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Freaks, Gleeks, and Dawson's Creek: How Seven Teen Shows Transformed Television
The untold stories of seven revolutionary teen shows (The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, My So-Called Life, Dawson’s 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 Dawson’s 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 “important”—and 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.
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 Dawson’s 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 “important”—and 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.
241 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 27, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 455 reviews
July 8, 2023
First and foremost: Team Pacey.
With that out of the way - this book was all one could hope for. Obviously it’s pretty fun and frothy, summer nonfiction for sure, but it also makes a pretty convincing argument for the importance of the specific teen-oriented shows presented in the evolution of both teen and adult television drama, especially given that these network shows all marked critical steps forward (or were sometimes just plain way ahead of their time) in the journey to our rich streaming landscape of the present day.
It’s well researched and written, it was surprising, it was earnest and respectful, it contained new info and ideas that were not already overexposed, and I love that it was a narrative rather than the “oral history” format used in a lot of books about historically important TV series. (It’s like, do some work for me here! If I wanted to read a bunch of interviews instead of a book, I would!) It also has just the right amount of writers’ room and behind the scenes detail, including inside scoop without being dirty or overly gossipy.
Of all the shows covered, I’d watched two of them in entirety. (I’m just going to confess which ones, because they are so awesome: My So-Called Life; Freaks and Geeks). Two of the shows I’d watched not at all. With the remaining three shows, I’d seen anywhere between a handful of episodes to maybe one season. While I did have the hardest time getting into the chapters about the two shows I didn’t watch at all, I still found them worthwhile. Obviously, I really dug the two chapters about my ride or die shows. And the remaining three chapters were also very interesting, even if I hadn’t really been a huge fan of these shows or seen a whole bunch of episodes.I guess I’m sharing this to let you know the book is capable of appealing to and educating a broader audience than just superfandoms.
I wasn’t fully sure going in why each of these seven shows were selected, but I better understood the unique importance of each show by the time I reached the end of each chapter and I think it makes sense these shows made the cut. I bought into the argument that these ancestral teen TV shows represent the heritage of contemporary or subsequent important or beloved shows - branches of the teen TV family tree.
I especially liked being reminded of how a number of these shows exploded stereotypes and presented groundbreaking characters and content, especially with regard to portrayals of gender and of sexual diversity, but really also of Teenagers generally, in various ways. It’s so easy to just forget and take all this stuff for granted today given the options we routinely now have at our fingertips.
Check out this book if you’re feeling curious or especially nostalgic! Perhaps like Pacey Witter, you’ll be able to say
- I Remember Everything….
I did it on audio and it was well read. It’s not necessary to read the chapters in order, and I didn’t.
With that out of the way - this book was all one could hope for. Obviously it’s pretty fun and frothy, summer nonfiction for sure, but it also makes a pretty convincing argument for the importance of the specific teen-oriented shows presented in the evolution of both teen and adult television drama, especially given that these network shows all marked critical steps forward (or were sometimes just plain way ahead of their time) in the journey to our rich streaming landscape of the present day.
It’s well researched and written, it was surprising, it was earnest and respectful, it contained new info and ideas that were not already overexposed, and I love that it was a narrative rather than the “oral history” format used in a lot of books about historically important TV series. (It’s like, do some work for me here! If I wanted to read a bunch of interviews instead of a book, I would!) It also has just the right amount of writers’ room and behind the scenes detail, including inside scoop without being dirty or overly gossipy.
Of all the shows covered, I’d watched two of them in entirety. (I’m just going to confess which ones, because they are so awesome: My So-Called Life; Freaks and Geeks). Two of the shows I’d watched not at all. With the remaining three shows, I’d seen anywhere between a handful of episodes to maybe one season. While I did have the hardest time getting into the chapters about the two shows I didn’t watch at all, I still found them worthwhile. Obviously, I really dug the two chapters about my ride or die shows. And the remaining three chapters were also very interesting, even if I hadn’t really been a huge fan of these shows or seen a whole bunch of episodes.I guess I’m sharing this to let you know the book is capable of appealing to and educating a broader audience than just superfandoms.
