Binge-Worthy TV Shows To Watch With Your Tween or Teen
Are you looking for something to do with your tween or teen that puts you in the same room doing the same thing at the same time? What about on the same couch, even? We’ve learned that there’s value in watching television with our kids. In addition to the togetherness that comes with viewing with one another, there’s so much potential for laughter, anticipation, and even meaningful follow-up conversations. Who knew TV could breed such bonding!?
We’ve put together a list of twenty binge-worthy TV shows that will give you plenty to talk about together. Enjoy!
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Viewing Platform: Hulu, Amazon Prime, and Netflix
Description: Brooklyn Nine-Nine is a comedic American police sitcom created by Dan Goor and Michael Schur, who are the duo behind Parks and Recreation. The show is set in the fictional 99th Precinct in Brooklyn, and centers on Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg), a highly talented but immature NYPD detective who initially comes into conflict with his new commanding officer, the stern and ‘robotic’ Captain Raymond Holt (Andre Braugher)
Age range: Rated TV-14
Bunk’d
Viewing Platform: Netflix, Disney Channel
Description: Emma, Ravi, and Zuri Ross head off to a rustic summer camp in Maine, where their parents met as teens. Along with their new friends, love triangle, and the fears of the camp, the trio tries their best to settle into their exciting and challenging new lives at Camp Kikiwaka.
Age range: Rated TV-G
CSI
Viewing Platform: Hulu
Description: Mixing deduction and character-driven drama, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation follows a team of crime-scene investigators employed by the Las Vegas Police Department as they use physical evidence to solve murders.
Age range: 16 and up
Full House
Viewing Platform: HBO Max and Philo
Description: A widowed broadcaster raises his three daughters with assistance from his rock’n’roll brother-in-law and his madcap best friend. This is a story about sports-broadcaster-turned-morning-talk-show-host Danny Tanner and his three little girls, D.J. (Donna Jo), Stephanie, and Michelle Tanner.
Age range: 8-14 year olds
Glee
Viewing Platform: Prime Video and VUDU
Description: A group of ambitious misfits try to escape the harsh realities of high school by joining a glee club headed by a passionate Spanish teacher. When optimistic high school Spanish teacher Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) becomes the director of the school’s failing Glee club, New Directions, he hopes to be able to rejuvenate it.
Age range: 17 and up
Grey’s Anatomy
Viewing Platform: Hulu, Disney+, and ESPN+
A medical-based drama centered around Meredith Grey, an aspiring surgeon and daughter of one of the best surgeons, Dr. Ellis Grey. Throughout the series, Meredith goes through professional and personal challenges along with fellow surgeons at Seattle Grace Hospital.
Age range: rated TV-14
Malcolm in the Middle
Viewing Platform: Hulu
Description: A gifted young teen tries to survive life with his dimwitted, dysfunctional family. An offbeat, laugh track-lacking sitcom about a bizarrely dysfunctional family, the center of which is Malcolm, the middle of the two brothers who still live at home.
Age range: rated TV-14
Modern Family
Viewing Platform: Hulu and Peacock
Description: Modern Family revolves around three different types of families (nuclear, blended, and same-sex) living in the Los Angeles area, who are interrelated through Jay Pritchett and his children, daughter Claire and son Mitchell.
Age range: Rated TV-PG
Parks and Recreation
Viewing Platform: Peacock
Description: A mockumentary sitcom centered around the absurd antics of an Indiana town’s public officials as they pursue sundry projects to make their city a better place.
Age range: Most episodes fall under TV-14
New Girl
Viewing Platform: Netflix, Prime Video, VUDU
Description: After a bad break-up, Jess, an offbeat young woman, moves into an apartment loft with three single men. Although they find her behavior very unusual, the men support her – most of the time.
Age range: 14 and up
Outer Banks
Viewing Platform: Netflix
Description: The show follows a group of Pogue teenagers who live at The Cut, and are determined to find out what happened to the missing father of the group’s ringleader, John B. Along the way, they discover a legendary treasure that is tied to John B’s father.
Age Range: Rated TV-MA
Riverdale
Viewing Platform: the CW
Description: After a teenager was murdered within the town of Riverdale, a group of teenagers, the jock Archie, the girl next door Betty, the new girl Veronica and the outcast Jughead try to unravel the evils lurking within this seemingly innocent town.
Age Range: 16 and up
Schitt’s Creek
Viewing Platform: Currently on Netflix, moving to Hulu in October
Description: When filthy-rich video store magnate Johnny Rose and his family suddenly find themselves broke, they are forced to leave their pampered lives to regroup and rebuild their empire from within the rural city limits of their only remaining asset – Schitt’s Creek, an armpit of a town they once bought as a joke.
Age Range: rated TV-14
Stranger Things
Viewing Platform: Netflix
Description: After the mysterious and sudden vanishing of a young boy, the people of a small town begin to uncover secrets of a government lab, portals to another world and sinister monsters. The boy’s mother (Joyce) desperately tries to find him, convinced he is in grave danger, while the police chief searches for answers.
Age Range: rated TV-14
Ted Lasso
Viewing Platform: Apple TV+
Description: The series follows Ted Lasso, an American college football coach who is hired to coach an English soccer team in an attempt by its owner to spite her ex-husband. Lasso tries to win over the skeptical English market with his folksy, optimistic demeanor while dealing with his inexperience in the sport.
Age Range: rated TV-MA
The Good Place
Viewing Platform: Netflix
Description: The Good Place is a town where those who have been good throughout their lives go once they have passed away. When Eleanor arrives at the Good Place, she realizes she has been mistaken for someone else, and seeks help from a new friend to earn her spot in the Good Place.
Age Range: rated TV-MA
The Office
Viewing Platform: Peacock and Disney +
Description: A mockumentary on a group of typical office workers, where the workday consists of ego clashes, inappropriate behavior, and tedium. A mediocre paper company in the hands of Scranton, PA branch manager Michael Scott.
Age Range: 13 year olds and up
The Vampire Diaries
Viewing Platform: Netflix
Description: The series is set in the fictional town of Mystic Falls, Virginia, a town charged with supernatural history. It follows the life of Elena Gilbert (Nina Dobrev), a teenage girl who has just lost both parents in a car accident, as she falls in love with a 162-year-old vampire named Stefan Salvatore (Paul Wesley).
Age Range: rated TV-14
This Is Us
Viewing Platform: Netflix
Description: A heartwarming and emotional story about a unique set of triplets, their struggles and their wonderful parents. Rebecca Pearson once had a difficult pregnancy with triplets. The resulting births occurred on the same day as her husband Jack Pearson’s thirty-sixth birthday.
Age Range: rated TV-14
Yellowstone
Viewing Platform: Peacock
Description: Yellowstone follows the Dutton family, led by John Dutton, who controls the largest contiguous ranch in the United States, under constant attack by those it borders – land developers, an Indian reservation, and America’s first National Park.
Age Range: rated TV-MA
We hope this list is helpful as your family exits out of young-ish TV and into more teenaged content. Pop yourself a bowl full of popcorn, get comfy on the couch, and get watching!
