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A millennial’s guide to Prime Video’s YA universe
There comes a point in every millennial life when you turn on a teen drama, see two 17-year-olds make catastrophically bad romantic decisions, and realize you are no longer identifying with them; you are worried about them. Where are their parents? Why is no one communicating? When are they getting their homework done?
Prime Video, in particular, has become a factory for the kind of YA and coming-of-age television I thought I’d aged out of. Some of it is adapted from the books Gen Z is obsessed with, some of it is mining the IP and nostalgia millennials grew up on, and some of it is just genuinely good TV.
So, as someone who needs a compelling reason to face the cringe and watch people born after 1996 fall in love, I decided to investigate. Consider this a millennial’s guide to Prime Video’s YA universe: what’s actually worth watching, what will make you feel 100 years old, and exactly how much cringe, spice, and emotional devastation you should expect. See my very scientific rating system below.
Rankings out of 5:
🧀: a cringe scale of “I feel kinda old” to “omg this is painful”
😭: an emotional devastation scale of a single tear to full-on sobs
🌶️: a spicy romance scale of PG to X-rated
I’ve selected two that are a must-watch, two that are worth watching if you’re in a content drought, and two to skip. Let’s chat about it!
Two must-watch YA shows
Sterling Point
🧀 | 🌶️🌶️ | 😭😭
Season 1 streaming on Prime Video
Raised in NYC with her twin brother and adoptive father, Annie experiences a life-altering summer when she inherits her mysterious grandfather's island in Canada. There, she finds new friends, budding romances, and untold family secrets.
When the trailer dropped, I didn’t think much of it. It wasn’t until I finally clocked the team behind the show (aka the teen TV Avengers) that I made it a priority to watch when it premiered last week. And I am so glad I did!
You stopped mid-take.
See which YA shows are a must-watch and which you should definitely skip.
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