In the ‘90s, there was a revolution in the television teen drama. While prior to the ’90s you could find a bunch of half-hour shows aimed at the teenage set, the hour-long drama was kinda neglected. But that all changed in the ‘90s when programming for teens was allowed to be smarter, darker, and soapier. These shows not only enticed the young teen viewer, but also their parents, who remembered what it was like to be a teen. We’ve all been a teen, so we can all relate, you know?
So today, we’re ranking 10 of the most memorable of those ‘90s teen TV dramas. Did your favorite make it to the top spot? Read on to find out!
10. Get Real (1999-2000)
What’s this? A show in the ‘90s that starred Anne Hathaway, Jesse Eisenberg, and Eric Christian Olsen? Yes, it’s true. Get Real was a very short-lived drama that aired on Fox centering around the Green family, told through the eyes of Eisenberg’s character Kenny. This show is the first credited role for both Jesse Eisenberg and Anne Hathaway. Eisenberg was only 15 at the time, and Hathaway had only performed in regional theater previously. Quite the legacy for a one season show!
9. Popular (1999-2000)
Popular starred Leslie Bibb and Carly Pope as two girls on the opposite side of the popularity spectrum at high school who are forced together after their two single parents meet on a cruise ship and get married. Leslie Bibb played the popular cheerleader Brooke while Carly Pope played the unpopular journalistic type Sam. Apparently, the original concept for the show was a gradual integration of their lives, but The WB only agreed to pick up the show to series if they ended up living together much sooner.
8. My So-Called Life (1994-1995)
Now, some of you may be saying, what, My So-Called Life is this far down on the list?! Sure, okay, we can see where you’re coming from. However, in looking back at all of the shows here, it didn’t get us as excited about a possible rewatch as the ones we’ve ranked above it. Anyway! Claire Danes starred as 15-year-old Angela Chase in this teen drama that very much is of the mid-90s with its copious amounts of flannel. If you were a girl in the ‘90s, you probably had a crush on Jared Leto as Jordan Catalano, and even if you thought Brian might be more suitable for Angela, you couldn’t help but root for her and Jordan anyway.
Want more Angela and Jordan? Check out our article: One of These 10 TV Couples Was Your First One True Pairing (OTP) if you Grew Up in the ‘90s
7. Roswell (1999-2002)
If you wanted something a little more scifi, then perhaps Roswell was more up your alley in the ‘90s. Shiri Abbleby starred as Liz Parker, a regular high school student who learns a secret about three of her fellow students — they’re aliens! She falls for one of these aliens, Max, and soon finds out that he, his sister Isabel, and their fellow alien Michael all have powers. Oh, and they love Tabasco sauce. Roswell was mostly focused on romance in the beginning, but became more science fiction-y as it went on. If you missed out on it back when it aired, give it a watch, it’s very bingeable.
6. Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990-2000)
The granddaddy of all ‘90s teen dramas is none other than Beverly Hills, 90210, which is also the longest-running show on this list. 90210 really brought the teen soap opera to primetime with the story of the Walsh siblings (Jason Priestley and Shannen Doherty) moving to the super fancy zip code from Minnesota. Though the first season didn’t do that well in the ratings, Fox decided to try out a “summer season” while other shows were showing reruns, and by the time fall came, the show was one of the most popular on Fox. The show covered all sorts of hot topics, including sex, date rape, homophobia, animal rights, alcoholism, drug abuse, domestic violence, eating disorders, antisemitism, racism, teenage suicide, teenage pregnancy, and AIDS. Talk about topical!
5. Felicity (1998-2002)
Felicity just squeaks into qualifying for this list by featuring teenaged characters as they head off to college. Keri Russell starred as Felicity Porter, who follows her high school crush Ben (Scott Speedman) to college in the hopes that she may have a chance to date him. It’s kind of a silly concept, but what made the show work were Felicity’s relationships with those around her, and her romances with both Ben and Noel (Scott Foley). Were you team Noel or team Ben? Personally, I always thought Noel was a better fit, but whatever show.
4. Dawson's Creek (1998-2003)
If fast-talking witty teens were your style, then you definitely loved Dawson’s Creek. Dawson Leery (James Van Der Beek) was the focal point of the show, though let’s be honest, the characters around him were always a little more interesting, right? Unlike today’s many cookie cutter procedurals and whatever will chase the next demographic fad, Dawson’s Creek came about kind of as a spontaneous idea. After recently selling the script for what would become the smash hit film Scream, creator Kevin Williamson was in his first casual television meeting, and he came up with the idea for Dawson’s Creek on the spot and pitched the concept: a teen series based on his own aspirations and youthful appreciation for Steven Spielberg. He came back the next day with a full 20-page outline based on that simple idea, and the rest, as they say, is history.
