The 35 Best Teen TV Shows on Netflix

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The 35 Best Teen TV Shows on Netflix

Teenagers. Who are they? Where did they come from? What do they want? Netflix, in some part, seems to know. The streaming giant has a plethora of great teen TV shows that adults can also enjoy. And while some classic titles are no longer available on the platform (previous No. 6 entry The Vampire Diaries will be sorely missed), there are plenty of charming newcomers like Wednesday, Never Have I Ever, Ginny and Georgia, and… the rest of our highly curated list!

Below you’ll find more than enough on the streaming service to fill your syllabus—not to mention your entire extracurricular schedule. The TV series listed here range widely, from animation and family dramedy to science fiction and fantasy. Yet what they share, whatever their genre, tone, or time period, is the conviction that teens have stories worth telling. We wholeheartedly agree.

Here are the best teen TV shows on Netflix—ranked:

Honorable Mention: XO, Kitty, Locke & Key, Mortel, Degrassi: Next Class, AlRawabi School for Girls, October Faction, First Kill

35. Everything Now

Everything Now review

Created by: Ripley Parker
Stars: Sophie Wilde, Lauryn Ajufo, Harry Cadby, Noah Thomas, Sam Reuben, Niamh McCormack, Jessie Mae Alonzo, Robert Akodoto
Original Network: Netflix

Watch on Netflix

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


34. The Society

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Created by: Christopher Keyser
Stars: Kathryn Newton, Gideon Adlon, Sean Berdy, Natasha Liu Bordizzo, Jacques Colimon, Olivia DeJonge
Original Network: Netflix

Watch on Netflix

I’ve watched a lot of television series in which nuanced self-possession has sharpened my understanding of what it means to be human, but I genuinely can’t remember the last time I came out on the other side of a binge seeing the base tenuousness of the society we’ve made for ourselves with such terrifying new clarity. The Society, Netflix’s high-tech, aged-up take on Lord of the Flies, manages the trick with a simple bus ride. Although teen television has been peddling in intensely dark moral allegories for decades now, it is difficult to articulate just how existentially devastating The Society gets, or how quickly. The show gives its modern, engaged audience a co-ed spread of hormonal high schoolers, left behind by a fleet of school buses that (returning from an aborted end-of-year camping trip) drop them off in the middle of the night in an empty, uncanny double of their idyllic New England hometown. They discover the next day that not only are all satellite and internet connections to the outer world gone, but that all roads out of town end abruptly in impenetrable forest. The Society isn’t remotely interested in spending a lot of time on the whys or wheres of the teens’ new reality. The only thing it cares about is sinking into the psychological nightmare of a bunch of underprepared kids realizing not only that they’re all alone in the universe, but that it’s on them to make up and enforce all the boring, hard rules required to sustain a civilized society.—Alexis Gunderson

 


33. Ashley Garcia: Genius in Love

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Created by: Seth Kurland and Mario Lopez
Stars: Paulina Chávez, Jencarlos Canela, Conor Husting, Bella Podaras, Reed Horstmann, Mario Lopez
Original Network: Netflix

Watch on Netflix

Even in a sitcom landscape as tonally surreal as the one Netflix has managed to cultivate, Ashley Garcia: Genius in Love was never quite allowed to reach its full potential, which is an absolute shame. The show focuses on teen astrophysicist Ashley Garcia (Paulina Chávez) as she moves in with her uncle Victor (Jencarlos Canela) to take a job, reconnect with her childhood best friend, and learn how to be a normal teenage girl—hanging out at coffee shops, dating football players, helping her social influencer friends wrangle their Instagram accounts. The Mario Lopez-produced series also features a charming cast with impressively tight sitcom chops, and whose chemistry never fails to beam straight through the screen.

Where that chemistry might have taken them, we’ll never know, as Ashley Garcia was never really afforded the chance to find out. Its protagonist was never given a reason to ever step foot in a high school, and her workplace never really given enough space to become the lady-led Big Bang Theory knockoff it wanted to be. It even saw an entire rebranded from the optimistically open-sounding The Expanding Universe of Ashley Garcia to the much less flattering Ashley Garcia: Genius in Love midway through its single-season run.

But please don’t let this deter you from watching; seeing the kind of friendship Ashley builds with her normal teen friends (Conor Husting, Bella Podaras and Reed Horstmann) despite not having the typical high school environment to force them together is a delight, as is seeing the kind of warm bond that she develops with her tío Victor in their non-traditional domestic set-up. It’s a bummer more won’t be coming down the road, but for a short, easy binge, Dr. Ashley Garcia is your gal. —Alexis Gunderson

 


32. Black Lightning

Created by: Salim Akil
Stars: Cress Williams, China Anne McClain, Nafessa Williams, Christine Adams, Marvin “Krondon” Jones III, Damon Gupton, James Remar
Original Network: The CW

Watch on Netflix

Greg Berlanti’s Arrowverse was an undeniable success for The CW—and for the DC universe on screen. But it did not, historically, have a great deal to say about the deeply rooted prejudices of the real world that have conspired to create the violence and terror that shape places like the Glades in Green Arrow’s Star City, or that are mirrored in the bigotry metahumans face by “normal” society. Salim Akil and Mara Brock Akil’s addition to the fold, Black Lightning, takes that challenge head on, positioning endemic racism and systemic inequity as the central evils a real superhero would find himself (or, in the case of Nafessa Williams’ Thunder, herself) up against. It then uses those injustices, and the tensions they cause within not just communities but individual families (Black Lightning, as played by Cress Williams, is father to two superpowered daughters), to tell a compelling, heady story about what it means to do what is right in a world that resembles our own more than any superhero story to date. (Although Freeform’s Cloak & Dagger may give the show a run for its money). Plus, its soundtrack? Double platinum. —Alexis Gunderson

 


31. Julie and the Phantoms

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Created by: Dan Cross, David Hoge
Stars: Madison Reyes, Charlie Gillespie, Owen Patrick Joyner, Jeremy Shada
Original Network: Netflix

