15 Best Teen TV Shows Of All Time, Ranked

Stories about teenagers are particularly well-suited for episodic drama. Cliques are tailor-made for the kinds of archetypes you often see on television series, and the fact that high schoolers are on the cusp of adulthood, experiencing everything for the first time, creates melodrama that audiences can feast on. But for every all-time classic teen series, there are a dozen failed programs that couldn't seem to get off the ground. 

That's because to become one of the best of the best, these shows need to combine expert storytelling with the kind of characters that viewers can't help but fall in love with. This last point is especially crucial: To stick with a show for years, audiences need to feel a strong emotional connection to the people on-screen. And that's certainly the case with the shows on this list. Watching these teen characters go through the trials and tribulations of adolescence made us feel like we actually knew them, giving each drama the kind of staying power to make it popular years and even decades after its original air date. Here are 15 of the absolute best.

When it comes to teen melodrama, "Beverly Hills, 90210" is the granddaddy of them all (even if it was the American version of "Degrassi"). You certainly don't get "Gossip Girl" without the show set in one of California's most exclusive zip codes. "Beverly Hills, 90210" stars Jason Priestley and Shannen Doherty as Brandon and Brenda Walsh, a pair of twins who move to Beverly Hills with their parents and have to quickly adapt to a high school that's very different than the one in their hometown in Minnesota. 

"Beverly Hills, 90210" basically was the 1990s — it ran for 10 seasons, premiering in 1990 and ending in 2000, so it very much captured an era. It catapulted its lead cast, which also included Tori Spelling, Luke Perry, Brian Austen Green, and Jennie Garth, to stardom. And it was so popular that it ended up generating a spinoff series, "Melrose Place," in 1992, which featured a new cast of characters but operated under the same formula that made "90210" such a hit.

The archetype of the high school jock is alive and well in media, especially in teen dramas, for obvious reasons. But nowhere is it more poignant and nuanced than in "Friday Night Lights," the story of a Texas high school football team in times of (metaphorical) feast and famine. Although they're led ably by Coach Eric Taylor (Kyle Chandler), aka TV's Best Dad, and a significant amount of screen time is devoted to his home life and career path, a coach is nothing without his players. 

From Matt Saracen (Zach Gilford, who you may recognize from "Midnight Mass"), the second-string quarterback promoted to the big time after their starter had a devastating, life-altering injury, to Taylor Kitsch's troubled but patently likable Tim Riggins, the team is filled with talented actors who give the show depth. (And the fact that it gives Jesse Plemons one of his earliest prominent roles is just icing on the cake.)

The best teen shows have plenty of coming-of-age drama, and that's certainly the case with "Sex Education." Asa Butterfield stars as Otis, a teenage boy whose sexual exploration has been significantly hampered by the fact that his mother (Gillian Anderson) is a comically liberated sex therapist. But despite his own hang-ups, he finds himself in the position of doling out relationship and sex advice to his classmates — a role that doesn't come without its complications. 

"Sex Education" ran for four seasons on Netflix to great acclaim, perhaps especially for its prodigious skill in developing talent. Not only do we have Asa Butterfield leading the young cast, but it also features Emma Mackey ("Barbie"), Ncuti Gatwa (who you may recognize as the newest Doctor on "Doctor Who"), Connor Swindells ("Emma"), and Simone Ashley ("Bridgerton"). It doesn't get much more prolific than that. And in addition to its excellent cast, it also features thoughtful, frank storytelling that offers up an honest — and frequently embarrassing — look at sex, love, and hormones as a modern teenager.

In television, there's a tendency to paint with broad strokes, and often, Indian teenage characters fall victim to this; depicted as nerdy, academically motivated students with little more on their minds than impressing their parents and Harvard's admissions board in equal measure. But then you get "Never Have I Ever" and a character like Devi (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan), who basically takes a blowtorch to the stereotype. After the sudden, unexpected death of her father, the teenage Devi struggles with impulsivity, rage, and horniness, three qualities that grow to define her high school experience. 

She's a whirlwind of bad decisions, but the core of her character is so solid that we can't help but root for her to figure things out without burning her entire life to the ground. At once both extremely modern and a throwback to classic teen comedies, "Never Have I Ever" is addictive and often unexpectedly poignant from start to finish.

When "Skins" first started, it could have been just another edgy teen drama capitalizing on drugs, sex, and hormones. But thanks to clever writing and arguably the best teen cast that's ever been assembled on the small screen, it stands out as one of the U.K.'s most impressive shows for young people. "Skins" is massively entertaining but also willing to tackle darker subjects, with storylines that range from light, cheeky comedy to explorations of addiction and eating disorders. 

