‘East Los High’ Isn’t Just A Soapy Teen Drama — It’s Also A Science Experiment

*Just when you’re at the brink of bailing out of the internet for all its mindlessness, you read there’s method to some of the mayhem – whatever it takes, the end justifies the means and all that. VL

By Maanvi Singh, Code Switch

On any given episode of East Los High, the highly addictive teen soap on Hulu thatjust got a fourth season, you’ll see love triangles and heartbreak, mean girls and bad boys, and some seriously skillful dancing. Think a Latino Degrassi meets Gossip Girlmeets Glee.

Clocking in at 20 minutes an episode with lots of online extras, the show is calibrated to get fans in their tweens, teens and 20s to inhale and then tweet things like “Finished all 3 seasons of #EastLosHigh in a week and now I have no reason to live anymore,” and, “OMFG! I want season four right now!!!!!!!”

But it turns out the show, which is nearing its fourth season and follows a group of mostly Latino high schoolers in East Los Angeles, serves up more than cat fights and cute outfits — it’s also a science experiment, conducted by a team of social scientists and health workers in cahoots with screenwriters and studio executives.

For the past three years, these unlikely collaborators have been folding information about sex and sexual health into the show’s frothy plot lines. Their mission: to make a hit show that also helps young Latinas make healthy life choices.

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