The second generation of teen series: American, british and spanish shows of the 2000s-2010s

Abstract

Teen series are a star media product around youth culture, and at the same time that represent the prototype of serialised fiction programmes preferred by the teen audience. This article presents the results of a study of 50 contemporary teen series, produced in The United States, The United Kingdom and Spain. Through a qualitative approach and a mixed methodology, the study draws on the fundamental characteristics of the format of the second generation of teen series. Like the first-generation productions of the 1990s, today's teen series remain prime-time star shows and continue to focus on teenage characters and themes. But, unlike those of the first generation, current teen series tend to portray more diverse and varied youth representations, offering models of identity based on self-acceptance; they open up to a young and young-adult audience, and rely on the narrative and aesthetic strategies of the current meta-television stage and of the so-called third golden age of television, becoming popular quality productions.