Tv shows set in high school

[Always *]

I have thought this for a long time but one thing I have noticed is that kids in high school tv shows do not act like kids. In some shows they do act like kids - at least sometimes - such as in Glee to Gilmore Girls,but in a lot of other shows they don't. I'm thinking about shows like Gossip Girl and Vampire Diaries, like Chuck in Gossip Girl is running a bunch of business endeavours that would be full time jobs in themselves and still going to school full time. Like? Why is that being encouraged when he's only 16, it makes no sense (small business projects, yes, but not the big ones he seems to take on) and at one point he convinces his dad to open a strip joint, again he's only 16 or 17 and can't even be there legally. The same goes for shows like Vampire Diaries where the kids basically have no adult supervision, they're just like out doing whatever in the middle of the night, not even partying etc. I've never thought it was realistic and now that I'm in my mod-20's I sort of feel like that I'm the age those characters act / they've got to be that old to not have things like college or high school being ruined by whatever nonsense they're up to but they're only being out into high school for a relateable backdrop for the people who the producers are marketing the show to and every once in a while they'll mention a test ot have a parent get mad if they did something like go out of town for 3 days unannounced or something.

Am I the only one who thinks that kids in high school based tv shows aren't based on real teenagers? What are your reasons to agree or disagree?

[NeuroBeautiful]

Hahahaha good point.
This isn't something I've pondered extensively but definitely crossed my mind. The vampire diaries was like the characters were only said to be high school students so it can help when they need to use the high school building or empty classrooms at like 3am to chase each other or to hide.

Degrassi is pretty realistic I would say. Can't think of any others that I've watched though.

[obelus]

I've noticed this as well, but have never thought too in-depth about it. I've never seen much of Glee, Vampire Diaries, Gilmore Girls, Degrassi, etc., but I've mostly noticed it on modern Disney and other channels geared towards pre-teens/teens. (Don't judge me. I blame Netflix for having a good selection. ) Mind you these shows don't seem as extreme to me as what you described, but they are by no where near being realistic.

[Nightblood.]

Most tv shows set in high school are unrealistic, but they're fictional. They can have the kids do whatever they want. There are some more realistic ones, Degrassi and South of Nowhere are two I can think of off the top of my head, though even they aren't always realistic. But at the end of the day, they're TV shows. Nothing about them will be 100% realistic. Even reality shows aren't 100% real.

The same goes for a lot of shows based on adults. They'll portray a job, and it's usually the same situation where it's only loosely based on whatever it is. Grey's isn't a totally realistic portrayal of working in a hospital. Law and Order isn't totally accurate with working in law enforcement. The Office isn't 100% realistic for working in an office job.

TV would be a lot less entertaining if everything was an accurate portrayal.

[Celyn]

Definitely! I'm thinking of Pretty Little Liars with the student-teacher relationship between Aria and Ezra and also Aria's father with another student....sure, crushes on teachers are common but the way that storyline was written does not portray 'realistic' behaviour...for either a high school student or a teacher! Though at the same time, I do acknowledge that it's just a show and that producing a 'taboo' love story can help with ratings and such

[Nightblood.]

Originally Posted by Celyn

Definitely! I'm thinking of Pretty Little Liars with the student-teacher relationship between Aria and Ezra and also Aria's father with another student....sure, crushes on teachers are common but the way that storyline was written does not portray 'realistic' behaviour...for either a high school student or a teacher! Though at the same time, I do acknowledge that it's just a show and that producing a 'taboo' love story can help with ratings and such

And that's not even the most unrealistic part

[Elision]

I definitely agree. It also annoys me how they cast actors that are like 30 to play teenagers - surely there are younger people who are far better suited to the role?

[Kate*]

I think the older you get, the more you realize this. Like when you're 10 or 12, you have no idea what it's like to be 16 or 17, so you don't realize, at least not completely, how unrealistic the shows are. Once you get past the age being portrayed, you realize that real life is not like that.

It also doesn't help that the actors are so much older than they play. My guess is that it has to do with child labor laws. I know it happens often. Even decades ago. There's a big difference between a 30 year old playing a 17 year old and a 20 year old playing 17. The closer they are to the age of the character, the more authentically they can probably act.

