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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.

TV Syndicated , TBS , TeenNick Drama 1998
Dawson's Creek Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

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

Community Reviews

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age 15+

Based on 5 parent reviews

Nicole H.
Nicole H. Adult
October 13, 2023
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.
Grassgrass
Grassgrass Adult
December 30, 2020
age 12+

Good

Love this show and think 12 and up is a perfect age to watch this show
See all 5 parent reviews

What's the Story?

DAWSON'S CREEK follows four teens -- Dawson Leery (James Van Der Beek), Joey Potter (Katie Holmes), Pacey Witter (Joshua Jackson) and Jen Lindley (Michelle Williams) -- from the small, fictional town of Capeside, Mass. Joey is the girl next door who captivates innocent, wide-eyed Dawson, a naive movie-lover who has a happily-ever-after vision of relationships and a hard time dealing with their harsh reality. Through both high school and college, Joey and Dawson have an on-again, off-again romance that's interrupted by other serious relationships along the way -- including a very serious (and ratings-grabbing) tryst between Joey and Pacey, who is the typical bad boy around town. His father and brother are police officers, but he's busy having an affair with his math teacher, struggling with his grades, and falling for his best friend's girl.

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.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about how teens feel this series relates to more current teen programming. Are the experiences the characters go through still accurate or relatable? Can teens describe how they might handle one of the situations dealt with in the series? Do they feel like the characters on the show are realistic reflections of other teens they know? Do any of their friends talk like Dawson, Pacey, Joey, and Jen?

TV Details

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

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