I wasn’t fully sure going in why each of these seven shows were selected, but I better understood the unique importance of each show by the time I reached the end of each chapter and I think it makes sense these shows made the cut. I bought into the argument that these ancestral teen TV shows represent the heritage of contemporary or subsequent important or beloved shows - branches of the teen TV family tree.
I especially liked being reminded of how a number of these shows exploded stereotypes and presented groundbreaking characters and content, especially with regard to portrayals of gender and of sexual diversity, but really also of Teenagers generally, in various ways. It’s so easy to just forget and take all this stuff for granted today given the options we routinely now have at our fingertips.
Check out this book if you’re feeling curious or especially nostalgic! Perhaps like Pacey Witter, you’ll be able to say
- I Remember Everything….
I did it on audio and it was well read. It’s not necessary to read the chapters in order, and I didn’t.
August 31, 2023
I fucking love reading books about media that I enjoy. And teen TV shows definitely fall into that category. This book profiles 7 teen shows from the 90s through the 2000s and documents how they influenced the genre. I really enjoyed getting behind the scenes glimpses at these shows and explorations into how they were groundbreaking for different forms of representation. I honestly wish the book was longer, I would’ve been happy to read about a bunch of other teen shows.
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August 27, 2023
I've been reading a lot of historical (yes, this pains me) pop culture nonfiction recently.
Not necessarily for the nostalgia, but because I'm fascinated by all the things I missed growing up as a child/teenager.
I never watched any of these shows save for reruns of the first few seasons of Glee (I like musicals), partly because my mom didn't let me, and also because I just wasn't interested. I was a teenager who loved cartoons long after it was "cool" to enjoy cartoons, and skipped out on many of the top teen culture moments because of it. Also, my youngest siblings were ten years younger than me and these shows wouldn't hold their attention.
But reading about them both in this book and The 2000s Made Me Gay kinda makes me want to sit down and watch them fully, even though I think that the brief sliver of a window where I would have enjoyed them is gone.
I was surprised that Gilmore Girls wasn't on this list, since THAT was such a huge show and paved the way for how other teen shows were paced. And no, I didn't watch that one either.
Not necessarily for the nostalgia, but because I'm fascinated by all the things I missed growing up as a child/teenager.
I never watched any of these shows save for reruns of the first few seasons of Glee (I like musicals), partly because my mom didn't let me, and also because I just wasn't interested. I was a teenager who loved cartoons long after it was "cool" to enjoy cartoons, and skipped out on many of the top teen culture moments because of it. Also, my youngest siblings were ten years younger than me and these shows wouldn't hold their attention.
But reading about them both in this book and The 2000s Made Me Gay kinda makes me want to sit down and watch them fully, even though I think that the brief sliver of a window where I would have enjoyed them is gone.
I was surprised that Gilmore Girls wasn't on this list, since THAT was such a huge show and paved the way for how other teen shows were paced. And no, I didn't watch that one either.
January 6, 2024
4.5 stars! Really enjoyed this one! So grateful that Shannon introduced me to it!
August 3, 2023
I am for sure the target audience for this book so, thanks.
July 13, 2023
3.5
It’s well researched and good writing. However, how do you discuss the revolution of teen television and ignore 90210, the first prime time teen drama to garner millions of viewers, the show that became the reference point for most of the shows she discusses in this book. She alludes to 90210 but doesn’t do a deep dive on it. I get the sense it’s because she herself didn’t watch it—perhaps she is just a tad too young to have experienced its run. But it’s a shortcoming that her editors didn’t have her cover it to make the book a more well-rounded version of what it is.
It’s well researched and good writing. However, how do you discuss the revolution of teen television and ignore 90210, the first prime time teen drama to garner millions of viewers, the show that became the reference point for most of the shows she discusses in this book. She alludes to 90210 but doesn’t do a deep dive on it. I get the sense it’s because she herself didn’t watch it—perhaps she is just a tad too young to have experienced its run. But it’s a shortcoming that her editors didn’t have her cover it to make the book a more well-rounded version of what it is.