Watch on Netflix

Between the sparkling charm exuded by newcomer Madison Reyes, the ‘90s pop-punk bro-ness of the Phantom boys backing her up, and the Descendants/High School Musical/Hocus Pocus bona fides of marquee EP/choreographer Kenny Ortega, Netflix’s half-hour musical series Julie and the Phantoms (based on the 2011 Brazilian series Julie e os Fantasmas) was always destined to be the next big family-friendly thing. Add in a pair of showrunners with decades of Nickelodeon experience, a bevy of stadium-ready pop performances, and Descendants’s own Booboo Stewart as an adorable skatebro ghost boyfriend (that Disney’s never quite gotten around to giving any of its cute and emotionally available rocker dudes), and you’ve got legit tween catnip on your hands. —Alexis Gunderson

 


30. Atypical

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Created by: Robia Rashid
Stars: Jennifer Jason Leigh, Keir Gilchrist, Brigette Lundy-Paine, Amy Okuda, Michael Rapaport
Original Network: Netflix

Watch on Netflix

Netflix’s quiet, thoughtful comedy exists without the hype that surrounds many of the streaming giant’s shows. And that’s OK. The story of Sam (Keir Gilchrist), an 18-year-old with autism, and his family speaks for itself. In the second season, the comedy hilariously follows Sam as he searches for a new therapist (he swears one was actually a rabbit because she eats so many carrots) while also dealing with his family falling apart—which Sam’s dad, Doug (Michael Rapaport), and his mom, Elsa (Jennifer Jason Leigh) tries to hide from Sam. But, of course, things like this don’t stay secret for long. As Sam’s sister Casey, Brigette Lundy-Paine turns in one of TV’s most underrated performances. Yes, this family is unique, but all families are—and the series deftly captures both the comedic moments and the heartbreaking ones. Atypical remains a show more people should be watching. —Amy Amatangelo

 


29. Outer Banks

Created by: Josh Pate, Jonas Pate, Shannon Burke
Stars: Chase Stokes, Madelyn Cline, Madison Bailey, Jonathan Daviss, Rudy Pankow, Austin North
Original Network: Netflix

Watch on Netflix

No one actually says “Welcome to the OBX, bitch!” but the sentiment is definitely there in Netflix’s teen dream of a TV series. Created by Josh Pate, Jonas Pate, and Shannon Burke, Outer Banks explores the lives of the rich kids (called Kooks) and poor kids (Pogues) along North Carolina’s marshy coastal islands. Adults are scarce, school is out, shirts are practically sacrilege; it’s a high schooler’s fantasy.

Though the first episode establishes what seems like a very paint-by-numbers teen drama whose players are almost indistinguishably attractive, the series’ dynamic ultimately feels classic rather than rote. It’s a throwback, in some ways; the kids drink and hookup a little, but mostly the story revolves around the search for gold lost in an ancient shipwreck. There’s a mystery, young love, missing parents, and lots of general rabble-rousing.

Outer Banks isn’t exactly wholesome, but there is something about its sun-soaked adventure that feels emotionally authentic to the teen experience. For a show whose pilot starts off with the Pogues all crashing at a parentless pad and nothing less dramatic than a hurricane, it’s surprisingly grounded—so much so that some may find it a little bland. But as it threads together the island’s various social orders in ways that continues to amp up the drama, the twists (emotional and plot-driven) manage to be both familiar and surprising—despite an overwrought denouement that threatens to overshadow its better parts. Outer Banks isn’t trying to be anything other than what it is, and that’s a respectable position to take. Welcome to the OBX, viewer. —Allison Keene

 


28. Big Mouth

Created by: Nick Kroll, Andrew Goldberg, Jennifer Flackett and Mark Levin
Stars:Nick Kroll, John Mulaney, Jessi Klein, Jason Mantzoukas, Maya Rudolph
Original Network: Netflix

Watch on Netflix

Netflix’s animated series, from creators Nick Kroll, Andrew Goldberg, Jennifer Flackett and Mark Levin, follows four friends through the earliest stages of puberty: Andrew (John Mulaney) sports inconvenient erections; Nick (Kroll) awaits his first pubic hairs; Jessi (Jessi Klein) begins menstruating at the Statue of Liberty; Jay (Jason Mantzoukas) conceives rococo ways to get off with his pillow. It’s wickedly bawdy (one episode’s end credits roll over an extended description of Andrew’s dad’s testicles) and devilishly funny (another uses a note-perfect Seinfeld send-up to explain the blowjob “head push” and the term “mons pubis”), but as implied by its theme song, Charles Bradley’s “Changes,” the series is sweeter than it appears. Its goal is to cut through the humiliations of sex, to break through the shame shellacked atop our “gross little dirtbag” selves to reveal the perfectly normal yearning underneath: for pleasure, for touch, for emotional connection; for approval, confidence, intimacy, love. By admitting, as Andrew does in the series premiere, that “everything is so embarrassing”—and not only for teens—Big Mouth squares a space in which there’s no question that can’t be asked, and no answer that applies the same way to everyone. It’s the streaming version of your sex-ed teacher’s anonymous slips of paper, except the laughs aren’t sniggers—they’re hard-won, empathic guffaws. —Matt Brennan

 


27.The End of the F—ing World

Created by: Charlie Covell, Jonathan Entwistle, Lucy Tcherniak
Stars: Alex Lawther, Jessica Barden, Gemma Whelan, Wunmi Mosaku, Steve Oram, Christine Bottomley, Navin Chowdhry, Barry Ward
Original Network: Channel 4/Netflix

