Despite the fact that I, a little under a week ago, declared the teen drama officially dead, there were still a number of admirable teen and YA TV outings to grace our screens in 2023. Even in spite of shorter seasons, longer hiatuses, and the death of the traditional avenues where teen and YA shows thrived on the small screen, these series still captured everything we love about soapy teenage storytelling. From haunting mysteries to supernatural shenanigans to grounded melodramas, here are our picks of the best teen and YA offerings of 2023:
Harlan Coben’s Shelter, based on the prolific writing of author Harlan Coben, follows Mickey Bolitar (Jaden Michael), a high schooler still processing his father’s recent death. He finds himself in Kasselton, New Jersey, a sleepy suburb where his dad grew up, and unfortunately, the echoes of his family’s former life here make healing doubly difficult. The only consolation is that Mickey quickly befriends a group of fellow outsiders, including Spoon (Adrian Greensmith), a witty but earnest classmate, Ema (Abby Corrigan), a secretive girl who takes interest in Mickey’s troubles, and Ashley Kent (Samantha Bugliaro), a fellow new kid. However, just as he begins to settle in, a string of strange occurrences reveal that this unassuming town hides grim secrets.
Even as the tendrils of a greater mystery reach out from beneath the veneer of quiet suburbia, upfront, this tale shares more in common with the teen dramedies of yesteryear than anything else. There is quite a bit of John Hughes in these high school shenanigans, and the banter between its central friend group is full of whip-smart quips that makes it a delight to spend time with them. Although I came to Shelter expecting its central intrigue to be the star of the show, its cast of charmingly disastrous teens ended up stealing the spotlight. Between their convincing verbal spats and entertaining antics, they are a blast to root for. While the endpoint of this mystery tale leaves something to be desired, the path to get there is filled with good company. —Elijah Gonzalez
Wolf Pack follows high schoolers Everett (Armani Jackson) and Blake (Bella Shepard) after a traffic jam on the highway next to a blazing California wildfire leaves both of them experiencing hallucinations, getting mysterious phone calls, and nursing nasty, supernatural bite marks. Due to their new inexplicable connection, Everett and Blake cross paths with twins Harlan (Tyler Lawrence Gray) and Luna (Chloe Rose Robertson), as they question why the full moon seems to draw them all together. After a stampede and utter devastation from the fire, enter LA Fire Department investigator Kristin Ramsy (Sarah Michelle Gellar), whose joint task force with the police department is investigating the true cause of the wildfire, and her first mission? Question our newly lycanthropic teens. While some elements of the series are more bark than bite (like Gellar’s minimal inclusion from the jump, for example), Wolf Pack manages to offer enough thrills and chills to stick around for, especially for fans of Davis’ other werewolf project Teen Wolf (which is completely unrelated to this show). Despite not yet being renewed for a second season, Wolf Pack’s ambitious teen angst and werewolf stakes make it worth a binge. —Anna Govert
In Sex Education’s final season, it ultimately feels reluctant to end. After the explosive Season 3 finale that saw Moordale High being shut down, the cast finds themselves in a new environment and dealing with big changes and new problems to solve. Sex Education ends by saying that therapy and growing up are an ongoing process that never ends. You don’t just come of age once and then you’re grown. You come of age over and over again. You constantly need to build yourself up, take more risks, and deal with your troubles no matter how overwhelming they are. By the time the final credits roll, you don’t get a sense these characters are done with their issues. You understand that they finally learned they will be growing up for the rest of their lives. There is a comfort in realizing awkwardness isn’t a phase, it’s forever. —Leila Jordan
From series creators Nate and Megan Trinrud and helmed by Pretty Little Liars alum Oliver Goldstick as showrunner, Paramount+’s School Spirits follows Maddie (Peyton List), a high school student who was murdered at school and is now trapped there for her eternal afterlife. The only catch? She can’t remember how she died or who killed her, resulting in a murder mystery that finds its victim turning into one of the amateur sleuths attempting to solve the case. Aided by her friends Simon (Kristian Flores) and Nicole (Kiara Pichardo) from the land of the living, as well as a number of spirits from different eras stuck within the school as well—like ‘80s jock Wally (Milo Manheim), ‘90s nerd Charley (Nick Pugliese), and ‘50s beatnik Rhonda (Sarah Yarkin)—Maddie must confront her past in order to solve her murder in the present—all while trying to adjust to high school purgatory. The resulting series splits its tone between a comedic Ghosts-esque Afterlife Support Group and a compelling murder mystery, marrying those two focuses through the well-placed themes surrounding grief, loss, love, and connection. Endlessly charming in spite of its sometimes clunky execution, School Spirits is a ghastly good time, and worthy of haunting your watchlist. —Anna Govert
At first glance, Ginny & Georgia is just another show that got a second season off the back of a viral moment. After the show’s “Oppression Olympics” scene made the rounds on Twitter, the show was renewed, but underneath that horrible (for reasons within the show and outside of it) scene, Ginny & Georgia is full of well-written, complex characters. For all of the things that the first season mishandled, the second season has been a chance to right those wrongs.