February 2, 2024
The intro starts with the author saying the first teen show she loved was Dawson’s Creek when she binge-watched DVDs of in high school. Like Michael Jordan, I took that personally.
February 1, 2024
4.5 stars. I listened to this one. Such a great listen. Loved if.
February 6, 2024
Warning: very subjective review following.
I like pop culture reads, so I listened to this one when it was recommended to me. Halfway in, I realized it just didn't appeal to me, and I sped up the listening pace. It feels like a collection of shows the author just really likes, and while I think it's cool that people can write to their heart's content about the things they love, I don't think this book added anything of substance to conversations about TV. That is at least 50% because I wasn't a fan of any of these shows, and nothing Glassman said about them made them appealing to me.
The only two shows I have actually watched extensively were Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Glee, and though I most enjoyed the discussion of Fresh Prince, the inclusion of it this felt like tokenism. The bit on Glee was nostalgic and funny, too, and maybe provided the most critical thinking.
Those in the middle, though - to me, they just came off as Glassman's favorite shows. Having seen half of season one of the OC, I thought her treatment of it was embarrassingly overblown in terms of its impact - just because something is popular doesn't make it genre-bending or transformative to art in anyway. I am a glutton for old Gossip Girl, but call it what it is: a vapid teen soap. Glassman portrayed Ryan carrying Marissa out of an alley in Tijuana as a scene comparable to a Bravehart script, and I remember seeing that scene as a teen, laughing my ass off, and turning the show off forever.
It's also hard to make the argument that shows like My So-Called Life and Freaks & Geeks were ultra-impactful, because they don't seem to have any true cultural staying power; while people do reference Glee, Fresh Prince, and even Friday Night Lights fairly often, the same can't be said for the other two.
Another of my subjective commentaries is that I don't think a discussion of what made and transformed teen television is complete without a treatment of Buffy, The Vampire Slayer (which included many firsts, one of which was a fully-fleshed out lesbian romance not rooted in the male gaze).
Furthermore - and I do think this is objective - the subtitled thesis of "how seven teen shows transformed television" isn't ever proven. Glassman implies with this subtitle that she is going to draw narrative threads from these 7 shows to the golden era of what television has become, and those threads and connections are non-existent. She doesn't even make consistent or good arguments for how and why these shows influenced the evolution of other teen television, much less television overall. It's an ambitious and broad claim and this collection of love letter essays on seemingly random television shows doesn't pass muster in proving it.
Very enjoyable if you are a heartfelt fan of these specific shows, but as a read on pop culture contributions to art - pass.
I like pop culture reads, so I listened to this one when it was recommended to me. Halfway in, I realized it just didn't appeal to me, and I sped up the listening pace. It feels like a collection of shows the author just really likes, and while I think it's cool that people can write to their heart's content about the things they love, I don't think this book added anything of substance to conversations about TV. That is at least 50% because I wasn't a fan of any of these shows, and nothing Glassman said about them made them appealing to me.
The only two shows I have actually watched extensively were Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Glee, and though I most enjoyed the discussion of Fresh Prince, the inclusion of it this felt like tokenism. The bit on Glee was nostalgic and funny, too, and maybe provided the most critical thinking.
Those in the middle, though - to me, they just came off as Glassman's favorite shows. Having seen half of season one of the OC, I thought her treatment of it was embarrassingly overblown in terms of its impact - just because something is popular doesn't make it genre-bending or transformative to art in anyway. I am a glutton for old Gossip Girl, but call it what it is: a vapid teen soap. Glassman portrayed Ryan carrying Marissa out of an alley in Tijuana as a scene comparable to a Bravehart script, and I remember seeing that scene as a teen, laughing my ass off, and turning the show off forever.
