History Main / TVTeen

* Series/{{Castle}}'s daughter Alexis is a refreshing aversion, as what we see of her experiences imitate reality very well (right down to the teen party where her friend passes out from alcohol poisoning), without any excess drama. It helps that she's probably [[WiseBeyondTheirYears more responsible than her father and grandmother combined.]]

* Lightly averted by ''Film/BackToTheFuture''. Biff gets drunk and tries to molest Lorraine, but he's the JerkJock. On the other hand, Lorraine is a sympathetic character who both drinks and smokes as a teen, shocking Marty, who naturally thought his mother would be as straitlaced as she was as an adult. And no one shies away from swearing. Of course, the actors were still all in their twenties, which starts to become quite obvious by the [[Film/BackToTheFuturePartIII third movie]].

* [[TeensAreShort Average teens in TV land are frequently shorter than adults]]. Not so in RealLife.

* [[AdultsAreUseless Borderline non-existent]] or [[OverprotectiveDad ridiculously clueless and cynical]] parents. The relationship between them is almost always bad[[note]]which, contrary to popular belief, is generally not TruthInTelevision according to most psychologists and sociologists[[/note]].

** Basically they are portrayed as either atypically cleaner or atypically wilder than most people's adolescence [[CantGetAwayWithNuthin with no middle ground]], and whichever one will be presented as the norm in their verse, which one often hinges on rather or not DawsonCasting is in effect and if they are the central cast or not. If they're either the main characters in a family/Disney show (with maybe some much less important or [[RememberTheNewGuy previously non-existent]] character being the opposite in the VerySpecialEpisode, perhaps WrongGenreSavvy) or they themselves are less important characters than the adults in a work (in these they tend to spend much of their screentime brooding), they will be squeaky clean, very chaste, never party or drink, though in teen comedies/dramas [[AdultsAreUseless anarchy]] is basically in effect and the teens will be hypersexual, party and drink constantly without parental repercussions and occasional parental encouragement, unthinkable of happening in other genres.

* ''Radio/OurMissBrooks'': Features HighSchoolHustler and TeachersPet Walter Denton, who carried a very squeaky voice over from the radio. Also in the main cast is spoiled Harriet Conklin, the principal's daughter. Showing up from time-to-time, is the [[DumbJock dumb]] but [[LovableJock good-natured]] Stretch Snodgrass - or his brother [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute Bones]].

* Teens are often seen wearing the "latest" and "trendy" clothes that look like they were very expensive.

* ''Literature/HarryPotter'' partially follows this. In the latter books, the teen characters go through lots of romantic drama and "snog" (i.e. passionately kiss or, in American slang, "make out") a number of times, but it's simply never mentioned whether any of them go all the way. Cue fan debates over whether or not Harry lost his virginity to Ginny [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar "off-screen"]] ("off-page?") during ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince Half-Blood Prince]]''. They do swear, but the worst words are taken out with the NarrativeProfanityFilter unless they happen to be FantasticSlurs. The actors in [[Film/HarryPotter the movies]] are pretty close to the right age, but they all have good skin. And according to Website/IMDb trivia, the actors' skin was actually digitally cleaned up on the fourth film.

* Pick ANY [[Franchise/DisneyChannelLiveActionUniverse live action Disney Channel sitcom]], chances are that just one of 'em will feature at least 50%-75% of the rules of being a TV Teen. Averted sometimes with the recent {{Creator/Nickelodeon}} sitcoms, they at least [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar try to take risks]].

* ''Perfect complexions.'' Skin conditions are much better in the TV world than they are in the real world. This one grates a bit, when the character is supposed to be suffering a crisis of confidence related to a pimple that the audience cannot quite make out, or the idea of having bad acne is a single pimple.

** In movies at least, this tends to be taken to the other extreme. For example, in ''Superbad'', just about every other word Jonah Hill's character says is [[ClusterFBomb "fuck"]]. While real teenagers do swear, few do it to even a fifth of that extent.

** If this is not the case, they often will instead [[EverybodyHasLotsOfSex ALL]] [[HormoneAddledTeenager engage in sex whenever given the opportunity]], and the girls will dress as provocatively as possible, [[NoDressCode including in school]]. This sex will likely lead to a pregnancy for at least one character on the show, or at least a pregnancy scare.

* At the same time, Teens are also capable of putting together incredibly elaborate plots. Especially if it's a {{Revenge}} scheme.

* ''[[DawsonCasting Twenty-four-year-old actors playing teens]]''.

** Basically they are portrayed as either atypically cleaner or atypically wilder than most people's adolescence [[CantGetAwayWithNuthin with no middle ground]], and whichever one will be presented as the norm in their verse, which one often hinges on rather or not DawsonCasting is in effect and if they are the central cast or not. If they're either the main characters in a family/Disney show (with maybe some much less important or [[RememberTheNewGuy previously non-existent]] character being the opposite in the VerySpecialEpisode) or they themselves are less important characters than the adults in a work (in these they tend to spend much of their screentime brooding), they will be squeaky clean, very chaste, never party or drink, though in teen comedies/dramas [[AdultsAreUseless anarchy]] is basically in effect and the teens will be hypersexual, party and drink constantly without parental repercussions.

