Veronica Mars & Freaks and Geeks

It is interesting to think about teen TV after reading Eric Hoover's article, "The Millennial Muddle." Hoover lays out different viewpoints relating to the millennial generation. Neil Howe and William Strauss characterized the millennial generation very generally and assigned them traits, which included "special, sheltered, confident, team-oriented, conventional, pressured, and achieving" (Hoover 2). Later in the article, however, Arthur Levine rejects the labeling of a generation, saying, "Generational images are stereotypes" (Hoover 3) Palmer Muntz takes it a step further when he argues that Howe and Strauss have neglected to view all teens when they constructed their millennial label; instead mainly adapting it from white suburban good kid stereotype. Teen TV, I'm sure takes these generalizations into account because they are trying to get the biggest fan base, but I think its important to remember that Teen TV is not always directed solely at teens: "While Teen TV may be associated popularly with teen audience, and while networks and advertisers certainly desire teen viewers as a market, this does not exclude the possibility that Teen TV programs may also address, court, and successfully draw in both pre-teen and older viewers" (Ross & Stein 5). In fact, this verifies Palmer Muntz's problem with accepting generational thinking because he suggests that there are 2 large assumptions that often are made: 1) That people of different generations are fundamentally different than each other and 2) that people in each generation are similar to each other in meaningful ways. 

When we watched Freaks and Geeks, I could not help but notice that Howe and Stein's core traits were fairly present in many of the main characters depictions. When the moms wrote notes to their children in their lunches telling them they were special and that they love them, the special quality was highlighted. The young boys also appeared very sheltered, fairly conventional and felt pressured. In addition, I think that this show is a great example of teen television that probably strived to attain a larger audience than just teens.

Similarly, Veronica Mars appears to have been a show that may have drawn a more varied audience. Veronica Mars, however, does not really seem to fit in the millennial label that Howe and Strauss assigned. Instead, she and her family have been seemingly shunned from their town and are complete outsiders. Veronica is definitely not your typical teenage girl; in fact, Andrea Braithwaite has described her as a “chick dick”. She "argues that Veronica's dual position as a teenage girl and private eye--combined with the program's double architecture as detective genre and teen genre--enables a critique of the social viability post-feminism” (Ross & Stein 21).

My take so far on this is that Teen TV is certainly catered to a teen market, but it also may find appeal in other age groups. Also, as evidenced by our screening, there is no mold for teen television; some shows simply follow teens through day-to-day high school, while others, like Veronica Mars have a more intricate plotline. Whatever the case, Teen TV is definitely an area that has taken the millennial generation by storm and I can certainly say that I am captivated by it.