It's also hard to make the argument that shows like My So-Called Life and Freaks & Geeks were ultra-impactful, because they don't seem to have any true cultural staying power; while people do reference Glee, Fresh Prince, and even Friday Night Lights fairly often, the same can't be said for the other two.
Another of my subjective commentaries is that I don't think a discussion of what made and transformed teen television is complete without a treatment of Buffy, The Vampire Slayer (which included many firsts, one of which was a fully-fleshed out lesbian romance not rooted in the male gaze).
Furthermore - and I do think this is objective - the subtitled thesis of "how seven teen shows transformed television" isn't ever proven. Glassman implies with this subtitle that she is going to draw narrative threads from these 7 shows to the golden era of what television has become, and those threads and connections are non-existent. She doesn't even make consistent or good arguments for how and why these shows influenced the evolution of other teen television, much less television overall. It's an ambitious and broad claim and this collection of love letter essays on seemingly random television shows doesn't pass muster in proving it.
Very enjoyable if you are a heartfelt fan of these specific shows, but as a read on pop culture contributions to art - pass.
September 9, 2023
I love teen shows and this was a fun read. (I skipped the chapter on Friday Night Lights because that is one of those shows I never watched but plan to at some point and I didn't want spoilers.) It would have been a really long book to include every teen show, so I understand why Glassman narrowed it to seven, but I would have liked more of a connective thread other than here are seven teen shows. I wouldn't even count Fresh Prince as a teen show because I think it was more aimed at families than teens and that opens it up to every family sitcom that has a teen main character. I think it should have started earlier, maybe with Dobie Gillis, to show more of the history of teens on television. Glassman obviously did a lot of research and conducted some fascinating interviews, but each chapter should have probably been its own book because I wanted way more detail on all the stories. For example, in the Glee chapter, there is a mention of the cast being drunk too film one scene with no other explanation. Why were they drunk? That needs more of an explanation.
April 18, 2024
Solid entertainment journalism, I learned a lot of interesting stuff about some shows I like a lot (and a few others I never watched or don't care for). While this is pretty good 'reporting stuff that happened,' it isn't very interesting a work of criticism in terms of advancing a thesis or making a case for any of these shows to someone who's not already convinced (so many references to the dialogue on 'Dawson's Creek' being intelligent and poetic without providing examples, as I sit here scratching my head and remembering it being kind of dopey, actually. . .?)
And I don't mean to sound like I'm yelling at a cheeseburger for not being a chocolate cake, I just think this book's limited ambitions keep it from being much more than brain candy that might win me a few trivia points down the road.
And I don't mean to sound like I'm yelling at a cheeseburger for not being a chocolate cake, I just think this book's limited ambitions keep it from being much more than brain candy that might win me a few trivia points down the road.
Read
April 12, 2024Mini Audiobook Review: This book was right up my alley! It was such a quick listen. Some of the information about the tv shows was not new for me (only because I live and breath for pop culture) but I still enjoyed it. I never watched Dawson's Creek so that section was the most interesting for me. This did make me want to rewatch My So Called Life and I have been wanting to do a rewatch of Glee and this had me itching for that as well.
I think if you had an interest in any of these shows growing up or even as an adult, give this a read.
I didn't think each section took too long so if you are expecting an in depth look at each of these, don't count on it. It gave enough info on the creation, during and the end.
Plus having Christine Lakin do the narration was the perfect pairing!
**I do not rate Non Fiction books as it is based on real events and real experiences.**
Content Warning from Storygraph:
I think if you had an interest in any of these shows growing up or even as an adult, give this a read.
I didn't think each section took too long so if you are expecting an in depth look at each of these, don't count on it. It gave enough info on the creation, during and the end.
Plus having Christine Lakin do the narration was the perfect pairing!
**I do not rate Non Fiction books as it is based on real events and real experiences.**
Content Warning from Storygraph:
September 18, 2023
As a person who has worked with teens for the past decade I love engaging with content that actually values and appreciates what teens do for society as a whole! Teens are so fun and really do make a stamp on the cultural flow within American society! I hadn't seen every episode of the 7 shows covered, but that didn't lessen my appreciation for this book! I would love to see a literature version of this book!
