In the 90s, Nickelodeon expanded into teen programming, airing shows like “Fifteen”, “Salute Your Shorts” and “Welcome Freshmen” that resonated with tweens like me. After school, I’d turn on the TV to get my fix of teen drama from the Canadian series “Fifteen”, which followed a group of high schoolers at Hillside School in Toronto.

While I was too young to fully relate to the characters’ relationship struggles, school politics and rebellious behavior, I found the show entertaining nonetheless. Seeing Ashley Harris from “Fifteen” years later in “Dead Like Me” brought back a flood of memories and sent me searching for ways to rewatch the series.

Attempts to find episodes on YouTube in the early 2010s proved disappointing. But now in 2023, I’m thrilled that “Fifteen” is available to stream on Amazon’s Freevee, allowing me to revisit the angst-ridden world of Hillside High.

Nine episodes into my nostalgic rewatch, “Fifteen” remains a captivating teen soap with an appealing cast that includes early roles for Ryan Reynolds and Laura Harris. Though the clothes and hairstyles are peak 90s, the storylines stand the test of time.

For fellow millennials who grew up watching Nickelodeon’s teen programming, I highly recommend revisiting this gem of a teen soap. A bingeable blast from the past!

“Fifteen” was a popular teen drama television series that aired on YTV in Canada and on Nickelodeon from 1991 to 1993. The show was created and produced by John T. Binkley and was Nickelodeon’s only teenage soap opera. The series was shot on videotape, similar to most daytime dramas, and was first conceived as Hillside in an improvised form for The Disney Channel, where a 13-episode pilot series was produced and tested in the United States. After Disney decided not to proceed with the project, Nickelodeon and Canadian partners joined Binkley in producing the series; which was known in its first and second seasons as Hillside in Canada, and throughout the 65-episode run as Fifteen in the United States.

The show was subsequently syndicated around the world, with runs in Germany and Israel, among others. Rerun rights are held by the Peter Rodgers Organization, which has made the first season available for free on Prime Video.

The series features a large ensemble cast that underwent several changes over the show’s four-season run. Notable cast members include Laura Harris, Enuka Okuma, and Ryan Reynolds. Ryan Reynolds played the character of Billy Simpson for 18 episodes in 1991. He co-founded Maximum Effort Productions which has closed an exclusive multi-year first-look deal with FuboTV for unscripted content. As part of the deal, the production company launched Maximum Effort Network, a linear channel on FuboTV and other FAST services. The Maximum Effort channel airs episodes of “Fifteen” regularly.

“Fifteen” followed the students of fictional Hillside School and dealt with a variety of issues including dating, divorce, alcohol abuse, infidelity, and friendship. The show played heavily into stereotypes and was similar in format to other teen dramas of the 90s.

The show’s ensemble cast included Laura Harris as Ashley Frasier – Ashley is a soft-spoken honor student who struggles to balance academic expectations with personal relationships. Though considered wholesome, she occasionally makes bad decisions to spite her image. She’s the longtime on-again, off-again girlfriend of Matt Walker. Todd Talbot played Matt Walker – The captain and star player of the school’s basketball team, Matt struggles with substance abuse throughout the series which harms his relationships and school reputation. He loves Ashley but he and her continue to break up.

In addition to its main cast members, “Fifteen” also featured a large supporting cast that included Chris William Martin as Dylan Blackwell, Andrew Baskin as Chris McDonald, Lisa Warner as Stacy Collins, David Wight as David O’Brien, Arseman Yohannes as Arseman Harrell, Roxane Alexander as Roxanne Lee, Sarah Douglas as Courtney Simpson, Robyn Ross as Brooke Morgan, Pepper Binkley as Pepper O’Brien, Ken Angel as Jake Deosdade, Jason Angel as Jason, Allison Bloom as Jennifer,