Young adult TV offers a wide range of content, from grounded dramas to grandiose fantastical stories. It’s also no secret that Teen TV has significantly improved only in the last ten years. With more excellent teen-focused television available to us than even the most discriminating fan could expect to see, we’ve arrived at the beginning of a new decade thanks to the advent of the serialized YA adaptation, the excesses of Peak TV, and the blitz of the streaming era.
In order to help you find the greatest adolescent programs that are now streaming, we’ve scoured all of the big streaming providers (as well as a few specialized ones). At best, the continued availability of any one of these programs is precarious due to the intricate and enigmatic nature of licensing agreements. However, as of this writing, we can vouch for the fact that all of the adolescent dramas included in the (unranked!) series mentioned below are ready for you to queue up and press play.
Note: We acknowledge that we may have overlooked some of your favorites due to our meticulous curating. However, having too much great teen television available is preferable to having too little. But, stay tuned as we will keep adding to and updating the list throughout time! In the meanwhile, you may also peruse our lists of the top teen TV series available only on Hulu and Netflix.
Everything Now
Created by:Â Ripley Parker
Stars:Â Sophie Wilde, Lauryn Ajufo, Harry Cadby, Noah Thomas, Sam Reuben, Niamh McCormack, Jessie Mae Alonzo, Robert Akodoto
Original Network:Â Netflix
The focus of Everything Now is on Mia (Sophie Wilde), an adolescent who, at the beginning of the show, has recently finished a seven-month inpatient program for the treatment of eating disorders. It soon becomes apparent that Mia’s journey toward recovery is more complicated than those close to her would want. Everything Now never deviates from the struggles of growing up, striking a balance between shows like Sex Education and My Mad Fat Diary.
The show rejects every cliché of the contemporary teen drama in favor of creating a program that, up until recently, appeared unthinkable. This seems to be the closest thing we’ll have to a true replacement for the teen TV of the 2000s, complete with a Grimes needle drop during a house party and conflicts that are realistically weighted. Every element of Everything Now comes together to create something exquisite, and in doing so, the program establishes itself as a noteworthy leader among its contemporaries. —Kenya Shunyata
Wednesday
Created by:Â Alfred Gough, Miles Millar
Stars:Â Jenna Ortega, Gwendoline Christie, Riki Lindhome, Jamie McShane, Hunter Doohan, Percy Hynes White, Emma Myers, Joy Sunday, Georgie Farmer, Naomi J. Ogawa, Moosa Mostafa, Christina Ricci
Original Network:Â Netflix
The supernatural horror-comedy series Wednesday provides a crucial solution to the following question: What does Wednesday Addams’ teenage appearance seem like? Wednesday (Jenna Ortega), 16, is sent to Nevermore Academy, a posh boarding school for outcasts, after being expelled from her public school. She attempts to flee at first, but her curiosity makes her get interested in the horrific killing spree that has been plaguing the community. Wednesday resolves to play detective and solve the startling riddles at hand as her developing psychic talents lead her to an odd collection of evidence.
Wednesday, by not taking itself too seriously, manages to depict the developing pains of being sixteen. The program is a fantastic addition to the adolescent television “gothic boarding school” trend, following in the footsteps of successful series like Legacies, Vampire Academy, and The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, to mention a few. By far the best part of the show is Ortega’s performance, which effortlessly handles Wednesday’s complexity and solidifies her place as the new horror It girl. The performance has a nostalgic quality thanks to Tim Burton’s unique aesthetic, yet it also seems modern in its treatment of such a legendary figure. The show is certain to provide the whole family with a ton of scary entertainment, regardless of the season. —Dianna Shen
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
Created by:Â Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Stars:Â Kiernan Shipka, Ross Lynch, Lucy Davis, Chance Perdomo, Michelle Gomez
Network:Â Netflix
Despite the difficult journey of the young witch next to Archie, Chilling Adventures nonetheless satisfies a particularly particular horror craving for those who enjoy demonic magical metaphor. Although the show’s attempts at feminism range from being painfully satisfying to being frustratingly lip-service-only, incorporating that guiding idea into its coming-of-age stories and the underground magical societies they are set in only serves to strengthen the show’s cohesiveness, despite its flaws.
