Get In, Loser, We're Binge-Watching the Best Teen Shows Again
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Whether you're paying for your own health insurance or fighting to stay awake in English class, no one is immune to the lure of teen television shows. There's a reason it's been such a major genre for television and streaming services. And, while I think know that the 2000s were truly the peak of teenage TV (hi, The O.C. and One Tree Hill), there's still some bangers being released every year (hi, Outer Banks and Euphoria). Sure, some might outgrow the need to watch Gilmore Girls every week, while others prefer to save their teenage nostalgia for '90s songs and high school movies, but trust me, if you sit down and watch some classic teen TV shows, it won't be long until you're yelling at the screen, fully invested in a love triangle (or two), desperate to solve a mysterious disappearance, and cringing through at least one inappropriate student-teacher relationship.
Between teen soaps, teen comedies, teen dramas, and even some supernatural options, teen shows run the gambit when it comes to genres since they're so universal. Hey, we all had to be one once, right? And while some might be more relatable than others (I never solved a murder mystery in high school, wait, did you?), the teen angst (and celebrity heartthrobs) will suck you right in.
So, if you're in need of a new show to binge or just need something to take your mind off of the questionable fate of Euphoria, you're going to need some ideas, which is why I've compiled a list of the juiciest, funniest, most thrilling teen shows of our times—and where to watch 'em.
Outer Banks
You just had to be there when this Netflix original aired during the pandemic. It was kind of a cultural reset. It gave us all the coastal, sun-soaked escape we needed during lockdown, but even four years later, watching the beach drama still hits. It follows a group of local teens known as "Pogues" who find themselves in the middle of a historic treasure hunt—one for riches and one for leader John B.'s missing father. With slow burn romances, absolutely crazy family drama, and a rivalry between the "rich kids" and "the poor kids," it check all the boxes.
The Summer I Turned Pretty
Based off the bestselling novels, The Summer I Turned Pretty is every teen's dream—having a perfect summer filled with romance. But this summer fling isn't just your typical romance. A love triangle forms between Belly and two brothers, Conrad and Jeremiah. In a single summer, she deals with her first love and her first heartbreak (ouch).
One Tree Hill
Feuding brothers, complicated relationships, high school basketball games—all the makings of a classic teen show. Starring Chad Micheal Murray (every girl's crush in the early 2000s), Sophia Bush, James Lafferty, and more, you get to see the inner workings of what it's like to be a teen in Tree Hill, NC. With an impressive nine seasons, characters easily turn from hero to villain and vice versa. Later in the series, there's a four-year time jump, but that doesn't mean the 20-somethings have anything figured out more than they used to.
Teen Wolf
The premise of this show is pretty simple: a high school boy is bitten by a werewolf and now he must hide his new identity from everyone with the help of his friend. Starring Tyler Posey and Dylan O'Brien (hey, call me plz), he must navigate high school while also navigating his supernatural urges at the same time. And trust, things get pretty dang spooky.
Glee
Okay, leave your opinion of Leah Michelle at the door for this one and put some respect on Ryan Murphy's name. While the cast's legacy is both tragic and disturbing, this 2009 series left a real impression on television. An optimistic teacher decides to give his school's glee club a little makeover. The students may be misfits, but they ultimately see the glee club as an escape from the harsh realities of being a teen. As they pursue their goal, it's no surprise that they meet some major haters (yes, this includes a grown woman who tries to sabotage the group every chance she gets).
Saved by the Bell
The original Saved by the Bell is classic teen television, but if you're looking for a show modern teens can better relate to, the reboot/revival is the one to watch. Saved by the Bell 2.0 follows a group of low-income students who transfer to the exclusive Bayside High. The revival has some ties to the original show—Jessie Spano and A.C. Slater both work at the school. But the real draw are the fresh faces, like Aisha (Alycia Pascual-Pena), a new Bayside student who decides she wants to play on the traditionally male football team, and Lexi (Josie Totah), the resident mean girl who also happens to be trans.
Reservation Dogs
One of the best new shows and one of the best teen shows, Reservation Dogs is about a group of friends who live on a reservation in Oklahoma and dream about moving to California. Like any show about a specific community, there's a lot that's exclusive to their situation as well as a lot of the same old teen sh*t.
