15 Realistic TV Shows About High School

Feb 06, 2024

Any teen drama worth its salt has attempted to perfect the blend of excitement, angst, and uncertainty that permeates to halls of high schools.

Needless to say, high school is a time filled with struggles and a lot of drama. But while the stereotypical portrayal in movies and TV shows features cliches like jocks bullying nerds and cheerleaders ruling the school, there are shows that have managed to provide a more fitting picture of those surreal teenage years.

Any teen drama worth its salt has attempted to perfect the blend of excitement, angst, and uncertainty that permeates to halls of high schools everywhere. These shows try to highlight the academic challenge students face, with the pressure of getting into the "right" college looming overhead. They trace the rough edges of the social minefield through cafeteria politics, after-school hijinks and the tricky world of dating. And of course, the immortal teenage preoccupation with finding yourself and your place in this great, big world.

Related: 20 Character Archetypes You’ll Meet in High School Dramas (& the Best Examples of Each)

We have brought together the TV shows that present high school not just as a space of juvenile angst and melodrama, but as a microcosm of growing up to become functional adults. From fashion faux pas and ridiculous rumors to life-altering discoveries about identity, abuse, and mental health, these shows seize the messy reality that lurks beneath those formative years and churns them around the most relatable stories and characters.

Few shows have managed to capture that awkward, agonizing, yet absolutely magical time of adolescence quite like The Wonder Years. Without ever sugarcoating or exaggerating the idea of growing up, the classic series follows Kevin Arnold through pivotal years of his life. We see him experience first crushes, embarrassing moments, and heavy family drama as he looks back on his own “wonder” years as an adult. Kevin’s narration frames the all-too-familiar story with hard-won wisdom and maturity, reminding us that even mundane school days can become adventures and lessons we will never forget.

Moreover, the show avoids simplifying the high school experience by giving us superficial stereotypes and instead paints a picture of a flawed family traversing the land as the world transitions. Yes, there are house parties and dating disasters. But what resonates the most is the nostalgic sense of figuring out one’s own identity.

In Angela Chase, television was gifted one of the most insightful and emotionally relatable portrayals of the high school experience. Every maddening and marvelous minute of Angela’s world unfolds with the kind of authenticity only the ‘90s kids would understand. She’s the social outcast, she keeps a daily journal, she’s not good at sports, she has a massive crush on the school heartthrob Jordan Catalano. Through her voice overs, we get to peek into her inner conflict and confusion. We have all been there, but rarely do we see the same depicted so vulnerably on screen.

My So-Called Life shows high school for what it is – a maelstrom of hormones, heartbreak, and friendships, and self-discovery. While the show captured the fashion, social dynamics of school hallways, summer jobs, music, and other cultural touchstones of the ‘90s, its greatest strength was the universal truths about coming of age.

Another ‘90s classic that gave us one of the most iconic TV couples in history, Boy Meets World captures the chaos, drama, and joy of teenagehood. In the center of it all is Cory Matthews, who journeys from a 12-year-old to graduating high school senior. Mirroring the life of an entire generation, the show found its bits of humor in the everyday struggles of high school. Understanding cliques, acing tests, pursuing curses, making bets. But it also tapped into deeper elements of high school life like friendships and family.

Cory and his friends are portrayed beautifully. Their imperfections and insecurities are what make them relatable figures we care about and root for. The school setting of John Adams High served as a metaphor for a larger world, teaching valuable life lessons about empathy, honesty, integrity, and always doing what’s right, even when it is the hardest thing to do.

HBO’s massive hit Euphoria peels back the glossy facade of Instagram to reveal the messy, unfiltered truth of teenage life in the current world. While the main focus of the show is 17-year-old Rue Bennett, who struggles with addiction but has no intentions of staying clean, there is an entire orbit of characters like Nate, the jock with anger issues and daddy issues, Jules, the new girl in school and love interest of Rue, Cassie with her insecurities and Kat with her consciousness, and Maddy, who is in a very toxic relationship with Nate.

The show sucks all the glamor out of teenage angst and slams the audience with hard truths about body image, trauma, drug addiction, self harm, and mental health. Its honesty and complexity are unsettling, but so is life for high schoolers. Ultimately, Euphoria lays bare the existential anguish faced by a generation performing the roles expected of them.