It revolves around a group of teens making their way through their last years of high school, and each episode has a primary focus on a different member of the friend group. Which is, by the way, made up of Nicholas Hoult, Dev Patel, Daniel Kaluuya, Jack O'Connell, Hannah Murray, Joe Dempsie, and many other now prominent Hollywood figures. With that many future stars committed to your series, success is pretty much guaranteed. (We just won't talk about the ill-fated American spin-off.)

If you're looking for a definitive series to sum up the world of teenagers in the 1990s, you can't do much better than "Daria." Originally created as a character on "Beavis and Butt-Head," Daria Morgendorffer earned her own spin-off series that proved to have just as much — if not more — staying power than its predecessor. An edgy teen with a complete lack of enthusiasm for, well, anything, Daria (voiced by Tracy Grandstaff) became known for her flat affect and trademark sense of cynicism, which is in vibrant contrast to her much cheerier parents and popular sister Quinn. 

Alongside her best friend Jane, she faces the world with diffidence, already exhausted by its stupidity. Basically, think of a cartoon Aubrey Plaza at 17 years old, and you're pretty close. After five seasons, two TV specials, and two TV movies, "Daria" went off the air in 2002 — but never left our hearts.

Ordinarily, a TV series set during the Troubles in Northern Ireland probably wouldn't be a comedy, but part of the charm of "Derry Girls" is that it offers an irreverent look at a group of teenagers growing up amidst chaos while still maintaining its sense of humor. For these teens, conflict between Catholics and Protestants is just a part of their world, and they've got more important things to be dealing with. Boys. The first-year girls who dare to sit in the prime seats at the back of the bus. Secret lesbians. And making fun of the English, of course.

With its mad, eccentric comedy style and cast of endlessly quotable characters, "Derry Girls" made stars out of its leads, especially Nicola Coughlan as Claire, who went on to join Netflix's hit production of "Bridgerton" as Penelope Featherington. But above all else, it captured a unique moment in early '90s history that struck a chord with audiences, even those who weren't previously familiar with Northern Irish politics.

Looking back, there's something about that first season of "The O.C." that feels like lightning in a bottle. Starring Benjamin McKenzie as Ryan Atwood, a smart but troubled teenage boy from the wrong side of the tracks who is taken in by an ultra-rich family in Newport, California, "The O.C." was an unexpected sensation that turned its young cast into overnight stars. 

The central relationships between Ryan and his snarky foster brother Seth (Adam Brody), Ryan and the tragic, doe-eyed girl next door, Marissa (Mischa Barton), and Seth and his longtime crush, Summer (Rachel Bilson), drive the series. It's never better than when the golden four are all together. And although the show has its wobbles — we're looking at you, Oliver — over the course of its four seasons (for our money, it's incredibly watchable even during its lowest points), the first season alone earns its entry on this list.

Until "My So-Called Life" went on the air, it was rare to have a TV series that had much success in its efforts to get inside the mind of the average teenage girl, and part of the reason it was such a hit was in how well its lead character, Angela Chase (Claire Danes), was developed. Over the course of its single season, it revolved around the 15-year-old Angela and her complicated orbit of friends, family, and, of course, boys. 

"My So-Called Life" was unique in its ability to treat the melodrama of the teenage experience with empathy rather than ridicule, and Angela struck a chord with many viewers who were eventually responsible for making it a cult classic. In addition to Danes' early performance on the show, it also made a teen heartthrob out of Jared Leto as Jordan Catalano, whose floppy hair was the stuff '90s dreams were made of.

The fact that this show exists at all is some kind of miracle, let alone staying on the air for three seasons and capturing the imaginations of critics and viewers alike. "Reservation Dogs" tells the story of a group of Indigenous teenagers living on a reservation in Oklahoma, grappling with the death of their close friend Daniel a year earlier. He had dreamed of leaving the reservation for California, so for the first season, they're consumed by a desire to see that journey through on his behalf. But beyond this coming-of-age story, "Reservation Dogs" grapples with the humor and tragedy of life on the reservation, exploring the reality of generational disenfranchisement. 

Still, although it's an incredibly thoughtful and often heartbreaking production, it has plenty of moments that are laugh-out-loud funny. And none of it would be possible without the impressive performances from its main cast of teens, which — unlike in the majority of Native American characters in the history of cinema — were all played by Indigenous actors: Devery Jacobs, D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Lane Factor, and Paulina Alexis.