Watch on Netflix

James (Alex Lawther) is 17 and kills enough small animals that he truly believes he’s a psychopath. Alyssa (Jessica Barden) is 17 and kills nothing—not that her words lack for trying. Both are unbelievably good at being at the wrong intensity levels for normal human interaction: Barden goes loud and acerbic, while Lawther shuts down so completely it’s hard to tell if he was born or simply emerged from the Britain’s collective post-punk sigh, like a Promethean clay figure stirring from Athena’s breath. But The End of the F—ing World doesn’t want your morbid fascination. Or, unlike almost every other show with similar subject matter, it doesn’t want it to stay morbid. A show about a boy bent on killing his road trip partner as the two high schoolers run away from home sounds more like the grisly true-crime TV we’ve been groomed to enjoy since news channels realized fear, violence, and tragedy attracted eyeballs. Yet the The End of the F—ing World gives the middle finger to this Nightcrawler-esque worldview, finding hope in a world of psychopaths, within the context of a TV landscape that loves them. —Jacob Oller

 


26. Daybreak

Created by: Brad Peyton, Aron Eli Coleite
Stars:: Colin Ford, Alyvia Alyn Lind, Sophie Simnett, Austin Crute, Cody Kearsley, Jeanté Godlock, Gregory Kasyan, Krysta Rodriguez, Matthew Broderick
Original Network:: Netflix

Watch on Netflix

Watching the teen-centric, post-apocalypse comedy Daybreak, which stars Supernatural’s Colin Ford as a C-student skating his way through a post-apocalyptic, zombie-infested Glendale, California, reveals that there’s no such thing as a new idea, just new ways of putting the same old shiny pieces together. If what you want out of your next teen/apocalypse binge are new ideas, Daybreak isn’t going to do the trick. Josh Wheeler (Ford) isn’t a surprising choice for reluctant teen hero. Sam (Sophie Simnett) is not a surprising choice for damsel in (possible) distress. Ex-jock Wesley Fists (Austin Crute) and Anjelica the preteen nightmare (Alyvia Alyn Lind) aren’t surprising choices for ragtag heroic sidekicks. Bloodthirsty jock vikings, homesteading 4-Hers, viciously misandrist Cheermazons and an über-woke principal this close to completely cracking: none are clever apocalyptic takes on classic high school chestnuts.

That said, for all that Daybreak wears its dozens upon dozens of teen/genre movie tropes on its Mad Max: Fury Road sleeves, it’s still super watchable. More than that, once the first episode (“Josh vs. the Apocalypse, Pt. 1”) dispenses with both the most necessary pre- and post-apocalyptic exposition and the most blatant John Hughes clichés, it does what any self-aware kaleidoscope of old ideas should do and uses its gross of references to subvert some key expectations in compelling ways. —Alexis Gunderson

 


25. No Good Nick

Created by: David H. Steinberg, Keetgi Kogan
Stars:: Siena Agudong, Lauren Lindsey Donzis, Kalama Epstein, Sean Astin, Melissa Joan Hart
Original Network:: Netflix

Watch on Netflix

I… love?? No Good Nick?? I mean, don’t get me wrong, nothing about it should make sense. Sitcoms do not work this way, none of its weirdly random pieces—a live studio audience! A corrupt foster care system! Wacky sitcom family shenanigans! Serialized storytelling! Mob violence!—should fit together at all, let alone combine to make something coherent. But while Part One of Netflix’s bizarre-meets-bleak con artist family sitcom managed to overcome every odd to end up “a ripping low-stakes binge,” Part Two goes way beyond that. And Part Two is great.

Once you get past the (very real) disorientation of watching a young teen girl be existentially misused by every adult in her life while a live studio audience laughs at the tropey sitcom shenanigans she gets up to to pay off the mob, it turns out that No Good Nick is, in fact, excellent. It’s maybe not Russian Doll excellent, but also, on a weird level, it’s not… not? I know, I know. But truly!

So turn on Netflix and queue up the next installment of Teen Girl Con Artist Covers Dad’s Mob Debts While Taking Revenge on Melissa Joan Hart and Sean Astin to see for yourself just how smoothly this show pulls off each of its increasingly ridiculous tricks.—Alexis Gunderson

 


24. Teenage Bounty Hunters

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Created by: Kathleen Jordan
Stars: Maddie Phillips, Anjelica Bette Fellini, Kadeem Hardison, Virginia Williams
Original Network: Netflix

Watch on Netflix

It’s a real bummer to put any series on this list that was canceled before its time, but so long as Netflix is going to wield its axe indiscriminately enough that it catches series as critically and popularly beloved as Teenage Bounty Hunters—Kathleen Jordan’s darkly comic vision of hormonal teen girls testing the boundaries of their sheltered white lives by taking up a shadow life as, well, teenage bounty hunters—that’s the reality we’re stuck with. So take this entry in the spirit it’s written, as both warning and recommendation: You will develop an immediate crush on badass telepathic Christian School twins Sterling (Maddie Philips) and Blair (Anjelica Bette Fellini) and their equally badass gruff grandpa-mentor Bowser (Kadeem Hardison), and then when you hit the whiplash end-that-shouldn’t-have-been-the-end of their bounty hunting/twin legacy story, that crush will, in turn, crush you right back. So, you know, have fun! —Alexis Gunderson

 


23. She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

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Created by: Noelle Stevenson
Stars: Aimee Carrero, Karen Fukuhara, AJ Michalka, Marcus Scribner, Reshma Shetty, Lorraine Toussaint
Original Network:: Netflix

Watch on Netflix

If you, like me, are coming to She-Ra and the Princesses of Power for the first time—and you should; the magical mermaid princess water is lovely here—then whatever number of robots you’re expecting to see, be ready for double that. Possibly triple. Really, considering the nature of technology on/in Etheria, it’s probably best not to set any bar for how many robots might eventually cross your screen. Let the magic be in the discovery.

