Ok, so another idea struck me...I want to talk about teen dramas. Why?
Because at one point in my life, I fell victim to at least one teen drama in my life. My faves were: Degrassi, Instant Star (RIP), and the occasional episode of Gossip Girl.
Every night, I was "glued to the tube" so to speak....and I remember having to fight my little brother and sister (and sometimes my mom) for the remote whenever my favorite show came on.
It seems that nowadays, more and more teen soaps are popping up on every network...
Shows like The Vampire Diaries on the CW (made exclusively for Twilight fanatics) and Glee (made exclusively for High School Musical fans and Theater geeks, like myself...) on Fox are sprouting limbs and running all over the top spot when it comes to ratings.
I can't help but think though...are writers of these uber-popular dramas "pushing the envelope" too much?
I mean, don't get me wrong. I like drama as much as the next chick (hence my blog name) but sometimes, I find myself flinching and pulling an ugly face or two when I see teens engaging in activities that I definitely was not allowed to even think about.
Looking as far back as the 1990's, the typical teen drama always touches on relatively controversial issues, that include: sex, drug use, abuse, homosexuality, teenage pregnancy, suicide....I mean, I could go on.
I definitely pay homage to the teen soaps that paved the way, like Beverly Hills 90210 and Party of Five...and how could I forget Dawson's Creek?
I remember being alive when Jennifer Love Hewitt, Katie Holmes, and Tori Spelling were the most popular girls in high school, and I often fantasized about my own high school experience. I spent many a night praying that one day, I could have an awesome life just like them.
Unfortunately, that was not the case....but I digress.
It was these dramas that introduced a whole new era of prime-time television. But now, I find that teenagers are getting more and more desynsitized to this kind of behavior. In fact, after talking to my little sister about it, I found out that because of their admiration and slight obsessions of the shows, she sees more and more of her classmates adapting some of the same attitudes and thoughts as the rebellious characters...indirectly because they imitate what they see on their favorite shows.
To me, that's sad, and it makes me think. Although these shows have positive messages at the end (like PSAs and such), it seems as though they are pushing too far for the message to be heard, and actually harming, and not helping teenagers deal with these issues.
So, is this too much? I'll let you decide...but honestly, it wouldn't hurt for the networks to tone down a bit.
Because at one point in my life, I fell victim to at least one teen drama in my life. My faves were: Degrassi, Instant Star (RIP), and the occasional episode of Gossip Girl.
Every night, I was "glued to the tube" so to speak....and I remember having to fight my little brother and sister (and sometimes my mom) for the remote whenever my favorite show came on.
It seems that nowadays, more and more teen soaps are popping up on every network...
Shows like The Vampire Diaries on the CW (made exclusively for Twilight fanatics) and Glee (made exclusively for High School Musical fans and Theater geeks, like myself...) on Fox are sprouting limbs and running all over the top spot when it comes to ratings.
I can't help but think though...are writers of these uber-popular dramas "pushing the envelope" too much?
I mean, don't get me wrong. I like drama as much as the next chick (hence my blog name) but sometimes, I find myself flinching and pulling an ugly face or two when I see teens engaging in activities that I definitely was not allowed to even think about.
Looking as far back as the 1990's, the typical teen drama always touches on relatively controversial issues, that include: sex, drug use, abuse, homosexuality, teenage pregnancy, suicide....I mean, I could go on.
I definitely pay homage to the teen soaps that paved the way, like Beverly Hills 90210 and Party of Five...and how could I forget Dawson's Creek?
I remember being alive when Jennifer Love Hewitt, Katie Holmes, and Tori Spelling were the most popular girls in high school, and I often fantasized about my own high school experience. I spent many a night praying that one day, I could have an awesome life just like them.
Unfortunately, that was not the case....but I digress.
It was these dramas that introduced a whole new era of prime-time television. But now, I find that teenagers are getting more and more desynsitized to this kind of behavior. In fact, after talking to my little sister about it, I found out that because of their admiration and slight obsessions of the shows, she sees more and more of her classmates adapting some of the same attitudes and thoughts as the rebellious characters...indirectly because they imitate what they see on their favorite shows.
To me, that's sad, and it makes me think. Although these shows have positive messages at the end (like PSAs and such), it seems as though they are pushing too far for the message to be heard, and actually harming, and not helping teenagers deal with these issues.
So, is this too much? I'll let you decide...but honestly, it wouldn't hurt for the networks to tone down a bit.
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