Best Of 2008: TV’s Top 5 Influences For Teens

By Julia Diddy
Fancast.com

They grow up so fast, don’t they? One minute they’re playing in the sandbox with those little plastic shovels…next minute, they’re stripping and shoplifting and having kinky sex in limousines with all their fancy prep school friends and using a real shovel to bury those real people they’ve killed …

Well, that could happen if you aren’t paying closer attention to which shows they’re being influenced by during their formative years…and if you’re a meth dealer on the side or something. (Let’s face it – TV can only do so much.) At the same time, it probably wouldn’t hurt to nudge any young adults in your household in the general direction of these relatively wholesome and/or level-headed characters:

1. Miley Cyrus, Hannah Montana

You know the drill – in Hannah Montana, Miley plays a girl living a double life as an anonymous student by day, pop star by night, all of which is made possible via the transformative magic of one very special wig. Real-life dad Billy Ray Cyrus plays her onscreen dad Robby, and a requisite annoying kid brother is also part of the ensemble. The show took off like a ‘tweenager let loose at the mall with her daddy’s credit card - movies, soundtracks, albums, novelizations, video games, and pretty much any other consumer product that could be emblazoned with either a logo and/or Miley’s likeness quickly bulged from the shelves of Targets and Wal-marts across the country.

On the show, our perky tween queen teaches teenagers everything they’ll ever need to know about how to avoid the pitfalls of showbiz superstardom, and how to keep all that success from turning them into total douchebags! So what if such insights will only really be relevant to one in about five billion real-life teenagers. There are probably still some valuable kernels of wisdom to be gleaned about the importance of family or the consequences of irresponsibility…even if the lessons are ladled on a bit thick via dad Billy Ray’s homespun ruminations. At the same time, Miley/Hannah is never pictured drunkenly stumbling out of a nightclub sans undies, either. It’s ‘tween TV. It’s gonna veer toward cheesy more often that not, but at least it’s better than having your daughter aspire to date Chuck Bass one day …

Hear Miley’s take on the whole Hannah phenom, and what it’s like to work with her real-life dad, in this clip.

2. Tristan Wilds, 90210:

Finally, the monochromatic anti-pigmentism within that famous zip code has been infused with some real world influence. On 90210, Tristan Wilds plays Dixon Wilson, a former foster care kid who moves on up to life in the fancy lane with his adopted family - a family that reprises the “fish out of water” schtick first experienced by the Walsh family in the original series. By all accounts, the series premiere was the CW’s most successful original scripted premiere ever.

Wilds first worked the TV angle after being cast in a miniseries called Miracle’s Boys, which was soon followed by a role in HBO’s hit series The Wire.

Here’s Tristan discussing all aspects of his character in this interview clip, or catch a full episode of the show here on Fancast.

3. Demi Lovato, Camp Rock:

Disney proclaimed Lovato to be the “Next Big Thing” during a publicity blitz this past spring. (It was kind of hard to miss, really, what with the giant “NEXT BIG THING” logo looming above her head like Godzilla…)

Lovato’s “big break” was issued to her at the decidedly tiny age of 6 via a role on Barney and Friends. You wouldn’t think too many actors can attribute their big break in the biz to a giant purple dinosaur – yet weirdly, more than one tween queen has used the Purple One’s platform as a launching pad…seeing as how this is where Demi and Selena Gomez met and became fast friends. Being a Big Thing requires Lovato to endure lots of impossible and grueling work conditions, like appearing alongside all three Jonas Brothers in Camp Rock - an American Idol-esque fable about a young girl who dreams of music superstardom. The movie’s popularity has since led to a headlining role in Welcome to Mollywood, which is currently in production.

Soon, if Lovato has any interest in maintaining some semblance of normality and living an average life, she’ll have to resort to drastic measures…like, wearing a wig or something.

Check out these pics of Lovato in our slideshow – you might as well get used to seeing her face everywhere…

4. The cast of Greek:

You might assume that a show focusing on sororities and fraternities would be packed to the gills with homogenous blonde-haired blue-eyed characters, way too much Abercrombie & Fitch product placement, and way too little action set outside a sorority house or country club. But there is a surprisingly diverse ensemble in ABC’s Greek, which includes which a geek who yearns to be cool (Jacob Zachar); a geek who is proudly anti-Greek (Clarke Duke) and who furthermore intends to hold onto his virginity (no pun intended) with both hands; a gay black frat guy (Paul James); and a queen bee who is played by an actress of Pakistani/Portuguese/Indian descent (Dilshad Vadsaria).

No, it’s not Freaks and Greek by any stretch, but it at least attempts to portray life on both sides of the great popularity divide.

Check out Spencer Grammer appearing on Hollywood 411 to promote the show in this clip (although billing Greek as a modern day Animal House? Uh…whaaa..???)

5. Shailene Woodley, The Secret Life of the American Teenager:

In The Secret Life of the American Teenager, another ABC Family offering, Shailene Woodley plays Amy Juergens, the straight and narrow student who is good – but not perfect – which we learn after an unexpected pregnancy rocks her world following a whirlwind one-night stand at band camp. (Apparently her mother never warned her about drummers.) Role model, you ask? Well, not for finding herself knocked up, no, but…the manner in which her thoughtful character braces herself for the ensuing emotional rollercoaster, and learns to balance the weight of the world that has fallen upon her shoulders, does provide for genuinely compelling and thought-provoking family television.

Woodley first made appearances in Cold Case and Without a Trace before landing her starmaking turn in this series.

Click here for pics of the cast, and definitely check out Molly Ringwald discussing not only her role on the show as Woodley’s mom, but also life as a teen icon, in this clip on Fancast. (Who better to advise Woodley of the trials and tribulations that lay in wait for a tween screen actress on the verge of success?)