If you have even a passing familiarity with Netflix and Dreamworks’ thoroughly of-our-time reimagining of the legacy Masters of the Universe property, you might have been expecting me to lead with any number of other facts. Like say the fact that, led by the creative sensibilities of Noelle Stevenson, the graphic novelist behind Nimona and Lumberjanes, the series places both monster girls and the tender tenacity of friendship dead center. Or the fact that, also under Stevenson’s watch, the majority of the show’s creative staff and cast are female. Or the fact that—again, with Stevenson’s deliberate blessing—the new She-Ra is super, super queer.

For a kids’ show, this is a lot. But there is something so chillingly familiar in it, especially at this moment in history, that it’s impossible not to be impressed—and just as impossible not to hope that the tools Adora, Glimmer, Bow, and the rest of their friends fight back with as the series continues will be ones we can use in our own lives, back here in the real world. —Alexis Gunderson

 


22. Everything Sucks!

Created by: Ben York Jones and Michael Mohan
Stars: Jahi Di’Allo Winston, Peyton Kennedy, Sydney Sweeney, Patch Darragh, Claudine Mboligikpelani Nako, Quinn Liebling, Elijah Stevenson, Rio Mangini
Original Network:: Netflix

Watch on Netflix

Set in the town of Boring, Oregon, in 1996, Everything Sucks! follows the members of a high school drama club and AV club coming together to make a short film. Along the way, it offers a compelling look at the familiar highs and lows of adolescence through Luke (Jahi Di’Allo Winston), a freshman whose unrequited crush on classmate Kate (Peyton Kennedy) eventually opens his eyes to a world much larger and richer than the one he’d previously known once Kate begins to come to terms with her own sexuality and accepts herself as she is. While the show can be painfully realistic at times—it is seriously dedicated to authentically portraying what it’s like to be a teenager—it’s also the type of show from which it is impossible to look away, especially for anyone who grew up in the ‘90s, with the very same songs backing their own coming of age. —Kaitlin Thomas

 


21. Shadow and Bone

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Created by: Eric Heisserer
Stars: Jessie Mei Li, Archie Renaux, Freddy Carter, Amita Suman, Kit Young, Ben Barnes, Zoë Wanamaker
Original Network:: Netflix

Watch on Netflix

Adapted from Leigh Bardugo’s popular Grishaverse trilogy and the subsequent Six of Crows duology, Netflix’s Shadow and Bone features a familiar Chosen One narrative with broad enough appeal to attract even those who think they don’t like fantasy. Set in Ravka, a fictional country based on Russia that is divided by the ominous Shadow Fold—an area of oppressive darkness where hideous creatures feast on human flesh—an orphan named Alina Starkov (Jessie Mei Li) discovers she alone possesses the power to save her country from the forces of darkness that threaten to destroy it when her ability to summon and control light makes itself known. As Alina contends with those who would like to use her and her unique ability and those who want to snuff it out completely, the show digs into larger themes of destiny and abuses of power without ever shying away from some more difficult topics like racism and oppression. While it isn’t going to blaze any new trails in the fantasy genre, the series does set itself apart from other shows with a story that is packed full of emotion and backed by a distinct mythology. —Kaitlin Thomas

 


20. American Vandal

Created by: Tony Yacenda and Dan Perrault
Stars: Tyler Alvarez, Griffin Gluck, Jimmy Tatro
Original Network: Netflix

Watch on Netflix

American Vandal is the tongue-in-cheek antidote to the “true crime” craze: a “prestige docuseries” on the subject of dick-drawing, set on dismantling the form from within. After all, its understanding of the form is impeccable: With dramatic cold opens, floated theories and test cases; interviews, illustrations and re-creations; careful cliffhangers and a Jinx-style hot mic, it applies the genre’s commonplaces to absurd situations with aplomb. It’s a pungently goofy reminder that the history of “true crime” is dominated by “lowbrow” media—pulpy magazines, grocery-store paperbacks, salacious installments of Dateline or 20/20—and that its newfound sense of “prestige” is primarily a function of style. Still, American Vandal’s most surprising strength is not its satire but its steady construction of a narrative backdrop even more compelling than its creators realize. Call it Fast Times at Hanover High: The series’ amusing slice of schoolyard life. —Matt Brennan

 


19. Chilling Adventures of Sabrina

Created by: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Stars: Kiernan Shipka, Lucy Davis, Miranda Otto, Chance Perdomo, Ross Lynch, Bronson Pinchot, Gavin Leatherwood
Original Network: Netflix

Watch on Netflix

The Archie-adjacent teenage witch had a bumpy ride, but Chilling Adventures of Sabrina scratches a very specific horror itch for fans of demonic magical metaphor. The show’s attempts at feminism veer from the brutally satisfying to the lip-service-only frustrating, but weaving that driving principle throughout the show’s coming-of-age plots and the underground magical societies within which they take place only binds the show closer into a more cohesive, if imperfect, entity. Kiernan Shipka, taking all that she earned from Mad Men, dominates the screen while snipping and snapping with each potent line delivery. A plethora of romantic angles supplement the show with its more Riverdale-like elements, but at its heart, Sabrina is a horror show that only looks to get darker as its reign continues. —Jacob Oller

 


18. Warrior Nun

Created by: Simon Barry
Stars: Alba Baptista, Thelka Reuten, Lorena Andrea, Toya Turner, Kristina Tonteri-Young, Tristán Uloa, Sylvia De Fanti, and William Miller
Original Network: Netflix

Watch on Netflix

Adapted from a graphic novel and brought to the screen by Simon Barry, Netflix’s Warrior Nun is about exactly what it sounds like: kickass, Catholic nuns. The series follows quadriplegic Ava (Alba Baptista), whose deceased body was used as a hiding place for a sacred, powerful halo, resulting in her being brought back to life as the superpowered Warrior Nun. Forced into a new role as the new leader of the Order of the Cruciform Sword, Ava contends with her own past, her new connection to the Catholic church, and her opportunity for a second life. Joined by Sister Warriors Beatrice (Kristina Tonteri-Young), Lilith (Lorena Andrea), Camila (Olivia Delcán), and Shotgun Mary (Toya Turner), the OCS investigates a large conspiracy surrounding the Catholic church’s hidden secrets, all while trying desperately to turn Ava into the hero they need. Filled with stunning fight sequences, an abundance of heart, and a tasteful amount of sacrilege, Warrior Nun delivers a hell of a good time.—Anna Govert