[Always *]

Kate, you're totally right, I defs noticed it as I got older. When I was like 16/17 I was like "ok, teenagers don't act like this" and now I'm like urghhh the people act my age lol. But it's not even all the it. Sometimes they do act younger, but I think that that's because maturity isn't linear, he'll, I know 30 year olds who still have the collective maturity levels of a 19/20 year old college student but are mature I other ways and I know 16/17 year olds who are very mature in some ways and act like a normal teenager in others.

And yeah, Celyn, PLL is a big one for this, plus Aria and Exras relationship is considered statutory rape probably just about everywhere, and he's also really taking advantage of her. Don't get me wrong, I like aspects of their relationship because the PLL kids do act much older than they are supposed to be so it's really easy to forget how skeevy the high school student teacher relationship is. It gets less creepy when he's no longer a teacher but still, I can't pretend like I approve. If they had been a college student to prof I wouldn't have cared but I really don't want it to be normalized that kids can get with their teachers. Teacher's are typically my age (23 at the youngest) and it's really not ok for them to be viewing 14-17 year old students as dates. When he realized she was only like 15 then the relationship should've ended. But oh well, it's still one of my shows even if I take issue with that.

It's definitely something where I'm like "whatever, it's just TV" but sometimes if I've been watching a lot of a show that gets to unrealistic then I'm like "urghhh I've had about all I can fake of this" lol

[MsNobleEleanor]

A show that pops into my head that for me resembled a lot of what goes on for teen pregnancy. My Secret Life of an American Teenager.

It has teen issues that teens face, unwanted pregnancies, classes, drugs, alcohol, sex, etc., I only watched about the first season.

7th Heaven is another I can think of, having the parent a Minister/Pastor of the Church. Religion. I thought the show showed a lot of issues that arose.

Another is a show I watch every Sunday and it's a Canadian show called, Heartland. It shows emotions, problem solving, family issues, friendship issues, marriage, divorce, family managing a ranch, etc., it hold a lot of values and morals.

If we really wanted to see and watch what kids, teenagers, adults, elderly and how they act all the celebrity shows has it all, living their life, how they interact and shows the real true selves of real people.

TV shows and movies, are based on fantasy and aren't completely portraying each age range or have true facts, shows are meant for entertainment rather showing how others act. There is this new series on CBC called, This Is High school and it follows high school students and how they manage personal struggles while trying to achieve their grades. You can see the struggle each of them have, they also talk about it. I don't watch it, I've seen parts of it but it's very heartfelt and emotional from what I saw. 'Cause they are talking about real issues from high school students.

[Nerdy&Struggling141]

For sure! Never mind that the characters are totally off but they've had a 31 year old play a high schoo student! I still love Daria though

I watched the first two seasons of One Tree Hill and I always used to think about this fact. They always have someone that is older than a teen playing a teen and so it just seems odd.

I am sure the reason they don't cast teens in shows is because of laws and regulations. The teens are probably only allowed to work certain hours and so the show would probably take longer to produce. All in all it's probably easier for them to cast adults.

I know Beth in The Walking Dead was actually 31.

[Always *]

One Tree Hill has to be one of the worst for this. Lucas's mom/uncle Keith seem to be the only parental figures around who actually bother with any parenting. All the other parents are never there or are total fuck ups... but I also feel like the writers/creators/producers never intended us to take the show super serious in a "obviously this is what's 16-17 year olds are like" kind of a way.

And I agree. I think rules and regs are a huge thing in why the actors are casted and are older than the character. This is especially true in shows like Game of Throkes. Like Danyaeris is only 13 in the books. But there are numerous sex scenes between her and Drogo and I'm ofetty sure it's illegal to have a minor getting naked and/or participating in a sex scene on screen - you'll notice in many teeny shows that it's only ever discussed later, they'll cut out after the kissing even with adult actors

One show I think is well done is Modern Family. The Foster is also good for casting people who actually look / act like children (teenagers, whatever). One of the worst for casting is smallville. The guy who's Clark Kent was like 25 when they cast him as a 14 year old. Maybe he was like 20 or 21 bit still, he was a very adult looking guy and it was unbelievable. Like I was not falling for that ish. Oddly enough, that was ashow where the writers sometimes tried to insert proper parenting... but at the same time, his bff is a journalist and hacker type with skills that there's no way she'd have that young (because, seriously she's smart but not a prodigy genius....) nor would she,have access to the stuff she's got access to. The girl he loves forever manages a cafe while she's in high school. Again, like, what? You can't realistically run a cafe in the evenings off school. Oh well...