Unpopular opinion, but R-rated “teen dramas” like Euphoria should just be set in college.
The characters don’t look or act like teenagers. They’re played by adults, doing adult things—clubbing, drinking, hooking up, and having way too mature relationships for high school. Yeah, some teens experiment, but not like this. If you removed the scenes at school, everyone would assume these characters are 21-25.
Character ages should make sense narratively. Nickelodeon and Disney shows like iCarly or Victorious worked because they were actually about teens, played by teens, written for teens. Even Spider-Man makes sense as a teenage story—he’s a kid juggling real responsibility. But with Euphoria, it feels like they just made everyone “15” for shock value.
If your show’s rated TV-MA and aimed at adults, just make the characters adults. It’d be more believable and way less creepy.
Lost my v card at 15, drank and smoked weed in high school. My friends were partying too, and I went to an elite prep school. Kids got kicked out of school for doing opiates, someone dropped a bottle of MDMA pills in the girls’ bathroom and one of the teacher’s kids got his GF pregnant. There was a couch in the library that there was effectively a public challenge to fuck on. Don’t even get me started on the shit that went down in the drama department. Theater/band kids FUCK.
Kids do these things, especially the kids with money and little accountability.
Well that was a different time. Kids these days are focused on getting good grades so they can get a decent job and prepare for the climate wars.