 


17. Anne with an E

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Created by: Moira Walley-Beckett
Stars: Amybeth McNulty, Geraldine James, R. H. Thomson, Lucas Jade Zumann, Dalila Bela, Corrine Koslo
Original Network: Netflix

Watch on Netflix

Netflix’s excellent Anne with an E may have had a bit of a shaky start as an Anne of Green Gables adaptation, but the show got better with each season and truly came into its own, proving to be a series that understood teenagers so, so well, not just as the TV-trope of agents of camp and chaos, but as having heart and passion to set the world to rights. Each season was increasingly triumphant as the core group of Canadian teens at the turn of the 20th century battled societal issues like racism, freedom of speech, and consent while navigating changing friendships, budding crushes, and studying for their college entrance exams. Anne was not always subtle—in fact, it almost never was—but it managed to meaningfully include the stories of people of color, LGBT narratives, and native peoples in a way that naturally extended the scope of its source material. At its core, Anne was a wonderfully optimistic and unique series that made you feel better for having watched it, and we could certainly do with more of that. —Allison Keene

 


16. Gilmore Girls

Created by: Amy Sherman-Palladino
Stars: Lauren Graham, Alexis Bledel, Melissa McCarthy, Keiko Agena, Yanic Truesdale, Scott Patterson, Kelly Bishop, Edward Herrmann, Liza Weil, Jared Padalecki, Milo Ventimiglia, Sean Gunn, David Sutcliffe, Chris Eigeman, Matt Czuchry
Original Networks: The WB, The CW, Netflix

Watch on Netflix

Paste‘s fearless former TV editor, Matt Brennan, once embarked on a journey. Having never seen Gilmore Girls before, he watched all 154 episodes of the original plus the four installments of A Year in the Life (you can read his hilarious stream-of-consciousness here). And I have to admit I was jealous. For me, the original show is now a distant and beloved memory. Oh, the joy of discovering it for the first time! I envy all of you who will watch as Lorelai (Lauren Graham), her daughter Rory (Alexis Bledel) and family matriarch Emily (the incomparable Kelly Bishop) honestly portray three generations of strong women. It’s the only show you can watch with your teenage daughter and your mother and be assured you will all be equally entertained. In addition to the deft storytelling, there’s the never before or since matched rat-a-tat banter and pop-culture references that infuse all the dialogue. And the love stories! Lorelai and Luke (Scott Patterson) are one of TV’s greatest love stories. And will you be #TeamJess, #TeamDean or #TeamLogan? Even if I didn’t love the (very) flawed A Year in the Life and kind of despised the final four words, I still was so happy to see my friends in Stars Hollow again. The show became a part of my life. And it will become a part of yours, too. —Amy Amatangelo

 


15. Dash & Lily

Created by: Joe Tracz
Stars: Austin Abrams, Midori Francis
Original Network: Netflix

Watch on Netflix

Christmas in New York is a fabled institution. NYC is the home of the high-kicking Rockettes and the carefully curated Rockefeller tree; a place where gigantic ornaments line the streets of Midtown, and holiday markets pop up throughout the city as soon as the weather starts to turn. It’s hard to not get swept up in the magic of December in the city—except, of course, if you’re not a Christmas person, like Dash (Austin Abrams) in Netflix’s charming romance Dash & Lily.

Based on the novel Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares, the eight-episode series is a scavenger hunt through a lived-in New York City, starting at the most romantic place of them all: The Strand Bookstore. Lily (Midori Francis), a lovelorn Christmas truist, leaves a book of clues in the stacks that intrigues Dash (an intellectual teen who hates the entire idea of the holiday), in the hopes of forging a romantic connection on the page. After a series of dares that get each other out of their respective comfort zones and a romantic back-and-forth via written letters in a red notebook, the duo have to face the truth of how their love translates to real life.

Dash & Lily is a delightful holiday-themed series that reminds us how festive and cozy the Christmas season normally feels, whether you usually celebrate in a city like New York or in your small hometown—or whether you celebrate Christmas at all. In a season of life now that continues to be unlike any other before it, celebrate the good things and treat yourself to a binge. —Radhika Menon

 


14. Ginny and Georgia

Created by: Sarah Lampert
Stars: Brianne Howey, Antonia Gentry, Diesel La Torraca, Jennifer Robertson
Original Network: Netflix

Watch on Netflix

Few series in recent memory have dared to be as fun and ambitious out of the gate as Netflix’s Ginny & Georgia, an engaging and suspenseful dramedy about a mother-daughter duo that has invokes obvious—but frankly uninspired—comparisons to Gilmore Girls. Though the two shows share a picturesque New England setting, investigate topics of wealth and privilege, and feature competent single mothers who had children as teens, Ginny (Antonia Gentry) and Georgia (Brianne Howey) are far from this generation’s Rory and Lorelai.

A biracial 15-year-old whose parents had her when they were just teens themselves, Ginny has never had a stable life; her photographer father never stuck around for too long, and her mother frequently relocated their small family from town to town in search of normalcy and security. This has had the unfortunate but perhaps unsurprising effect of making Ginny a constant outsider whose struggles with her racial identity—her father is Black and her mother is white—have made it difficult for her to make friends and fit in at each new stop on the road to Wellsbury, Massachusetts, the wealthy and predominantly white town the family settles in at the beginning of the show. Ginny’s experience stands in direct contrast to the beautiful and exuberant Georgia, who has seemingly mastered the art of assimilation after years of practice. As such, Ginny silently resents her mother, blaming her for myriad issues in her life while also believing she’ll never measure up to the woman who raised her.

