Have you ever noticed how television shows billed as “teen dramas” usually deal with very adult issues? I was just going through my DVDs of The O.C. when it hit me that just about the only legitimately teen problem to crop up on the show was when the main characters had to decide where to go to college. Other than that, almost all of the other major storylines — love triangles, alcoholism, drug abuse, anger management, blackmail, date rape — would have fit just as well on adult dramas.
I have to wonder why that is. I know that some adults (like me) watch these types of shows, but still… I’d assume that the majority of viewers are in the high school and college crowd. Back when I was that age, the biggest “drama” we ever dealt with was who was dating and/or hooking up with whom. Occasionally there would be some school issues like grades or bullying to deal with, but most of the time it was just relationship stuff that formed the bulk of our gossip.
I know kids are more sophisticated today than they were 15 years ago, so I don’t expect shows like The O.C. to focus on fashion crises or the search for acne cures, but give me a break. There’s no way normal teens deal with the kind of stuff that appears on these types of programs.
Then again, if The O.C. was only about clothes, cars, and pimples, I doubt anyone would have watched it at all!