Taking all that she gained from Mad Men, Shipka commands the screen, snapping and snipping her way through every powerful sentence. At its core, Sabrina is a horror show that progressively becomes darker as it goes on, yet a myriad of romantic perspectives balance the program with its more Riverdale-like aspects. — Jacob Oller
Shadow and Bone
Created by:Â Eric Heisserer
Stars: Jessie Mei Li, Archie Renaux, Freddy Carter, Amita Suman, Kit Young, Ben Barnes, Zoë Wanamaker
Original Network:: Netflix
Netflix’s Shadow and Bone, which is adapted from Leigh Bardugo’s well-known Grishaverse trilogy and the ensuing Six of Crows duology, has a well-known Chosen One story that will appeal to even non-fantasy fans. A teenage orphan named Alina Starkov (Jessie Mei Li) learns she is the only one who can save her country from the forces of darkness that threaten to destroy it when her ability to summon and control light manifests itself. The story takes place in Ravka, a fictional country based on Russia that is divided by the menacing Shadow Fold—an area of oppressive darkness where hideous creatures feast on human flesh.
The program delves into broader themes of destiny and power abuses while tackling some more challenging subjects like racism and injustice. Alina must battle against those who want to utilize her and her special gift and those who want to utterly eradicate it. The series stands out from other shows in the fantasy genre even if it won’t break any new ground. Its emotionally charged plot is supported by a unique mythology that makes it easy to ignore that many of the characters are still in their teen years. —Kaitlin Thomas
The O.C.
Created by:Â Josh Schwartz
Stars:Â Peter Gallagher, Kelly Rowan, Ben McKenzie, Mischa Barton, Adam Brody, Melinda Clarke, Rachel Bilson
Original Network:Â Fox
The O.C. is currently unavailable to stream.
Bitch, welcome to The O.C. This Fox adolescent soap opera revived the genre in the mid-2000s, but it also ridiculed it at the same time. The series immediately became must-watch television because it was full of inside jokes and told the engrossing narrative of two males who become unlikely best friends and the girls who adore them.
Thanks to creator Josh Schwartz and music supervisor Alexandra Patsavas, the program also helped promote various acts—like Death Cab for Cutie, Modest Mouse, and The Killers—among a new generation of high school students, and it continues to be legendary. —Adam Amatangelo and Shaina Pearlman
The Vampire Diaries
Created by: Julie Plec, Kevin Williamson
Stars: Nina Dobrev, Paul Wesley, Ian Somerhalder, Candice King, Matt Davis, Joseph Morgan
Network: The CW
An very dramatic adolescent supernatural drama gave way to an engrossing and often gory journey into the world of vampires (and werewolves, witches, hybrids, siphons, and all of them) and the men and women who adore them. The Vampire Diaries did a fantastic job of refuting the increasingly unjustified claim that CW series lean toward melodramatic teen/YA material, especially when they moved past their early “Dawson’s Creek with vampires” phase.
Even though it had its moments of brilliance, Season 1 was generally considered one of those guilty pleasure series. While enjoyable, it wasn’t really excellent. But as showrunners Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson (yes, the creator of Dawson’s Creek) truly had a sense of where they wanted to take the series, it took off and over the course of eight seasons proved to be a consistently well-acted, eerie, and morally complex hour of drama. —Mark Rabinowitz
School SpiritsÂ
Created by:Â Nate and Megan Trinrud
Stars:Â Peyton List, Kristian Flores, Milo Manheim, Spencer MacPherson, Kiara Pichardo, Sarah Yarkin, Nick Pugliese, and Rainbow Wedell
Original Network:Â Paramount+
School Spirits is currently unavailable to stream.
School Spirits on Paramount+ is a show that follows Maddie (Peyton List), a high school girl who was murdered at school and is now bound there for her everlasting afterlife. It is overseen by Pretty Little Liars alum Oliver Goldstick, who also created the series. The sole snag? She is unable to recall how or who murdered her, which creates a murder mystery in which the victim becomes involved in the efforts of amateur sleuths to solve the crime.
Maddie must face her past in order to solve her murder in the present, with the help of her friends Simon (Kristian Flores) and Nicole (Kiara Pichardo) from the afterlife as well as a number of ghosts from various eras trapped within the school, such as ’80s jock Wally (Milo Manheim), ’90s nerd Charley (Nick Pugliese), and ’50s beatnik Rhonda (Sarah Yarkin). All the while, Maddie must adapt to high school purgatory. The resultant series alternates between a hilarious Afterlife Support Group in the vein of Ghosts and an engaging murder mystery, fusing the two with well chosen themes of loss, grief, love, and connection. Despite its occasionally awkward execution, School Spirits is really amusing and a terrifyingly wonderful time that should definitely be added to your watchlist. —Anna Govert
grown-ish
Created by: Kenya Barris
Stars:: Yara Shahidi, Deon Cole, Trevor Jackson, Francia Raisa
Original Network:: Freeform
Grown-ish is currently unavailable to stream.
