Rev your engines! Prime Video’s teen street racing series is coming in hot.
Combine a pair of new kids on the block, rich high school antagonists, some pretty cool looking cars and you get Motorheads on Prime Video — the newest coming-of-age summer show. Siblings Zac and Caitlyn move from Brooklyn to fictional Ironwood, Pennsylvania with their mother to live with their uncle, Logan Maddox (Ryan Phillippe). Turns out, they’re the children of local street racing legend, Christian Maddox (Played by Deacon Phillippe, Ryan Phillippe’s son as I’m sure you gathered). Finding love interests, and creating enemies with some of the wealthier locals, Zac and Caitlyn set a mission to get their father’s old Charger back up and running and off to the races.
DECIDER’s Joel Keller describes the series perfectly, writing, “There are times when you see lots of common tropes in a particular genre of show and you roll your eyes. Then there are other times when you see the same number of tropes and you just shrug, because the actors and characters in those tropes are appealing and entertaining. That’s the case with a new Prime Video teen series centered around street racing.”
Now that you have the STREAM IT stamp of approval, go ahead and watch all 10 available episodes. If you watched and enjoyed, or are just a really big fan of teen shows that may or may not be centered around cars, here are 7 more titles to stream now:
Ray Mickshaw/The CW
Motorheads creator John A. Norris also previously worked on this sports drama. Based on the life of professional football player Spencer Paysinger, All American follows South L.A. high school student Spencer James (Daniel Ezra) as he gets recruited to play for a Beverly Hills team coached by Billy Baker (Taye Diggs). To transfer to Beverly Hills, Spencer finds himself rooming with Coach Baker, creating some strife with his quarterback son, Jordan. There’s seven seasons of teenage drama available to binge now, with an eighth on the way for some more low-stakes TV watching.
For more trope-following high school shows that center around a sport (can we call street racing a sport?) there’s many more timeless early 2000s shows waiting to be rewatched. Winning the state football championship is everyone’s goal in the fictional Dillon, Texas. Coach Eric Taylor leads the Panthers through victories and losses, while of course dealing with his own drama on the side. With a top cast of names like Kyle Chandler, Connie Britton and Jesse Plemons, the show also divulges into contemporary issues plaguing small town high schoolers in reality, such as school funding and racism.
From the same team of Friday Night Lights comes another based on a true story sports drama. Inspired by the early life of NBA player Kevin Durant, the story centers on 14-year-old basketball prodigy, Jace Carson as he’s pushed by the people in his life to succeed. Similarly to FNL, the show highlights real-life issues such as racism, sexual assault and COVID-19. With the odds stacked against him in and outside of the game, Jace attempts to honor the mantra that, “Win or lose, you walk on the court with swagger, you walk off with swagger.”
Backstabbing and bonding and backflips and big bouts of drama comprise this gymnastics show. A group of elite gymnasts are trying to make it to the 2012 Summer Olympics– so that tells you how old this show is. Among them is newcomer Emily, who’s just earned a scholarship to The Rock training gym in Colorado. With conniving and competitive fellow gymnasts lurking nearby, nailing the perfect routine is the least of Emily’s concerns.
This one has a little bit of everything. Motorcycles, surfing, missing people, high speed chases, treasure hunts, romance and murder all tied up with the sometimes ridiculous tropes we love in a made-for-teens TV show. In the Outer Banks of North Carolina, a coastal town is socially divided between the wealthier residents, the “Kooks”, and the working-class “Pogues”. John B. Routledge leads a group of fellow Pogues in search of a sunken ship’s treasure after his father disappears. The Kooks, law enforcement and young love prove to be obstacles along the way.
For another sporty saga, six seasons of Cobra Kai are available to stream now. If you’re unfamiliar, the series is actually a TV revival of the Karate Kid franchise, with Ralph Macchio and William Zabka reprising their roles as Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence. Three decades after the All Valley Karate Tournament from the original film, Johnny is an alcoholic and Daniel is struggling to connect with his family after the death of Mr. Miyagi. When Johnny reopens Cobra Kai dojo, his feud with Daniel is rekindled, leading to a new kind of rivalry.
How about trading street racing for a basketball court? This classic– and another project John A. Norris had a hand in– circles around half-brothers Lucas and Nathan Scott and the drama that follows them in the sleepy town of Tree Hill, North Carolina. When Lucas gets a position on the high school basketball team, threatening team captain Nathan, rivalry on and off the court ensues. Revisit what teen dramas were like over two decades ago in the wake of the Motorheads finale.
Claire Waheed is a recently graduated freelance writer currently based in Texas. She loves all things pop culture and new adventures.
