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Reviews
Freaks, Gleeks, and Dawson's Creek: How Seven Teen Shows Transformed Television by Thea Glassman
carolineinthelibrary's review against another edition
4.0
As a lover of teen shows, I was so excited to sink my teeth into this book. While I hadn’t seen a few of the shows highlighted, I thought this was a fun social history of some of the 90s, 2000s and early 2010s shows that made an impact on tv and culture. I think it speaks volumes to the book that after reading chapters about shows I hadn’t watched, I wanted to watch them to feel the feelings the author described. If you’re a fan of teen centric shows, this is a great read to pick up!
sam_anneliese's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
5.0
sonyabeatty's review against another edition
emotional
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
greatlibraryofalexandra's review against another edition
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
2.0
Warning: very subjective review following.
I like pop culture reads, so I listened to this one when it was recommended to me. Halfway in, I realized it just didn't appeal to me, and I sped up the listening pace. It fees like a collection of shows the author just really likes, and while I think it's cool that people can write to their heart's content about the things they love, I don't think this book added anything of substance to conversations about TV. That is at least 50% because I wasn't a fan of any of these shows, and nothing Glassman said about them made them appealing to me.
The only two shows I have actually watched extensively were Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Glee, and though I most enjoyed the discussion of Fresh Prince, the inclusion of it this felt like tokenism. The bit on Glee was nostalgic and funny, too, and maybe provided the most critical thinking.
Those in the middle, though - to me, they just came off as Glassman's favorite shows. Having seen half of season one of the OC, I thought her treatment of it was embarrassingly overblown in terms of its impact - just because something is popular doesn't make it genre-bending or transformative to art in anyway. I am a glutton for old gossip girl, but call it what it is: a vapid teen soap. Glassman portrayed Ryan carrying Marissa out of an alley in Tijuana as a scene comparable to a Bravehart script, and I remember seeing that scene as a teen, laughing my ass off, and turning the show off forever.
It's also hard to make the argument that shows like My So-Called Life and Freaks & Geeks were ultra-impactful, because they don't seem to have any true narrative staying power; while people do reference Glee, Fresh Prince, and even Friday Night Lights fairly often, the same can't be said for the other two.
Another of my subjective commentaries is that I don't think a discussion of what made and transformed teen television is complete without a treatment of Buffy, The Vampire Slayer (which included many firsts, one of which was a fully-fleshed out lesbian romance not rooted in the male gaze) and
Furthermore - and I do think this is objective - the subtitled thesis of "how seven teen shows transformed television" isn't ever proven. Glassman implies with this subtitle that she is going to draw narrative threads from these 7 shows to the golden era of what television has become, and those threads and connections are non-existent - she doesn't even make consisted or good arguments for how and why these shows influenced the evolution of other teen television, much less television overall. It's an ambitious and broad claim and this collection of love letter essays on seemingly random television shows doesn't pass muster in proving it.
Very enjoyable if you are a heartfelt fan of these specific shows, but as a read on pop culture contributions to art - pass.
I like pop culture reads, so I listened to this one when it was recommended to me. Halfway in, I realized it just didn't appeal to me, and I sped up the listening pace. It fees like a collection of shows the author just really likes, and while I think it's cool that people can write to their heart's content about the things they love, I don't think this book added anything of substance to conversations about TV. That is at least 50% because I wasn't a fan of any of these shows, and nothing Glassman said about them made them appealing to me.
The only two shows I have actually watched extensively were Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Glee, and though I most enjoyed the discussion of Fresh Prince, the inclusion of it this felt like tokenism. The bit on Glee was nostalgic and funny, too, and maybe provided the most critical thinking.
Those in the middle, though - to me, they just came off as Glassman's favorite shows. Having seen half of season one of the OC, I thought her treatment of it was embarrassingly overblown in terms of its impact - just because something is popular doesn't make it genre-bending or transformative to art in anyway. I am a glutton for old gossip girl, but call it what it is: a vapid teen soap. Glassman portrayed Ryan carrying Marissa out of an alley in Tijuana as a scene comparable to a Bravehart script, and I remember seeing that scene as a teen, laughing my ass off, and turning the show off forever.
It's also hard to make the argument that shows like My So-Called Life and Freaks & Geeks were ultra-impactful, because they don't seem to have any true narrative staying power; while people do reference Glee, Fresh Prince, and even Friday Night Lights fairly often, the same can't be said for the other two.
Another of my subjective commentaries is that I don't think a discussion of what made and transformed teen television is complete without a treatment of Buffy, The Vampire Slayer (which included many firsts, one of which was a fully-fleshed out lesbian romance not rooted in the male gaze) and
Furthermore - and I do think this is objective - the subtitled thesis of "how seven teen shows transformed television" isn't ever proven. Glassman implies with this subtitle that she is going to draw narrative threads from these 7 shows to the golden era of what television has become, and those threads and connections are non-existent - she doesn't even make consisted or good arguments for how and why these shows influenced the evolution of other teen television, much less television overall. It's an ambitious and broad claim and this collection of love letter essays on seemingly random television shows doesn't pass muster in proving it.
Very enjoyable if you are a heartfelt fan of these specific shows, but as a read on pop culture contributions to art - pass.