I can’t say the show always nails its major revelations about life or motherhood or friendship, but there’s so much to like it also doesn’t matter. In fact, the biggest hurdle the show faces is that Netflix hasn’t been too kind to similar coming-of-age shows in terms of cancellations. But that threat shouldn’t keep anyone from enjoying this peek into the lives of Ginny and Georgia Miller.  —Kaitlin Thomas

 


13. Cobra Kai

Created by: Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg
Stars: Ralph Macchio, William Zabka, Courtney Henggeler, Xolo Maridueña, Tanner Buchanan, Mary Mouser, Jacob Bertrand, Gianni Decenzo, Martin Kove
Original Network: Netflix

Watch on Netflix

With a slew of award nominations and great social buzz, you don’t need us to tell you that Cobra Kai is more than worth your time. Still: Cobra Kai is more than worth your time. Bringing William Zabka and Ralph Macchio back to reignite their ’80s-era Karate Kid rivalry just as the various tender/hurting teens in their lives are finding themselves in desperate need of mentorship from an ass-kicking sensei or two, Cobra Kai is a feast of brutal sentimentality, awkward puppy love, and heartbreakingly scruffy nostalgia—and, of course, killer karate set pieces. As noted in our review of the first season, “[Cobra Kai] excels at not allowing anyone to be truly evil or angelic, understanding that human beings are complex and cannot be summed up by a one-line character description.”

Part of what makes the show so special is its charming mix of the ridiculous with the more sublime. The series is a study in contradictions. A tongue-planted-firmly-in-cheek self-awareness is also the show’s secret weapon. Easter eggs and less-than-subtle shout-outs to the movies are peppered throughout the show, even as Cobra Kai, at its heart, knows that it is ridiculous that two grown men are still jostling back and forth over a karate tournament that happened decades ago. Still, what really makes the show work is Zabka’s Johnny Lawrence. He’s a walking homage to that era, driving a beat-up Dodge caravan, listening to metal music on his cassette tape player, and eschewing modern technology. All in all, Cobra Kai is a pure, escapist delight. — Amy Amatangelo and Alexis Gunderson

 


12. Legacies

Created by: Julie Plec
Stars:: Danielle Rose Russell, Aria Shahghasemi, Kaylee Bryant, Jenny Boyd, Quincy Fouse, Peyton Alex Smith, Matt Davis, Chris Lee
Original Network:: The CW

Watch on Netflix

Technically, Legacies is a hybrid spin-off of two different long-running series, The Vampire Diaries (eight seasons) and The Originals (five). And sure, technically it was in those series that the mythology driving the character arcs/motivations of Legacies’ most central leads, Hope Mikaelson (Danielle Rose Russell) and Alaric Saltzman (Matthew Davis), was developed. After spending a cumulative 13 seasons not just telling stories on television, but telling stories on television from this specific world, Julie Plec’s ability to set efficient narrative groundwork under fast-moving vampire feet is nothing if not masterful. Genuinely, aside from a few single-episode cameos of side characters from Hope and Alaric’s TVD/Originals past, the only thing you need to watch to make sense of Legacies is this official promo for the first season.

I really shouldn’t have to elaborate on this, but Legacies is set at the Salvatore Boarding School for the Young and Gifted, which is the school for young witches, werewolves, vampires, and Hope that was funded by Hope’s (dead) dad and is located at/on the Salvatore family’s Virginia estate, just outside Mystic Falls. All the moody opulence of Damon and Stefan’s homebase, all the zingy, angsty tropes of great Teen TV.

More than just being a fun setting, though, the Salvatore School gives Legacies a chance to sprawl out and complicate the consequences of being a teenager consigned to eternity as part of the supernatural world. These consequences are still very real and very serious in Legacies, but while The Vampire Diaries mined dramatic tension from supernatural teens (or at least vampires who looked superficially like teens) living in dangerous proximity to human teens, its kid sibling series looks inside for its tension. The teens at the story’s core need, first and foremost, to find a way to come to terms with their own inhumanity, and what it means to be good as they define it. And honestly, after so many years of stories focused on the former, spending time with a bunch of super compelling, super different supernatural kids working through the latter is just a treat. —Alexis Gunderson

 


11. Wednesday

Created by: Alfred Gough, Miles Millar
Stars: Jenna Ortega, Gwendoline Christie, Riki Lindhome, Christina Ricci, Jamie McShane, Hunter Doohan, Percy Hynes White, Emma Myers, Joy Sunday, Moosa Mostafa, Georgie Farmer, Naomi J. Ogawa, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Luis Guzmán
Original Network: Netflix

Watch on Netflix

Wednesday is a supernatural horror-comedy series that answers one essential question: What does Wednesday Addams look like as a teenager? After getting expelled from public school, a 16-year-old Wednesday (Jenna Ortega) is shipped off to Nevermore Academy, a preppy boarding school for outcasts. Though she initially tries to escape, her curiosity leads her to eventually take an interest in the monster that’s been terrorizing the nearby town. As her emerging psychic abilities point her towards a bizarre set of clues, Wednesday decides to play detective and uncover the shocking mysteries at hand.

