Teenage Drama Shows Essay -- Communication, Media, MTV

Teenagers are a significant segment of the American population. However, teenage drama shows did not make a significant emergence until the 1990’s. Before the 90’s, there were a handful of shows that had adolescents as supporting or main characters but the shows were not geared towards a teen audience. Never Too Young was one of the first so- called â€Å"teen drama† shows that premiered in 1965 and aired for a single season. The show had soap opera elements and chronicled the lives of teenagers. Teen dramas as opposed to teen situation comedies have soap opera elements to them. Some teen dramas can be understood in relation to the long-running serial form in their emphasis on repetition and deferral of resolution, and in this respect, are close to soap opera in narrative organization (Moseley 54). A school setting or home residence is where many teen dramas take place. Similar to soap operas, teen dramas also center around place, character, and relationships, a nd emotional drama is often heightened through the use of close-up and (generally romantic pop) scoring (Moseley 54). Teen drama is geared towards an adolescent audience, therefore episodes address teenage issues: sex, drugs, self -esteem, love, and school violence. The short-lived teen drama, My So Called Life dealt with these issues but due to low ratings was cancelled. My So Called Life was a realistic and dynamic show that should not have been terminated abruptly. One of the original teen dramas, Degrassi Junior High and later Degrassi High, became very popular in both Canada and the US while airing on PBS in the late 80s and early 90s (Silverblatt 21).Several years after Degrassi's premiere, Darren Star created Beverly Hills, 90210 in 1990, along with famous producer Aar... ...MSCL. It was not overly dramatic but not overly artificial in its depiction of teenagers and their parents. There were not many shows of its kind in the mid 1990’s and there are still not many teen dramas of its kind today. In general, there are not many teen dramas period. Many of the teen shows are sitcoms or situation comedies. The few teen dramas on television include Gossip Girl, Vampire Diaries, and The Secret Life of the American Teenager. Out of these three shows, only The Secret Life of the American Teenager has any broad realism to it. Gossip Girl highlights the life of wealthy teenagers and Vampire Diaries is a fantasy show. My So Called Life had a good balance of addressing real topics like homosexuality, sexual harassment, parental arguing, and drug use in a realistic fashion. MSCL captured the anxiety of teen life without becoming overly idealistic. Teenage Drama Shows Essay -- Communication, Media, MTV Teenagers are a significant segment of the American population. However, teenage drama shows did not make a significant emergence until the 1990’s. Before the 90’s, there were a handful of shows that had adolescents as supporting or main characters but the shows were not geared towards a teen audience. Never Too Young was one of the first so- called â€Å"teen drama† shows that premiered in 1965 and aired for a single season. The show had soap opera elements and chronicled the lives of teenagers. Teen dramas as opposed to teen situation comedies have soap opera elements to them. Some teen dramas can be understood in relation to the long-running serial form in their emphasis on repetition and deferral of resolution, and in this respect, are close to soap opera in narrative organization (Moseley 54). A school setting or home residence is where many teen dramas take place. Similar to soap operas, teen dramas also center around place, character, and relationships, a nd emotional drama is often heightened through the use of close-up and (generally romantic pop) scoring (Moseley 54). Teen drama is geared towards an adolescent audience, therefore episodes address teenage issues: sex, drugs, self -esteem, love, and school violence. The short-lived teen drama, My So Called Life dealt with these issues but due to low ratings was cancelled. My So Called Life was a realistic and dynamic show that should not have been terminated abruptly. One of the original teen dramas, Degrassi Junior High and later Degrassi High, became very popular in both Canada and the US while airing on PBS in the late 80s and early 90s (Silverblatt 21).Several years after Degrassi's premiere, Darren Star created Beverly Hills, 90210 in 1990, along with famous producer Aar... ...MSCL. It was not overly dramatic but not overly artificial in its depiction of teenagers and their parents. There were not many shows of its kind in the mid 1990’s and there are still not many teen dramas of its kind today. In general, there are not many teen dramas period. Many of the teen shows are sitcoms or situation comedies. The few teen dramas on television include Gossip Girl, Vampire Diaries, and The Secret Life of the American Teenager. Out of these three shows, only The Secret Life of the American Teenager has any broad realism to it. Gossip Girl highlights the life of wealthy teenagers and Vampire Diaries is a fantasy show. My So Called Life had a good balance of addressing real topics like homosexuality, sexual harassment, parental arguing, and drug use in a realistic fashion. MSCL captured the anxiety of teen life without becoming overly idealistic.