I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. This was a fun book about seven teen shows, all of which I watched as a teen, and how they were significant to future television and movies—lots of fun facts and memories for myself.

A well-researched and cannily written account of the best and most influential teen shows from the 90’s and beyond. The chapter on My So-Called Life is particularly enthralling, showing how this seminal entry into teen and female culture helped shape the television landscape for decades. This book is a fabulous read!

An enjoyable trip down memory lane and one that I think mostly chose the right shows to support what the book sets out to do.

I didn’t like all of the shows featured in the book, but they mostly provide for an interesting discussion on the evolution of teen shows in the 1990s and early 2000s.

I’ll quibble a bit with Friday Night Lights (which isn’t truly a teen show) and the Fresh Prince (which definitely isn’t a teen show). Though both were likely watched by at least some percentage of the teen tv audience, they don’t meet the definition of a show that specifically targets that audience, even by the author’s own interpretation of it.

To be fair, I’ve never been able to make it through a full episode of Friday Night Lights, so that didn’t help my opinion on its inclusion. I have a far better opinion of Fresh Prince, though I’m still not sure it belonged in this book even if there were some interesting elements to the discussion about it.

The rest, however, were exactly right. I didn’t like all of them (My So Called Life is an all-time “Hated it” show for me), but it definitively belongs in the conversation here, and to the author’s credit, reading her thoughts about the show was far more enjoyable and interesting than the show itself ever was,

Glee, The OC, and Dawson’s Creek felt like perfect fits for the book, and the section on each was both informative and entertaining. And though I personally preferred Undeclared, Freaks and Geeks was the right pick for this as well

As someone who was a teen in the 90s, this book was fascinating. It was a joy to revisit some of my favorite shows and learn the inside secrets. I only wished the author had delved deeper into the stories and explored the shows more.

This was a very fun narrative non fiction about the creation and impact of some of the most influential shows that really created genres in TV. I really liked how well researched this book was and I liked learning more about the shows I've loved.

In a lot of nonfiction books, there is a tendency to critique the subject matter, dissecting it and inevitably bogging it down and making it difficult to connect to. Thea Glassman has not done that here. She is a scholar, delving into the topic with intelligent observations but she’s also a fan and brings her enthusiasm for these shows into this work. Admittedly, I’ve only watched three of the shows mentioned but I could understand exactly what she was describing and found a new appreciation for the shows I hadn’t watched as well as learned something new about the ones that I did. This was well written and absolutely fascinating.

This was a very nostalgic read. A solid addition to bookshelves of 90's pop culture warriors, not necessarily a title for public libraries.

Alright... the title got me. I initially snagged this because Dawson's Creek is my comfort rewatch. (Pacey Witter existed so can you blame me?) But what I got was a deeper look into other iconic teen shows that broke the barrier and were the first of their kind. Definitely pick this up and give it a shot.

If you’re interested in how tv became as open and inclusive as it is today or how the behind the scenes of tv shows work, this is a brilliant read. From set up and sound design to casting and writing, Freaks, Gleeks and Dawsons Creek is interesting and told with pure enthusiasm. Only thing that held this back from a five star is that some references and anecdotes went over my head. Although this clearly means I’m due a rewatch of some true nostalgic gold.

4.5/5 Thank you for the ARC

For those of us of a certain age, and those after us who have discovered these shows on streaming services, this is a really interesting stroll through the nostalgic TV that defined us. It's detailed and well researched, and author Glassman finds tons of interesting stories to share from the making of these shows, while also keeping the excitement and clear appreciation show.

I was really hoping for more analysis in this book. It doesn’t quite get into HOW these shows transformed TV or how they influenced each other. It was definitely interesting to hear from the writers and producers and their experiences making the shows, but I expected more.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC for review.

Honestly, I was a bit worried about a nonfiction book talking about some of my favorite television shows. I shouldn't have worried, because I loved this journey that goes behind the scenes of shows that are technically classified as teen shows. The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Freaks and Geeks, Dawson's Creek, Friday Night Lights, My So-Called Life...so many wonderful shows are profiled. I loved that each chapter talked about how the idea came together, how the show was cast, how the writers crafted a tale, and also the impact that the show had on culture. There was only one chapter that covered a show I hadn't watched -- The O.C. -- and it was still an interesting read. Pick this up if you loved these shows or if you even still watch them today!

