Teen appeal to old shows vs new shows
Friends TV series on Max from the 90's. (Photo: Sophie McGarva, The Puma Prensa)
By Sophie McGarva, staff writer
Times change--fashion trends die, phones are updated, music evolves. But one thing has remained the same throughout these past years, and that is the love for early 2000s television. Teenagers tend to watch shows from the 90s and early 2000s instead of modern shows. This could be because of the nostalgia, longer seasons, or the absence of pop culture. Many teens gravitate towards shows that don’t mention the latest things, like social media, because they are trying to escape their current reality by watching these shows.
Through surveying 20 Maria Carrillo High School students, it was revealed that over 60% of them preferred old shows over new ones. Many of the older shows they picked were Friends, Gilmore Girls, Grey’s Anatomy, and The Vampire Diaries. There is definitely a big appeal to these shows because they exhibit friendship, family, and real life during the early 2000s instead of misinterpretations of teens’ lives now. For example, in the Netflix show Ginny and Georgia, Ginny and her friends constantly do things like shoplifting and illegally drinking which makes it seem like all teens do that. Another thing that can bore teenagers from new shows is that “newer shows don’t have the same comedy as old ones,” said junior Kiera Rossi. Another junior, Jenna Sannar, agreed that older shows “are funnier and less cringey”. It is very clear that the humor alone can attract teenagers to the classics.
Older shows appeal to teens because they don’t like seeing iPhones and hear current slang in the shows they watch because they are often an inadequate representation of people in their age group. They make teenagers seem troublesome and irresponsible. Yes, it does add to the drama of the show, but old shows have just as much of an interesting appeal but they also make teenagers seem more mature. They have a more accurate representation of what a teenager actually goes through. According to journals.lww.com “the average child born today, by age 15, has spent more time watching television than going to school”. So, if children and young teens are stuck watching shows that influence bad behavior in teens, they are more likely to act like that themselves. Teens being badly interpreted seems like the norm in newer shows, so that makes it the usual for teenagers today, as well.
Gilmore girls TV series on Netflix from the 2000's. (Sophie McGarva, The Puma Prensa)
Earlier shows also give teens a feeling of nostalgia, even though a large portion of the audience was not yet born when these shows came out. It can be because of the music, looks, ideas, and other things, but it seems to attract the younger crowd. Another upside to old shows is that they tend to have longer seasons and the shows are already completed. For example, Gilmore Girls has around 25 episodes per season and newer shows have about 8 episodes per season and they take about 2-3 years between dropping new seasons. Most people don’t like waiting years for just a short season. Also, older shows are already finished, so the audience doesn’t have to wait at all for a new season. Another negative to recent shows is that they seem to cast actors in their 30s to play teenagers and this gives actual teens unreachable standards to compare themselves to. For example, Euphoria star, Alexa Demie, is 33 years old and plays an 18 year old. She doesn’t look like the average teenager, so when an actual teen sees a fully grown woman it can alter their self worth.
The majority of people watch both new and old shows but, it is clear that old are definitely the favorite to most. So, to the people who have only watched new, modern shows, the classics are definitely recommended.