Wednesday successfully captures the growing pains of being 16 without taking itself too seriously. The show is a great entry into the “gothic boarding school” subgenre of teen television, matching the likes of popular shows such as Legacies, Vampire Academy, and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, to name a few. Ortega’s performance is by far the highlight, tackling Wednesday’s complexities with an ease that truly cements her status as the new horror It Girl. Tim Burton’s distinct style provides the show with an air of nostalgia, yet it still feels fresh in its contemporary approach to such an iconic character. No matter the season, the series is sure to offer a great deal of spooky fun for the whole family. —Dianna Shen

 


10. Riverdale

Created by: 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

Watch on Netflix

This is the way I have sold Riverdale to friends who have not yet wised up and watched it: It’s Gossip Girl meets Twin Peaks, but with the characters from Archie Comics. That alone should be enough to suck them in, but if they need more convincing, I add that the late Luke Perry plays Archie’s dad, Molly Ringwald plays Archie’s mom, Skeet Ulrich plays Jughead’s creepy hot dad (who is also the head of the local gang, the Southside Serpents), and for the first third of the first season, Archie is boning his music teacher, Ms. Grundy, who, unlike in the comics where she’s an elderly white-haired lady, goes around wearing heart-eyed sunglasses and picking up teen boys. It’s ridiculous and campy in all the right ways (hey, this is a CW teen drama, after all), but there’s also a compelling murder mystery driving the plot (“Who killed Jason Blossom?” is Riverdale’s “Who killed Laura Palmer?”), with new twists and turns peppered in along the way. —Bonnie Stiernberg

 


9. Derry Girls

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Created by: Lisa McGee
Stars: Saoirse-Monica Jackson, Louisa Harland, Nicola Coughlan, Jamie-Lee O’Donnell, Dylan Llewellyn
Original Network: Channel 4

Watch on Netflix

The lovely, silly, funny and emotional Derry Girls is just the craic we need. The brief series (19 episodes across three seasons) focuses on a group of schoolgirls in Northern Ireland in the ‘90s, during the last days of the Troubles. But in Lisa McGee’s series, that darkness is relegated to the background. Instead, the more traditional teen conflicts of school life and being boy crazy take center stage, along with lots of incredibly specific language and jokes about both that region and that time (you will definitely want to watch with subtitles on). Derry Girls is a warm and funny time hop carried by a dreamy ’90s playlist and the gigantic charisma of its wee leads. —Allison Keene

 


8. Sex Education

Created by: Laurie Nunn
Stars: Asa Butterfield, Gillian Anderson, Ncuti Gatwa, Emma Mackey, Connor Swindells
Original Network: Netflix

Watch on Netflix

You’re an insecure, bright, sensitive teenage boy (Asa Butterfield) with a wildly uninhibited sex-guru mother (Gillian Anderson), an absentee dad (the epically hilarious James Purefoy), a chronically foot-in-mouth bully-magnet best friend, a limited social life and a clinically interesting fear of your own penis. You have a stealth crush on your school’s official Way Too Precocious girl, who’s hard up for money. So, naturally, you open a sex clinic for high-school students in an out-of-service school lavatory, right?

Of course you do.

Netflix’s Sex Education is a decidedly raunchy and thoroughly adorable coming-of-age dramedy. While it’s not exactly afraid of well-worn tropes, it also doesn’t rely on them to a detrimental degree… and it has Gillian Anderson as a sex therapist, which would be enough for a lot of us even if nothing else about the show worked. Luckily, that isn’t the case: A testament to the power of character development, the series is riveting. None of its superbly crafted characters waste a single frame. —Amy Glynn

 


7. Élite (E L I T E)

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Created by: Carlos Monte and Darío Madrona
Stars: María Pedraza, Itzan Escamilla, Miguel Bernardeau, Ester Expósito, Danna Paola, Miguel Herrán, Jaime Lorente, Álvaro Rico, Arón Piper, Mina El Hammani, Omar Ayuso, Jorge López, Claudia Salas, Georgina Amorós
Original Network: Netflix

Watch on Netflix

A spiritual (though sexier and more diverse) successor to both The O.C. and Gossip Girl, with just a touch of SKAM thrown in for good measure, Netflix’s Spanish-language original Élite is a teenage-class-warfare-lover’s dream. Featuring a sprawling ensemble cast of attractive Spanish twentysomethings, Élite follows a trio of working class public school kids—one of them, a hijabi from an immigrant Palestinian family—as they transfer to Las Encinas, an academically elite (and extremely expensive) private school on a kind of “whoops, my bad” scholarship sponsored by some of the rich parents whose cost-cutting construction business was found to have been at fault for their public school literally collapsing. The class tensions and psychosexual dramas this move provokes would be more than enough to fill any sexy, A+ teen series (Riverdale truly wishes). Élite, however, is nothing if not expert in raising the stakes, each season framing these more quotidian (if highly stylized) teen dramas with a more explosive mystery—a brutal murder of a central member of the ensemble in Season 1, the bloody disappearance of another in Season 2, the even bloodier death of a third in Season 3, and so on. By the end of it all, alliances have fully swapped, ‘ships have been thoroughly mixed up, and allegiances have been pinned in every possible configuration. The only thing we can really be certain of is that nothing at Las Encinas will ever be boring. —Alexis Gunderson

 


6. Heartstopper

Created by: Alice Oseman
Stars: Kit Connor, Joe Locke, William Gao, Yasmin Finney, Corinna Brown, Kizzy Edgell, Tobie Donovan, Rhea Norwood, Jenny Walser, Sebastian Croft, Cormac Hyde-Corrin, Fisayo Akinade, Chetna Pandya, Olivia Colman, Stephen Fry
Original Network: Netflix

Watch on Netflix

From a Tumblr webcomic to a graphic novel to a Netflix show, Alice Oseman’s uplifting queer tale has gathered a dedicated fanbase that has only grown with the arrival of the Netflix adaptation. The sweet romance between Charlie (Joe Locke) and Nick (Kit Connor) is wonderfully realized in this heartfelt and earnest teen coming-of-age drama directed by Euros Lyn and written by Oseman. Much of the original spark carries over into the moving frames that are complemented with a fantastic soundtrack, perfectly detailed production design of teenage bedrooms, and an all-around talented cast.