** Basically they are portrayed as either atypically cleaner or atypically wilder than most people's adolescence [[CantGetAwayWithNuthin with no middle ground]], and whichever one will be presented as the norm in their verse, which one often hinges on rather or not DawsonCasting is in effect and if they are the central cast or not. If they're either the main characters in a family/Disney show (with maybe some much less important or [[RememberTheNewGuy previously non-existent]] character being the opposite in the VerySpecialEpisode) or they themselves are less important characters than the adults (in these they tend to spend much of their screentime brooding), they will be squeaky clean, very chaste, never party or drink, though in teen comedies/dramas [[AdultsAreUseless anarchy]] is basically in effect and the teens will be hypersexual, party and drink constantly without parental repercussions.

** Basically they are portrayed as either atypically cleaner or atypically wilder than most people's adolescence [[CantGetAwayWithNuthin with no middle ground]], and whichever one will be presented as the norm in their verse, which one often hinges on rather or not DawsonCasting is in effect and if they are the central cast or not. If they're either the main characters in a family/Disney show (with maybe some much less important character being the opposite in the VerySpecialEpisode) or they themselves are less important characters than the adults (in these they tend to spend much of their screentime brooding), they will be squeaky clean, though in teen comedies/dramas [[AdultsAreUseless anarchy]] is basically in effect.

* ''Radio/OurMissBrooks'': Features HighSchoolHustler and TeachersPet Walter Denton, who carried a very squeaky voice over from the radio. Also in the main cast is SpoiledSweet Harriet Conklin, the principal's daughter. Showing up from time-to-time, is the [[DumbJock dumb]] but [[LovableJock good-natured]] Stretch Snodgrass - or his brother [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute Bones]].

** Jo had no problem having them swear, but has stated that "my editor wouldn't let me." Well, until Deathly Hallows, that is.

* ''Radio/OurMissBrooks'': Features HighSchoolHustler and TeachersPet Walter Denton, who carried a very squeaky voice over from the radio. Also in the main cast is SpoiledSweet Harriet Conklin, the principal's daughter. Showing up from time-to-time, is the [[DumbJock dumb]] but [[LovableJock good-natured]] Stretch Snodgrass - or his brother [[SuspiciouslySimiliarSubstitute Bones]].

* ''Perfect complexions.'' Skin conditions are much better in the TV world than they are in the real world. This one grates a bit, when the character is supposed to be suffering a crisis of confidence related to a pimple that the audience cannot quite make out.

* Pick ANY [[Franchise/DisneyChannelLiveActionUniverse live action Disney Channel sitcom]], chances are that just one of 'em will feature at least 50%-75% of the rules of being a TV Teen. Averted sometimes with the recent {{Nickelodeon}} sitcoms, they at least [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar try to take risks]].

* Pick ANY [[{{DCLAU}} live action Disney Channel sitcom]], chances are that just one of 'em will feature at least 50%-75% of the rules of being a TV Teen. Averted sometimes with the recent {{Nickelodeon}} sitcoms, they at least [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar try to take risks]].

** Creator/JudyBlume's novels for teenagers in the 1970s were among the first to tackle such controversial matters as racism (''Literature/IggiesHouse''), menstruation (''Literature/AreYouThereGodItsMeMargaret''), divorce (''It's Not the End of the World'', ''Literature/JustAsLongAsWereTogether''), bullying (''Literature/{{Blubber}}''), masturbation (''Deenie''; ''Then Again, Maybe I Won't'') and teen sex (''Forever''), and as such have been the source of controversy over the appropriateness of such topics for her middle school audience. They have been banned often.

* All books which are in the category of "juvenile literature" in the United States until the 1970s, with a few (very controversial) exceptions such as ''TheCatcherInTheRye''.
** JudyBlume's novels for teenagers in the 1970s were among the first to tackle such controversial matters as racism (''Iggie's House''), menstruation (''Literature/AreYouThereGodItsMeMargaret''), divorce (''It's Not the End of the World, Just As Long As We're Together''), bullying (''Literature/{{Blubber}}''), masturbation (''Deenie''; ''Then Again, Maybe I Won't'') and teen sex (''Forever''), and as such have been the source of controversy over the appropriateness of such topics for her middle school audience. They have been banned often.

* Mostly averted on ''FreaksAndGeeks'', barring some occasional DawsonCasting and slightly less swearing than normal.

* While ''BoyMeetsWorld'' followed about half of the rules of the family-friendly model of a TVTeen, it came up with a few creative ways to {{Lampshade}} and justify them in-universe. Most of the plots revolving around teens' emotional impulsiveness/stupid decisions went to the character of Shawn, who was noted in the show to have delinquent tendencies and an impressively terrible home life with tangible effects, and the other characters were mostly exempt from these issues. Also, while Cory and Topanga didn't have sex until they got married, their relationship was also remarked upon by the characters themselves as being ''highly'' atypical (they first started crushing on each other around the age of six, and dated steadily since age 13).