Supernatural Teen Soap Opera

Now, as you all know, this is my favorite of all genres.  Here are some of the best (and not so good)


Buffy the Vampire Slayer: 

This is the gold standard of teen supernatural soap opera ("Now every girl with a henna tattoo and a spice rack thinks she's kin to the dark ones...").  I watched this show as it came out (Buffy was a year behind me in high school); Willow Rosenberg was the first character I ever saw on TV who I really identified with. Turns out, in the unaired pilot, she was supposed to be fat (not actually fat, but TV fat).  Apparently, the network told Joss she had to be pretty. Now, it seems, my students love it as much as I did.  I hear they call me Giles behind my back! (but we all know I'm actually still in my Ripper phase).

Although,  the production values are crap (especially in early seasons) and the metaphor of adolescence as hell is sometimes ridiculous, Joss Whedon's amazing writing always carries it through, and frequently makes it among the best shows on television.  Personally, my favorite seasons are 4 and 6 (but I understand I'm in the minority here).  A+ for seasons 1-6, B+ for season 7.

Avalon High: This is a surprisingly non-awful Disney Chanel TV movie. Best for 10-15 year olds, this is the story of a high school aged girl whose parents are Arthurian scholars. She moves to Avalon, a town with an Arthurian connection, and wacky high-jinks ensue. It's quite predictable, and the characters are awfully one-dimensional, but it's entertaining fluff, and I expect kids will like it. It's no Buffy, but it's not bad. It's based on a book (or maybe a series of books?) of which I have no knowledge.  Solid B.

The Craft: Private high school, check! Teen witchcraft, check! Fairuza Balk, check! This movie is goofy, supposedly insulting to Wiccans, preachy, and has a holier-than-thou do-gooder as the protagonist, but I'm embarrassed to say that I love it anyway.  Someone once compared me to the main character (Sarah), and I nearly hit them.   B+





Here are some other great teen (or twenty-year-olds behaving as if they're teens) supernatural soap operas which are sadly unavailable to watch instantly:

Point Pleasant: This is a pretty good show about the antichrist. It's written and produced by Marti Noxon, who used to write Buffy. It's a little slow moving. B

Charmed: This show is not actually very good, but it does have an amazing, sexy, doomed romance with a demon, and you know I'm a sucker for that sort of thing.  Bonus points: the sexy demon is played by the hot guy from Nip/Tuck. B- to B+ depending on the season

Hex: It turns out that private girls school has a lot less sexy witchcraft than movies and TV had led me to believe. This is one of those private school witchcraft TV shows. It's British, and it goes very slowly, but it's not bad. B

Little Witches: This is sort of like a cross between The Craft and Hex.  It takes place at a Catholic girls school, which is closed over Easter break.  It stars someone who looks like Fairuza Balk, but isn't, and a young Clea DuVall.  It's great fun.  Netflix doesn't even have it on disk (or acknowlege it's existence), so it might be hard to find.  However, the Blockbuster I worked at when I was in high school had it, so it can't be too, too rare.  B