Top 10 High School Drama TV Shows Clichés

Professions of love, hearts breaking, fights breaking out, and awkward first times; everything goes down at prom. At the culmination of four years together, before our beloved characters go their separate ways, it is always a night to remember. “One Tree Hill” might be one of the only examples of a low key prom wherein the characters crash the prom of another school, but of course that was preceded by their own prom in which Peyton and Brooke were kidnapped by Peyton’s fake half brother. The iconic prom episode is such a favorite of teen dramas that sometimes you even get a double dose with a junior prom episode as well.

What else is there to do when you've clearly outgrown your immature high school peers? Admittedly, this storyline might have been a surprising and dramatic one at some point, but it has long since lost its shock factor after appearing in so many modern high school dramas. One of the most infamous is probably the short-lived romance of Pacey and Ms. Jacobs from “Dawson’s Creek”. The affair between Aria and Ezra from “Pretty Little Liars” was one of the show’s main relationships. “Gossip Girl” blogged about Dan sleeping with Ms. Carr. Even “Degrassi” goes there with Sav and Ms. Oh. We leave you with two final names: Archie Andrews & Miss Grundy.

When the show has already gone big with the main couples getting together, breaking up, and getting back together again, there is only one place left to go. The relationships are usually the driving force behind a teen drama, and everyone wants to see their favorites end up together. Some shows, like “Glee”, even use this trope more than once. More often than not, the pubescent characters will experiment with every possible pairing imaginable, but there is always that one couple that is just meant to be. Finn and Rachel, Chuck and Blair, Nathan and Haley, Cory and Topanga; everyone knew they were endgame.

Is it even really high school without bullies? Sometimes a cliché is a cliché for a reason...because it’s based in truth. Many early 21st century teen dramas try to tell the story from both perspectives- the bullies’ and the bullied. “Freaks and Geeks” was one of the first shows to center around the social underlings, and it has since become a staple of the genre. Whether it be doled out by serious physical violence, or humorous slushies to the face, it is one of the most overused storylines in teen dramas.

Apparently, in fictional high school towns, the teen pregnancy rate is off the charts. And it usually happens to the person you’d least expect. On the occasions that it’s not a full-on pregnancy, a scare serves the purpose of injecting some drama into the young characters’ already intense lives. This tool is often used as a cliffhanger, with the audience knowing someone is pregnant, but not exactly who, or with some doubt as to who the father is. This storyline appears so often that it’s barely even shocking anymore.

There's always that one teacher who relates to the students on another level, and rebels against the class’ curriculum. Though beloved by the students, they are always butting heads with the hard ass principal. Who could forget the love/hate relationship between Mr. Turner and Mr. Feeny from “Boy Meets World”? They usually disagreed about how to handle situations with the students, but ultimately had the goal of just wanting what’s best for them. Occasionally, a show will throw a curveball into this storyline with the teacher who only thinks he’s cool.

Everyone loves a bad boy... especially the good girl. This is one of the most predictable storylines, not just in high school dramas, but in all of film and TV. That boy with the chip on his shoulder meets the goody two shoes girl, and opposites inevitably attract. “One Tree Hill”‘s “Naley” are an emblematic couple of this trope. He changes his behavior to win her over, and with everything stacked against them, they beat the odds. Sometimes the good girl goes bad for a short stint, or the bad boy reverts to his former behavior just to make things more interesting, but they, ultimately, make each other better versions of themselves.

It's a wonder these characters ever graduate high school at all, unless standing in the hall and brooding is considered an elective. Understandably, a scene with all your characters just sitting in class learning about “Catcher In The Rye” is not at all visually interesting, or crucial to the plot of the story, but, learning rarely seems to take place in dramas that are, ironically, set in high school. The students’ time in school is mostly spent in the hallway talking about all their drama and life problems. They always seem to be walking to class, but never manage to get there. “Family Guy” once even made a point to poke fun at this phenomenon.

The best couples in high school dramas are the ones you’d never expect. Unfortunately, these relationships have become the ones we have come to always expect. If you see two people who don’t get along in the pilot episode of a series, it’s probably a safe bet that they’ll have gotten together by the finale. They usually start out as enemies, or at least frenemies, but eventually all that tension bubbles over into an intense and passionate, on and off, romance. They fight, they bicker, and they drive each other crazy, but that’s what makes them so great.



Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions:



Parents Are Never Around



A Student Is on Drugs



The Class Lesson Relates to the Character’s Lives

Pretty much all teen dramas have at least one love triangle storyline. A lot of times it's even the driving force behind the whole series, such as the famous Dawson, Joey, Pacey dilemma, and the Brooke, Lucas, and Peyton debacle. “Degrassi” lives on this storyline. And of course, there’s the well-known Archie, Betty and Veronica triangle! In pretty much every season, and all incarnations of this high school drama there is a new love triangle introduced. Whether it’s a situation of someone cheating on someone else, or simply one character going back and forth between the other two, it usually involves two best friends, upping the drama even more.