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Boy Meets World
For a lot of millennials, Boy Meets World's Cory and Topanga were their first OTP. And lucky for us, the show went on so long that we got to see them first bond in middle school and eventually (spoiler alert) get married in college. If only finding your person were so easy IRL... Bonus: When you're done, you can check in on Gen Z with Girl Meets World.
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Elite
Three fish out of water at a private school? All the scandal of Gossip Girl, Euphoria, and Pretty Little Liars? This Spanish teen show is W-I-L-D but can be surprisingly grounded thanks to universal themes, like, what do you do if you're in love with a girl who ends up dead? When a teen show is not only hot, dramatic, and addictive but also involves murder, you know it's... elite.
The Society
If you're obsessed with Yellowjackets, you MUST watch this hidden gem. It's about a group of teenagers who go away on a school trip and come back to find every adult in their town gone. In order to survive, they create their own society: leadership, law enforcement, a judicial system, currency, jobs... all of it! It's surprisingly raw and will keep you on the edge of your seat.
On My Block
Adolescence is a hard, messy experience that doesn't fit into just one box, so why should teen TV shows be restricted to one genre? On My Block, a show following four BFFs as they navigate high school and go on a journey to find a legendary hidden treasure, is dramatic, funny, romantic, magical, and just really, really, really good.
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Lizzie McGuire
Did you know that, despite its huge cultural impact, Lizzie McGuire only had two seasons? They're both like 30+ episodes long and there was also a movie but... two seasons! That's wild! Anyway, this show is set in middle school but it's a gem, and thirteen-year-olds are teens, too!
As Told By Ginger
This one's a junior high show but I want to shout it out for a couple reasons. First, the Macy Gray theme slapped. Second, it was about a female geek at a time when most of the geeks on television were boys. Third, Ginger and her friends didn't stay kids forever like the characters on Doug or Recess (icons in their own right). They actually grew up!
Sister, Sister
Yes, I know. There are a lot of kids and teen shows about twins. But this is a '90s classic. Tia and Tamera Mowry play identical sisters who were raised separately by single adoptive parents (his and hers kids, to quote The Parent Trap) and reunited as teenagers.
Heartstopper
If you are or were a shy queer teen (or, just a shy teen ~in general~), you will absolutely love this story about Charlie and Nick. They're friends...or are they?? One of the more uplifting ones on this list is—kind of spoiler alert—a love letter to young romance and LGBTQ+ teens openly thriving.
Yellowjackets
Everyone and their mother is talking about this Showtime series for a reason. The Yellowjackets theories are Game of Thrones-levels of intricate, and at the core of it all lies a high school soccer team who survives a plane crash. It's definitely not your traditional teen show. Instead of worrying about getting a date to the winter formal, these girls are fighting for their lives. Surviving high school has literally never been harder.
PEN15
Okay, so this is technically about seventh graders (played by fully adult actors), but nothing makes you more nostalgic for being a teenager than remembering how awkward it was to be a preteen? Ha! My logic is flawless.
Love, Victor
A part of the Love, Simon cinematic universe (I'm not kidding!), Victor is similarly exploring his sexual orientation (while also being a high schooler with high school problems) and turns to his older pal Simon when he feels conflicted. It's actually a pretty novel look at someone exploring themselves without judgment or pressure, and if you liked the movie, you'll love this.
High School Musical: The Musical: The Series
Come because you heard about the drama between Olivia Rodrigo and Joshua Bassett, and stay for a totally bonkers and delightful musical show that will fill both the Zac Efron and Glee-shaped holes in your heart. Disney adults apply within.
Derry Girls
Teenage girls trying to live their best lives while some seriously dangerous and distressing political conflict wages in the background. That’s not relatable at all in 2024, right?
American Vandal
It’s so unfair that this show is equal parts perfect satire of true crime and teen drama. How dare it be this good at more than one thing?? I’m as invested in these teens’ futures and friendship as I am in the very, very silly mystery they’re solving.
