Teen Dramas

I've watched a lot of teen dramas since I graduated college.  Some on Netflix and some as they aired.  Not all are really teen dramas but they involve teens so I counted them.

Veronica Mars might be my first teen drama show obsession. Back in Fall of 2005, I started watching Veronica Mars. 24 hours later, I had watched all 23 episodes we had.  I even went to class in there and slept for 1 hour. Dave had watched Veronica Mars over the summer and I complained that he'd watch it versus IM with me on his lunch break. Well then I understood why. I loved that show. I would dream about it too.  I can't even believe the show only lasted 3 seasons.  I would watch it again if it was on Netflix streaming.  It has an IMDB rating of 8.2. At least Netflix is smart enough to guess I would rate it at a 4.4 when the average rating is 4.2.  I'm very much excited about the movie. I watched the second season twice because I borrowed the DVD before Season 3 started. I liked the special features on the DVD and thought that might entice me to buy seasons on DVD but I never actually did.

One Tree Hill was a show I started watching after 5 seasons had aired. Therefore I got to watch many episodes in a row. I stayed up until 4 AM two work days in a row to watch so much. I think it took me 3 weeks to catch up. Then I would record it and watch it. I discovered I would much rather have 5 episodes in a row than to wait a week and only watch one at a time. So I would save up. I pretty much did that until the last season.  The IMDB rating is 7.4/10 and the Netflix rating is a 4/5.  I watched Seasons 1-8 twice. I only didn't watch Season 9 a second time because it wasn't on Netflix at the time. I watched the series for the second time the last week of June this year.  I liked the show a lot better when they were still in high school. I did like how they had 2 seasons = 1 year in high school so they could remain in high school longer. I thought more shows should have tried that. So many shows are awesome in high school and then they go off to college and they fall apart.  I was a bit intrigued with this show having a jump instead of following them at college. That was a little weird but I thought better than having them go separate ways or having them mysteriously all go to the same college. All of the main characters got a little bit too successful but I still loved the show because of the earlier seasons.

The O.C. was a show I started watching shortly after we moved into our house. I never watched any of it when it was on TV.  Dave would come downstairs and watch me watching it but then he started to stick around. Then I had to watch it with him. It was the only one besides Veronica Mars that I can remember him watching. IMDB gives it a 7.2/10.  Netflix guesses I'd rate it at a 4.7 while the average score is 3.7. (On a side note, it annoys me that Netflix will guess  a rating for me to the decimal place but I can only rate shows to the whole number.)  I wish The O.C was available to stream on Netflix because I'd like to watch it again.  There is so much I forget.

Gossip Girl was on the CW so I felt like I needed to watch it. I really liked it but if I only had 1 episode to watch, it wasn't nearly as good. I would save up and get 4-8 episodes and then watch it then. I'd much rather take 2 months off than watch one then wait a week. I really like the opportunity to know what happens next. I watched it for a couple years before Dave happened to walk downstairs and hear the voice over from Gossip Girl and he knew right away it was "Veronica Mars" (Kristen Bell). I had been watching it all that time and thought the voice was familiar but never thought about from where. From then on, every time I watched it and heard her voice it made me miss the actual show Veronica Mars. I think the first couple seasons were better. Once they went to college, it wasn't as good. I even talked to some guys at a work conference and they agreed that this was a good show. I can't even believe guys were watching it. It only got a 7 on IMDB and a 3.8 on Netflix which is surprising since guys were watching it too.

Hellcats is a show I started watching just because it was on the CW. Because of Veronica Mars and then One Tree Hill, I kept trying to watch all shows on the CW. I really did like it. It only has a 6.2 on IMDB. It probably wasn't the best but I could have seen it being awesome.  I watched this as it was on versus on Netflix later.

Life Unexpected is a show I started watching because it was on the CW. I really liked it. It ended after 2 seasons. It ended somewhat abruptly and I felt like they just changed 5 minutes of the last show to try to tie up some loose ends. They didn't end enough things for me though.  I watched the entire series again in September but it's easy to watch it again since it was just 2 seasons. Netflix gives it a 4.1/5 and IMDB gives it a 7.2/10.  I thought the show could have gone on longer. I was excited it started when the main character, Lux, was 15 because that meant she had quite a few years to still be in high school.

Friday Night Lights was a show I started watching with Dave. He thought it'd be more about football and stopped watching. That is the only show that every single episode would have me in tears. I'm really sad it got cancelled. I felt like there were too many loose ends.  I found it interesting how they handled it with the writers strike. They didn't get to write about so many things so then they just pretended they had happened when the next season started.  The only thing I remember off the top of my head is the one guy getting injured.

90210 was another show on the CW so I had to watch it. Plus back in the 90s, I watched Beverly Hills, 90210.  I really liked that they had Kelly and Brenda on but then of course all the young people didn't care about those old characters so they just wrote them out.  It's been far too long since I watched Beverly Hills, 90210 but I swear the Peach Pitt was a big part of the show and I don't even remember it in this one.  The ratings are bad on IMDB (5.6) and Netflix (3.7). I'm a little shocked how low they are. Granted I have about 5 episodes recorded and not watched yet so maybe it isn't that good.  This is another one of those shows that was better when they were in high school versus when they are in college.