As Nick and Charlie grow closer and their feelings become impossible to ignore, they have a whole host of supportive friends to confide in. The group includes caring Elle (Yasmin Finney), eccentric Tao (Will Gao), quiet Issac (Tobie Donovan), and two girlfriends: bubbly Darcy (Kizzy Edgell) and thoughtful Tara (Corinna Brown). Heartstopper updates stale cliches of the teen coming-of-age genre to deliver a thoughtful and earnest reflection of youthful self-acceptance, exploring what it is to be part of the LGBTQ+ community today. —Emily Maskell

 


5. Stranger Things

Created by: The Duffer Brothers
Stars: Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Cara Buono, Matthew Modine
Original Network: Netflix

Watch on Netflix

Say what you will about the finer points of its storytelling, Stranger Things continues to be an unabashed celebration of the 1980s, from its own filmic references regarding style and story to a cavalcade of literal references from the era. Its plucky set of kid and teen characters battle monsters (real or within themselves) and go to the mall. It’s a nostalgic dream and a creepfest nightmare. But whether it’s set during Halloween or in the throes of a mid-’80s summer, the show’s carefully crafted aesthetics always serve to augment the joyful nature of the series’ non-monster moments. And that, really, is where Stranger Things shines. The creep factor is important (and occasionally actually scary or super gory), but it acts as an almost funny juxtaposition to the otherwise happy-go-lucky look at suburban life. Mainly, though, it’s the friendships and coming-of-age stories, the relationships and family bonding, that really make Stranger Things great. For better or worse, the Netflix horror series is as tasty, messy, and fleeting as an ice cream cone on a hot summer’s day. —Allison Keene

 


4. All American

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Created by: April Blair
Stars: Daniel Ezra, Taye Diggs, Bre-Z, Greta Onieogou, Samantha Logan, Michael, Evans Behling, Cody Christian, Karimah Westbrook, Monét Mazur, Jalyn Hall, Chelsea Tavares, Da’Vinchi
Original Network: The CW

Watch on Netflix

Inspired by the life of professional American football player Spencer Paysinger, All American tells the story of Spencer James (Daniel Ezra), a star football player from South LA who’s recruited by a coach (Taye Diggs), an expat of the same neighborhood, to come play for him in Beverly Hills—a plan that necessitates Spencer move in with the coach and his family in order to get around the school’s hyper-strict zip code requirements. Much of the drama that follows, both in Beverly Hills and back in South LA, is what you’d expect: The rich kids have expensive pill addictions or are spiraling into depression after being left alone in their mansions for months on end by their oblivious jet-setting parents, while the kids in South LA are trapped in a school that is chronically underfunded and over-policed, and are at risk for falling into gang life.

But the compassion and grace with which All American handles all of these problems, matched with the grounded performances each of the young actors puts in, gives the show ample opportunity to transcend prime time melodrama. As the lead, Ezra is excellent, as compelling in tender moments of private vulnerability as he is in athletic feats on the field, but equally arresting are Bre-Z as Spencer’s fast-talking, bar-spouting queer best friend Coop, and Samantha Logan as the fragile-y sober Olivia Baker, Coach’s daughter and the first friend and confidante Spencer makes in Beverly Hills. Although it did not initially make much of a splash, All American has proven to have staying power. It’s clear that teens know exactly where the good shit’s at—and now you do, too. —Alexis Gunderson

 


3. Friday Night Lights

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Created by: Peter Berg
Stars: Kyle Chandler, Connie Britton, Taylor Kitsch, Jesse Plemons, Aimee Teegarden, Michael B. Jordan, Jurnee Smollett
Original Network: NBC

Watch on Netflix

Who ever thought football, a sport infamous for its meatheads and brute force, could be the cornerstone of one of television’s most delicate, affecting dramas? Heart-rending, infuriating, and rife with shattering setbacks and grand triumphs—Friday Night Lights is all of these, and in those ways it resembles the game around which the tiny town of Dillon, Texas, revolves. “Tender” and “nuanced” aren’t words usually applicable to the gridiron, but they fit the bill here, too. Full of heart but hardly saccharine, shot beautifully but hyper-realistically, and featuring a talented cast among which the teenagers and parents are—blessedly—clearly defined, the show manages to convince episode after episode that, yes, football somehow really is life. Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose. —Rachael Maddux

 


2. Never Have I Ever

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Created by: Mindy Kaling, Lang Fisher
Stars: Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Poorna Jagannathan, Richa Moorjani, Jaren Lewison, John McEnroe
Original Network: Netflix

Watch on Netflix

Being 15 sucks. You’re not sure who you are or what you’re doing or who you should be doing it with, but you’re 100% certain that everyone around you is always laser-focused on every embarrassing mistake that you make. Mindy Kaling’s coming-of-age sitcom taps into the painful awkwardness of figuring it all out with the same mix of earnestness, realism and humor as Freaks and Geeks and The Wonder Years, but filtered through a cultural lens not often seen on American TV. Devi Vishwakumar isn’t just grappling with typical teenage drama, but is stuck between two cultures that she never quite feels like a full member of: the American life she was born and raised in, and the Indian heritage of her family. Maitreyi Ramakrishnan captures this anxiety and charm beautifully, that weird mix of constant shame and unearned confidence, in what is shockingly her first professional acting role. If you’re looking for a teen comedy that reflects the ups and downs of real life and is actually funny, here’s your chance. —Garrett Martin

 


1. On My Block

Created by: Lauren Iungerich, Eddie Gonzalez and Jeremy Haft
Stars Diego Tinoco, Jason Genao, Jessica Marie Garcia, Sierra Capri and Brett Gray
Original Network: Netflix

Watch on Netflix

Netflix’s South Central LA-set dramedy On My Block is one big, irreverently cocksure nod to all the (whitest) parts of the modern cultural canon one would least expect to find in a coming-of-age story about brown and black 14- and 15-year olds just trying to survive daily life on their gang-ruled streets. For the first couple of episodes, the series’ slangy allusiveness makes for a story that feels shaggy at best, and structurally unsound at worst, but when the final credits hit, it’s clear that not one second of the season’s episodes was wasted: Every line was measured out, every background track meticulously calibrated, every initially jarring tonal shift set up precisely for a singular cumulative effect that lands in the season’s final moments like a punch to the chest you realize too late you should have seen coming from a mile away. —Alexis Gunderson


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