Julie and the Phantoms
Do not sleep on Julie and the Phantoms. It’s about a girl who gets the confidence to start sharing her music with the world from a ghost band from the '90s. Yes, seriously! It makes no sense, but I would protect those little ghost boys with my life…which also makes no sense, TBH.
All American
We love a drama about athletes (cough, Friday Night Lights and One Tree Hill, cough cough). All American focuses on a rising high school football star who is recruited from South Crenshaw High to play in Beverly Hills. Lots of drama ensues on and off the field; you know, the drill.
Never Have I Ever
The Mindy Kaling-created series is the perfect rom-com with lots of depth—classic Mindy stuff. Devi is a sophomore balancing her Indian heritage while trying to fit in. And what's the best way to do that, you ask? Get the most popular guy in high school to be her ~first~. The only issue is that she backs out at the last minute and then starts to fall for the last person she ever thought she'd like.
Riverdale
Riverdale started out as a show about group of regular high school students who devote themselves to figuring out how their classmate died. Three serial killers, one organ-snatching cult, two time jumps, and a whole lot of breakups later, the show became something else entirely. But no matter what, it was always entertaining. And yes, the series is based on the Archie comics and stars your faves Lili Reinhart and Cole Sprouse!
Euphoria
Euphoria is undoubtedly intense, so if you're looking for something lighter, feel free to move right along. Our protagonist is Rue (played by the Emmy-winning Zendaya), a 17-year-old high schooler fresh out of rehab. We get to know the complex web of people in her life who also are battling addictions, insecurities, and, you guessed it, lust.
Sex Education
Can you imagine your mom being a sex therapist? Welp, that’s the reality for high schooler Otis, who doesn’t really like to publicize the fact that his mother helps people with their sexual struggles for a living. But then he realizes that with the sex knowledge he’s accumulated, he could actually boost his own popularity by counseling other kids, so he teams up with a girl he’s crushing on to create an underground therapy sitch for his fellow classmates.
Freaks and Geeks
Despite its short life on NBC (so short, the last three episodes aired on something called Fox Family Channel), this dramedy gave some of today’s biggest stars (ahem, Seth Rogen, Linda Cardellini, Jason Segel, and Busy Philipps) their first major roles. The show deals with extremely regular and relatable stuff: friendship, love, and the agony of being weird in high school.
Gossip Girl
Ah, yes, the show your parents really, realllllllly didn't want you to watch when you were in high school—maybe 'cause of all the sex, drugs, and underage drinking? There is nothing more delicious than a voyeuristic look into the fabulous (and dramatic) lives of the upper-crust of the Upper East Side. Also, a young Blake Lively and Penn Badgley dating on-screen and off-screen? Yes, please.
The O.C.
Before Gossip Girl round one, Josh Schwartz introduced us to Marissa Cooper, Ryan Atwood, and Ryan Atwood’s questionable tank top. The pilot alone was a major triumph for television in the early ’00s. The Chrismukkah episodes were also always a real treat.
Pretty Little Liars
From blackmail to ~*all the deaths*~, PLL kept fans on high alert from the very first scene. Loosely based on a novel series by the same name, the show is essentially a shiny whodunnit. Queen bee Allison vanishes, leaving her former BFFs to pick up the pieces, move on with their lives, and—most urgently—figure out who "A" is and why they won't stop sending the group anonymous text messages.
Friday Night Lights
Save for a random season 2 storyline (sorry, Landry and Tyra, but that whole murder thing was just weird), Friday Night Lights was nearly perfect. Has there ever been a TV character more sensitive than Matt Saracen? A coach hotter than Eric Taylor? A bo$$ more powerful than Tami Taylor? And don't even get me started on the beautiful specimen known as Tim Riggins…
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Buffy really paved the way for all the supernatural faves of today (see next entry). She embodied everything any 16-year-old heroine should be: fearless, curious, and strong-willed. She also had the ultimate BFF in Willow Rosenberg (who broke barriers of her own by being part of one of TV’s first major lesbian storylines). Quick, call the Willow in your life and perform your favorite song from the show’s musical episode, “Once More, With Feeling.” Life is better when it’s lived like a musical.
