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Freaks, Gleeks, and Dawson's Creek
Freaks, Gleeks, and Dawson's Creek: How Seven Teen Shows Transformed Television | Thea Glassman
10 posts | 11 read | 13 to read
The untold stories of seven revolutionary teen shows (The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, My So-Called Life, Dawsons Creek, Freaks and Geeks, The O.C., Friday Night Lights, and Glee) that shaped the course of modern television and our pop cultural landscape forever. The modern television landscape is defined by influential and ambitious shows for and about teenagers. Groundbreaking series like Euphoria, Sex Education, and Pen15 dominate awards season and lead the way when it comes to progressive, diverse, and creative storytelling. So how did we get here from Beverly Hills, 90210? In Freaks, Gleeks, and Dawsons Creek, entertainment journalist Thea Glassman takes readers behind the scenes of seven of the most culturally significant series of the last three decades, drawing on dozens of new interviews with showrunners, cast, crewmembers, and more. These shows not only launched the careers of such superstars as Will Smith, Michael B. Jordan, Claire Danes, and Seth Rogen, but they also took young people seriously, proving that teen TV could be smart, revolutionary, and importantand stay firmly entrenched in pop culture long after it finished airing. And while many critics insist that prestige dramas like The Sopranos and Mad Men paved the way for television, some of the most groundbreaking work was actually happening inside the fictional hallways of high schools across America in teen shows whose impact remains visible on our screens today.
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Sharpeipup
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Feeling the need to binge watch My So Called Life now…📺

Soubhiville I loved this show when it first came out. 🙂 9mo
robinb Memories…🩷 9mo
Bookwormjillk The memories! 9mo
29 likes1 stack add3 comments
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DebinHawaii
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Pickpick

#ReadAway2024

I find books about the behind-the-scenes of television shows/movies interesting & I have had this one in my TBR for a while. I‘m glad it was one of my #Roll100picks for February (# 50) as it was a quick & mostly enjoyable read. Although I was beyond my teen years in the 90s, I have nieces & nephews so some of the 7 shows I was more familiar with than others (The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Glee, Dawson‘s Creek) & this got me ⬇️

DebinHawaii … interested in watching a few others & I‘m currently watching Freaks & Geeks & plan to finally check out My So-Called Life. It‘s a pretty shallow dive into each show but engaging enough if you like the backstories. 9mo
DieAReader 🥳Great 9mo
PuddleJumper 🎉🎉 9mo
48 likes3 comments
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Kimberlone
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Mehso-so

I randomly picked this up on a kindle deal, but I would definitely recommend it as a borrow not buy situation. Other than the section about The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, I didn‘t really learn that much substantive about the teen shows featured. For the shows that were included, it didn‘t really feel like the comprehensive “teen show deep-dive” that I was expecting going in. Ending with Glee as the last chapter felt very arbitrary.

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Megabooks
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Pickpick

Truly enjoyed this audiobook! If you came of age in the 90s/00s this is for you. She delves deep into the evolution teen television and how it grew to encompass more weighty topics and more interesting production/directorial choices. I‘m a teen who loved watching Jordan lean (My So-Called Life) and devoured Dawson‘s Creek in college because it was partially filmed at Duke. Later shows (the OC and Glee) I missed but still enjoyed Thea‘s insights.

Megabooks Full list of shows: Fresh Prince, My So-Called Life, Dawson‘s Creek, Freaks and Geeks, the OC, Friday Night Lights, Glee (Early January #roll100) @PuddleJumper (edited) 11mo
Ruthiella I love this kind of pop culture analysis! Stacking! 11mo
Deblovestoread Although not my demographic this sounds fun. I did love Glee and FNL. 11mo
See All 10 Comments
Suet624 Jordan ❤️❤️❤️ My So-called Life was a great show to watch with my teenage daughter. We both loved and swooned over the same characters. 11mo
Megabooks @Suet624 yes! I am the same age as Angela and often use Generation Catalano to describe my micro generation between X and Millennials. I do not remember my parents enjoying it. They thought Friends was risqué ??, so I watched most TV in my room. 11mo
Megabooks @Deblovestoread I especially liked the chapter about FNL. They took a lot of risks with the style of filming, and it really paid off. The interviews of writers, directors, producers, and some cast members were v interesting! 11mo
Megabooks @Ruthiella enjoy! 👍🏻👍🏻 11mo
peaKnit I rewatched all of Dawson‘s Creek during the pandemic, I‘m going to have to read this! 11mo
Megabooks @peaKnit yes! Lots of interesting insider info on that! 11mo
peaKnit It is 3.99 on kindle, so I just had to get it! 11mo
78 likes4 stack adds10 comments
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Megabooks
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Lots to choose from for #roll100 in January! I‘m actually reading Freaks, Gleeks… already, and it‘s great!

BarbaraBB The Wonder is good! 11mo
janeycanuck I second @BarbaraBB! But don‘t read the jacket copy, there are definitely spoilers in it. 11mo
Megabooks @janeycanuck I think I did when I bought it, but I won‘t refresh. Thanks! 11mo
PuddleJumper 💜💜 11mo
68 likes4 comments
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ShananigansReads
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Squeezed one more in before the end of #Scarathlon @Emilymdxn #SkeletonCrew

Even though it has nothing to do with Scararhlon 🙃

Emilymdxn This sounds like such a cool book! 13mo
16 likes1 comment
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Hooked_on_books
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Pickpick

From The Fresh Prince of Bel Air through Glee, Glassman looks at 7 teen shows that were different from what was already on tv and how each one paved the way for change and innovation. I watched some of these shows and was aware of all of them. I really enjoyed this!

Itchyfeetreader This is my kind of thing 1y
Librarybelle Oh! Stacking! 1y
intothehallofbooks This sounds so fun! Thanks for sharing about it! 1y
GingerAntics This sounds like a fun read! 1y
53 likes6 stack adds4 comments
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LeslieO
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#AugustReadingRecap
✔️#bookspin
✔️#doublespin
✔️#SeriesLove2023
✔️5⭐️ I loved the tagged book. Even though I only watched two of the shows.
✔️✔️✔️ #nonfiction2023

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jackilynn
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Pickpick

Pure nostalgia!! I watched most of these shows in high school/college and now I kind of want to rewatch them. Much like when I was watching these shows...I laughed & I cried while reading this book but I wouldn't change one thing.

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MaggieCarr
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Pickpick

Not having watched all the shows mentioned I only read, and thoroughly enjoyed, the introduction and chapters on Fresh Prince & Dawson's Creek. Ahead of their time and yet so profound. I think that is why I get so disgruntled with the fakeness of shows today that feel the need to have things other than real-life storylines.