Parodies often revolve around the filmmaking industry, politics, pop culture, and anything that a massive group of people finds remotely interesting at the same time in history. When it comes to true crime documentaries, the genre is quite popular. So naturally, there would be a sharp satire of the same. Add high school stereotypes to the mix and you have a gold standard series.

Related: American Vandal: Revisiting the Comic Brilliance of This True-Crime Mockumentary

American Vandal follows two students, Peter and Sam, investigating a campus vandal who spray painted 27 faculty cars. What begins as a humorous take on the banality of high school quickly escalates into a reflection on the difficulty of knowing truth for humor, and innocence of guilt. Hanover High School provides an interesting backdrop for this brilliant premise because there is collision between jocks and burnouts, the social interaction between students is relatable, and the commentary cuts deep.

This Netflix original captures the dizzying highs and devastating lows of teenages girlhood in the perfect sense. Following the big trials and little victories of Devi, an Indian-American high school sophomore dealing with the grief of losing her father and the unbearable weight of getting through the social dynamics, Never Have I Ever delivers the universal reliability factor in abundance.

While focused firmly on Devi’s journey and her obsession with new experiences, the show also features a diverse cast of characters navigating issues themselves. The series displays the novelty of first crushes, competitive debate practices, and many embarrassments. But above all, its strength lies in empathy – for Devi and her friends, for their parents struggling to connect, and for teachers doing their best to understand. There are moments of emotional depth, heartwarming humor, and inner turmoil too.

Based on the bestselling young adult novel by Jay Asher, 13 Reasons Why depicts high school in a cathartic, gritty, and undeniably polarizing light. The series centers around Hannah Baker, played by Katherine Langford in her breakthrough role, a teenager who kills herself and leaves behind a series of tapes explaining the thirteen reasons behind her decision through the eyes of those who wronged her. As the tapes land on Clay Jensen’s porch, the series picks up the pace and pulls no punches.

Some criticize the show for glorifying suicide and trauma-dumpting difficult topics without warning or perfection. Other praise its brutal honesty in exposing the harsher side of teenage experience – the bullying, sexual assault, stigma, and mental health. Though problematic and wished to have ended after the first season, the series provides a lot of perspective for teenagers who are still uncertain.

Quickly jumping on to a lighter drama, we have Gilmore Girls, which redefined what the genre had to offer. Focusing on the witty repartee between Lorelai and Rory Gilmore – a mother and daughter who could easily pass for sisters or best friends – the show offered a refreshingly realistic depiction of growing up through Alexis Bledel’s character. Rory’s experiences at Stars Hollow High were so ordinary and mundane they felt undeniably authentic.

When she transfers to Chilton, there’s little conflict surrounding Paris and the social hierarchy. She navigates friends, crushes, schoolwork, Ivy League preparations, and extracurriculars with a mix of enthusiasm, awkwardness, and fatigue familiar to any teenager. Unlike other shows on this list, Gilmore Girls never dwelled too long on high school angst or melodrama. Instead, it prioritized the meaningful bonds that help guide us through those years.

Just because a teen show follows a soap opera-type format does not mean that it’s going to be dramatic and unreal. And Degrassi: The Next Generation proves the fact. Ti encapsulates the raw and rich lives of the age by following a diverse cast of students through the ups and downs of high school. Being one of the longest-running shows and having won multiple accolades, it provides a detailed account of events that occur in the routine of the ensemble cast. Relationships are formed and fell apart, friendships endure struggles, and the characters navigate issues like teen pregnancy and sexual assault. Overall, Degressi gives an unflinching portrayal of life’s messy moments and shows just how important they are for one to reach a better place.

Set against the backdrop of an historically monumental national conflict is Derry Girls. The hilarious series follows the lives of Erin, Clare, Orla, Michelle and James – five teenagers living in Derry, Northern Island in the 1990s trying to find purpose in their existence during The Troubles. From Erin’s overactive imagination and constant quest for perfection and Clare’s panicky good-girl behavior to Michelle’s rebellious and unapologetic spirit and Orla’s ethereal detachment to James’ bemused English outsider's perspective, everything about the show drips with heart, humor, understanding, and relatability. While one part of the show captures the killings and skepticism that stood dominant until the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, another major part of the show focuses on the nostalgia, drama and surprisingly warm familiar bonds of high school years.