It’s difficult to know what to anticipate when a well-established series casts out beloved characters to anchor something new, even if the process is maintained completely in-house. Should the ensuing spin-off change its target audience in addition to moving to a different network, much like Yara Shahidi’s grown-ish, which focused on college, did when it moved from ABC’s black-ish to Freeform? That was audacious rather than just surprising. Fortunately, it also turned out to be a clever play, with the spin-off having genuine legs thanks to its endearing youthful cast, astute writing, and fourth-wall-breaking confessional tone.
Even though Shahidi plays the black-ish-exported lead character Zoey, who frequently makes poor decisions when attending college alone for the first time, she is still a lot of fun to watch, but not any more so than the rest of the ensemble cast, each of whom, depending on your mood, could be deemed to be a particular standout. Francia Raisa comes to mind for this list because her character, Ana Torres, is so unlike the one she played for years on ABC Family’s The Secret Life of the American Teenager.
However, you might be more drawn to pop sensations Chloe x Halle, Luka Sabbat’s incredibly laid-back Luca, or Emily Arlook’s somewhat messy Nomi, whose most recent major arc saw her come out as bisexual to both herself and the professor she foolishly made out with. Grown-ish has so much going on, and even if a lot of it is unpleasant and embarrassing, like the growing pains of genuine young adulthood can be, especially in the social media age, it’s always enjoyable. —Gunderson, Alexis
David Makes Man
Created by:Â Tarell Alvin McCraney
Stars:Â Akili McDowell, Alana Arenas, Isaiah Johnson, Ade Chike Torbert
Original Network:Â OWN
David Makes Man is currently unavailable to stream.
The last thing you should do before watching OWN’s first original teen-focused series is carry expectations. David Makes Man goes above and above. It is not genre-specific. It simply… surpasses. Naturally, a large portion of this transcendence may be attributed to the unique style of realistic poetry that creator Tarell Alvin McCraney created. The fact that young David Young’s narrative defies easy explanation and provides very human realness on every page won’t come as a surprise if you’ve watched Moonlight, High Flying Bird, or Choir Boy. But although David Makes Man would have been fantastic no matter how it made the journey from McCraney’s vision to the screen, two elements elevate the version we get to see to extraordinary: Akili McDowell’s incredible performance as teen hero David (also known as DJ/Dai), and the textural shimmer of the team’s dreamy, inventive visual style.
A lot of David Makes Man revolves around the inner turmoil David goes through in trying to manage the day-to-day struggles of surviving life in the Ville without getting drawn into the drug-dealing world that killed his father-figure, the academic expectations that seem to exist in a vacuum at the magnet school he buses to every day, and the everyday social pressures that every middle-schooler in human history has had to deal with in order to fit in and not be weird (slash, not be embarrassed by his corny-ass mom). McDowell is usually requested to convey that tightrope walk with his eyes just, his hands clenched, or his quicksilver mask of a school-day grin. It’s difficult to recall David isn’t real since McDowell conveys every detail with such genuine realism, even when there is so much of it. It really is amazing. —Gunderson, Alexis
Sex Education
Created by:Â Laurie Nunn
Stars:Â Asa Butterfield, Gillian Anderson, Ncuti Gatwa, Emma Mackey, Connor Swindells
Original Network:Â Netflix
Asa Butterfield plays an insecure, intelligent, sensitive teenage boy with a limited social life, a bully-magnet best friend who constantly talks back to you, a wildly uninhibited sex-guru mother (Gillian Anderson), and an absentee father (the epically hilarious James Purefoy). You have a covert crush on the official Way Too Precocious girl at your school, who is really financially strapped. Thus, it seems sense that you would set up a sex clinic for high school kids in an abandoned school bathroom.
You do, of course.
Sex Education on Netflix is a really funny and endearing coming-of-age dramedy. It doesn’t completely rely on tired clichés, but it also isn’t terrified of them either. In addition, many of us would find Gillian Anderson’s portrayal as a sex therapist to be sufficient, even if the rest of the program failed. Fortunately, that isn’t true: The series is incredibly captivating and a tribute to the power of character development. Not a single frame is wasted by any of its beautifully designed characters. —Glynn, Amy
Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin
Created by: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Lindsay Calhoon Bring
Stars: Bailee Madison, Chandler Kinney, Zaria, Maia Reficco, and Malia Pyles Original
Network: HBO Max
Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin is currently unavailable to stream.
