Teen TV Shows Ignore Consequences of Decisions

People magazine recently reunited the cast of the 1990s teen television show "Saved by the Bell." Its 20-years-later photo portrayed the stars of the show just as many of their once-young fans remember the once-young actors the embodiment of wholesome kids next door.

The day I saw that People shot, I also happened to run across a weeks-old cover of Rolling Stone featuring Leighton Meester and Blake Lively two of the main characters of this decade's hit teen show "Gossip Girl." Both actresses were suggestively enjoying an ice cream cone.

Readers who ventured inside the magazine found a photo of the entire "Gossip Girl" cast lying in a single bed wearing next to nothing 15-year-old actress Taylor Momsen included. (And that would represent one of the tamer scenes from this prime-time teenage-ratings grabber.) TV certainly has changed since the days of "Saved By The Bell."

Characters in 1990s teenage-based television series were not perfect, yet during those days viewers saw teenagers make choices sometimes very bad choices but also saw them face the consequences of those choices. On the original "Beverly Hills, 90210" during the 1990s, character Brenda Walsh faced a traumatic pregnancy scare, and the audience knew it was because she decided to have sex with her boyfriend. When Brenda's brother Brandon drank too much in another episode, he was rewarded with a DUI conviction.

These shows pushed the edge during their day, but actions were met with consequences. And that's the difference between youth television 20 years ago versus modern teen shows. Almost every episode of a 1990s teenage TV production had a purpose. The original "Beverly Hills, 90210" and "Saved by the Bell" covered more issues in their first couple of seasons than today's teenage dramas cover during their entire TV runs.

In 1991, the year after the original "Beverly Hills, 90210" premiered, a writer for the Chicago Sun-Times began a discussion about teenage sexual escapades on TV by writing, "[C]ondoms have been the trendiest fall accessory." When "90210"'s Brenda Walsh lost her virginity, there were multiple high-profile discussions about teen pregnancy, condoms, and AIDS -- on and off the show.

Current teenage dramas bury everything -- including morals -- under a layer of partying, drinking, and sex. When the characters on today's teen shows make bad decisions, they rarely face the consequences of their actions. The high-school-age characters of "Gossip Girl" drink hard liquor, have inappropriate relationships, and even engage in what appears to be date rape on a regular basis -- and nothing really happens to them. In fact, they appear to be the most sophisticated and popular kids in their social set.

When a teenage character on this decade's remake of "90210" got pregnant, the audience never learned what poor choices led to her condition. As a matter of fact, "Gossip Girl" and the updated "90210" rarely discuss condoms or HIV and AIDS.

During the 1990s, teenagers were warned about the danger of sexually transmitted diseases. This decade's television producers create mythical worlds where these deadly diseases don't even exist.

The executive producer of the CW's remake of the 1990s hit "Melrose Place" says he is using the show as a platform to portray the current sexual "kind of post-AIDS" revolution. Post-AIDS? When did that happen -- and why glorify the type of pre-AIDS promiscuity that led to the AIDS era? STDs are still around: One out of four American women between the ages of 14 and 59 must confront the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus. Yet zero out of four sexually active teenagers on TV confront HPV or any other STD.

As controversial as 1990s teen TV seemed at the time, this decade's screens have featured more extreme excesses -- and have been light on portraying the consequences for even the worst decisions. During the 1990s, the studio audience ohhhed and awwwed any time "Saved By The Bell" characters so much as kissed. Now shows offer their teenage audiences images that border on pornographic and disturbing.

The effects of alcohol are treated no better. When a character on the updated version of "90210" had a drug problem, she went to rehab. Once she was released, she attended a party where the other teens were drinking, yet there was no discussion of how this behavior would negatively affect her sobriety.

Sadly, teenagers are attempting to keep up with "Gossip Girl" and "90210." They are seeking to match and even surpass the outrageous behavior of their teenage TV counterparts. Is it any wonder that teenagers practice promiscuity when their icons on shows like "Gossip Girl" change their partners quicker than they change handbags? Is it at all shocking that teenagers are completely ignorant of the risk of STDs when the promiscuous teenagers on TV never get them?

The way the media portrays teenagers has an impact on the way teenagers portray themselves in real life. Teenage dramas must take some responsibility for peddling images of teenagers making poor judgments -- minus the consequences. Today recklessness and poor choices on TV are celebrated -- not condemned.

It's time to have a discussion about consequences. It is time to demand that TV not romanticize alcoholism, partying, and sexual promiscuity. Maybe the children portrayed on Gossip Girl do not have to live with consequences, but real teens do. It is time to have a serious discussion about the images our children are consuming.

If we don't, we may be consumed by teenagers' desire to compete with these fantasy depictions and our society will continue to live with the consequences of rising pregnancy, deadly alcohol-related car accidents, and inflating rates of teens infected with STDs. We can do better. Watch just 10 minutes of a modern teen drama and see why.

Jennifer Jessie, a UVa Law School graduate, is the executive director of the High Expectations Learning Institute. She comments on the trends of modern television and society at http://www.tvfiends.com. Contact her at .