The only teen angst television I remember from my youth was Square Pegs, starring Sarah Jessica Parker and Tracy Nelson and some other people I don't really remember. I loved that show. I loved Johnny. It was the last time I liked Sarah Jessica P.

I never got into 90210 or Melrose or any of those shows, although I did watch the first season of The Real World pretty religiously. Even though those people are older, that's pretty much a teen angst show, too.

What are your guilty pleasures?

-- Anonymous, September 30, 1999

Answers

I've tried them all... 9021-blow (obviously I'm not into that one anymore), Melrose, Po5 etc. I used to make a "Just for me night" out of the Fox line-up way back in the days when 90210 & MP were on the same night. I'd watch Shannen Doherty & Friends with a deep conditioner in my hair and then a clay masque & pedicure during Heather Locklear's vampy hour. But I've given that all up now. Although I do like Buffy, I don't watch it regularly. I, like you, just watched Dawson's Creek last night for the 1st time...eh it was okay.

-- Anonymous, September 30, 1999

I loved Square Pegs too, even though I was definitely not a teen at the time. It was only on for about half a season though (or that's how short it seemed), and it was a half-hour sitcom, not a soap opera type of show. As for my own youth, I didn't watch much TV between the ages of about 16 and 24 (1967 - 1975). Had better things to do, I guess. I watched way too much TV between 1976 and about 1994. That's what marriage will do to a person. ;-)

But anyway, I hate nighttime soaps of any kind and I don't watch them. Teen angst bores me silly. So does middle aged angst for that matter. Guess I am just not into angst as entertainment.

And I've been trying to think of a pleasure I feel guilty about, but I just can't come up with one. I know, I know, the guilt makes some things more pleasurable to some people.

Oh well, another boring, unguilty answer from me.

-- Anonymous, September 30, 1999

I'm addicted to the whole MTV lineup. Real World (which a friend now refers to as The Adventures of Ruthie, the Drunkard in Denial), Road Rules, and Undressed. It's embarrassing, really. I tape them when I'm not going to be home. I even bought the behind the scenes videotapes.

-- Anonymous, September 30, 1999

I still miss "My So-Called Life".

Actually, I took a LOT of razzing these past few days from visiting friends who think that "Buffy" is terrible. We're talking epic tirades against Buffy & Co. (Of course they watch comedies on CBS which make my eyeballs glaze over - my god, have you ever seen "The King of Queens"? Lord have mercy, it's awful.) I'm anxious to see "Freaks and Geeks", mildly curious about "Popular" and think that I'll be giving "Dawson's Creek" a big pass this season because it got so boring and horrific last season.

"Felicity" got off to a very weird start this season - the tone seems off. Noel being a bitch is just wrong. At least Javier is back.

-- Anonymous, September 30, 1999

dawson's creek was intended to be watched, tape delayed, with 50 other howling college students in a lecture hall, as we all ridicule dawson, his clothes, and his unbridled pathetic-ness. i'm addicted to it, and i know it's awful, and i can't help it. it's embarrassing.

but i'll continue to watch it with my friends because it's just too much fun to pass up on a wednesday night.

anything else, though, i can take or leave. sometimes i watch buffy. sometimes i watch felicity. mostly, though, i don't really care. i'm all about capeside. (and how it's not really the cape, it's wilmington north carolina. you know what got me last night? there was a slick reference to the krispy kreme phenomenon sweeping the country, but there aren't any kripsy kremes in connecticut or massachusetts or anywhere like that. there are, however, krispy kremes in wilmington. gee. go figure.)

i just revealed that i like dawson's creek a bit too much, didn't i?

-- Anonymous, September 30, 1999

MightyBigTV.com is the main reason I get nothing done at work lately.

Okay - I watch Dawson's Creek, but I probably wouldn't love it so if it weren't for the wrap-ups now to be found at MBTV. And I watched Popular last night too. Bleh - thumbs down (although get back to me next week and I'll probably have watched the next episode). I'm eagerly awaiting the season premiere of Party of Five - and I do wish I hadn't missed the season premiere of Freaks & Geeks.

I was able to give up 90210 quite easily last season when the storyline once again was all about Dylan & Dylan's addiction. Enough already!

Apparently I watch way too much TV. God only knows how many of these dreadful shows I'd be addicted to if I were 15 instead of 30.

But I'd drop them all if it meant I could have Square Pegs back.

-- Anonymous, September 30, 1999

I haven't liked any teen-focused TV since "My So-Called Life." I thought "Freaks and Geeks" looked promising because it reminded me of the geek I was in high school, but they put it on Saturday night when I'm usually not home watching TV. Guess that proves that I'm no longer a geek.

-- Anonymous, September 30, 1999

...i've never really watched the new batch of 90's teen angst shows...mostly because i haven't been into that kind of TV since i was an angstful teen...those were the days that i would watch:

• the facts of life
• family ties
• different strokes

...and other TV horrors...

