I may not have been a teenager (or even alive) back in the days when the old Beverly Hills 90210 and Degrassi High ruled the airwaves, but that definitely doesn’t stop me from appreciating those somewhat cheesy dramas today. As storylines become overused to the point of chiché in teen dramas (pregnancy scares, best friend betrayals, and falls from popularity pedestals all easily come to mind), the latest generation’s television shows are being forced to push the envelope on drama in an attempt to be innovative.
Long gone are the days of wholesome television programming in general, but this fact is by far the most evident in the youth market. A show such as Beverly Hills 90210, which was surprisingly thought of as being racy back in its day, wouldn’t last two episodes in a world where sex, drugs and drama must take the main stage. The show was so appealing to the teenagers of the 1990s because of its realistic and relatable storylines, such as the trouble of handling young love, making a mistake and crashing the car, or dealing with a dysfunctional family. It had a tint of idealistic glamour when it came to the cars and clothes, but at the end of each hour, a moral would be present which caused the purely dramatic aspects to be forgiven in the name of it all serving a purpose. However, compared to the blatant raciness of current teen shows, the old 90210 comes across as being archaically innocent. After all, when was the last time an episode of Gossip Girl contained a scene in which a student breaks into the school to steal test answers, or better yet, a scene in which the cast celebrates Christmas by donating gifts to underprivileged children?
It’s not to say that today’s shows have abandoned all similarity to actual teen life, but any remotely relatable storyline is often buried beneath layers of intricately impossible drama. Even if a show isn’t based on the lives of the rich and glamorous, it is guaranteed to contain scenes that would have been regarded as being wildly improbable and inappropriate only 20 years ago.
Does that then mean that the standards for teen television have risen in terms of shock value and lowered in terms of quality? The only true judges are the teens themselves, the deciding factors in focus groups and marketing slants. Will the “guilty pleasure” ever be replaced by the “innocent pleasure”? Is it too late for a hearty, wholesome show to ever survive again, given the world’s developed aversion to virtuousness? Only time will tell. Until then, you’ll find me in my living room, happily devouring the high school years of Beverly Hills.