Freaks, Gleeks & Dawsons Creek

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I loved this, the perfect piece of nostalgia that put me in feels while also kept me turning that page so that I could learn more and more. I got way too attached to TV shows as a kid, I devoured fan fictions, articles, interviews and anything else I could get my hands on once the obsession took hold so this book just made my heart happy. It took me back to the days where the biggest drama in my life was when my favourite show was on hiatus.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for providing me a copy in exchange for my honest review

#Netgalleyarc This was a fun read. I’ve been a fan of every show mentioned in the book, except for Friday Night Lights, and it was fun to read background j formation about each show and gain some insight.

This was really interesting and much more in depth than I thought it was going to be. Most of the behind the scenes knowledge was new to me, even far some of my favorite shows like Freaks and Geeks. I found myself intensely invested in a couple of the show’s backstories that I hadn’t even watched. Great job.

One word… Nostalgic!

I flew through this non-fiction book based on some of my favorite TV shows from the 90s and early 2000s. I mean come on Fresh Prince of Bel Air, My So Called Life, & The OC just to name a few. Thea takes you on a behind the scenes tour sharing info an insider would only know! A quick step back in time that is 💯 worth the read!

Thea Glassman I need more shows!!!

I LOVED this. Glassman takes teen shows seriously and writes about them with infectious passion; the narrative about each show is comprehensive, concise and compellingly readable. I want a million more books just like this one.

Freaks, Gleeks, and Dawson's Creek: How 7 Teen Shows Transformed Television will be published on June 27, 2023. Running Press provided an early galley for review.

Of the seven shows discussed by Glassman, I was a fan and avid watcher of four of them. The other three I was tangentially familiar, at best, before reading her book. Still, I was curious to see how she would weave them all together to present her theories as proposed in the book's overview.

Well...the first chapter on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air came across as a bit flat for me. It is the lone pure sitcom of the group (though it did have some "special episodes" in its run too). Granted, I might have gotten more out of this had I not read The Fresh Prince Project by Chris Palmer earlier this year. The details here were mostly a recap of what that earlier book presented in greater depth. I hoped that the rest of the book would be a bit more enlightening.

The chapter on My So-Called Life intrigued me enough to see if I could find it streaming somewhere. It sounds like a lot of care was put into that short-run show. In many ways, it reminded me of Freaks and Geeks, another short run show profiled in the book which I absolutely loved (in part, because the latter was a period piece which mirrored my own growing up in the late 70's and early 80's). Glassman did also remind me how much I loved Dawson's Creek, a show which I own entirely on DVD. I might need to rewatch that one again after this.

In the end, I was hoping for some kind of closing argument or at least a prominent through-line within the chapters to help support the thesis posed in the introduction. Unfortunately, we do not get much of one - barely three pages tacked on to the last chapter. As such, the book comes across as overviews and highlights of seven shows that, I suspect, the author really enjoyed during the 1990's and 2000's. Which is not a bad thing. I think it is just a missed opportunity is all.

Still, I would recommend this book to folks who are fans of the shows covered.

Five stars. All the stars. A thousand stars.

Did I binge this in one sitting? Yeah. Yeah I did. These are the shows that shaped who I am and I cried reading this. Why? I don't know. But I'm a sucker for my childhood nostalgia. And as a kid who got too attached to TV shows, this really just filled my heart and soul.

Fantastically researched and executed. Thank you for this book of memories. I can't wait to buy a physical copy!

I absolutely ADORED this book. Non-fiction that focuses on pop culture of the 90s and early 2000s is exactly up my alley. Having so many of my favorite shows featured in this book was a treat. My So-Called Life deeply impacted me after I watched it for the first time and learning about it from a behind the scenes perspective was so fascinating.

"Freaks, Gleeks, and Dawson's Creek" is for anyone who grew up on teen tv, whether you watched the ones featured in the book or not. Things created for teens, specifically for teen girls, is so often cast aside or labeled as frivolous. I appreciated the care and importance that was placed on each of these shows.