...to be honest [*cough*] i actually like shows like "Law and Order" and "er"...but forget "Third Watch" or "Chicago Hope" ...even i'll contend that that is crap...

ps. i'm sure if i was a lawyer or a doctor i'd feel differently...instead, i find that i buy into those TV realities more so "than life as the cool popular chick in high school"

-- Anonymous, September 30, 1999

I'm definitely a sucker for teen-angst TV. But it has to be good... I never went for 90210. I love love loved My So-Called Life. These days, I watch Party of Five and Freaks & Geeks.

I watched Felicity last year and slowly grew to hate it as I continued to be addicted. After this season's premiere, I swore off it forever. Could it be more manipulative!? Though I did enjoy Noel being a jerk ('bout time) and always love Javier.... I'm through with it! No more!

What's worse (and more embarrassing) is that I'm also a sucker for teen angst movies sometimes. I actually enjoyed "She's All That" and "Can't Hardly Wait". I know they're mind-candy... but sometimes I'm in the mood for sweets.

-- Anonymous, September 30, 1999

I still have college age (19-20ish) children of my own wandering in and out of the house with thier own dramas, so I get enough of it without watching the shows. I used to watch 90210 and such with them a few years ago, though. My most embarrassing confession - I can't stop watching that really horrible soap "Passions" in the afternoons. It is totally geared for teens, maybe even pre-teens. I don't know why I end up watching it. It's really stupid. I am enthralled and amazed that these people can make money doing this, that they can say these lines with a straight face. I am mesmerized by the bizaareness, I cannot avert my eyes....

-- Anonymous, September 30, 1999

Doesn't anyone watch "Get Real?"

tee-hee. of course you don't. just me. just me and my thirty page scribbles that i type up and send to mightybigtv.

that makes me think that you can't get half of my jokes. oh, well. i'm sure i'm only doing it another three or four times before it gets cancelled anyway.

but don't come crying to me like you guys did when rags to riches got cancelled. you didn't do anything to save those kids. we had to have just the ten of us because of it.

been on internet too long.

must go close eyes.

-- Anonymous, September 30, 1999

I admit I've watched Dawson's Creek a time or two, and enjoyed it. My only problem with it is that I can't believe any high schooler would have the conversations they do have. Next thing you know, they'll start spouting long passages from "Thus Spake Zarathustra" or some other classic work of philosophy that no high schooler has ever heard of. But I deal with it, and pretend that they're not in high school, but rather college. It makes it a little more believable.

My big problem with tv shows is Ally McBeal. I hate the f**king show! Read all about my complaints at www.angelfire.com/ny3/anthonywilson/journalsep30.html ... only because I don't feel like copying the thousand words I wrote on it.

-- Anonymous, September 30, 1999

I used to watch Dawson, Real World, Road Rules and Buffy. Now, I only have time for Buffy, although I will have to make time for Angel. The children can skip ONE meal a week, can't they? It's a reasonable request, don't you think?

-- Anonymous, September 30, 1999

"Square Pegs" was Ghod. In junior high, my friend Greg and I pretty much used Johnny Slash as a role model for all our behavior, including worship of DEVO. I don't watch teen-angst TV. The closest thing is "Ally McBeal", though I have been known to watch 90210 as well, both primarily for the same reason: so I can have contempt for the people on the show and make fun of them. It's easier with 90210, which is badly written enough to provide plenty of unintentional laughs, as was "Melrose". Back at the P-House we'd gather together on 90210 night to make fun of the cheesy situations. "Ally" is a little better written but I can still make fun of its somewhat more desperate attempts to be "hip" and "with-it." All of the above are more like "thirties angst", really, which is okay because I'm thirty and enjoy watching fake-looking people suffer on TV.

-- Anonymous, September 30, 1999

Can't abide most of the teen tv stuff. Although I have lately discovered "Buffy"--hey, if you're going to have teen angst, occasional demons and vampires spice things up a bit. Trid to watch "Popular" tonight, but it was just too PAINFUL. (Although that plot with the football QB had a bit of promise, but not enough to suffer through everything else.)

I'm debating watching "Roswell", just to see if they can actually do anything with a series based in that town--hey, maybe teen angst with occasional aliens works, too. I don't think there are any series on television based in a small town these days; they're all in big cities or suburbs. Roswell isn't a suburb of anything.

-- Anonymous, October 01, 1999

Buffy is one of the few shows I will go out of my way to see these days. That and Good Eats, which isn't teen-angsty at all. I watched a few episodes of Dawson's creek and Felicity last year, and liked them okay, although I always felt dirty afterwards.

I do remember Square Pegs, although all I remember about it is that I liked it.

-- Anonymous, October 01, 1999

Ms. E -- I'm an ER fan from the beginning, although I'm not watching this season. Jeremy and I took a blood oath, and I'm not going to break it unless Sherri Stringfield comes back.

I just can't stand Law and Order. I'll give it props for being less goofy than most lawyer shows, but I can't stand the ridiculous music,and I can't stand the way that you miss huge plot points if you blink or turn away for a second, because all of the major plot points come from someone explaining them to someone else. Ooh, that's it, that's why I hate it. They don't show, they tell. It bores the snot out of me.

