Glances heavy with youthful longing, cliques of friends chatting by the school lockers, first love, bullying and the search for identity - the teen experience is topping the streaming charts these days.
Viewers young and old alike are eager to see young embraces, intrigue and ambition, from British teen comedy drama "Sex Education" to Germany's latest addition to the long list of international teen shows, "Maxton Hall".
It's a six-part series about Ruby Bell, who comes from a humble background and ends up at the elite college of Maxton Hall thanks to a scholarship. She suddenly finds herself among the super-rich and winds up getting caught up in a scandal involving a classmate’s family and an explosive secret.
Even in the week it was launched, the German production achieved "the largest global audience for a non-American title" in Prime Video's history, reaching number one in the Prime Video charts in more than 120 countries.
"'Maxton Hall' is a romantic fantasy. The series celebrates genre conventions instead of subverting them," says media scientist Moritz Stock of Germany's University of Siegen. "Scenes that are familiar, deliberately unreal and exaggerated is what makes the series so appealing."
These productions usually have scenes and moments that pack a powerful punch, especially when short clips are shared on social media platforms like TikTok - "otherwise they are difficult to get through to young audiences today." The makers of the series are trying to establish relationships with viewers who frequently share clips on social media.
"Teen series are character-centred stories, meaning they are less focused on exciting plot developments and surprising twists," says Stock, a specialist on teen and school series. What counts is the ensemble, a closeness to the characters and the actors, rather than a complex dramaturgy.
Ever since the global streaming market took shape, group-orientated series have become increasingly important, says Stock. People who are no longer tied to traditional television are particularly important for streaming providers such as Amazon, Disney and Netflix.
"Teen shows are accessible and quickly familiar to a young audience. Even if they come from different countries, they have universal commonalities: Being young, friendship, wanting to belong, first romantic and sexual experiences, shaping the future."
The longing for youth
These series are also pulling in older viewers too, he says. "In principle, teen shows can always fulfil the longing of an adult audience for a lost youth, and some series are better suited to this than others," says Stock.
"‘Stranger Things,’ for example, is particularly cleverly coded - the series is based on the iconography and genre conventions of 80s pop culture, but also appeals to a younger audience thanks to the constellation of characters and retro charm."
Teen shows have a lot in common at their core, but there is still great variety on the market. The educational series "Sex Education" tells us about realistic youth problems and is far removed from the horror and mystery series "Wednesday" or melodramatic dramas with crime thriller elements such as "Élite" and "13 Reasons Why."
In turn, these are also very different from "The Umbrella Academy," "Euphoria," "How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast)" or "The Summer I Turned Pretty."
From a historical perspective, the genre combination is also often worlds away from "Beverly Hills, 90210," "Dawson's Creek," "The O.C.," "Gossip Girl," "Skins" or "Glee."
Given the endless appetite for teen stories, Amazon's streaming service has promptly ordered a second season of the runaway success of "Maxton Hall" - based on the novel "Save me" by German author Mona Kasten.
German actors Damian Hardung and Harriet Herbig-Matten look set to become the latest to join the likes of of Jenna Ortega from "Wednesday," Emma Mackey of "Sex Education," Edvin Ryding of "Young Royals" and Kit Connor of "Heartstopper" - actors who have become the heartthrobs of millions worldwide through coming-of-age dramas on streaming platforms.
