10 Teen Dramas That Are Actually Good Television Shows

9. Dawson's Creek

Dawson's Creek may not have been the birthplace of the emotionally fragile teenage boy who spends most of his free time weeping about his feelings to his dearest friends, but it is that character type's moment of glory. Before Dawson, most teen dramas weren't really centered around the boys. Either the girls were the protagonists, because they both created and reacted to enough drama to keep a show going for years, or screen time was doled out equally between the sexes. If there was a male protagonist, he could be counted on to spend most of his time bemused by the actions of the ineffable girls in his life. But Dawson taught us that you could have a sensitive, creative teen boy as your lead, and people would love it. If nothing else, Dawson's Creek introduced the potential for a new dynamic to the interactions between its main characters that separated it from other shows on at the time. That, plus a winning combination of James Van Der Beek, Katie Holmes, and Joshua Jackson helped create a show that maybe wasn't the best thing ever on television, but was addictive and highly enjoyable.