In truth, Ginny & Georgia might be the best that the newest generation of teen dramas has to offer. The moments that make you yell at your screen because you can’t believe they made them all the way past the cutting room floor are perfectly balanced with the emotional center of the series and the trauma it showcases, and this season manages to be even better than the last. In the age of Riverdale giving us a musical episode every other week with almost no substance to back things up, a solid, intricate story that is ultimately about a mother and daughter trying to survive all that life throws at them is all we can ask for and more—and there will hopefully be more to come. —Kathryn Porter
Netflix’s Heartstopper is essential teen viewing. In 2022, it burst onto the scene with its sickeningly sweet coming of age storytelling, its animated leaves, and its unabashedly romantic courtship between Nick (Kit Connor) and Charlie (Joe Locke), and its second outing is just as delightful. Heartstopper Season 2 retains its status as a breezy comfort watch, while still also holding the gravity of its place within queer storytelling with an admirable grace. Heartstopper lives in a world where a conversation and an indie guitar riff can solve all problems, and there’s value in the inherent optimism of its sugar-coated storylines. As Nick and Charlie navigate coming out and being in a relationship alongside their own personal inner demons, and their friends deal with problems all their own, this series balances heavy themes with a light touch. The charm of this ensemble shines even brighter in this second outing, and the relationships remain sweet and grounded. Heartstopper is a comforting binge you can’t miss. —Anna Govert
The Rez Dogs have learned the truth the hard way: the magical, faraway land of California will not solve all their problems and make all their dreams come true. A stolen car, a visit with White Jesus, and one very cathartic swim in the ocean later, the teens are broke and stranded in California when the third and final season of FX’s Reservation Dogs begins.
Throughout the first two seasons, Bear (D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai), Elora (Devery Jacobs), Cheese (Lane Factor), and Willie Jack (Paulina Alexis) are pushing their boundaries and trying to walk away from all the things keeping them in Oklahoma. But their family ties are like bungee cords, stretching and stretching until they inevitably snap back into place. The history of their hometown overwhelms each of the teens, and by the time they leave for California, the only thing they can imagine is running away from it all. Despite the series being billed as a comedy, it’s impossible to explore the richness of this—or any—Native American community without addressing the underlying pain and violence that white Americans have inflicted. Reservation Dogs has always balanced humor and heartbreak with stunning clarity. The legacy of Reservation Dogs is multifaceted, reflecting its impact on the Native American community and TV at large, bowing out both powerful and poignant; it will be dearly missed as this final season comes to an end. —Kristen Reid
Everything Now revolves around Mia (Sophie Wilde), a teenager who, in the first episode, has just left a seven-month inpatient program for eating disorder recovery, and it becomes clear that for Mia, recovery isn’t as simple as the people around her would like it to be. Everything Now balances itself between the likes of Sex Education and My Mad Fat Diary, never straying away from the hardships of growing up. The show abandons all archetypes of the modern teen drama in favor of crafting a show that, in the last few years, seemed unimaginable. From a Grimes needle drop during a house-party to conflicts that hold weight because of their realism, this feels like the closest we’ll get to a proper successor of the teen dramas of the 2000’s. Each aspect of Everything Now weaves together to craft up something beautiful, and in doing so, the show cements itself as a significant standout amongst its peers. —Kaiya Shunyata
Set at superhero college God U, Gen V follows a group of young supes who were each injected with Compound V when they were children, resulting in each of them developing both superpowers and a whole lot of trauma. Taking the superhero genre and putting college spin on it is Gen V’s most brilliant storytelling secret weapon, allowing the series to elevate its young adult angst and coming of age stories into larger-than-life, world-ending stakes. The series is ultimately built on the dynamics that ground it, including the delightful romance between Marie (Jaz Sinclair) and Jordan (Derek Luh / London Thor), the betrayals from both Sam (Asa German) and Cate (Maddie Phillips), and the relationship all of these young people have to their own powers and destinies. Gen V is one of the year’s best superhero outings, one of the best shows of the year, and one of the best teen offerings of 2023 (even if the TV-MA rating makes it inaccessible for a portion of its target audience), and with Season 2 on the horizon, there’s nowhere for this incredible series to go but up. —Anna Govert
Riverdale will go down in history as one of the best teen TV shows of all time—at least in my TV history book. The series, which ran the gamut of iconic teen TV tropes (from musical performances to murder mysteries to supernatural shenanigans), was both charmingly self-aware and brilliantly campy, all resulting in a final season that traded in those over-the-top elements to lean further into grounded teen drama. That isn’t to say Riverdale wasn’t still ridiculous in that final season, as there was still plenty of murder and mayhem to be had and a seemingly endless supply of tongue-in-cheek endings for our favorite characters (the Core Four becoming a quad couple was peak Riverdalien ridiculousness), but the series’ most subversive choice in its final season was to deliver earnest teen drama with a sincerity befitting a final outing that feels like both a love letter to fans and a victory lap for a series that represents the last of its kind. From sock hops to milk man murders, Riverdale solidified its legacy with a final season that delivered the best of both grounded drama and par-for-the-course madness. —Anna Govert
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