The original was from the 80s, and some characters Shane McKay and Spike Nelson had their obligatory story line of teen pregnancy, resulting in a baby girl, Emma (named after the Emmy that the show had recently been up for). Emma is now the center of the Next Generation reincarnation of the franchise.
The Next Generation premiered in the fall of 2001, roughly 11 years after the previous series. I was the same age as the characters when it first premiered, making the ads of "if your life were a TV show, this would be it" ring quite true. It wasn't anything super new from what was out there on TV at the time, but it did (and currently still does) have some great aspects. One is that the actors are the actual age of the characters they are playing. No 35 year old Dawson's Creek "teens" found here. The second is that the characters are real. They have zits, braces, are awkward. Even the hot or popular characters are sometimes a bit cringe-worthy, as any 14-year-old would be. And thirdly, for all the possibly adult storylines these kids were put through, they still were stupid teenagers that acted like teenagers. They had awkward lines and everyday troubles (periods, boners, etc) that weren't always dealt with on other programs. The cheesiness and sometimes over-the-top acting made the show what it is now, and I still watch to catch every awful/awesome (awfsome?) moment.
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