Pretty Little Liars was a show I started watching based on Dave's recommendation. He searched Netflix for The OC and it recommended this show. This might have been when I first started using Netflix so I didn't search things on my own yet.  I started watching it on Netflix but then started recording it in the fall of 2012.  It has a 4.3/10 on Netflix and their guess is I would rate it at a 4.7.  It got a 7.9/10 from IMDB.  I just want to know all the details about A and all the details about Alison's murder. It seems to be dragging on for far too long. I was thoroughly addicted at first but then when I didn't have a million episodes on hand, it just wasn't as good.

Dawson's Creek was recommended by a friend. I watched all 6 seasons in a week in September. I got very little sleep. I was never rooting for Dawson during any of it. It's so weird watching people make plans by using a real phone or by picking a designated spot in advance. Once they went off to college, they had cell phones. I still found it odd that Joey ran with a cell phone in her running shorts and that was in the opening credits so I saw it every episode.

The Lying Game is a show I started watching on Netflix then continued to watch weekly.  I tape many shows each week and I would watch this show every time it was on. The IMDB rating is 6.9/10. There is no way it should be that low. I love this show. I gave it a 5/5 on Netflix. The average on Netflix is 4.3.  So far there have been 2 seasons or maybe it's 1.5. I can't really tell how their  seasons work. I really hope there are more. I started watching the Lying Game after having watched a few other series on ABC Family.  The Lying Game involves adopted twins that were separated at birth. There are so many twists to the story. Some might be a bit over the top but not too much. I still love it.

Make It or Break It was one of the first few series I watched on Netflix. I started it because it was on ABC Family. I am surprised how much I liked it especially considering the girls weren't actually gymnasts and doubles did all that work. As the years went on the main characters got a bit heavier and clearly weren't built like Olympic gymnasts anymore.

Greek was another ABC Family show. I can't remember if I watched it before or after Make it or Break it. I really liked it. I enjoyed it more that after the season was over, I went online and they had an extra 2 minute clip that kind of showed what happened to the main characters after the season ended. It was about a few years later. I enjoyed this college series a lot.

Switched at Birth was started on Netflix because I watched quite a few ABC Family shows and liked them all. I record it as episodes air now. I'm not sure where the story line can go. It's not so much focused on the switching at birth anymore so we will see how that goes.  I often watch this as it aired instead of collecting a 5 or so to watch. IMDB gives it a 7.6/10 and Netflix gives it a 4.2/5.  It's harder to do other stuff and watch this show because you have to be constantly watching the screen with all the sign language going on.

Dance Academy (Australia) has 2 seasons on Netflix but the show is still going on.  It was a half hour show so I felt they didn't waste time with a lot of little stuff in episodes.  I really did like it.  The average rating on Netflix was 4/5 and their suggestion for me was 4.1. I gave it a 5. IMDB has it at a 7.8/10.  The show focuses more on class and dancing than normal teen dramas that focus on sex. I started another Australian teen drama, Blue Water High, after this but then stopped after the 2nd episode. Maybe I'll jump back to it later.

Glee has been on for ages. I'm not sure how much of a teen drama it is but it is about teens so I included it. I used to love the show but lately I'm not even that motivated to finish and episode I start watching. Dave even quit watching it after last season.

The Secret Life of an American Teenager is a show I started and got 3 minutes in and stopped but then a few weeks later I started it over again. I record it weekly now too. I might only be 2 episodes behind. I'm not sure but I think I hate the show but then I keep watching it so I guess I don't. I know I don't like Amy and I like Ricky. I'm not sure if that's how they want it to be or not. I think I might keep watching because I want something awful to happen to her.

Jane by Design was pretty cool but it only had 1 season. I really wanted more.

Freaks and Geeks only lasted 1 season. I started watching it because I would look up good teen dramas and it was on so many lists of the top 15 teen dramas. I almost stopped watching it about 6 episodes in but then I kept at it. I liked the second half of the season better but then it was cancelled anyway. I probably kept with the show as long as I did because so many of the actors are in other shows I watch.  I gave it a 4 on Netflix but the average was 4.4.  IMDB gives it a 9.0/10. I can't even believe how it has such good ratings. Maybe it was awesome for 1999 or something.  Sometimes the older shows are harder for me to watch now. It's so weird that everyone doesn't have cell phones.

18 to Life was another half hour show. The main characters were 18 when they got married so I counted it in teen dramas but it wasn't so much of a teen drama as an annoying show with teens. It was set in Canada but it took me until about halfway through the first season to even realize it wasn't in the US. It lasted 2 seasons. I was actually surprised it lasted that long but then at the same time I really wanted to know what happened next. IMDB gives it a 6.5/10.  I watched it a few months ago and would probably give it a 2 or 3 (out of 5) based on what I remember about it.  Netflix guesses that I would give it 3.9 and the average rating is 3.7 stars.

What teen dramas do you like? Which ones do you hate? Did you watch any that I haven't included here?  I wonder if I watched some that I forgot to include.

Overall  I think Veronica Mars, One Tree Hill (earlier seasons), Dance Academy, The Lying Game, and Green were my favorites.