one thing I've noticed in hindsight is how many high-school centric (or at least in the early seasons) shows' first seasons took place in the sophomore year.

Just offhand:
Buffy
Roswell
Popular
The Facts Of Life (when Jo joined in 80, which is when I consider the beginning of the show, she and Blair were sophomores)
One Tree Hill
The OC
fill in the blanks.. there are definately more

what is the obsession with sophomore year to where it's the blueprint for where tv shows introduce the characters off in?

My guess it it's more believable to have the 23 year old stars of the show playing sophomores instead of freshmen.

;)

23??? 25-26 seems more the norm when you look at Roswell, Popular, OC and Buffy The Vampire Slayer (Charisma Carpenter was only 2 weeks younger than one of the actresses playing a TEACHER)

23??? 25-26 seems more the norm when you look at Roswell, Popular, OC and Buffy The Vampire Slayer (Charisma Carpenter was only 2 weeks younger than one of the actresses playing a TEACHER)

Exactly. You would never believe that Charisma Carpenter would be a 14 frosh.
Now 15? No problem.

I think Dawson's Creek also started sophomore year

And Rory was a sophomore when Gilmore Girls started.

I guess they see it as not too young, and some room left to graduate.

The Dawson's Creek kids started the series with Sophmore year. They were smart though. They made the first season only be a semester (Because season one was short)...And the Second season was the other half of the school year....This made it so that the kids could stay in High School longer...More shows should have done this or well started them in Freshman year so they could stay in School longer, and not have to Graduate and have the writers run out of of ideas....Dear god Veronica Mars started in her Junior year!

By the way...Great Topic!
:)

The Dawson's Creek kids started the series with Sophmore year. They were smart though. They made the first season only be a semester (Because season one was short)...And the Second season was the other half of the school year....This made it so that the kids could stay in High School longer...More shows should have done this or well started them in Freshman year so they could stay in School longer, and not have to Graduate and have the writers run out of of ideas....Dear god Veronica Mars started in her Junior year!

By the way...Great Topic!
:)


with DC, I wasnt sure because it'd been so long, but I guess since they graduated in season 4, that I assumed season 1 was freshman year (even though James Van Der Beek and Joshua Jackson were both 20 at the time)

Personally, I loved the post-high school Buffy and Facts Of Life episodes and it led me to miss what might've been if Roswell or Popular had lasted longer. I did however hate 90210 running too long because by the time the show ended, all of the characters' youth was gone and they were all boring adults, it should've ended a few years earlier (granted, Buffy, Xander and Willow all changed dramatically from the high school years but Buffy wasn't a show about norms in any form so it's not like the characters we loved as teens were working in offices, but instead being powerful witches and stuff like that :lol:

with DC, I wasnt sure because it'd been so long, but I guess since they graduated in season 4, that I assumed season 1 was freshman year (even though James Van Der Beek and Joshua Jackson were both 20 at the time)

Personally, I loved the post-high school Buffy and Facts Of Life episodes and it led me to miss what might've been if Roswell or Popular had lasted longer. I did however hate 90210 running too long because by the time the show ended, all of the characters' youth was gone and they were all boring adults, it should've ended a few years earlier (granted, Buffy, Xander and Willow all changed dramatically from the high school years but Buffy wasn't a show about norms in any form so it's not like the characters we loved as teens were working in offices, but instead being powerful witches and stuff like that :lol:

LMAO....Post HS Buffy was good, but I do prefer them in school...I would have wanted Roswell and POPULAR in college too. But we got lucky with Roswell, because their Series Finale was Graduation, and I thought that was a good way to end the show... I would have wanted them to go to college, but listening to the DVD commentary on what the fourth season might have been..maybe not....But why didn't we ever see Isabel in college???....Popular would have been great in college, even though most of the cast looked like seniors in college anyway....

The whole thing about going to college causes a strain the storyline. Some shows can handle it, others can't.

LMAO....Post HS Buffy was good, but I do prefer them in school...I would have wanted Roswell and POPULAR in college too. But we got lucky with Roswell, because their Series Finale was Graduation, and I thought that was a good way to end the show... I would have wanted them to go to college, but listening to the DVD commentary on what the fourth season might have been..maybe not....But why didn't we ever see Isabel in college???....Popular would have been great in college, even though most of the cast looked like seniors in college anyway....

I agree, by the third season of Roswell, they all looked 25 anyways. The funniest part is that Jason Behr is only a few months younger than the actress who played Maria's mother :lol:

I think the writing peaked in season 2 and 3, but I personally prefer watching the "adult" episodes of Buffy, same with Facts Of Life, I like the episodes where Jo and Blair were adults more than the Eastland episodes.

I agree, by the third season of Roswell, they all looked 25 anyways. The funniest part is that Jason Behr is only a few months younger than the actress who played Maria's mother :lol:

I think the writing peaked in season 2 and 3, but I personally prefer watching the "adult" episodes of Buffy, same with Facts Of Life, I like the episodes where Jo and Blair were adults more than the Eastland episodes.

Yeah, I liked it better when the FOL girls got older. And dear god moved far far away from the first season....Jason Behr was the oldest???..Almost as old as Amy Deluca??? Oh Dear God.She was a hott mom though, LOL.....

Yeah, I liked it better when the FOL girls got older. And dear god moved far far away from the first season....Jason Behr was the oldest???..Almost as old as Amy Deluca??? Oh Dear God.She was a hott mom though, LOL.....

yep, Amy Deluca was only about 4-5 months older than Jason Behr, which I found really funny. But keep in mind, Amy was 25-26 and playing a character supposed to be 10 years her senior, much like Jason was playing 10 years his junior, so it kinda balances out