It's not unusual to see copious amounts of sex and drugs on HBO. But Euphoria, a drama starring Zendaya as an anxiety-prone addict, still shocks. Beyond being a notably provocative turn for the Disney alum, whose family spy comedy K.C. Undercover ended just last year, Euphoria is racy even by premium cable standards. The first few episodes of the show, which premiered this week, feature abundant full-frontal nudity, a graphic overdose and several harrowing sexual encounters. But unlike most HBO dramas, Euphoria is expressly about teenagers. In between monotone musings about her childhood, multiple rehab stints and relapses, Zendaya's character, Rue, evokes a uniquely adolescent brand of angst - while justifying her continued drug use: "The world's coming to an end and I haven't even graduated high school yet," she says. Euphoria, based on an Israeli series of the same name, is boundary-pushing in the vein of Larry Clark's controversial 1995 film, Kids, and the British series Skins, which followed a rotating cast of troubled teenagers in South West England. (A short-lived MTV adaptation drew ample controversy but fell flat.) Sam Levinson, who created the American version of Euphoria, has said that he infused his own experience as a young drug addict into the grim script, which pulls no punches in tackling teenage trauma. READ MORE: * Euphoria: A show with many penises, Zendaya - and very few ideas * Teen drama Euphoria courts controversy with explicit sex and nudity * Why Netflix's $145m Friends deal means nothing to New Zealand fans Surprising no one, the conservative watchdog group Parents Television Council has already issued a stern warning about Euphoria's graphic content, asserting that shows about teens attract, well, teens. But adolescent drama has connected with adults since fictional Brenda Walsh was in high school. Teen TV - the increasingly appreciated genre of television about, but not exclusively for, the 17-and-younger set - has long featured teenagers played by 20-something actors. The viewing audience at home is often much older. One pioneer of teen TV was Gossip Girl, which quickly became a cultural phenomenon (and frequent target of the watchdogs) after its premiere in 2007. By the third season, when a threesome involving two main characters (and guest star Hilary Duff) raised eyebrows, a rep for the network noted that the median age of the show's viewers was 27. A decade later, broad appeal has become a hallmark of the teen TV genre. Last year, a New York Times report cited a jaw-dropping 37.2 as the median age for CW's Archie Comics-inspired drama Riverdale, which follows the increasingly supernatural adventures of a group of very beautiful high school students. The data for streaming networks - which, like HBO, aren't beholden to advertisers in the way that the CW is - is harder to come by. But Netflix, in particular, has embraced teen-centered shows that appear to be geared toward anyone who will watch them. The approach has
With rampant drug use and graphic sex scenes, Euphoria is the latest teen TV show that isn't actuall
It's not unusual to see copious amounts of sex and drugs on HBO. But Euphoria, a drama starring Zendaya as an anxiety-prone addict, still shocks. Beyond being a notably provocative turn for the Disney alum, whose family spy comedy K.C. Undercover ended just last year, Euphoria is racy even by premium cable standards. The first few episodes of the show, which premiered this week, feature abundant full-frontal nudity, a graphic overdose and several harrowing sexual encounters. But unlike most HBO dramas, Euphoria is expressly about teenagers. In between monotone musings about her childhood, multiple rehab stints and relapses, Zendaya's character, Rue, evokes a uniquely adolescent brand of angst - while justifying her continued drug use: "The world's coming to an end and I haven't even graduated high school yet," she says. Euphoria, based on an Israeli series of the same name, is boundary-pushing in the vein of Larry Clark's controversial 1995 film, Kids, and the British series Skins, which followed a rotating cast of troubled teenagers in South West England. (A short-lived MTV adaptation drew ample controversy but fell flat.) Sam Levinson, who created the American version of Euphoria, has said that he infused his own experience as a young drug addict into the grim script, which pulls no punches in tackling teenage trauma. READ MORE: * Euphoria: A show with many penises, Zendaya - and very few ideas * Teen drama Euphoria courts controversy with explicit sex and nudity * Why Netflix's $145m Friends deal means nothing to New Zealand fans Surprising no one, the conservative watchdog group Parents Television Council has already issued a stern warning about Euphoria's graphic content, asserting that shows about teens attract, well, teens. But adolescent drama has connected with adults since fictional Brenda Walsh was in high school. Teen TV - the increasingly appreciated genre of television about, but not exclusively for, the 17-and-younger set - has long featured teenagers played by 20-something actors. The viewing audience at home is often much older. One pioneer of teen TV was Gossip Girl, which quickly became a cultural phenomenon (and frequent target of the watchdogs) after its premiere in 2007. By the third season, when a threesome involving two main characters (and guest star Hilary Duff) raised eyebrows, a rep for the network noted that the median age of the show's viewers was 27. A decade later, broad appeal has become a hallmark of the teen TV genre. Last year, a New York Times report cited a jaw-dropping 37.2 as the median age for CW's Archie Comics-inspired drama Riverdale, which follows the increasingly supernatural adventures of a group of very beautiful high school students. The data for streaming networks - which, like HBO, aren't beholden to advertisers in the way that the CW is - is harder to come by. But Netflix, in particular, has embraced teen-centered shows that appear to be geared toward anyone who will watch them. The approach has
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