Teen sex junkies are all shock, no value

HBO finally has its own “Reefer Madness.”

Much press has been devoted to “Euphoria,” the premium cable network’s attempt to catch up to Netflix’s “13 Reasons Why” by producing a series that captures the swirling vortex of drugs, porn and meaningless sex that has claimed an entire generation! Much like the 1936 propaganda film (original title: “Tell Your Children”) that warned parents about the dangers of “marijuana cigarettes” that could be smoked at wild jazz parties, this Drake-produced series, created by Sam Levinson, son of Oscar-winning director Barry Levinson (“Diner” and “Rain Man”), goes to great extremes to shock you.

And it succeeds.

You’ve all read about the 20 penises on view in a locker room scene, reportedly cut down from an original 80 penises — discretion is the better part of valor — because that was deemed excessive. You’ve heard about the pedophile sex involving former “Grey’s Anatomy” star Eric Dane. (People won’t be calling him McSteamy anymore.) Then there’s the constant intake of drugs that go down the hatch as easily as M&Ms and seem to pay for themselves.

When the characters aren’t getting high, they’re humping. Or filming themselves humping while high and posting video online. Or sending pics of their parts to each other, the new “hello” for a generation that cuts to the chase! Or they’re passed out from another shot of Fentanyl or overdosing on Oxycontin. In “Euphoria’s” cynically nihilistic vision, today’s teens have been warped by technology into soulless, self-medicating androids who use each other for cheap thrills! What will happen to them? OMG.

Since it’s unlikely that teens subscribe to HBO, surely this series is meant to shock their parents, who are already in the subscriber base. Was anyone thinking fans of former Disney Channel star Zendaya (“Spider-Man,” “The Greatest Showman”), who plays a junkie named Rue, were going to follow her to HBO to watch her walking around in a stupor or passed out on the floor? New York Post intern Savannah Di Giovanni watched Zendaya as a kid and said, no, she would not be checking her out on “Euphoria.”

Stories promoting the series’ shock value have been published to show how the network is still relevant, now that its cash cow, “Game of Thrones,” has ended, but the need to constantly jolt the audience at the expense of character development smacks of desperation. When Nate (Jacob Elordi) is walking through the locker room and not wanting to see everything that’s on display (a reluctance connected to his finding his dad’s collection of pedo porn), all the director had to do was have the actor avert his eyes. But no. This is HBO and you will see the full monty — 30 times. Just in case you didn’t understand the kid was uncomfortable.

A disturbing report in The Hollywood Reporter suggests that it’s not only the audience who’s grossed-out by the relentless voyeurism. It seems that some of its young actors felt exploited by “Euphoria,” in particular one Brian “Astro” Bradley, 22, a former “X Factor” contestant, who objected to scenes that were not in the original pilot script involving homosexuality. He was replaced in the series by Algee Smith (“The Hate U Give”), who plays Chris McKay.

When watching the students in the high school attended by Rue, one wants to ask: Where are all the over-scheduled kids juggling extracurricular activities, college prep classes and after-school jobs? You know, the things most teens really do today.

The most likely viewers of “Euphoria” are fawning middle-aged TV critics and other media observers — the same ones who loved HBO’s “Girls,” a show about the hipsters in Williamsburg that was seldom watched by the hipsters in Williamsburg.

“Euphoria” premieres Sunday, June 16, at 10 p.m. on HBO.