Related: Why Derry Girls is One of the Best Comedies of Recent Years

Friday Night Lights is a sports drama, but you don’t really have to be a fan of sports or football to enjoy it. The show powerfully captures what makes the high school sport a crucible for forging character, community, and purpose among teenagers. Quite profound, isn’t it? Following a small Texas town obsessed with its Panthers football team, the show reveals the hopes, pressures and rivalries that shape teenage lives beyond the field. The players, all teenagers, wrestle with responsibility and manage expectations on and off the field as the coaches push them to excel. The show understands that for many youth in small towns and rural communities, sports remain a rare chance at both an opportunity for a better life and escape from their current state.

Dropped in 2007, Skins brought an unflinching, often unsettling honesty to the life of high school teenagers in Bristol, England. The group of friends at the heart of the show – Tony, Jal, Chris, Effy, Cassie, Sid, Michelle, and Anwar – are seen navigating love, relationships, identity, and family not with dramatic declarations but with a rare authenticity. The characters are complex, contradictory and flawed in ways that would only resonate with people who have been there, done that. Upon its release, Skins was criticized for its portrayal of sex, bad language, and explicit drug use. But as time went by, new seasons rolled in, and the characters became more nuanced, the audience understood just how careful the creators were by balancing out the tragic and comic elements.

Things take quite a turn for Jenna Hamilton, the protagonist of Awkward, after she has to go through the chaos of high school after her accident, where she falls into a bathtub and breaks her arm, is branded as a suicide attempt and the news goes viral. Through the eyes of 15-year-old Jenna, the show captures the quintessential teenage experience of never-ending self-consciousness, social awkwardness and the longing to fit in with absolute wit and heart.

Her story is painfully relatable. There are accidental nudes, mistakes and misunderstandings, and the mortifying ordeal of embarrassing yourself in front of everyone at school. But it reinforces some important truths. That teenagers struggle. They make mistakes and sometimes behave foolishly. But they still deserve compassion and acceptance and understanding.

Set in 1996 Boring, Oregon, this adorable little show encapsulates the bittersweet nostalgia of the decade with a refreshing angle. It follows two marginalized groups – the A/V club and drama kids – dealing with love, identity, and changing friendships as they grow up alongside one another after deciding to make a movie so that other kids at school would finally notice them and acknowledge their existence. While exploring greater themes of gender and non-conformity, the show never lost sight of its protagonists' essential teenage-ness.

Luke, the de facto ringleader, aka the president of the AV club, is madly in love with the principal’s daughter. The scenes that take place within the school avoid easy stereotypes and instead focus on outsiders daring to hope. Everything Sucks! proves high school doesn't have to define us if we are willing to remain open to new beginnings.

Judd Apatow’s brainchild and the show that helped launch multiple careers, Freaks and Geeks brings a rare authenticity and emotional depth to teenage life in 1980 Michigan and leaves us yearning by only being one season long. The show centers around two misfit groups – the “freaks” daring to be different than all and the “geeks” seeking desperately to be normal as all. It begins with straight-laced Lindsay Weir becoming a part of the freaks by dressing differently and hanging out on their spot, while her younger brother Sam dreams of pursuing his lifelong crush on Cindy Sanders.

Other characters include the fierce but loyal Kim, the troubled Daniel, and Nick who wants to be a drummer. They are all flawed in their own ways, but their awkward yearnings, clumsy experiments and uncertain trajectories as they trace the steps of the high school hallway are what makes them so real. Never stereotypical, its bittersweet solitary season stands as a tribute to the hopes and dreams of teenagehood.

An avid cinephile and self-proclaimed cat lady, Soniya adores watching films that move and transform and broaden her perspective. When she isn't busy working, you'll find her immersed in an arthouse film, catching up on stand up specials, discovering new music, gazing at the moon, and earning quality time to ponder it all.