As the end of the year approaches, studios in Hollywood are gearing up for the 2024 TV season. With a backlog of shows from the historic SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes, its hard to find room for everything, which unfortunately means some shows are being canceled. Sometimes that happens even after they’ve already been renewed, like Prime Video’s A League of Their Own, which later got the axe. Few shows seem to be safe and Freeform’s long-running drama series, Good Trouble, learned that the hard way, which could speak to a bigger issue for teen soaps moving forward.
The news broke days ago and, at the same time, it was confirmed that Freeform’s other original scripted series, Cruel Summer, which finished its second season earlier this year, was also getting the boot. The development probably comes as a surprise to many fans of the young adult-skewing network, especially since those were the last two scripted shows left following the cancelation of the company's first animated original, Praise Petey. This is all disappointing, and I fear what it might mean for the future of teen dramas.
What Good Trouble’s Cancellation Could Mean For Freeform Moving Forward
The flagship show on the young adult network, Good Trouble has run for five seasons, and it played a huge role in the rebranding efforts the channel went through when it was switched from ABC Family to Freeform. Given that it’s a spin-off of the popular and critically acclaimed drama The Fosters, some of the characters have been on air for ten years. The loss of the Adams-Fosters gang will be felt by fans and the stars of the drama series who have already taken to social media to react to GT's cancellation.
As a fan myself, I am definitely going to miss tuning in every week to catch up with the drama going down at the Coterie. The loss is a bummer, but I’m even more upset that this means that Freeform no longer has any scripted programs on the 2024 slate. The network usually has six to eight shows airing throughout the year, so the absence of fresh content is going to be interesting.
I can’t help but wonder if the move away from scripted shows is the first step in the dissolution of the Freeform brand. After all, in September, the network -- along with other Disney-owned channels -- were pulled from Spectrum. It’s purely my own speculation, but these two moves together have me worried about the company's future.
Why This Recent Move Makes Me Even More Nervous For The Future Of Teen Soaps
Freeform isn’t the only network looking to cut its scripted offerings. The CW, the home to teen soaps for over a decade, announced earlier this year that it would not be leaning on scripted content as much to move towards unscripted shows. The move came with the abrupt cancelations of several teen-centric dramas as well as the company's plethora of superhero stories.
With both entities moving away from their teen-centered stories, I can’t help but wonder what this means for teen soaps going forward. It seems that the days of One Tree Hill and Beverly Hills, 90210, for which audiences could tune in for 22 weeks to watch their favorite characters find new ways to get into drama, are officially gone.
Sure, there are still a handful of teen dramas on streaming (with Prime Video's The Summer I Turned Pretty is definitely vying for a spot as Gen-Z’s own Dawson’s Creek), but they’re not the same. These shows have shorter seasons which means fans have less time to get to know the characters. They’re also not given room to breathe anymore and ultimately cram so much drama into one episode that they become a bit too melodramatic.
The teen soap genre has arguably never been in worse shape than it is today. Without these shows, teenagers are left watching a series like Euphoria, which centers on teen characters but puts them in adult situations that are hyper-sexualized and not always appropriate for younger audiences. That’s great for some, but what about those viewers who just want to watch characters get into messy, realistic and dramatic scenarios? Where do those viewers go now?
The absence of this genre is going to be detrimental to an entire group of young TV watchers, in my humble opinion. I certainly hope that Freeform, The CW and others don't completely disregard the value in such programming. Or, at the very least, that streaming services step up and give teenagers the soap operas they deserve.
While Good Trouble has been canceled, the final part of its fifth season begins airing on Freeform on January 2nd. You can watch it live or catch it the next day with an active Hulu subscription. With no new teen dramas slated for 2024, now is the perfect time to check out the best teen dramas series that are now streaming. Also, don’t forget to keep an eye out on 2024 TV schedule, in case any new shows do hit the lineup.
