That should work. Joan of Arcadia was what first convinced me "teen" shows could be good; in combination with Firefly, it's the reason I gave Buffy a shot in the first place.
Party of Five - Actually my favorite show of all time. Watched it as it aired and own the first three seasons on DVD and am impatient for the rest. I just loved the whole Salinger family. They dealt with some tough issues REALLY well and it was an excellent family drama. Dawson's Creek - Because nothing breaks up a friendship faster than a woman and this series did that well. Pacey Witter and Joey Potter are two of my favorite characters from TV. I didn't watch it when it was on but own all 6 seasons. I remember calling my sister up, who got me to watch the show, and telling her how royally pissed i would be if Pacey didn't end up with Joey even if I was pretty sure he would. At the same time part of me wanted to have him tell her to take a hike after all the shit she put him through. The OC - Another I didn't watch except on DVD. Seth and Sandy Cohen were HILARIOUS on that show. Summer was a great character too. A TON of great humor in the show. I must also point out that I think the woman who played Marisa Cooper is WAYYYY overrated as looks go. Friday Night Lights - Absolutely DESPISED the pilot episode. Just hated it. Thought it was the most formulaic crap I had ever seen and I had bought the 1st season for $10 on DVD and after watching that pilot episode ignored the DVD's for a VERY long time until the dead tv time of christmas and I decided to give it a try and got hooked. Minka Kelly is insanely beautiful. Joan of Arcadia - Amber Tamblyn was great in that role. Quirky as can be but enjoyable. I was SOOOOO pised when ti was cancelled especially after having introduced the devil at the end of the last episode. Smallville - I'm sure I am in the minority but I loved the Clark and Lana relationship. Add in comic book geekness and you got a great combo. One Tree Hill - While I certainly enjoyed the Nathan, Haley, Lucas, Brooke etc stuff I mostly enjoyed watching Dan Scott be an evil bastard. LOL
My So Called Life is probably my favourite teen show. I'm not a fan of the genre in general but loved this series. I like how some plot developments came up totally unexpected. The characters really grew on me over the course of the series too, even though at times the stupid decisions they made (naturally at that age) made me cringe. I really liked the first season of Popular back when it aired, although that's really more of a comedy....
Off the top of my head... Glee - The coach is saying what everyone watching is thinking. Veronica Mars - Who doesn't love a smart, funny, actractive woman on a teen show. Life as We Know It - It was real, it was on at the same time as The OC Season 1. It was creamed. Degrassi: The Next Generation - Because I have a crush on Marco. However the later seasons are horrible! Freaks and Geeks - It's like A Christmas Story (Which I had to watch before it was "cool" to watch it.) based in a 1980 high school.
In Party of Five, the Salinger family home always seemed to be a warm and loving place (except, of course, when there was a huge argument going on). Whether a scene at home took place during the day or night, the entire place always looked inviting, even ethereal at times. This was accomplished in large part through perfect lighting. I'm not sure that any recent family drama has matched this quality.
yeah.. it was a great show. Watched it every week with my ex-wife with a really nice meal no matter what. We ha Satellite at that time and if we missed the east coast feed we watched it on the west coast one. My favorite show of all time. I'm really annoyed that there are three seasons that still haven't been released.
I just finished the 1st season of Roswell. Of course, I already know how Season 2 ends. So every time Tess & Alex are in the same room together, I scream at the TV, "Get away from him, you bitch!"
Back when I was young I was all about Degrassi Jr. High and BH 90210. As an adult I liked: Veronica Mars. A densely plotted noir combined with character-driven drama combined with sharp dialogue and wit. The pilot set up so many mysteries and while some paid off better than others, the overall ride was worth it. The second season got too stuffed and the third was a network-meddled mess that's worth forgetting. One thing to note about the third season was this was a rare teen show that made the move to college work. The O.C. The theme song, the casting aside from Mischa Barton, the mix of high drama, class struggles and heartfelt familial bonding, The O.C. was brilliant. In fact, I hate when people call this show a guilty pleasure because it was smarter than it had any right to be. Gossip Girl GG had some of the same elements of The O.C. but the heart was darkened and replaced with the icy coldness of a dagger. I bailed after the beginning of S2 had the wonderful Madchen Amick playing a desperate cougar and the show seemed to embrace it's mean side. It's pampered rich kid fantasy world also felt a bit dated and shallow compare to the next two shows, which have forever altered my ability to enjoy a teen series. Skins While the show takes teen hedonism to fantastical heights, Skins is grounded by likeable characters played by loveable actors with problems that are more realistic and richer. I found few characters on TV more layered and wonderful than Hannah Murray's Cassie. What's best was the diverse group of kids from S1 and 2, not just ethnically diverse but diverse in their beliefs and goals, formed a believeable unit where they transcended being friends and were more like family. That's what teen bonding is like. S3 swapped out the cast and while it was good in its own right, it lacked the strength of the first two series. Still, this is a show that few people in the US know about and its a shame because its really worth watching over and over again. Friday Night Lights I think this show surprised the crap out of me like it did everyone else. A show about high school football sounded like a dumb idea but of the series that are currently on the air this is my favorite. Over Lost and 24 and True Blood and Flashforward and Glee. The fourth season just started last week on DirecTV and while most of the teens have moved on, the core of the show, Coach Taylor and his wife Tami, are stronger than ever. From the verite filming style to the music inspired by the Austin band Explosions in the Sky this show is about big ideas told in intimate ways. The naturalistic acting of the cast and the realistic dialogue that has teens saying "ummm" a lot and articulating grand emotions using a limited vocabulary, FNL transcends television and becomes televised literature, in a way that few series (The Wire and The West Wing are two I can think of) can ever hope to achieve.
I almost skipped Skins altogether. I watched the first episode and thought Tony was an arsehole and never watched the rest of the series. Then series 2 was about to start and everyone was telling me how good it was, so I went on to Channel 4's website and watched the entire first series and loved it. Still thought Tony was an arsehole but that was who he was, and it worked well as part of the group. Series 2 was fantastic, it seemed like series 1 was just there to introduce us to the group, let us get to know them and what they were like before series 2 pulled some serious shit on them and told some fantastic stories. I was underwhelmed by series 3, it seemed like from week to week they would forget things and totally ignore characters. I'm hoping there's a similar thing going on with 3 and 4 as there was with 1 and 2, and after learning about them in series 3 we get some serious and strong story telling in series 4.
Same here, I was not impressed by the first Tony episode but the Cassie episode had turned me around. I think I was biased towards her because she's the exact type of girl that would've broken my heart when I was young. Agreed with that assessment. The characters were off. My big problem was they weren't too different so a Naomi episode wasn't that far away from a Freddie episode. What I loved about S1 & 2 was how each episode felt like a different TV series. Anwar was a madcap sex romp, Chris a tragic tale of failure, Jal was about life in the upper class world of music. Loved that. Also I loved Effy when she didn't really talk and as we got to know her in S3, she became less interesting, less mysterious and alluring. She was just kind of a mean brat.
^I know what you mean, seems kinda like they tried to make her more like Tony. I know she already had that playing with people thing going on, but she seemed to care, unlike Tony, but when they shifted the focus to her they took that away and made her Tony-lite.