August 1, 2024
What I'd give to experience Glee all over again for the first time—seriously, I don’t even want to tell you what I’d trade to experience that bliss once more. And don't even get me started on Dawson's Creek; my heart still aches for those dramatic teenage moments. Kudos to you, Thea Glassman! Your book is a nostalgic rollercoaster, I adored it. I'm giving this a solid 5-star rating, though in my heart, it's a 6-star masterpiece. But I'm docking one star because I need more from you, Thea! My happiness hinges on it. 😅
January 17, 2024
I went back and forth between 3 and 4 stars. (My system is 1-bad/just not for me 2-okay 3-good 4-great and 5- fantastic/recommend to people you pass on the street.)I enjoyed it and it made me want to watch all the shows. I just wish it could have gone a little more in-depth on some areas. It is nice to see media marketed as teen shows get the respect they deserve. There was a decent amount of how the shows built from what came before but I personally would have liked a little more of a sociological take of what was happening in the world at the time that made this particular show click with so many people. Overall, fun good read.
August 17, 2023
This book was made for me. A delightful dish of backstory and adoration of shows I adore. I definitely could have read about a few moser shows of the era, but I will happily take what the book offered.
August 4, 2023
It was fun in spots, but I felt there should have been a little more written about how collectively, these shows changed television. Just saying they did doesn't make it so. I think there's an argument to be made that they did, and the author touches on it occasionally in individual chapters, but should have addressed it as a wider theme.
Some chapters were much better than others. The opening chapter on Fresh Prince was probably the best. The one on the OC was fawning, without explaining what made the show great. (And I didn't think it was.) The chapter on My So-Called Life was very nice, I'll say that. But the Glee chapter was heavily biased against Lea Michele to the extent that it made no mention of her extraordinary talent (you can dislike her personally, but you can't deny her voice) and skipped over the birth mother storyline with Idina Menzel, made no mention of Jonathan Groff, etc. I'm sorry, but the author spoke more kindly of Mark Salling, while dredging up every controversy LM ever sparked in a one-sided manner. Also almost no discussion on Matthew Morrison or the amazing Jane Lynch (not to mention her truly magical storyline with Robin Trocki). No discussion about Glee introducing two trans characters. (Maybe there would have been room for these things if there were a few less quotes from someone who played a c-list character whose defining trait was not being able to sing?) The Friday Night Lights chapter was good, but again, a little too fawning -- let's not pretend season2 wasn't a dumpster fire.
I also think it's nonsensical that this volume didn't have a chapter dedicated to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a show that most definitely had a stronger effect on the zeitgeist of teen TV than any of the ones mentioned here.
Some chapters were much better than others. The opening chapter on Fresh Prince was probably the best. The one on the OC was fawning, without explaining what made the show great. (And I didn't think it was.) The chapter on My So-Called Life was very nice, I'll say that. But the Glee chapter was heavily biased against Lea Michele to the extent that it made no mention of her extraordinary talent (you can dislike her personally, but you can't deny her voice) and skipped over the birth mother storyline with Idina Menzel, made no mention of Jonathan Groff, etc. I'm sorry, but the author spoke more kindly of Mark Salling, while dredging up every controversy LM ever sparked in a one-sided manner. Also almost no discussion on Matthew Morrison or the amazing Jane Lynch (not to mention her truly magical storyline with Robin Trocki). No discussion about Glee introducing two trans characters. (Maybe there would have been room for these things if there were a few less quotes from someone who played a c-list character whose defining trait was not being able to sing?) The Friday Night Lights chapter was good, but again, a little too fawning -- let's not pretend season2 wasn't a dumpster fire.
I also think it's nonsensical that this volume didn't have a chapter dedicated to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a show that most definitely had a stronger effect on the zeitgeist of teen TV than any of the ones mentioned here.
