This year of teen drama is lookin’ hot
Illustration by Zoe Wren Arntsen, Illustrator
“Obsession is in Session,” according to Prime Video’s latest slate teaser, featuring clips from “Sterling Point,” “The Last Sunrise,” and “The Love Hypothesis,” Amazon is turning out to be the go-to for teen TV.
Whether they’ve been tuned in since “The Summer I Turned Pretty” (TSITP) or just discovered the frenzy of “Off Campus,” viewers are on the edge of their seats waiting for Prime’s upcoming releases because anticipation is what they do best.
“They started doing what old TV did so brilliantly, which is that it didn't drop all at once,” sophomore Hadarya Levy said. The sociology major described how “The Summer I Turned Pretty” started it all. “It released every week. It created a fan base. It created anticipation.”
Whether the show lives on through an edit to Taylor Swift’s “Dress” or a resurgence of singing Warrant in karaoke bars, Prime Video has made adaptations more than a guilty pleasure; they have cemented the genre of teen TV as an ever-growing cultural phenomenon, and their reach is only growing.
“I remember when the fifth episode (of “Heated Rivalry”) dropped and I was like, ‘That's it?!’” sophomore liberal studies major Brielle Murphy said as she recounted the week-long wait for episode six. “Ilya says, ‘I'm coming to the cottage,’ and we had to just sit with that!”
Her roommate Daniela Campos agreed, but the sophomore psychology major believes it started a movement.
Prime Video is capitalizing on a desire to connect. Weekly releases and media fervor have built anticipation among audiences and reintroduced a TV-watching culture centered on shared experiences.
Murphy pointed out how episode five’s cliffhanger, with Wolf Parade’s “I’ll Believe in Anything” playing in the background, meant more than just a plotline: “For queer couples, that song and the message about being yourselves and being loud and proud was a whole channel on TikTok for that week. It was beautiful. And I feel like if … all the episodes dropped, we’d binge them, we wouldn't have that moment.”
Amazon has redefined how people watch TV, and it began by reviving the art of the weekly episode release and awakening the BookTok fandom. The Taylor Swift-filled episodes of TSITP walked so “On The Floor” and “Cherry Pie” could fly, each becoming an iconic pop-culture moment in its own right.
It’s not every day JLo raves about a hockey romance on TODAY after her song “On the Floor” recharts on the Billboard Global 200 since its release in 2011. Fans may have noticed “Off Campus” making an unexpected cameo on their Spotify when central characters Allie and Dean’s (Mika Abdalla and Stephen Kalyn, respectively) meet-cute remains the cover video for “On The Floor,” which now has over 1.24 billion streams following the show’s release in May.
“It just became a cult phenomenon, and I loved every aspect of it,” Levy said. Social media has catapulted the teen TV genre and is growing the conversation and community among viewers.
Not only are audiences taken down the rabbit hole of Heated Rivalry edits to “All the Things She Said,” but clubs are saying bye to house music and hello to TV soundtracks. Who says viewers have to choose between going out, rewatching their favorite comfort show, or doomscrolling?
At Club 90s, they can have it all; the LA nightclub holds regular themed events, including the Heated RivalRave. When Campos attended a month after the season finale, “They just played edits the whole time, and the soundtrack,” she said, reminiscing and humming “All the Things She Said.” Then they had “people come up on stage and dance — people from the crowd. I was one of those people,” Campos laughed.
Amazon’s ties to Amazon Music and Audible also play a big role in helping its shows transcend their life beyond the screen. Before Amazon was the one-stop shop for household knick-knacks, it was a hallmark online bookstore, and it just so happens Prime Video’s hit shows originate from books. 73% of Amazon consumers are Prime subscribers, which grants them access to Prime Video, Amazon Music and Audible. Audiences are now encouraged to continue consuming the show’s media across different platforms and in different mediums.
Reading, jamming out to your favorite song on repeat and watching TV have previously felt independent, but the one-stop-shop approach Prime Video is taking not only encourages multimedia consumption, but brings readers and watchers together, driving conversation: online debates over casting, episode recaps, watch party reactions and more.
Prime has created a frenzy around the weekly episode releases that have audiences shifting from binge culture to a more social watching experience.
Roommates Murphy and Campos remember watching TSITP together their freshman year. The two burst into laughter as they show their video reaction to the season finale. “We got the RA called on us,” Murphy said. “We were all screaming, (but) you don't feel alone, or think, ‘Is my reaction weird? I’m getting giddy over a character?’ because when everyone else is doing it, you feel validated,” she shared. Almost a year later, and they are still tuned in.