We have settled into the era of nostalgic retellings of the media moments reaching 20 and 30 year anniversaries. Last year marked 20 years since …
Broadcast TV Nostalgia: Revisiting a Scene-Setting Era of the Teen Drama Genre
The O.C.
Peak Teen Soap: Heart and Drama in The O.C.
Twenty years ago this month (August 2003), Ryan Atwood crashed into the private school world of Newport Beach, his very presence shaking up the lives …
Life Lessons After Class
Although teen television is generally set in or around a high school, rarely does the educational role of that environment take centre stage. As a …
O.C. Anniversary
This month marks the 10 year anniversary of the premier of The O.C. This particular anniversary struck me because unlike the majority of television where I …
Wait for your Happily Ever After moment
Teen television is often contradictory in its message. In particular, when romance is involved, shows about young people tend to endorse the idealized “happily ever …
Experiencing Tragedy
I have no idea how common it is for teens to cope with tragedy. While high school students no doubt regularly fall victim to traffic …
Six degrees of Rory Gilmore
I know I’m not the only one who gets a kick out of recognizing actors from one show when they pop up on a different …
Happily Every After
Last week I finally watched the fourth and final season of The O.C. This was a series I watched with my mom when I was …
Teen Lesbian? I thought it was “just a phase”
I’m generally on the fence about Glee. Some things it does well (like including diverse characters), some things it does really terribly (like tell consistent …