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16 high school teen dramas on Netflix, Disney+ Hotstar and Amazon Prime Video that will take you back to the good old days
From classics like One Tree Hill and The OC to the recent Never Have I Ever and Sex Education—your lowdown on the best teenage dramas that will get you addicted
Fictional teenagers and their over-the-top dramatic lives can be an entertaining escape from your current issues. You might not be a teenager going through the highs and lows of high school right now, but these teen high school dramas will transport you back to a time when you didn’t have to worry about filing tax returns or other adulting things that are supposed to fill up your life now. We’ve compiled a list of all the teenage dramas, both new and classic, that you can stream online right now and reminisce about days when when your only problem was missing your crush being online on Yahoo Messenger on a school night.
Here are 16 high school dramas you can binge watch on Netflix, Disney+ Hotstar and Amazon Prime Video
Never Have I Ever (2020)
Created by Mindy Kaling, the story revolves around Devi Vishwakumar (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan), a 15-year-old high school student who just wants to be popular and have a boyfriend. This Netflix coming-of-age drama talks about the struggles of being a first-generation Indian American teenager who is always caught balancing between her two identities. The show also stars Poorna Jagannathan (Devi's mom) and Sendhil Ramamurthy (Devi's father).
Streaming on Netflix
Sex Education (2019)
Socially awkward high school student Otis (Asa Butterfield) realises he has a superpower. He has a remarkable depth of knowledge in the matters of sex education, thanks to the years of being embarrassed by his mom (Gillian Anderson) who is a sex therapist. His crush Maeve (Emma Mackey) realises that they can partner up and make money off of their classmates by creating an underground sex therapy clinic. But as all high school dramas turn out, things don’t go exactly as they planned. While the first season of the show is solid, both in terms of writing and performances, it’s the second season that establishes what a rarely wonderful coming-of-age drama this truly is.
Streaming on Netflix
Riverdale (2017)
If you’re an Archie comics fan, then you should avoid the series altogether—you’ve been warned. But if you’re a fan of high school dramas where teenagers are not only dealing with the pressures of becoming an adult, but also catching serial killers and destroying cults, then Riverdale is the perfect show for you. Archie (KJ Apa) is an angsty teenager who just wants to create music and not play football (and get involved in murders), Betty (Lili Reinhart) is the sunny, popular high schooler who is also secretly into S&M and unmasking killers. Then there’s the rich, spoilt Veronica (Camila Mendes) who has just discovered that her father is a mafia boss and wants in on the business. And finally, there’s Jughead (Cole Sprouse) who is more interested in becoming an investigative journalist than hamburgers.
Streaming on Netflix
The OC (2003)
One of the most popular high school dramas of the early 2000s, The OC is perfect to go back to when you want to take a trip down memory lane. Based on the lives of teenagers living in the titular Orange County, California, the series revolves around the troubled but gifted Ryan Atwood (Ben McKenzie), who gets adopted into the wealthy Cohen family. The show explores the ups and downs of this dysfunctional family’s relationship with the materialistic and exclusive community in which they now live.
Streaming on Netflix
Gossip Girl (2007)
The iconic series revolves around the lives of super-privileged teenagers living in Manhattan’s Upper East Side. The show begins with the shocking return of ‘It’ girl Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively) after her mysterious absence. Her return threatens her old frenemy Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meestor), the current reigning queen bee and the most popular girl in school. There’s the ‘outsider’ Dan Humphrey (Penn Badgley), a writer from Brooklyn, who doesn’t fit in with the UES crowd and Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick), the spoilt son of a real estate mogul. Their lives become inevitably entwined and the rest becomes teenage drama gold. Oh, and there’s also an anonymous omniscient blogger named ‘Gossip Girl’, who pops up time to time, to reveal their best-kept secrets and create drama. A sequel, also titled Gossip Girl, is supposed to release this year too.