From the first minutes of "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," as Will Smith performs its now-iconic opening credit song, the show was destined to be a stone-cold '90s classic. It stars Smith as a rough-around-the-edges teenager who experiences some serious culture shock as he moves from West Philadelphia (the result of one little fight, which, as we know, made his mom get scared) to his aunt and uncle's palatial estate in Southern California. Uncle Phil and Aunt Vivian are one-percenters, and their three children (Hilary, Carlton, and Ashley) are raised to be academically successful, socially polished, and more than a little entitled. 

At first, Will has a hard time fitting in to his new surroundings, since he comes from a very different world and is reluctant to set aside his vibrant personality to become a more buttoned-up, palatable version of himself. But as his bond with the Banks grows, he finds himself becoming a part of the family without sacrificing himself or his classic hijinks along the way. Although "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" was primarily a sitcom, it also tackled serious issues related to race and class over the course of its six seasons.

If we're talking about classic theme songs, we obviously have to include "Dawson's Creek" in the conversation. (To this day, it feels extremely weird to watch the show on streaming services where the opening song has been replaced due to music rights.) The frothy teen drama from the '90s stars James Van Der Beek as Dawson, a budding filmmaker growing up in a quiet New England town. It revolves primarily around his relationship with his two best friends, the girl-next-door Joey (Katie Holmes) and perpetual screwup with a heart of gold, Pacey (Joshua Jackson). 

As teenagers with raging hormones, they're on a relentless merry-go-round of romantic drama between the three of them as both Dawson and Pacey date Joey at different times over the years — although for the record, we're Team Pacey. With a talented ensemble cast of actors that also included Michelle Williams, "Dawson's Creek" may have been sappy, but it touched a nerve for every teenager who has ever watched the show. And when it comes down to it, isn't that the point?

"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" usually gets credit for popularizing the supernatural genre on modern television, but it's also innovative in how it uses its storylines about demons and vampires as metaphors for the adolescent experience (sometimes subtly, sometimes less so — hello, "Beer Bad"). Running for seven seasons, first on The WB, then on UPN, "Buffy" starred Sarah Michelle Gellar as the eponymous vampire slayer, whose extracurricular activities include cheerleading, dating, and fighting the forces of darkness with her friends Willow (Alyson Hannigan) and Xander (Nicholas Brendan). 

Although its showrunner, Joss Whedon, has since been canceled half a dozen times for abusive behavior, that doesn't take anything away from the ground-breaking nature of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," which made a feminist icon out of a character we would normally peg as the damsel in distress. Clever, imaginative, and genuinely moving at times, it stands out among the crowd of teen shows for its sheer inventiveness alone, with some top-tier episodes that can go toe-to-toe with anything prestige TV has to offer.

When it comes to the world of YA television, "Degrassi" isn't so much a show as it is an institution. Set in a Canadian high school and exploring a variety of issues that real-life kids face in their day-to-day life, "Degrassi" has been around since the late 1970s in one form or another. But for the purposes of this article, we're focusing on "Degrassi: The Next Generation." (Although "Degrassi Junior High" of 1987 to 1989 deserves some credit as well, since you could make the argument that it's one of the pioneers of the modern teen drama.)

Released from 2001 to 2015, "Degrassi: The Next Generation" offered a no-holds-barred look at the 21st-century high school and the lives of its students. Over the course of its 14 seasons, it spearheaded difficult conversations and launched the careers of several young stars, including Drake and Nina Dobrev. Without a doubt, "Degrassi" is one of the most influential TV series in history, and for our neighbors to the North, it represents something as uniquely Canadian as maple syrup and apologizing when someone bumps into you.

It speaks to the quality of "Freaks and Geeks" that the first thing people tend to know about it is that it was cancelled far too early, after only one season, by a network that couldn't tell solid gold from a hole in the ground. But despite the fact that it only had a handful of episodes to make its mark on television history, it's stood the test of time, winning over audiences years and even decades after it went off the air. "Freaks and Geeks" stars Linda Cardellini as Lindsay, a formerly straitlaced student who starts a new year rebellious and disillusioned as a result of personal trauma, and John Francis Daley as her nerdy little brother just beginning his freshman year of high school. 

Their respective groups of friends make up the freaks and geeks that the title refers to — and what a merry band of misfits they are. In addition to incredible storytelling, "Freaks and Geeks" has perhaps one of the most impressive teams of future talent on network television, with James Franco, Jason Segel, Seth Rogen, Martin Starr, and Busy Phillips all in its main cast. If you haven't seen "Freaks and Geeks" yet, do yourself a favor and catch up on one of the best TV series we've ever seen.