I recently encouraged a great friend to watch Dawson’s Creek (I know it’s crazy that she hasn’t seen it). While I was convincing her to watch it I found myself talking about how it was my favorite teen drama of all time. After I said it I did some research to make sure that was a true statement. Here is the list of MY Top 10 Teen TV Dramas of all time:
The rules to my list are:
- I must have watched the show - obviously there are popular shows out there that I never watched (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Pretty Little Liars, My So Called Life, Everwood, Smallville, etc.) that cannot be included in my list.
- The main plot lines and characters must be teens (college/high school students) or take place around teens. This means shows like Melrose Place cannot make the list because they were adults when the show started.
- They are my favorites so the order doesn’t reflect which shows are the BEST just my favorites. Once again I know fully well that Friday Night Lights is a "better" show than The OC or Dawson's Creek but it doesn't make it my favorite.
Now that we have that out of the way on to the list...
10. Party of Five –
It is here mainly because I had to fill the 10th spot and there wasn’t another show that I wanted on the list. The other one that almost made the cut was Glee but I liked Party of Five more than Glee. Plus Party of Five brought us Matthew Fox who went on to star in maybe the best TV Show of all time (LOST) so it gets bonus points.
9. Laguna Beach –
This one doesn’t quite fit in with the other ones because it was “reality tv” but talk about teen drama!!! It brought us the real 90210 with real love triangles and all. Team LC anyone?!?!? Plus it brought us Stephen Colleti who went on to star in one of my other favorite teen dramas… One Tree Hill.
8. Gossip Girl –
Season 1 of Gossip Girl is awesome but now on season 5 they are grasping for story lines and it feels a little tired. However the first season was funny, touching, witty, and smart it had some really great moments. I mean the scene with Chuck and Blair in the cab has to be one of the best kiss scenes off all times. However I don’t support such behavior.
7. Felicity –
There is so much about this show that I don’t like. The fact that this girl follows a guy to college, a guy she has never really talked to no less. And don’t get me started on the ending…But there was also something so familiar about the story lines and so real. You felt like yeah I would tell someone to not follow a guy but in my heart I know I might do the same thing. You really routed for this extremely needy character from the beginning and watched her blossom into a really smart, strong woman. And when it comes to love triangles this one seems to be the most split down the middle?!?!
6. One Tree Hill –
Talk about CHEESE!!! This show is super cheesy, not that the other ones aren’t but this one to me is the cheesiest. Good thing I love CHEESE!!! J The high school years on this show were great and I found characters that I really bonded with and loved. I am not going to lie I always thought the girls on this show outshined the boys by a mile. I mean could there be a more beautiful cast of ladies?!?! I watched this show until it ended a couple weeks ago and I must say it was a great show but I am glad it finally ended, it was time.
Ok now we get to the goods!!! My top 5!!!
5. Friday Night Lights –
This show is probably the BEST show on my list, as far as well made etc. The first 2 seasons of this show I loved!!! However I am not a big fan of changing up the characters on a show. Look I understand wanting to be more “realistic” and that in real life all the characters wouldn’t go to the same school and that this show was focused more on the coach and his football program. However, when you watch a show for two years and develop connections to characters it is hard to let them all go! Plus I understand that it is a TV show so I don’t care if it is unrealistic, just keep the characters please. I will say that they did a pretty good job of transitioning the new characters and helping us develop emotions for the “new guys”. However it just wasn’t as good when we slowly lost Riggins, Lyla, Jason, Saracen, and Tyra.
4. The Gilmore Girls –
This is really the only show on the list that isn’t about a group of teens. The focus of this show is a mother/daughter. The mother/daughter relationship that everyone wants! The casting of Lorelei and Rory was simply perfect, can you imagine any other two people portraying the banter and pop culture non sense so perfectly? This was a refreshing show to watch. I don’t know many girls that don’t love this show. I use to hate the ending but now when I watch it and understanding these characters more, I think it was actually one of the better endings on TV.
3. The OC – (SPOILER ALERT)
Oh goodness the OC. Talk about DRAMA and pushing boundaries. I immediately fell in love with the kids of the OC. I routed so hard for the Seth/Summer and Marissa/Ryan romances. However they had to completely ruin the show and kill off Marissa…. Really by the time they killed her the show was already going down fast. When you have a first season that has SO MUCH drama and crazy story lines you really don’t leave yourself much room for growth. They did so much so fast that they felt like they had to keep coming up with more dramatic stories lines. This brought us many crazy Marissa story lines including: a short lived lesbian romance, shooting Ryan’s brother, doing drugs, moving schools, Johnny dying, etc. The downfall of Marissa was the downfall of the show. However when the show was good, it was REALLY good!!! Not to mention Seth and Summer’s on scene chemistry was amazing (probably because their off scene chemistry was so good).
2. Beverly Hills 90210 –
I debated about putting this one first but once again it is my “favorite” not necessarily the best shows. The reason why I almost put it first is because simply put it was the first. It was the first night time drama about teens. It opened the doors for every single other show on the list. I was watching a behind the scenes on this show one time and they said there would not be a WB/CW if it wasn’t for BH 90210. That would mean the majority of shows on this list would have never been made. I know that this show was on Fox but it is what opened the door to teen dramas and mainly teen dramas that appealed to girls (pretty much the CW in a nutshell). Also this teen drama was the longest running with 10 years. One Tree Hill came close with 9 years. And who didn’t have a Luke Perry or Jason Presley poster in their room at some point growing up???
1. Dawson’s Creek
I can watch this show over and over. The chemistry between the characters is undeniable and is comparable to some of the greatest love romances ever, in my opinion. This is the equivalent to Friends for a drama. This simply means I could watch it over and over and I know every line and it doesn’t get old. I recently re-watched this entire series and I still love it so much!!! Best LOVE triangle EVER!!! This is another one that I find people pretty split about who they routed for but always routed for PACEY!!!
