(CNN) There's no faster shortcut to "edginess" than pushing the envelope in depicting teenagers engaging in sex and drug use, usually in a way designed to give parents nightmares. Bringing something fresh to the formula is another matter -- especially when the class is so crowded -- for new series in separate wastelands: HBO's "Euphoria," starring Zendaya, and Netflix's "Trinkets."

"Euphoria" takes the "teenage wasteland" concept to extremes, focusing on Zendaya's Rue, a young addict, and her equally troubled circle of friends. Beyond plenty of drug abuse, the youths are depicted in an assortment of sex acts -- with peers and adults -- through the first four episodes previewed.

Many of those scenes are jarringly explicit, including as much male nudity as TV will allow. If there's a major new wrinkle here, it's the ubiquity of pornography, cellphones and texting, so much so that the narrative unfolds under the noses of the mostly overwhelmed (when not utterly creepy) parents in the show, who are about as effective as those in the old Charlie Brown cartoons.

Heavily narrated by Rue in flat, exhausted tones, the show explores the various challenges raised by having overdosed, including where one obtains clean urine for a drug test, finding dealers you can trust and the people you encounter at rehab. "Did you meet any cute guys there?" Rue is asked.

The excesses aren't limited to sex, with several scenes that are disturbing and violent. There is even a hallucinatory dancing-on-the-ceiling sequence, although not in a way that will remind anyone of Fred Astaire.

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