Streaming on Netflix
One Tree Hill (2003)
Another classic from the early 2000s, this show was set in the fictional town of Tree Hill in North Carolina, and followed the lives of two half-brothers Lucas (Chad Michael Murray) and Nathan (James Lafferty) and their shared love of basketball. The series got cancelled after its ninth season but is still one of the most rewatched series by fans who consider it the ‘best teen drama’ of all time.
Streaming on Amazon Prime Video
Atypical (2017)
This Netflix original series is a heartwarming comedy about Sam (Keir Gilchrist), a teenager on the autism spectrum, who decides that he is ready for love. The show explores how a socially awkward teenager navigates high school and teenage romance. It also delves into how his over-protective family members deal with his new-found independence.
Streaming on Netflix
On My Block (2018)
This show depicts all the familiar high school drama tropes while showcasing the lives of Hispanic and African-American neighbourhoods in Los Angeles. Watch as a quartet of street-savvy friends whose friendship get tested make their way through high school.
Streaming on Netflix
Euphoria (2019)
Loosely based on an Israeli series of the same name, the show follows 17-year-old Rue (Zendaya), a troubled, drug-addict who has just been released from rehab. It explores her life, along with the lives of her classmates as they deal with oncoming adulthood, sex, drugs, and trauma. This high school teenage drama is miles away from the preppy, lighthearted affairs of the early 2000s. Fair warning, this show is not afraid to get dark and heartbreakingly sad.
Streaming on Disney+ Hotstar
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (2018)
As was the case with Riverdale, this Netflix original series is the adaptation of the Sabrina the Teenage Witch comics we grew up reading. But the names of the characters is where the resemblance ends. This is a dark coming-of-age story about Sabrina (Kiernan Shipka), a witch who has to deal with the evil forces that threaten to harm her friends and family.
Streaming on Netflix
Glee (2009)
Raise your hands if half your iPod playlist consisted of Glee covers of popular songs. An overly optimistic high school teacher tries to band together a diverse group of students to form a ‘glee’ club. While primarily being about the celebration of diversity (both race and sexual orientations), the show was a satire of high school dramas.
Streaming on Netflix
Elite (2018)
If you’re a fan of Netflix’s Money Heist, then you should definitely check out the other Spanish-language original by the platform, Elite. Set in Las Encinas, a fictional elite secondary school, the series revolves around the lives of three working-class teenagers who get enrolled in the school through a scholarship and their wealthy classmates. There’s also a murder mystery that ties them all together.
Streaming on Netflix
13 Reasons Why (2017)
This controversial Netflix series was based on a 2007 novel of the same name by Jay Asher. The show dealt with the sensitive theme of suicide and the worrying culture of bullying and sexual harassment in high school. 17-year-old Clay Jensen’s life gets turned upside down after his high school crush Hannah Baker takes her own life. Just while he’s dealing with the trauma of losing a close friend, he receives a box of cassette tapes recorded by Hannah right before she decided to take her life. Each cassette tape reveals a reason why she did it. The show was criticised for its graphic representation of suicide and assault.
Streaming on Netflix
Insatiable (2018)
Patty (Debby Ryan) was bullied for being overweight through most of her high school years. An accident leads to her shedding all her unwanted weight and becoming thin and confident. Now she decides to take revenge from all those who fat shamed her and made her feel terrible about herself.
Streaming on Netflix
Everything Sucks (2018)
Even though the show, sadly, got cancelled after one season, its fan base continues to grow. Set in the 1990s in a town called Boring, the show revolved around the lives of the outcasts of Boring High School’s AV and drama clubs. It showed how the teenagers lived without the ease of smartphones and social media.
Streaming on Netflix
Teen Wolf (2011)
In a world of zombies and time travellers, why ignore werewolves? This supernatural teen drama revolves around the life of Scott McCall (Tyler Posey), who is bitten by a werewolf and has to adapt to his new identity while dealing with being a teenager in his school.
Streaming on Netflix
Also read:
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