The Vampire Diaries
Elena, Damon, and brother dearest Stefan were part of one of the greatest (and oldest, because vampires) love triangles to ever hit the small screen, and we're grateful for it. We now live in a world where there are no more new episodes of The Vampire Diaries since the show wrapped for good after eight delicious seasons on The CW in 2017. Hopefully, it’s just stuck between life and death and is planning a brief return to the mortal world sometime in the near future?
Beverly Hills, 90210
Being rich and beautiful didn’t mean the teens of West Beverly Hills High were safe from very real problems. Over 10 seasons, the show dealt with serious plotlines involving drug abuse, alcoholism, date rape, domestic violence, racism, suicide, pregnancy, and AIDS. It also gave viewers very serious crushes on David Silver and Dylan McKay.
Dawson’s Creek
While Joey Potter was not the first teenager to climb through a window on TV (see: Zack Morris from Saved by the Bell and Sam Anders from Clarissa Explains It All), she was the first to do it while delivering monologues filled to the brim with SAT words. This was all thanks to WB/CW legend Kevin Williamson, who also wrote I Know What You Did Last Summer. The fictional town of Capeside was a nice escape for those who were also trying to figure out what it was they wanted in life and how their crushes, weird BFFs, and family members fit into their grand plans.
My So-Called Life
Being a teenager is hard and Angela (Claire Danes) showed that in a truly beautiful and raw form on TV. It’s a tragedy the show only had one season, and it’s a tragedy that not all boyfriends are named Jordan Catalano.
Party of Five
For six emotionally crushing seasons, viewers joined the Salingers at the dinner table to watch big bro Charlie deal with his own problems while taking care of his brothers and sisters after the death of their parents. There was something for everyone, whether it was Julia’s ever-changing hair, Bailey’s charms, or Claudia’s strong sense of independence (despite starting the show as a mere 11-year-old). And then there’s wee baby Owen, who did that weird thing on TV where a character ages faster than everyone else to move a plot along.
Gilmore Girls
If “Oy with the poodles already” or “Kropogs” means anything to you, Stars Hollow holds a special place in your heart. From her days at Chilton to Yale (and beyond, with Netflix’s revival in 2016), Rory was the epitome of what it means to work really, really hard at your dreams while dealing with a mostly terrible lineup of boyfriends. The word “mostly” is used here because Jess Mariano will always be her one true love. (I said what I said!!)
Veronica Mars
Veronica Mars tackled family trauma, class inequality, murder, and sexual assault—all in Season 1. All while being entertaining as hell. Plus, I dare you to name a better teen spy who also has a talent for delivering savage comebacks... I'll wait.
The Wonder Years
Accompanied by the narration of an older Kevin Arnold, viewers were brought back to the many firsts of his adolescence from his first real relationship to his eventual heartbreak. To this day, many are still not over the outcome of Kevin and Winnie’s love story, even if the show reminds us that “things never turn out exactly the way you plan them.” Somewhere in an alternate TV universe, Kevin and Winnie are lounging at their second beach house after receiving news about the birth of their fourth grandchild, I'm just saying.
Degrassi: The Next Generation
One of the longest-running teen dramas on TV, Degrassi tackled subjects like drug use, suicide, mental health, bullying, racism, teen pregnancy, sexism, and relationships. While Drake has emerged as the most famous cast member to date, Degrassi was blessed with a stellar rotating ensemble that propelled the show to 14 seasons.
Skins
Much like Degrassi, Skins bravely swam in controversial waters as it covered everything from mental illness to substance abuse to sexuality. Written by teens for teens, the show helped launch the careers of names you are more than familiar with these days including Nicholas Hoult, Dev Patel, Daniel Kaluuya, and Game of Thrones stars Hannah Murray and Joe Dempsie. A North American adaptation was made for MTV in 2011, but it didn’t catch on. Too bad.
The Fosters
Teri Polo and Sherri Saum play Stef and Lena, a cop and school vice principal who are married and have five kids, four of them adopted. Basically, everyone’s a Foster on The Fosters and the door is always open, no matter your sexual orientation, age, or race.
Daria
Sure, Daria was animated, but that didn’t make her problems as someone who was a little bit different any less real. High school was a real pain, a “sick sad world,” if you will. Daria and her Lawndale crew just made the experience all the more charming.
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