I’m looking for recommendations for shows to watch with my 12 year old daughter. It’s become a little routine for my daughter and I to watch an episode or two of a show before she goes to bed. I’m looking for some recommendations based on shows she likes.
Ones she really liked
- Avatar (OG) - this is probably her favorite ever
- Modern Family
- Young Sheldon
- Malcom in the Middle
- Sabrina the Teenage Witch
Others we’ve watched, but she lost interest in
- Clarissa Explains It All
- Avatar (live action)
- My Hero Academia
- Suburgatory
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Adventure Time. It’s a unique show that kinda “grows up” with you. It starts out silly, random, and goofy but by the end of it all it really matures and teaches some very valuable lessons. then you follow it up with “Fiona and Cake” which is a sort of alternate timeline for Adventure Time that swings back around. Fiona and Cake is more mature but still just as good as Adventure Time.
I’ve seen those characters but never actually watched an episode. I’ll give it a shot, thanks
The Owl House , X-Men ‘97 maybe, Gravity Falls, Steven Universe
Another vote for Owl Houee
The other kid-friendly animation shows besides Avatar that I can recommend are The Owl House and She-Ra and the Princesses of Power.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer could be a good pick or she might be a bit young for it (it’s rated TV-14).
If avatar was her favorite (understandable) then she might like other adventure shows like the dragon prince, samurai jack, she-ra, the mandalorian, the owl house, Steven universe.
For shows like modern family she might like the goldbergs, everybody loves Raymond, abbot elementary, parks n rec.Ducktales (2017).
Sure you could watch the original from the 80s, but if you grew up on that series and 90s Disney cartoons then the 2017 Ducktales series will be a treat for you both.
My 12yo daughter just recommended Avatar (of course), the new Among Us show (a little gory, but in a hyper-cartoony way), and Gravity Falls.
I got her to go through Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, and while she didn’t adore it as a love letter to SW and to Amblin-style 80s tween adventures like I did, it was the one Star Wars show she stuck with. I’ll also recommend Korra and Adventure Time, and I daresay 12 is the perfect age for AT. Hilda and Kipo & the Age of Wonderbeasts are two more really good ones.
Live action ATLA is okay, but it’s more like if the Fire Island Players had budget and some okay actors; it’s just so compressed that it’s better as a nod-along-with-it background re-watch for some months or years after you last watched the real thing. On the flip side, I found the sheer amount of anime One Piece to be extremely daunting, but the live action is spry and fun and still has at least some sense of scale and scope, not to mention they 100% nailed the casting on Monkey and dialed back the fan service a lot.
You totally nailed the live action Avatar feel. We were half way through one episode and she decided to just go to bed. When I went to stop the episode she told me, “you can keep watching, I saw the cartoon”.
I’ll check out the other recommendations, thanks!
No worries! I also saw a couple of other commenters mention the modern She-Ra, and I’m a little embarrassed I forgot about it. It’s really, really good.
Bob’s Burgers is also great
Hmmm…
- The Good Place
- Schitts Creek
- Abbott Elementary
- Modern Family -> Life in Pieces. I loved it but heads up, they did cancel
- Parks and Rec
- Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood
- Spy X Family dubbed or subbed okay
- Frieren : Beyond Journeys End (my current fav)
Frieren might be a little too violent for age 12. Definitely have her come back to it when she’s older though.
You basically listed my wife and my favorite shows, and a few new ones too. Thanks!
- Little Witch Academia - I think this is probably my top recommendation for this age group, and if she likes Sabrina then this is probably perfect too. Beautifully colorful art style.
- Spy x Family - This one starts off leading you to think it’s a high stakes action series, then bait-and-switches you into a wholesome sitcom about two bozos trying to be good parents to their adopted daughter. So maybe a little bit of Modern Family vibes, though much much sillier.
- Teen Titans (original, not Go) - Definitely one to watch if she liked Avatar.
- Bocchi the Rock! - This one might be a stretch because it’s entirely dependent on whether she’s alright with subtitles. If that’s cool with her, watch Bocchi.
See liked Teen Titans Go when she was little. It was the right level of silly when she was like 5-6. I’ll have to the no Go one a shot. I’ll check out the others too, thanks!
The Middle might be one to hold her interest. It’s currently available through Amazon Prime streaming.
A few others not mentioned here:
Jackie Chan Adventures
Men in Black
Gravity Falls
Batman Beyond
Centaur World
Futurama
Roughnecks: the Starship Troopers Chronicles
Reboot
Over the Garden Wall
QI
My daughter is a little older, and there is some content in both that you might not think appropriate for a 12 year old, but “sweet tooth” and “wednesday” were both shows we watched together and enjoyed.
Infinity Train
Although you’ll have to sail the high seas as there is literally no legal way to watch it.
Witch hat Atelier maybe
Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts
