SheTeens Come of Age on Television

She’s 16 but anyone’s idea of sweet. She’s the kind of girl who, when a boy asks, “Hey, you interested in a knight in shining armor?,” responds, “Can I take the armor and ditch the knight?”

She’s Daria Morgendorffer, and some may recall her as the gal-pal who put Beavis and Butt-head in their place. Now she’s been spun off by MTV and has her own series, “Daria.” Not bad for a girl who introduces herself as “Quinn’s brainy sister” and stands far outside anything resembling the in-crowd.

Aside from the fact that Daria is animated, she fits right in with current prime-time programming, which is suddenly chock-full of quirky female teens. Other SheTeens lighting up the airwaves this season include Moesha on UPN; Cher of “Clueless” on ABC”Sabrina, the Teenage Witch,” also on ABC; “Sister, Sister” on WB; “The Secret World of Alex Mack” and “The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo” on Nickelodeon; and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” on WB.

As Larisa Oleynik, the 15-year-old star of “Alex Mack” puts it: “Teenage girls are taking over TV!”

Not that there haven’t been teen girls on family series throughout the years (from “The Donna Reed Show” to “The Brady Bunch” to “Roseanne” and “Cybill”). Or even serious attempts to make them pivotal figures in reality-drenched dramas (“Life Goes On,” “My So-Called Life”).

But what we have today is a growing number of shows that are centered around female teens, depicting them not as the objects of raging hormones but as their own confused, complicated, consequential selves.

“Let’s face it,” says Alan Goodman, creator and executive producer of “Shelby Woo,” “at that age girls are working on a few more cylinders than boys. They can be introspective and aware as well as physical.”

April Bernard, TV editor of Seventeen magazine, says these shows “are addressing real-life teenage concerns” and that her publication receives an “overwhelming” amount of mail about the girls and their series. They are obviously seeing parts of themselves on-screen for the first time.

“It’s unchartered territory,” says Goodman, whose “Shelby Woo” stars Irene Ng as a sort of Hardy girl. “There have been so few examples of strong role-model girl characters in the media.”

Indeed, echoes Vida Spears, one of the executive producers of “Moesha.” “What we wanted most of all with Moesha was for her to be something we hadn’t seen on television before.”

“There have been plenty of films and shows about young black men,” adds Sara Finney, her partner. “But we felt if this smart, funny, independent, creative girl could come into your home every week, she’d be welcome.”

Moesha--played by pop singing star Brandy Norwood--is doubly unusual in that she is black. But the producers feel she transcends any color barriers: “I grew up watching ‘The Wonder Years,’ ” says Finney, who is African American, “and likewise, we hope this is a show that has something for everyone.”

Moesha is about as adorable as they come, as are most of these SheTeens. But their looks are not what they are about. Oh, sure, “Sister, Sister” spent an entire episode dealing with a poorly timed pimple. But these series generally portray girls trying to find their own identities, even if it means going against the grain.

Daria, for example, is in the “out” crowd and doesn’t mind a bit. “There’s an honesty to her; she cuts through the b.s.,” executive producer Abby Terkuhle says.

And the characters are purposely flawed. “One of the things we keep working on is making Moesha less perfect,” Spears says. “We’ve given her a boyfriend, which is making her more rebellious, because her dad can’t stand him. Basically, we’re trying to make her more and more real.”

Cher, from the recently pulled “Clueless,” is basically a good soul but is a seriously material girl. Even Sabrina and Alex Mack are so full of teen angst that their genie-like powers not only don’t always help, they often get them more messed up.

“What I like, and what people seem to like, about Alex is that she’s totally not the coolest, but she’s not a nerd either,” says actress Oleynik. “Like most teenage girls, she’s somewhere in between.”

“The fact Sabrina doesn’t have all the answers is what’s fun about her,” says Nell Scobell, an executive producer of the series, which is in its first season. “And the whole idea of her coming into her powers [as a witch] is so metaphorical.”

“What’s great about all these girls is they’re not infallible,” says Seventeen’s Bernard. “They’re good-hearted, but they make the same selfish mistakes most teenage girls make. They may be saving their viewers a misstep or two along the way.”

While all these SheTeens are spunky, they also have their moral compasses handy. They are constantly learning that the older generation may have something to offer, for example. And in an episode in which her special powers landed her on Mars, Sabrina was romantically tempted by a ski instructor.

“She was not only in a different state but on a different planet,” Scobell says, “but she chose to remain loyal to her boyfriend Harvey.”

“Generally, these seem like very positive role models for young girls,” says Audrey Rosenman, psychologist for the Chapin School, a private school for girls in New York. “They are certainly better than what I used to hear the girls talk about, which was shows like ‘Melrose Place’ and all the soaps.”

That’s music to the ears of those behind the shows, who are aware of the power they wield: “I have a 6-year-old niece who loves ‘Moesha,’ and I feel a special responsibility to kids like her,” says producer Spears. “So we’ve made Moesha able to learn from her mistakes, we’ve made her goal-oriented, and very loyal as a friend.”

Some may point to the hit movie “Clueless” as the takeoff point for the SheTeen craze. But more likely it’s the result of baby boomers growing up, joining the television business and spreading values they grew up with.

As “Shelby Woo” creator Goodman says: “My whole life I’ve been surrounded by strong women. So for people like me, this doesn’t seem all that unusual.”

* “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” airs Mondays at 9 p.m. on WB (Channel 5). “Daria” airs Mondays at 10:30 p.m. on MTV. “Moesha” airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on UPN (Channel 13). “The Secret World of Alex Mack” airs Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8 p.m. on Nickelodeon. “Sister, Sister” airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on WB (Channel 5). “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” airs Fridays at 9 p.m. on ABC (Channel 7). “The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo” airs Saturdays at 9 p.m. on Nickelodeon.