Teen drama

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A teen drama is a television drama series that centers on teenage characters. The genre is relatively new, first appearing in the late 1980s. The shows are usually serial, starting when the characters are well into their teenage years (usually 15 or 16 years of age) and if they have a long run, end when the characters are in their twenties. They typically deal with teen issues such as relationships, teen pregnancy, abortion, bereavement, child abuse, homelessness, Coming out, male rape/date rape, alcohol addiction and drug abuse.

Teen dramas generally appeal to teen audiences. The most popular teen dramas are set in upper-class locales (ie. Beverly Hills 90210, The O.C..), or if set in another type of town setting (ie. Dawson's Creek, One Tree Hill), feature attractive actors whose cast members are in their late teens at the youngest. Shows that depict teen life in a more realistic manner with a cast of actual teenagers tend not to do nearly as well. Notable examples include the critically acclaimed teen dramas My So-Called Life and Freaks and Geeks, as well as the less acclaimed Life As We Know It, none of which lasted a full season.

A notable exception to this trend is the Canadian-produced Degrassi series. All three Degrassi shows (Degrassi Junior High, Degrassi High, and Degrassi: The Next Generation) have been very successful in Canada. Degrassi: The Next Generation has even been successful in the United States (where it is shown on the cable channel The N), where its popularity among teens has been near the popularity of the currently popular One Tree Hill.[citation needed]

Most successful teen dramas are shown on youth-oriented stations such as Fox and The WB networks, while the less successful shows have historically been shown on the Big Three networks (CBS, NBC, and ABC).

In the UK, teen dramas were aimed at older children and teenagers. They were shown after school hours in special variety shows. Presenters would introduce them in between cartoons and other children's programs. The only exceptions is the teenage soap opera Hollyoaks, Skins and Sugar Rush all shown on Channel 4 and E4 with the Hollyoaks shown at 6:00 pm and Skins and Sugar Rush shown later at night and aimed at the older teenagers.

The first teen-oriented dramas didn't call themselves by the actual name "teen drama." One of the earliest shows was the single season soap opera Never Too Young, which aired from 1965 to 1966. As the late 1960s and early 1970s progressed, younger viewers began to find relatable characters on more daytime soaps. In 1967, Love is a Many Splendored Thing premiered and quickly became a hit with teen audiences. It was soon followed by All My Children in 1970 and The Young and the Restless in 1973.

In primetime, various shows which centered on the whole family focused much of the attention on the adolescent characters. Such examples include Eight is Enough, Family, Little House on the Prairie, The Waltons, and the short-lived James at 15. As a result, young stars such as Willie Aames, Kristy MacNichol, and Melissa Gilbert became youth icons.

One of the original teen dramas, Degrassi Junior High and later Degrassi High became very popular in both Canada and the US while airing on PBS in the late 80's and early 90's. Several years after the premiere of Degressi, Aaron Spelling created Beverly Hills, 90210 in 1990. The stars of “90210” became instantly popular with young audiences, most notably actors Luke Perry and Jason Priestley and the show became a phenomenon, becoming the #1 show among teen girls in the early 90s. The show remained popular throughout the first half of the 1990s, and remained on the air until 2000.

The next teen drama to make it on the air was My So-Called Life on ABC in 1994. My-So Called Life although critically acclaimed, was not a success in ratings and was cancelled after its first season. One reason for the show's low ratings was its placement in the 8:00pm timeslot on Thursday, sharing a timeslot with NBC's Friends, which also premiered in 1994. My-So Called Life did however launch the careers of young actors Claire Danes and Jared Leto.

Fox’s Party of Five, which premiered in 1994, became an instant hit with teenage audiences. Stars Matthew Fox and Scott Wolf became heartthrobs, and it also launched the careers of Jennifer Love Hewitt, Neve Campbell, and Lacey Chabert.

The creation of the teen-targeting The WB network in 1995 helped to launch a whole new era for teen dramas. Within three years, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Felicity, and Dawson's Creek were premiered, soon acquiring large teenage fan bases. The family drama 7th Heaven also became popular among teenagers. Dawson’s Creek was considered by many to be the “heir apparent” to Beverly Hills, 90210.

Over the next few years, The WB’s Everwood and Gilmore Girls became popular with teenage audiences. Smallville is another example of a WB show that is a successful teen drama, because although it is supposed to be a sci-fi show based on Clark Kent's years before becoming the Superman of today, it focuses on him as a teenager, and many of the stories revolve around teenage relationships between the characters. Degrassi: The Next Generation also began to have a growing fan base in the United States. However, NBC’s critically acclaimed Freaks and Geeks did poorly, despite its cult following, and was cancelled after less than a season due to low ratings. Many believe these were the result of the show's constant movement of poor timeslots, little promotion, and its realistic view of teen life.

By 2003, a whole new set of teen dramas sought fan bases. That year, both Dawson’s Creek and Buffy, The Vampire Slayer ended their runs. That fall, The O.C. premiered on Fox and One Tree Hill premiered on The WB. The former became a hit among teens very quickly, while the latter started rather slowly, but soon garnered a fan base and is now more popular than the former.

The O.C. inspired the MTV reality show Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County. It was structured as an unscripted serial drama, akin to The O.C. The show is very popular among teenagers as well. Its fan club group on MySpace is the second-largest group on the site, with over 100,000 members.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../t/e/e/Teen_drama.html"
Advanced Search
Included Web Search Engines


Safe Search

close

Top Matching Results

Occasionally Search.com will highlight specialized results that are based on the context of your query. Examples of specialized results include specific links to news, images, or video.

Top Matching Results may highlight information from other Search.com pages, content from the CNET Network of sites, or third party content. The listings are based purely on relevance. Search.com does not receive payment for listings in this section but our partners that provide this data may get paid for listing these products.

Sponsored Links

This section contains paid listings which have been purchased by companies that want to have their sites appear for specific search terms and related content. These listings are administered, sorted and maintained by a third party and are not endorsed by Search.com.

Search Results

Search.com sends your search query to several search engines at one time and integrates the results into one list which has been sorted by relevance using Search.com's proprietary algorithm. You can customize the list of search engines included in your metasearch from the preferences.

The search engines that are used in your metasearch may allow companies to pay to have their Web sites included within the results. To view the Paid Inclusion policy for a specific search engine, please visit their Web site. Search.com does not accept payment or share revenue with any search engine partner for listings in this section.