with teen dramas and borderline pedophilic relationships). Then in season 2 his dad gets shot and he decides to go after the killer himself like every other sane teenager. Other highlights from season 2 include: the character who is 16 doing a strip tease for middle-aged men, and yet another pasty white love triangle but really it's a square...great. This show tries to be way to edgy and contemporary for its own good. So Kids (and any T.V. Execs that come across this), What Have We Learned?
In Summation
3 Comments
Lillian Schaeffer
1/18/2018 02:38:25 pm
As always, lovely job. I think its a smart idea sticking with your topic as there is many more directions I see it being able to go in. One thing that might be helpful for you, is if you plan out a very brief outline of what your next four blog topics will be so that you make sure you have variety. Very detailed description and organized images made for another comical/enjoyable read! Keep it up!
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Kate
1/18/2018 02:45:33 pm
Alright, I gotta say, I 100% agree with you. I completely agree with each choice and honestly, this kind of thing really annoys me. Not only does it leave horrible shows in it's wake. But it causes impossible standards that kids have to try to live up to. I hate this kind of practice in TV and am really happy you started to address it.
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Leigha Montes
1/18/2018 08:01:35 pm
I'm so glad we're in a group together, because this blog is amazing and speaks the truth. It always bothered me that they usually cast twenty-something year olds to play 16 year olds. THERE ARE PLENTY OF YOUNG ACTORS TO CHOOSE FROM, C'MON. Also, everyone loves Riverdale, but I watched one episode and hated it. I get that shows are supposed to have drama, and it doesn't have to ALL be realistic, but, personally, watching a 16 year old strip in front of middle-aged men and a sophomore hooking up with a teacher, is a bit much for me.
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