At least four new fall shows announced last week center on institutions of secondary education (and primary angst). There’s clique-ridden Jacqueline Kennedy High, the setting for the WB’s “Popular,” in which a girl navigates the adolescent caste system. Fox’s “Manchester Prep” is a ritzy place where Clearasil-wielding Machiavellians duke it out for social supremacy. NBC’s “Freaks and Geeks” centers on “a wacky tribe of underachievers.” “Roswell,” on the WB, puts a spin on the teen-alienation theme when a student discovers that some of her classmates are from out of town–way out of town.
“It’s theoretically a great model,” says TV writer and producer David Israel. “High-school kids will watch the shows because they’re about them. Their younger siblings will watch because they want to emulate older kids. And parents might watch because they want to understand what the heck is going on with kids.” In the Trenchcoat Mafia era, that may be true. But make no mistake: it’s the kids the networks–and advertisers–are targeting. As the sought-after 18-to-34 demographic dwindles, malleable teens are growing in importance. They’re the ones seeing movies, gobbling fast food and developing brand loyalties. A 30-second ad on the WB’s modestly rated teen magnet “Dawson’s Creek” now commands more than CBS can charge for a spot on “Touched by an Angel,” which gets roughly three times the ratings. Darren Star, creator of the proto teen hit “Beverly Hills 90210,” recalls screening that show’s pilot for Fox 10 years ago. “The first reaction was, ‘We’ve got to see more parents–what if only teenagers watch this show?’ Boy, has that changed.”
Ultimately, however, programming success can be almost as difficult to engineer as high-school popularity. For one thing, the WB has established something of a stranglehold on teen audiences. What’s more, if teen shows do succeed across the dial, the rising tide could, ironically, lower all boats. “Advertisers trying to court this young audience haven’t had a lot of places to go, so the networks got a substantial premium,” says David Poltrack, research chief at older-skewing CBS. “Now the advertisers will have more options. The extraordinary premiums will disappear.” At which point it won’t be back to school for the networks, it’ll be back to the drawing board.
