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Parents' Guide to

Dawson's Creek

By Jill Murphy, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 14+

Mature, talky teens ponder life's complexities.

Dawson's Creek Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this TV show.

Community Reviews

age 15+

Based on 5 parent reviews

age 15+
This show annoys me except Jen Lindley. Dawson Leery is a tool that deserved to be punched in season 1. Joey Potter is a whiny teacher's pet who makes the world revolve around her including this show. She ruined this show. Pacey Witter goes from being funny to an unfunny jerk, especially to women except for Joey because this show mostly revolves around her. Jen Lindley is great until season 5 when writers dumbed her down to obsess over Joey. Abby Morgan was slaying the drama, but she ended up dying. Drue Valentine is a ripoff of Abby. Andie McPhee was great at showing how Pacey makes Joey more important in this show. Jack McPhee was kind of cute until he got annoying in season 5. Parents in this show don't have much development for focusing on younger adults. Audrey Liddell becomes another character that makes Pacey show Joey being more important in this show again. So, I like how Audrey calls everyone out in season 6 episode 10. Eddie Doling made me want to punch him in the face. Charlie Todd is only there to make Joey look better than Jen after womanizing. It's pretty disgusting. Even Dawson cares about Joey more than Jen. At this point, I feel sorry for Jen. She's treated like a broken sex object that makes Joey look more perfect for relationships. But I find Jen a lot more mature, nice, brave, and clever than Joey before season 5 ruined everything. The writers were more ruthless to Jen by making her die in this show's series finale episode. At least Jen went back to being great in the series finale episode. But her death happened before Joey gets a happy ending with Pacey and lives. You might as well call this show Joey's Creek. Jen was the only reason why I watched it. Not Joey. I find it funny that people say this show is mature. It's not except for the vocabulary maybe. It's about messed up people who give annoying Joey the spotlight while others get treated like afterthoughts.
age 12+

Good

Love this show and think 12 and up is a perfect age to watch this show

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (5 ):
Kids say (18 ):

The series aims to portray Smalltown, USA, but it brings progressive issues into the mix as well. All in all,Dawson's Creek is far from the average teen drama. The characters are articulate -- more so than the average adult -- and don't use "like" and "you know" to complete their thoughts. They're introspective and create critical dialogue to question their own relationships, their peers, and the world around them.

The show's sometimes serious subjetc matter includes an openly gay character, questioning religion, the death of a classmate, sleeping with a teacher, drug overdoses, sex, first loves, college, an unstable mother, depression, divorce, lust, and infidelity. The characters' ability to explain (at length) how to navigate situations like these made the series a learning tool as well as a guilty pleasure.

TV Details

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