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In a sea of procedurals, miserably dark dramas, torture-heavy prestige series and period pieces in which every candelabra is factually accurate but none of the human connections seem to be, there is a beacon of emotional fortitude and heartfelt monologues.

The teen show.

Teen shows are a tough sell to non-teen audiences. The acting is unreliable. They can be corny and overwrought, or just plain dumb. Sometimes the sincerity — or, God forbid, the “very special” episode — is so potent it feels as if you’re at church camp.

But writing off the whole genre means missing out on some of the most reliably character-driven, feelings-oriented shows. There’s never been a better time to dip one’s toes into the teen TV rivers. This very week, the most progressive, issue-oriented shows on television today are teen-geared. How many lesbian Syrian refugee characters are on TV right now? How many characters who use American Sign Language? How many shows in which could-be romantic rivals actually team up and forge a friendship? How many shows that are thoughtful enough to be taken seriously but still, you know, fun?

“Degrassi: Next Class,” the Netflix incarnation of the long-running and deeply sincere Canadian series, is one of vanishingly few shows with any characters who wear a hijab — let alone a character who wears a hijab and is an active feminist. “Switched at Birth” talks explicitly about ableism, Deaf culture, race, ethnicity and sexual violence. “The Fosters” never met an aspect of identity-building it couldn’t make into a story line. (And usually well!) Meanwhile, CBS — home of “grown-up” fare — is greenlighting more cop procedurals.

Not every teen show is quite so teen-oriented, though. Some of the greats in the genre have obvious adult appeal. “The O.C.” and “Gossip Girl” are two clear examples, and there’s a new contender in the mix right now: “Riverdale,” The CW’s new, dark, moody spin on the Archie comics. It’s one of the more visually distinctive network dramas in ages, and its vampy, knowing voice-over is straight out of “Desperate Housewives” — when “Desperate Housewives” was good, at least. Its town-with-a-secret stuff is a page from the “Twin Peaks” playbook. It earned largely positive reviews from critics. And yet its debut barely moved the ratings needle.

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Folks are missing out. Shows about characters who are in high school or college are tend to be more flexible than, say, a doctor show, because the characters’ development is the story; the framework is less rigid for a given episode or season. The soapy romantic plots of teen shows have a more credible churn, whereas adult soaps like “Grey’s Anatomy” get bogged down in the same relationship drama over and over and over. Characters who are pushing their own boundaries make for shows with an inherent spirit of curiosity: What would happen if I called her? Why can’t someone like me run for school president? Characters on “Scandal” run to be the actual president of the United States, and yet it feels small compared to the empowerment characters experience on MTV’s “Sweet/Vicious.”

Everything that happens on a teen show is personal. Heck, everything that happens to teenagers in life feels personal. (“Why are you doing this to me?”) For adolescents, everything really is the biggest deal. An enigmatic text message can throw off a whole week and simple mistakes feel like bone-deep betrayals. “Friday Night Lights” wouldn’t work as well if Coach Taylor were an N.F.L. coach; formative experiences make for formative years, and soaring pep talks work best on people who are not yet fully grown.

Even hugely wrenching adult dramas get mileage out of their teen-character story lines — “The Leftovers,” with Evie’s disappearance, and the increasingly skeptical Paige on “The Americans” are two prime examples.

If you’re looking for shows that cover a lot of ground psychologically, that cast a wide net politically, and tend toward the bingeable, give yourself over to TV’s most undervalued genre. Everyone needs a break from sad cops once in a while.