A 1990s Teen Series Is The Most Sex-Obsessed Thing On Netflix

 

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Would you believe that one of the best shows ever made was a sex-obsessed teen drama from the CW? That may sound crazy, especially if you’re an old man like me who dismisses most of these shows as terrible teenybopper tripe with beautiful faces and not much else. But once you finally take a dive into Dawson’s Creek on Netflix, you’ll discover that this well-written series is much more than the sum of all its pretty parts.

Dawson’s Creek begins with a group of East Coast teenagers with very different personalities: Dawson Leery is a smart movie buff who wants to become a director, and his best friend is a fiercely independent and tempestuous tomgirl named Joey. They are both friends with Pacey, a brooding class clown, and their trio is joined by Jen, a sarcastic New York transplant with a sharp tongue and a reputation as a wild girl.

Meet The Beek From The Creek

The charismatic cast of Dawson’s Creek includes James Van Der Beek (best known outside this show for Varsity Blues) as an aspiring filmmaker (Dawson) with big dreams of life after high school. Joshua Jackson (best known for Fatal Attraction) plays a class clown (Pacey) in a constant will they/won’t they relationship with a tough, smart gal (Joey) played by Katie Holmes (best known for Batman Begins). Rounding out the Season 1 cast is Michelle Williams (best known for Blue Valentine) as a new kid whose exile from New York threatens to vastly change the dynamic between the aforementioned trio of characters.

Part of what makes Dawson’s Creek so fascinating is that it is very loosely based on a true story. You see, the show was created by Kevin Williamson (most famous for writing Scream), who gave Dawson his own love of filmmaking and Steven Spielberg. And even though the show’s Capeside setting is fictional, it is modeled after Williamson’s own North Carolina hometown, where he grew up living near a creek!

Williamson doesn’t stick around for a very long time; in fact, he left the show after Season 2 and only came back for the series finale. But the Scream scribe helped set the show’s tone, giving its teen characters quippy, intellectual dialogue that was normally nowhere to be found in similar shows like 90210. And he helped infuse enough real qualities into Dawson that the character feels flawed and weirdly compelling, which is refreshing for those who feared Dawson would be as annoying as, say, Zack Morris on Saved by the Bell.

A Creek-y Critical Hit

Dawson’s Creek managed to appeal to the critics just as much as it appealed to its hormone-ridden youth demographic. On Rotten Tomatoes, the final season of the show has an 86 percent rating, with critics praising the show for its witty dialogue and whip-smart writing that helped bring this messy teen drama to life. They also credited the show for its captivating characters that collectively elevated this show far above other teenage melodramas of the ‘90s.

I have to agree on that last point, as I’m one of the fans who didn’t really watch this show until it landed on streaming. I was expecting standard teenage melodrama, so I was pleasantly surprised by how fully realized the characters were and how literary the dialogue is. At the risk of sounding like a total fanboy, Dawson’s Creek is the series you show to someone who thinks there has never been a smart teen drama in television history.

Get Caught Up In the Romance

If witty dialogue isn’t your thing, don’t worry: the show features plenty of romantic shenanigans thanks to the fact that all of the characters are pretty openly sex-crazed. Amazingly, I found myself drawn into the tangled love triangles of Dawson’s Creek, and the show’s focus on love and passion practically transported me back in time. Just like that, I felt like a high schooler witnessing the spectacle of popular kid drama, and that’s the kind of nostalgia (full of both pleasure and pangs) that’s almost impossible to regulate.

Will you agree Dawsons’s Creek is the best-written teen drama in television history, or is this one show you’d rather throw into the water? You won’t know until you turn the clock back a few decades and stream this ‘90s classic on Netflix. Afterwards, you can join the rest of us on Team Pacey in wondering why this show was named after its most annoying character!