Nostalgia for the 2000s is all the rage. Music artists like Olivia Rodrigo and movies like Kyle Mooney’s Y2K are tapping into the bygone era by way of cargo pants and trucker hats, and there is a demand right now for stories set around the turn of the millennium. And that makes sense, because everything is cool 20 years later.
But for me, the best way to get my 2000s fix is simply by watching the shows that were in the zeitgeist at the time. Thanks to the streaming revolution, it has never been easier to go back and re-watch those Teen Choice Award winners like The OC, Friday Night Lights, One Tree Hill, and Veronica Mars. Set in a world with flip-phones, limited social media, and dominated by indie/emo music, these teen dramas really do paint a portrait of a simpler, more tangible early 2000s world.
In addition to the 2000s technology and fashion, these early-to-mid-2000s TV hits also harken back to the older model of TV development. Now-a-days, new shows are typically 8-10 episodes long. They’re all plot, and they’re built to be binged in two or three days. Shows like The OC or One Tree Hill, however, are built around those longer 20-something episode seasons. There are filler episodes, and so much of the appeal is in allowing audiences to spend time with the characters they’ve come to love. These shows are built on an episodic structure instead of that more modern full-season approach, meaning there’s more to savor with each viewing. ***Sure, they may not be the most mind-blowing, well-written Peabody winning explorations of the form, but teen dramas from the 2000s always keep me engaged. And in these long, cold winter days, what more could I want?
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