3. Party of Five (1994-2000)
What would happen if teenagers had to raise themselves? That’s the question that Party of Five strove to answer with the five Salinger siblings growing up and taking care of each other after the untimely deaths of their parents. The show often touched on mature themes, and even featured the main characters going through some pretty tough things like cancer, alcoholism, and teenage pregnancy scares. Though it often struggled in the ratings department, it eventually won a Golden Globe for Best Television Series – Drama, which helped widen its audience and allowed it to continue on for six seasons.
2. Freaks and Geeks (1999-2000)
Though set in the early ‘80s, Freaks and Geeks was super relatable to pretty much anyone who grew up going to public high school. The show was told from the perspective of the two Weir children, Lindsay (Linda Cardellini) and Sam (John Francis Daley). Lindsay used to be a mathlete, but after the death of her grandmother, doesn’t want to do that anymore, and instead tries to join the “freaks” — Daniel (James Franco), Nick (Jason Segel), Ken (Seth Rogen), and Kim Kelly (Busy Phillips). Sam is Lindsay’s younger brother, and is among the “geeks” of the show with his best friends Bill (Martin Starr) and Neal (Samm Levine). This show is great, and it’s really sad that it didn’t get to go on further than 18 episodes thanks to network interference. We honestly considered putting this show at number one.
1. Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003)
Five years prior to the television series, Kristy Swanson starred in the movie Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which pretty much bombed at the box office in 1992. That could’ve been the end of our favorite chosen one, but luckily Gail Berman, president and CEO of production company Sandollar Television, who owned the TV rights to the movie, approached Joss Whedon about developing the concept into a television series. High school as a horror movie became the central conceit of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, with Sarah Michelle Gellar starring as the titular Buffy, a girl who looks like she’d be the first victim in a horror movie, but turns out to be the hero. Buffy was incredibly influential, and does a great job of combining horror, fantasy, comedy, romance, and just straight up drama.
Did you watch all of these teen dramas? Do you agree with our ranking? Let us know in the comments!
- Jerry O’Connell was originally cast as Bailey Salinger in Party of Five, but he quit the role just before the pilot was filmed, to star as Quinn Mallory in Sliders.
- In a 2012 interview with Vanity Fair, Paul Feig detailed what would have happened to the characters of Freaks and Geeks had it continued: Lindsay would become a human rights lawyer; Sam would have joined the drama club; Neal would cope with his parents’ divorce by joining a swing choir in school; Bill would join the basketball team, becoming a jock and leading to tension with the geeks; Daniel would end up in jail; Kim would become pregnant on tour while following the Grateful Dead; Nick would be pressured by his strict father to join the Army.
- If you want to know what happens to Buffy and the Scooby gang from Buffy the Vampire Slayer after the end of season seven, you can read the official comic book series from Dark Horse.
- Fearing cancellation during the show’s first season, fans of Roswell sent tiny bottles of Tabasco sauce (the choice condiment of the show’s aliens) to the WB network as part of a campaign to save the show — the show was subsequently moved to a new night and time, and renewed for a second season.
- Over 500 different actors auditioned for the role of Dawson in Dawson’s Creek, including Joshua Jackson (who would go on to play Pacey), Adrian Grenier, Charlie Hunnam, and Jesse Tyler Ferguson.
- Jerry O’Connell was originally cast as Bailey Salinger in Party of Five, but he quit the role just before the pilot was filmed, to star as Quinn Mallory in Sliders.
- In a 2012 interview with Vanity Fair, Paul Feig detailed what would have happened to the characters of Freaks and Geeks had it continued: Lindsay would become a human rights lawyer; Sam would have joined the drama club; Neal would cope with his parents’ divorce by joining a swing choir in school; Bill would join the basketball team, becoming a jock and leading to tension with the geeks; Daniel would end up in jail; Kim would become pregnant on tour while following the Grateful Dead; Nick would be pressured by his strict father to join the Army.
- If you want to know what happens to Buffy and the Scooby gang from Buffy the Vampire Slayer after the end of season seven, you can read the official comic book series from Dark Horse.
- Fearing cancellation during the show’s first season, fans of Roswell sent tiny bottles of Tabasco sauce (the choice condiment of the show’s aliens) to the WB network as part of a campaign to save the show — the show was subsequently moved to a new night and time, and renewed for a second season.
- Over 500 different actors auditioned for the role of Dawson in Dawson’s Creek, including Joshua Jackson (who would go on to play Pacey), Adrian Grenier, Charlie Hunnam, and Jesse Tyler Ferguson.
