Parents' Guide to

On My Block

By Joyce Slaton, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 15+

South Central teens come of age in delicate, moving series.

TV Netflix Drama 2018
On My Block Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

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

Community Reviews

age 13+

Based on 30 parent reviews

age 10+

This title has:

Educational value
Great messages
Great role models
age 17+

Not for young teens

Enjoyable show - very funny at times. Main characters start off pretty sweet and silly but show gets much heavier as the series goes on. Lots of explicit sex talk, sex between young teens, drug use, gang shootings, deaths of main characters.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (30):
Kids say (98):

Delicate, deeply felt, and painfully realistic, this look at a group of four friends from a rough Los Angeles neighborhood is a bittersweet delight. Ruby, Cesar, Monse, and Jamal don't exactly have it easy in On My Block. Gunfire is so common in their South Central stomping grounds that the friends have made a game out of trying to figure out the caliber of the gun just from the sound. Friends and family members die by gun violence or suicide, and loved ones are left to grapple with the trauma. Still, the four friends have found tenderness between them, and they've relied on each other since childhood.

But now things are changing, and each of the four has big problems. Cesar's brother Oscar (Julio Macias) is out of jail, and he's pressuring his baby brother to join the gang. Jamal doesn't want to play football like his sports-legend father expects. Ruby's grandmother's apartment gets flooded, and she has to share Ruby's bedroom. Monse's writing talent might not be enough to help her get to college and make some kind of future for herself. Maybe even tougher: The friends are starting high school, where they have to stick together to survive. That's not easy, either. But in the world they live in, a friend who stands by you when times are tough may be the only thing these lovable, street-smart teens can rely on.

TV Details

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