Teen television has changed greatly over the years. Teen sitcoms like Saved By The Bell slowly turned into glamourized dramas like 90210, and have continued evolving with their target audience into riskier territory. The 2000s brought an array of controversial dramas that, despite the criticisms, have attained incredibly high ratings for their networks.
In the last two decades, showrunners have taken to adapting popular book series into high-budget TV shows - hoping to draw fans in with recognizable titles, fresh and unique stories, and relatable characters.
10 Panic Follows A Group Teens Trying To Leave Their Small Town
Panic follows a group of high school seniors in Carp, Texas, a small town riddled with substance abuse and crime. Each year, the graduating class gets the chance to participate in the annual Panic game, a series of survival challenges with a cash prize of fifty thousand dollars.
The Amazon Prime series was created and written by Lauren Olivier, the author of the original Panic young adult novel. Panic's ten episodes premiered in mid-2021 to mixed reviews from critics, who compared the series to other Battle Royale-like franchises like The Hunger Games.
9 Looking For Alaska Is A Faithful Adaptation of John Green's Breakthrough Novel
In late 2019, John Green's breakthrough teen novel Looking For Alaska was adapted into an eight-episode limited mini-series for Hulu. It starred Kristine Froseth as the titular character of Alaska Young, and received critical acclaim from both critics and fans who praised it for its writing and acting.
Looking For Alaska is the story of Miles Halter, a high schooler who moves to Alabama from Florida for his junior year. Shortly after arriving, he befriends his new roommate Chip. He meets Chip's friends, Takumi and Alaska, who embrace his penchant for famous last words and take him under their wing.
8 Love, Victor Continues The Success Of Love, Simon
After the success of Love, Simon, the movie adaptation of Becky Albertalli's Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda, Hulu produced a comedy-drama set in the same universe titled Love, Victor. The twenty-episode Love, Victor follows Victor, a Latino student at Creekwood High School who begins questioning his sexuality and seeks help from Simon.
Love, Victor was one of Hulu's most-binged original series of 2020, leading to a second, equally successful second season that premiered in mid-2021. Love, Victor was lauded by critics for its acting and writing, receiving a nomination for Outstanding Comedy Series at the 2021 GLAAD Media Awards.
7 One Of Us Is Lying Is A Murder-Mystery Starring Teenagers
Based on Karen M. McManus's debut novel of the same name, One Of Us Is Lying a murder-mystery drama. One Of Us Is Lying follows four students who become murder suspects after the classmate they'd been serving detention with dies in mysterious circumstances. NBC's new streaming service, Peacock, premiered the eight-episode series in late 2021.
One Of Us Is Lying received mostly positive reviews but was criticized for its archetypical characters and its similarities to other teen shows with dark themes. American actress Jennifer Morrison, best known for her role as Emma Swan in ABC's Once Upon A Time, directed the pilot episode.
6 Shadow & Bone Creates An Incredibly Complex & Magical World
In mid-2021, Netflix released Shadow & Bone, a fantasy drama adaptation of Leigh Bardugo's award-winning Grishaverse series. Show & Bone features the Grisha, people who can control matter, training to join their world's military. English actress Jessie Mei Li stars as Alina Starkov, an orphan who discovers she's a rare Grisha who can manipulate light.
Shadow & Bone has been compared to other high fantasy franchises like Harry Potter and Game Of Thrones for its immersive and detailed universe. Shadow & Bone's first season consisted of eight hour-long episodes, and was highly successful. This lead Shadow & Bone to be renewed for a second season shortly after its release.
5 Shadowhunters Is The Second Adaptation Of The Mortal Instruments Series
Following a disastrous 2013 movie adaptation, Cassandra Clare's best-selling series, The Mortal Instruments, was adapted into a three-season TV show on ABC's young adult network, Freeform. Aptly renamed Shadowhunters, the series follows Clary Fray as she discovers she's a human-angel hybrid called a shadowhunter.
Shadowhunters won multiple fan-voted awards during its broadcast but failed to impress critics, who praised its premise but criticized dull writing. Shadowhunters starred Arrow actress Katherine McNamara as Clary, Dominic Sherwood as Jace Herondale, Matthew Daddario as Alec Lightwood, and Harry Shum Jr. as Magnus Bane.
4 The 100 Continues The Reign Of Teen Dystopia
The CW's The 100 was a post-apocalyptic drama set in a distant future where humanity fled to space after Earth became uninhabitable. Almost a century later, a hundred juvenile delinquents are sent back to check on the planet's condition and find that a group of people survived the nuclear apocalypse and have been living there ever since.
The 100 was loosely based on Kass Morgan's eponymous dystopian novel and ran for exactly a hundred episodes divided into seven seasons. The 100 was critically acclaimed, with many of its seasons receiving a hundred percent approval on Rotten Tomatoes. Though, The 100 received flak from fans for some of its plot elements, like the death of fan-favorite LGBT character, Lexa.
3 Pretty Little Liars Has One Of The Best Premises In Television
One of the most iconic teen dramas of the past decade, Pretty Little Liars follows a group of four girls who begin receiving cryptic messages from an anonymous source one year after their best friend's disappearance. It borrowed most of its characters from Sara Shepard's book series, Pretty Little Liars, but mostly deviated plot-wise.
Pretty Little Liars had an ensemble cast of Lucy Hale, Troian Bellisario, Ashley Benson, Shay Mitchell, and Sasha Pieterse as The Liars. Pretty Little Liars became intrinsic in pop culture during the show's seven-season run. Pretty Little Liars' popularity spawned multiple spin-offs, including the canceled Ravenswood, and The Perfectionists, and an upcoming HBO Max original series starring Bailee Madison.
2 The Vampire Diaries Is The Most-Watched Supernatural Teen Show
At the height of the Twilight craze of the late 2000s, The CW greenlit an adaptation of L.J. Smith's supernatural romance series, The Vampire Diaries. The Vampire Diaries starred Nina Dobrev as Elena Gilbert, a teen girl who finds herself in a love triangle with two vampire brothers, Stefan and Damon.
The Vampire Diaries ran for over a hundred and fifty episodes, from 2009 to 2017, and won multiple fan-voted awards during its time on the air. The Vampire Diaries remains the second most-watched series on The CW, just after Arrow, and one of the most popular teen shows of all time. The Vampire Diaries's two spin-offs, The Originals, and Legacies, continued the stories of some of the secondary characters.
1 Gossip Girl Is A Teen Drama Classic
In 2007, teen television changed forever when The CW premiered the controversial, yet incredibly popular Gossip Girl. Based on Cecily Von Ziegzar's book series of the same name, Gossip Girl follows a group of wealthy Upper East Side teenagers and their adventures in love, money, and family.
Gossip Girl is often referred to as the quintessential teen series, as it popularized many elements that influence similar shows today. It was praised for its fashion and iconic characters but was criticized for its sexualized depiction of teenagers, something executives used to their advantage in Gossip Girl's promotion material. Its popularity led to a 2021 HBO Max reboot, which is currently available for streaming.