TV Shows That Make Me Feel 14 Again

One thing about me: I’m always watching TV shows. Even if it’s literal garbage — if you recommend it to me, I will probably watch it or have already seen it. Like any child raised around a television, I was addicted to all of the teen shows growing up. You name it, I probably watched it: Gossip Girl, One Tree Hill, Teen Wolf, Gilmore Girls, the list goes on! (Except The Vampire Diaries… sorry, you did not make the cut.) The drama? The mystery? The romantic relationships being changed every other episode? I’m sat! This love for trash TV hasn’t changed since my high school days, and that is why I started watching Outer Banks last month!

Although I started watching it as a way to bond with the kids I babysit sometimes, I ended up watching the entire first season in one weekend. I realized that there were several factors that made me think of the teen shows I used to watch. This show was released in April of 2020, right in the beginning of quarantine, which is why I think the show really took off. It is the perfect mix of teen drama and mystery centered around a group of early twenty year old actors playing teens. Watching Outer Banks reminds me of the excitement and feeling that watching some of these early 2000s shows brought. Even though it is considered “trash” tv, these are the shows that initially made me love TV when I was 14 years old. I still feel comforted by their insane plots and the way that everything will always work out for the main characters. TV can feel so serious, but these shows are just fun and chaos to get lost in. So, for the sake of nostalgia, I have put together a tiny list of all of the teen shows I have watched that evoke the same feeling that Outer Banks gives me and brings out my inner 14-year-old.

1. Outer Banks:

Of course this is on the list? I’m hooked! The entire cast is literally gorgeous and it has just the right amount of mystery and intrigue that I will be tuning in until this show ends!! Outer Banks really follows the One Tree Hill mindset of never giving teenagers a break. Any treasure they ever find gets ripped out of their hands. Sarah Cameron? Not only are her father and brother murderous psychos, we’re going to have her go through so much trauma and get literally SHOT all while in a low support bra top. She’s so brave!

2. The Summer I Turned Pretty:

I LOVED this and ate it up! The songs in this are so current, and the love triangle is so obvious but so dramatic. Again, the complicated families and two brother dynamics are giving One Tree Hill! This is the closest thing I could think of to a teen show invoking the same feeling as an early 2000s show. Something about it is so comforting and cringe in the best way. It also gave us This Love (Taylor’s Version) which is enough for me.

3. Never Have I Ever:

I just love this show, not even in an adolescent way. I believe anyone of any age could enjoy it, but I just know if this would come out while I was in high school I would have eaten it up even more than I do now. Devi is so messy and loveable. Mindy Kaling is a genius, but these are things we already knew. If you haven’t watched this show… What are you doing on suburbanelitist.com??

4. Generation:

I don’t know if anyone has ever heard of this show, but this, o me, gives the same energy as Skins. It is just a Gen Z version of Skins that balances the light and dark of teen things that feel like they could be enjoyed by teens and not just adults. It still discusses and covers heavy material, but the characters feel more like teens and react to their circumstances the way teens would actually react. I’m so sad that this didn’t get a second season; meanwhile Euphoria fumbled their season 2. Lena Dunham is attached, because it’s not good or bad! I still think it is worth the watch!