August 19, 2023
Each chapter felt quite rushed at points which makes sense because to actually deep dive into every one of these shows you'd need a 700 page book and that would be too much for something that should be a light read. The interviews with cast and crew were interesting though.
My biggest problem with the book was the lack of fact checking/editing though. I didn't notice anything earlier on in the book because I didn't follow the shows as closely as they aired but in The OC chapter it says people grieved Marissa on Tumblr and honestly it completely took me out of the book considering she died in 2006 and Tumblr didn't start until 2007 and didn't start taking off til 2009 and when I joined late that year the username summerroberts wasn't even taken yet. There was also a point in the Glee chapter where it says they sang "Shake it Off" instead of "Shake it Out". I just don't see how these things weren't caught which really made me start to lose interest and wonder what else was missed in earlier chapters.
My biggest problem with the book was the lack of fact checking/editing though. I didn't notice anything earlier on in the book because I didn't follow the shows as closely as they aired but in The OC chapter it says people grieved Marissa on Tumblr and honestly it completely took me out of the book considering she died in 2006 and Tumblr didn't start until 2007 and didn't start taking off til 2009 and when I joined late that year the username summerroberts wasn't even taken yet. There was also a point in the Glee chapter where it says they sang "Shake it Off" instead of "Shake it Out". I just don't see how these things weren't caught which really made me start to lose interest and wonder what else was missed in earlier chapters.
April 30, 2023
Five stars. All the stars. A thousand stars.
Did I binge this in one sitting? Yeah. Yeah I did. These are the shows that shaped who I am and I cried reading this. Why? I don't know. But I'm a sucker for my childhood nostalgia. And as a kid who got too attached to TV shows, this really just filled my heart and soul.
Fantastically researched and executed. Thank you for this book of memories. I can't wait to buy a physical copy!
Did I binge this in one sitting? Yeah. Yeah I did. These are the shows that shaped who I am and I cried reading this. Why? I don't know. But I'm a sucker for my childhood nostalgia. And as a kid who got too attached to TV shows, this really just filled my heart and soul.
Fantastically researched and executed. Thank you for this book of memories. I can't wait to buy a physical copy!
May 19, 2023
*ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review*
I LOVED this. Glassman takes teen shows seriously and writes about them with infectious passion; the narrative about each show is comprehensive, concise and compellingly readable. I want a million more books just like this one.
I LOVED this. Glassman takes teen shows seriously and writes about them with infectious passion; the narrative about each show is comprehensive, concise and compellingly readable. I want a million more books just like this one.
December 11, 2024
I have to confess, Glee is the only one of the seven shows Thea Glassman features in Freaks, Gleeks and Dawson’s Creek that I actually watched contemporaneously on television. Most of these programs debuted while I was in my twenties when I was busy with young children and teenage drama’s weren’t on my radar, so I didn’t discover My So-Called Life, Dawson’s Creek , Freaks and Geeks, The O.C., or Friday Night Lights until I had teenagers myself. Despite being well past the age of these programmes target audience, Dawson’s Creek (Team Pacey BTW) and Friday Night Lights were two that joined my binge list, a rota of comfort shows that I usually re-watch once every year or two.
I perhaps didn’t read the description for Freaks, Gleeks and Dawson’s Creek as closely as I should have. I was somehow expecting this to be an analysis of the cultural and social impact of the shows Glassman highlights, but its focus is more narrow (though exactly as the book’s tag line indicates), concentrating on how the seven drama’s affected the evolution of television programming aimed at teenage audiences, as well as ‘behind the scenes’ details of the shows and cast.
Unless you grew up in an era where there was rarely more than one TV in a household, it seems incredible that teen audiences were largely ignored by studios until the late eighties/early nineties. Previously programming was either aimed at children, adults, or a combination of the two, and that left teens with little choice but to watch family friendly viewing with their younger siblings, or whatever their parents wanted to watch after dinner. Beverly Hills 90210 (a glaring omission), which premiered in 1990 is usually credited with sparking the interest of television executives in appealing to teenage audiences. The show was a phenomenon, and soon had networks scrambling for their own market share, giving rise to the programmes Glassman has chosen to include.
