Q: What are good TV shows for parents to watch together with tweens? We mostly watch reality competition shows (like “The Amazing Race” and “Traitors”), but I’d love to find some sitcoms or other formats to watch with my 11- and 9-year-old kids.
“What can I watch with my kids?” is probably the question I get most often when people find out I cover television, so thanks for giving me the chance to answer it here! It’s a weird paradox: Streaming services give us access to thousands of shows from all over the world, but it can feel impossible to find even one that will appeal to everyone. But there are still some family-friendly crowd pleasers out there.
My daughter is in high school, but when she was in that 9-to-12 range, we had lots of luck with a few specific categories, detailed below. It sounds like you have reality shows covered so I won’t bother with those, except to note that we found food competitions like “Is It Cake?” “Nailed It!” and “The Great British Bake Off” to be particularly enjoyable and entertaining.
A note about Common Sense Media: It is an outstanding resource, but it can be limiting if you follow it to the letter. (Or to the number, I guess, since that’s its whole thing.) You know your kids best, of course, but most will survive and perhaps even benefit from the occasional scare or PG-13 interlude. My wife and I found teachable moments in discussing things onscreen that mildly upset or confused our daughter when she was younger — pausing and analyzing behaviors or decisions that led characters into peril, for example. I’m not saying TV should be a seminar, just that some good can come from getting slightly out of your comfort zone as a family.
Make ’em laugh
Network family sitcoms are among the most reliable all-ages shows, and we watched plenty of “Malcolm in the Middle” (it holds up!), “Modern Family” (some jokes haven’t aged well), “black-ish” (gets a little uneven in later seasons) and “Young Sheldon.” (You don’t need to have seen its bawdier predecessor, “The Big Bang Theory.”) These days TV writers seem more interested in workplace comedies, but those are generally family sitcoms by another name, with similar roles and dynamics. The trick is finding shows that are broadly appealing and legitimately funny.
“Abbott Elementary,” currently in its fifth season on ABC and Hulu, is particularly good for families because it is set in a school and full of children. “Ghosts” (CBS and Paramount+), is goofy fun. “Only Murders in the Building” (Hulu), is consistently amusing, if a little esoteric. (Do your tweens read The New Yorker?) If animated shows are an option, “Bob’s Burgers” and “The Simpsons,” both on Fox, Hulu and Disney+, continue to charm.
Of course, a great thing about streaming is that old shows can be new to you. We loved “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” “Superstore” and “The Good Place” (the heady philosophizing is offset by lots of silliness). I should also mention “Gilmore Girls” with a caveat: It makes me crazy. However, my wife and daughter love it and rewatch it annually.
Dramatic license
Dramas for tweens are trickier, partly because the longer episode lengths can wear them out. And there are many that are obviously inappropriate. But there are a couple of types that often work well.
The first are nonviolent procedurals with quirky characters who solve crimes: “High Potential” (ABC), “Elsbeth” (CBS) and “Poker Face” (Peacock), all revolving around exceptionally perceptive women, are charming. Past examples include “Monk” (Prime Video) and “White Collar” (Hulu), revolving around exceptionally perceptive men.
The other category is series steeped in mystery and enticing lore. My family watched “Lost,” the granddaddy of such shows, when my daughter was 9, and she couldn’t get enough of it. We also watched “Manifest,” a far inferior show also built around an airplane mystery, which was enough to keep us quasi-invested. There were a couple of fairy tale-based ones we also mostly enjoyed: “Grimm” and “Once Upon a Time,” though those can be scary.
Non-annoying kid shows
Children’s TV used to be, and often still is, something to be endured. (I’m looking at you, “Jessie.”) But there are several series aimed at younger viewers that are legitimately good to great. You’re probably familiar with the Netflix megahit “Wednesday,” which is indeed entertaining. Netflix’s “A Series of Unfortunate Events,” featuring Neil Patrick Harris’s greatest performance, is terrific. Two other kid-lit adaptations are very different but really good as well: “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” (Disney+) and “The Baby-Sitters Club,” a Netflix series that was canceled too soon.
Gentle goodness
I couldn’t write a list like this and not mention “All Creatures Great and Small” (PBS), in which a country veterinarian in Northern England heals farm animals and viewer souls. There is occasional livestock distress — a bum horse hoof, a tricky calf delivery. But the show’s mix of humor, emotion and kind people behaving decently in a beautiful setting is nourishing. Another PBS period drama, “The Durrells in Corfu,” is similarly lovely and transportive.
Jeremy Egner is the television editor, overseeing coverage of the medium and the people who make it. He joined The Times in 2008.
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