Plus, of course, I'd like to take Abby Carmichael into a dark alley and beat her senseless.

-- Anonymous, October 01, 1999

Away Satan!

My wife loves watching the teen/early 20s angst shows. I spend a lot of time on the computer or reading a book when she's in that zone.

Aren't these angst filled teens the offspring of the angst filled yuppies who populated such shows as thirtysomething a decade ago?

I try to combat such drivel by watching Whose Line Is It Anyway? (both UK and US versions) and my Fawlty Towers tapes.

Life is meant to laugh at, not whine about. :-)

-- Anonymous, October 01, 1999

...glad to hear "er" makes your list --- sorry if i spread any misnomers =) ...my biggest gripe about "er" is kelli martin [for those not in the know] of "life goes on" fame...she bugs the crap out of me...

...and actually, to speak to an old squishy entry, i think the only reason why i watch "law and order" is because i was forced to endure it for about two years while i was dating bill...after a while, it grew on me....

...the first time we saw the beginning of an episode and i actually said, "yeah, this is fine" bill's jaw hit the floor..

-- Anonymous, October 01, 1999

Let's see -- I didn't really like teen shows when I was in my teens. 90210 was stupid and I missed My So-called life somehow. Doogie Howser is an old favorite but in general I was too busy watching Star Trek and Beauty and the Beast to get into teen shows back then.

I went through a brief phase of liking "Party of Five," two years ago, but that wore off due to the angst-of-the-month flavor of the show.

Then Buffy came along and knocked my socks off, mostly because it's not _just_ about angst, teen or otherwise. If you go read that article about ER that Beth posted in a previous log, the author there talks about how what made ER excellent was its multi-threaded story-telling, and the way in which small things are brought back in later plots such as minor characters having continutity throughout the life of the series.

I'd make a case for Buffy having all of those elements as well. For example, Amy the witch who was turned into a rat -- they could have consigned Amy to rat-dom and forgotten all about her, but instead they very cleverly have interwoven references to her story into more recent episodes.

You have to pay attention when you watch Buffy, because small details can come back later as meaningful. This of course means that the writers are still paying attention to the unfolding story as well and that's always a good thing.

As for other teen shows, I enjoy Popular, even though I have beef with everything from casting to the to good to be believed girls' bathroom.

The reason I enjoy it, is because of its over-the-top spoof edge. The show isn't meant to be dead-on realistic, it's representative, an overblown metaphor and that is half of its appeal -- it makes me howl with laughter. At the same time the spoofy front lets it get into scathing, skewering portrayals of such serious issues as body image and eating disorders.

Another reason that I like Popular, in one word: Carmen. At last a serious and positive portrayal of a non-thin girl. It's been a long time coming.

I can take or leave Dawson's Creek which walks a bit too close to the Party of Five edge, ditto Roswell -- I can only take so many soupy, longing looks between Matt and Liz before I want to hurl.

My favorite out of the entire bunch is "Brutally Normal" -- the latest to join the crew and short at only a half hour, this is the show that reminds me the most of actually being in high school, being a high schooler, so far.

They dress the actors like teens -- unlike Popular which often seems like a poster child for Elle and Cosmo -- the speak is less glib than Dawson's Creek and thus far, the events that the plots turn on are plausible, akin to the shenanigans that I still remember.

My one big TV guilty pleasure though, has _nothing_ to do with teen shows: it's Farscape on the Scifi channel. Reminds me of a cross between Star Trek, Dr. Who and Blake's 7, but with Aussie accents instead of Brit.

-- Anonymous, February 02, 2000

I admit I have to watch 90210- I hate the show, think its dumb but after however many years, I can't not watch it.

I'm hooked on "Get Real" this year to. Makes me cry everytime.

I think those are the only two teenage angst shows I watch. Felicity when I remember to set the VCR for it as Im never home on Sundays.

-- Anonymous, February 02, 2000

Erkers -- and I forgot Felicity. Which I watched _religiously_ last season, seeing as my college years are still so close to me, but has turned into so much _dreck_ this season. Gah.

I haven't watched it for three weeks. Nothing but Felicity-Ben-Noel plots. Yucko, the _least_ interesting part of the show. C"mon, show us the angst of being a _sophomore_ in college, more of that agonizing over your major stuff.

Hem.

Also re: Dawson's Creek not sounding like high school dialogue: Don't be so swift to dismiss high school students, their vocabulary and wit.

While not _all_ high school age kids speak like Dawson et al, the bookish crowd probably always has and always will ... except that they don't talk much in school at all.

If Dawson and his pals are supposed to represent "typical high school students" then yes, their speech is a little amped up. But if they're meant to represent the bookish, slightly alternative side of high school life, then I think that they're right on target.

I picked up most of my merciless sarcasm and philosophical turns of phrase in junior high and high school -- not college, and so did most of my friends.

There's also the whole question of what kind of school and community they're in to consider -- but that's a whole other can of worms.

-- Anonymous, February 02, 2000