High School Confidential
WE | WE - Women's Entertainment | WE tv | Release Date: March 10, 2008
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
70
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 14 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
3
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
San Jose Mercury News/Contra Costa TimesCharlie McCollum
Season 1 Review: Although a bit rough at times (it's nowhere near as slick as "Laguna Beach"), Confidential is strong, emotionally charged stuff with the kind of real kids not often seen on TV.
80
Boston GlobeJoanna Weiss
Season 1 Review: As much as this is a story of the pressures facing teenage girls, it's also a striking, honest look at the parent-child relationship, with its ebbs and flows of communication and trust. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterBarry Garron
Season 1 Review: The series, from Liese's Herizon Prods. and New Line Television, is remarkable for the way it compresses time and hones in on pivotal moments. Read full review
80
Miami HeraldGlenn Garvin
Season 1 Review: This unsettling documentary series on the cable WE network, which follows a dozen Kansas City girls through four years in their suburban high school, suggests we've come a long, hard way from "Grease." Read full review
75
New York PostAdam Buckman
Season 1 Review: High School Confidential is an illuminating documentary series more in the tradition of director Michael Apted's series of films, starting with "Seven Up!," that have been tracing the lives of its subjects since 1964. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsDavid Hinckley
Season 1 Review: The result is a picture that feels true. It's very likely incomplete because few people tell everything to a camera, but the insecurities and the growing confidence are conveyed with language and an attitude that seem fairly natural. Read full review
70
Philadelphia InquirerJonathan Storm
Season 1 Review: The lives shown here, in surprisingly frank profiles, are fascinating enough to sustain interest. Read full review
70
The New York TimesGinia Bellafante
Season 1 Review: While High School Confidential has its flaws--it is choppily edited and far too spare in its depictions of the girls living rather than talking--it does us a service by portraying teenagers beyond the media’s typical parameters of exceptionalism Read full review
70
VarietyBrian Lowry
Season 1 Review: Certainly nothing here is "groundbreaking," as WE's production notes claim, given past exercises such as Michael Apted's landmark "7 Up!" series. Yet High School Confidential is the kind of personal document that merits attention--inviting curiosity not just regarding how these teens navigated through high school, but what their lives will be like seven years from now and beyond. Read full review
70
SalonHeather Havrilesky
Season 1 Review: Clumsy and tone-deaf as it sometimes is, High School Confidential offers a fascinating look at the challenges and heartbreaks facing today's teenage girl. Read full review
70
Chicago TribuneMaureen Ryan
Season 1 Review: Some episodes feel a little padded, and the show occasionally skates nervously over the more painful aspects of these girls' lives, but High School Confidential is a mostly compelling study of the lives of 12 girls in a middle-class Kansas community. Read full review
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