I found it interesting to learn how these seven shows were pitched and developed, and the challenges each faced to manage their young casts, earn and keep their audiences, and maintain the support of their networks. I liked that Glassman obviously spoke with a fairly wide range of people involved in each show to source the details she shares.
However I’m not fond of reality intruding on my comfort shows (and I don’t care for celebrity gossip), so I could have done without some of the behind the scenes information Glassman imparts. My other niggle with the book was Glassman’s inclusion of The Fresh Prince of Belair which I think fits far more neatly into the family friendly viewing genre than the teen drama niche, though she does her best to make the connection.
There’s definitely nostalgia value in Freaks, Gleeks and Dawson’s Creek if you are, or were, a fan of any of these shows or their stars, but it should also appeal to those generally interested in the entertainment industry. With its easy narrative, this is a quick and undemanding read.
I perhaps didn’t read the description for Freaks, Gleeks and Dawson’s Creek as closely as I should have. I was somehow expecting this to be an analysis of the cultural and social impact of the shows Glassman highlights, but its focus is more narrow (though exactly as the book’s tag line indicates), concentrating on how the seven drama’s affected the evolution of television programming aimed at teenage audiences, as well as ‘behind the scenes’ details of the shows and cast.
Unless you grew up in an era where there was rarely more than one TV in a household, it seems incredible that teen audiences were largely ignored by studios until the late eighties/early nineties. Previously programming was either aimed at children, adults, or a combination of the two, and that left teens with little choice but to watch family friendly viewing with their younger siblings, or whatever their parents wanted to watch after dinner. Beverly Hills 90210 (a glaring omission), which premiered in 1990 is usually credited with sparking the interest of television executives in appealing to teenage audiences. The show was a phenomenon, and soon had networks scrambling for their own market share, giving rise to the programmes Glassman has chosen to include.
I found it interesting to learn how these seven shows were pitched and developed, and the challenges each faced to manage their young casts, earn and keep their audiences, and maintain the support of their networks. I liked that Glassman obviously spoke with a fairly wide range of people involved in each show to source the details she shares.
However I’m not fond of reality intruding on my comfort shows (and I don’t care for celebrity gossip), so I could have done without some of the behind the scenes information Glassman imparts. My other niggle with the book was Glassman’s inclusion of The Fresh Prince of Belair which I think fits far more neatly into the family friendly viewing genre than the teen drama niche, though she does her best to make the connection.
There’s definitely nostalgia value in Freaks, Gleeks and Dawson’s Creek if you are, or were, a fan of any of these shows or their stars, but it should also appeal to those generally interested in the entertainment industry. With its easy narrative, this is a quick and undemanding read.
July 7, 2023
Book 21 of 2023 - ☑️! I feel like this will be one of my top reads of the year. “Freaks, Gleeks & Dawson’s Creek,” does a great job deep-diving into 7 iconic teen TV shows:
1) “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”
2) “My So-Called Life”
3) “Dawson’s Creek”
4) “Freaks & Geeks”
5) “The OC”
6) “Friday Night Lights”
7) “Glee”
I had seen all of “My So-Called Life” and “Freaks & Geeks” (both short-lived and cancelled before their times), but this book made me want to revisit all of these shows, or start them for the first time. (Yes, I’m admitting here and now that I’m one of the few millennial teens who has never seen an episode of “Dawson’s Creek” or “The OC.” I went straight from cartoons & children’s TV to prime-time, adult shows in middle school. NBC’s “Providence” was my gateway drama…)
This book had the perfect blend of exploring each show’s inner workings/behind the scenes stories, as well as each show’s cultural impact on American society and teen TV as a whole through interviews and thorough research. 5/5 ⭐️
1) “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”
2) “My So-Called Life”
3) “Dawson’s Creek”
4) “Freaks & Geeks”
5) “The OC”
6) “Friday Night Lights”
7) “Glee”
I had seen all of “My So-Called Life” and “Freaks & Geeks” (both short-lived and cancelled before their times), but this book made me want to revisit all of these shows, or start them for the first time. (Yes, I’m admitting here and now that I’m one of the few millennial teens who has never seen an episode of “Dawson’s Creek” or “The OC.” I went straight from cartoons & children’s TV to prime-time, adult shows in middle school. NBC’s “Providence” was my gateway drama…)
This book had the perfect blend of exploring each show’s inner workings/behind the scenes stories, as well as each show’s cultural impact on American society and teen TV as a whole through interviews and thorough research. 5/5 ⭐️
December 12, 2023
Loved, loved, loved this. Of course I'm the target audience for it - I was just the right age to catch half of these on TV, or to feel ~cool for discovering some of the recently cancelled/completed series, or to understand why something like My So-Called Life was so foundational, even if I couldn't watch it.
But even aside from that, this is just a very well researched, well put together book - there's a through line theme that doesn't bonk you on the head, but each chapter builds on the previous. The input from the creators and writers and actors is also what makes this - you're getting real insight into the making of the shows, and of the work that was put in.
On a more shallow note: more books should be ~250 pages. This was the perfect length of book, enough detail to tell a comprehensive story for each show, but not so long that you ever feel bogged down in the details.
But even aside from that, this is just a very well researched, well put together book - there's a through line theme that doesn't bonk you on the head, but each chapter builds on the previous. The input from the creators and writers and actors is also what makes this - you're getting real insight into the making of the shows, and of the work that was put in.
On a more shallow note: more books should be ~250 pages. This was the perfect length of book, enough detail to tell a comprehensive story for each show, but not so long that you ever feel bogged down in the details.
July 31, 2023
In a lot of nonfiction books, there is a tendency to critique the subject matter, dissecting it and inevitably bogging it down and making it difficult to connect to. Thea Glassman has not done that here. She is a scholar, delving into the topic with intelligent observations but she’s also a fan and brings her enthusiasm for these shows into this work. Admittedly, I’ve only watched three of the shows mentioned but I could understand exactly what she was describing and found a new appreciation for the shows I hadn’t watched as well as learned something new about the ones that I did. This was well written and absolutely fascinating.
I received a copy from #NetGalley for an honest review.
I received a copy from #NetGalley for an honest review.
July 26, 2023
This was such a fun listen! Your mileage may vary depending on your age, but I'd watched 5 of 7 of these shows back in the day, some of which are all-time favorites of mine. So this was a great peek behind the scenes and gave me all the nostalgia vibes. (I laughed at myself because when the narrator repeated some of the famous lines--like Pacey's "I remember everything" from Dawson's Creek--I got literal full-body chills. Apparently, 14-year-old me is still inside me somewhere.) Plus, as an added bonus, I'm now looking forward to watching the two shows (The O.C. and Friday Night Lights) that I missed the first time around!
January 18, 2024
For someone who loves Glee and Dawson’s Creek as much as me- this book could not have been better for my obsessive personality brain!!!!!
March 14, 2024
Loved it! Great if you watched any of the shows above. Love hearing behind the scenes and everything that went into casting, writing, ect.
February 8, 2024
Very fun trip down memory lane if you watched and loved any of the shows included.
August 27, 2025
Light, quick, and enjoyable. But we’re really going to casually mention 13-year-old Claire Danes having a love interest cast for her in 21-year-old Jared Leto without comment? In this day and age?
3.5 stars
3.5 stars
September 12, 2023
This was such a fun read! For anyone who was growing up in the 90s and 2000s (or has watched a lot of shows from them), it is nostalgic. Glassman weaves together personal and published interviews data and a sprinkle of interpretation to give a behind-the-scenes look at seven shows with lasting impact. For anyone who loves pop culture and looking back at the history you lived, this is a good read.
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