From the makers of Riverdale and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, comes this Pretty Little Liars spinoff that is just too good to refuse. Twenty years after the senseless death of social misfit Angela Waters almost tore their blue-collar neighborhood apart, we follow a new set of Little Liars as they struggle to find out what really occurred in 1999 and why a new “A”—an unidentified, all-knowing tormenter—has come to exact revenge.
Naturally, if there weren’t secrets being kept by each Liar, Pretty Little Liars wouldn’t be the same. Attracted to each other by yet another terrible tragedy (people in Millwood seem to drop like flies), pregnant teenager Imogen (Bailee Madison), ballerina Faran (Zaria), delinquent Noa (Maia Reficco), and tech-nerd Mouse (Malia Pyles) team up to discover their parents’ secrets while trying to keep their own private. With an equally nasty twist, HBO Max’s Original Sin is a throwback to classic teen dramas, complete with unfathomable mystery and messed-up intrigue. —Anna Govert
Riverdale
Created by:Â Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Stars:: K.J. Apa, Cole Sprouse, Lili Reinhart, Camila Mendes, Madelaine Petsch, Marisol Nichols, Ashleigh Murray, Mädchen Amick, Luke Perry
Original Network:: The CW
I’ve been trying to convince folks who haven’t watched Riverdale yet that it’s like Gossip Girl meets Twin Peaks, except with Archie Comics characters. The fact that the late Luke Perry plays Archie’s father, Molly Ringwald plays Archie’s mother, and Skeet Ulrich plays Jughead’s creepy hot dad—who also happens to be the head of the local gang, the Southside Serpents—should be enough to draw them in.
However, for the first three-quarters of the first season, Archie is befriending his music teacher, Ms. Grundy, who—unlike in the comics—is an elderly white-haired woman who goes around wearing heart-eyed sunglasses and picking up teenage boys. The storyline of this CW adolescent drama is driven by a gripping murder mystery (“Who killed Jason Blossom?” is Riverdale’s “Who killed Laura Palmer?”), with surprising turns thrown in along the way. It’s absurd and campy in all the best ways. —Bonnie Stiernberg
Stranger Things
Created by:Â The Duffer Brothers
Stars:Â Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Cara Buono, Matthew Modine
Original Network:Â Netflix
Whatever your thoughts on the subtleties of its narrative, Stranger Things is still an open homage to the 1980s, from a plethora of literal allusions to its own cinematic allusions in terms of style and plot. Its brave cast of children and teenagers travel to the mall and fight monsters—either external or inside. It’s both a creepy nightmare and a nostalgic dream. But the show’s skillfully designed aesthetics always work to heighten the happy feeling of the series’ non-monster moments, regardless of whether it’s set at Halloween or in the height of a mid-1980s summer.
In fact, that’s where Stranger Things excels. Although the creep factor is significant—and on times downright terrifying or extremely graphic—it serves as an almost humorous counterpoint to the generally upbeat portrayal of suburban life. What truly makes Stranger Things amazing, though, are the friendships and coming-of-age tales, the bonds between family members, and the connections. The Netflix horror series is as delicious, sloppy, and transient as an ice cream cone on a steamy summer’s day, for better or worse. Hi there!—Keene, Allison
Julie and the Phantoms
Created by:Â Dan Cross, David Hoge
Stars:Â Madison Reyes, Charlie Gillespie, Owen Patrick Joyner, Jeremy Shada
Original Network: Netflix
Netflix’s half-hour musical series Julie and the Phantoms was always going to be the next big family-friendly thing, thanks to the sparkling charm of newcomer Madison Reyes, the ’90s pop-punk bro-ness of the Phantom boys backing her up, and the Descendants/High School Musical/Hocus Pocus credentials of marquee executive producer/choreographer Kenny Ortega.
You’ve got legit tween catnip on your hands when you combine two showrunners with decades of Nickelodeon experience with a slew of stadium-worthy pop performances and Descendants’s own Booboo Stewart as an adorable skatebro ghost boyfriend (that Disney hasn’t quite gotten around to giving any of its cute and emotionally available rocker dudes). —Gunderson, Alexis
