Team Conrad or Team Jeremiah?
People asked this question constantly during the release of “The Summer I Turned Pretty” in 2022. From TikTok videos to weekly watch parties, the debate was everywhere.
“My Life with the Walter Boys” posed a similar question: Team Alex or Team Cole?
But this one has flown under the radar. While the show garnered fans, it has yet to make everyone talk about it like “TSITP.”
“The Walter Boys’” second season reached 32.9 million completed views as of November 25, 2025. In comparison, “TSITP” amassed over 70 million in its third season as of 7 days after the finale’s release on September 17, 2025. While there’s still time to see how “the Walter Boys’” third season compares, it currently fails to reach the same viewership.
After losing her family in a car accident, Jackie Howard of “the Walter Boys” is forced to move to the Walter family’s ranch in Colorado. Jackie navigates her relationship with two brothers in the Walter family, Alex and Cole, as she processes her grief.
Just like Jackie, the protagonist of “TSITP” is also facing a new transition. Belly Conklin has spent every summer at family friends Conrad and Jeremiah Fisher’s beach house on Cousins Beach. But the summer Belly turns 16 happens alongside problems beginning to affect the Fisher family, and vacation at the beach house starts to look quite different.
The two shows largely follow the same premise, making the difference in viewership even more confusing. Both follow a female teenage lead navigating a love triangle with two brothers. Both showcase the hardships of family loss. Both take place in slow-paced, small-town settings. So, what creates the greater draw for “TSITP” over “the Walter Boys?”
Team Alex vs. Team Cole just does not hit the same way as Team Conrad vs. Team Jeremiah. Despite still garnering major popularity, “the Walter Boys” cannot beat the phenomenon of “TSITP.”
The “TSITP” storyline didn’t begin with the show’s release. It first gained popularity as the book trilogy of the same name written by Jenny Han, who started the series in 2009. The adaptation allowed old fans to see the series come to the screen while attracting an entirely new audience.
This show wasn’t Han’s first adaptation, either. Netflix successfully adapted her book, “To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before,” into a film watched by more than 80 million subscribers. It was followed by two successful sequels, establishing Han’s credibility for adaptations.
Alternatively, “the Walter Boys” originated on Wattpad, an online platform where users can read and publish original stories, and was written in 2010 by 15-year-old author Ali Novak. While it gained enough fans for the online series to receive a print publication in 2014, “the Walter Boys,” in my eyes, didn’t hold as large of a cultural presence as “TSITP” prior to its TV adaptation.
Even ignoring its larger pre-existing audience, the adaptation of “TSITP” gained an audience the books never reached, revealing there’s more holding “the Walter Boys” back.
Just like the name says, “TSITP” is about the summer, establishing a beach vacation theme from the start. Each episode creates reminders of summer days where everything seems at peace — at least, when you ignore the drama stirred up by Belly’s love triangle. The show even carries the sound of summer, featuring artists such as Taylor Swift who add a dreamy vibe to the series.
In comparison, “the Walter Boys” focuses on a country aesthetic, with its main characters living on a ranch in Silver Falls, Colorado. This easily fails to reach the picturesque setting of “TSITP.” While Colorado offers a beauty different from the popular beach vacation, the focus on ranch life in “the Walter Boys” makes the mountainous environment less than appealing. When the alternative is a beach vacation, most would want to avoid the barn work of a ranch. The problems that arise with the Walter’s maintaining their ranch act as a reminder of the struggles of daily life. Both shows offer ordinary settings, but TSITP’s beach setting allows for a romanticization of the situation, appealing to more viewers.
Not all shows have such a whimsical look, and many have achieved the same — if not more — success than “TSITP.” But with these series, their plot usually focuses on more serious scenarios, revealing the mismatch in “the Walter Boys” that is ultimately detrimental to the series.
The mystical vibe of “TSITP” was supported by marketing strategies that made the show impossible to ignore. Even in its earliest trailers, Taylor Swift tracks played in the background, drawing in her fans.
Amazon Prime also took advantage of the competition between Team Conrad and Team Jeremiah by partnering with other major companies, such as American Eagle, where viewers could buy shirts to represent their favorite pairing. Swedish Fish and Sour Patch Kids even released themed packaging. Everywhere you looked, “TSITP” would be there. These strategies engrained “TSITP” into people's lives and got them talking on platforms like TikTok.
While TikToks were made about “the Walter Boys,” there was no major draw to push viewers to watch the series. Netflix also failed to promote the series through external brand partnership. Despite hosting virtual events, including a special with exclusive content the night before the third season’s release, and holding cast interviews with media outlets, the events only seemed to appeal to preexisting fans of the show. With these lackluster marketing tactics, “the Walter Boys” failed to garner an audience through word of mouth.
Meanwhile, “TSITP” was everywhere during the release of its third season. Discussions about Team Conrad vs. Team Jeremiah were spurred across social media.
As the show erupted online, people came together in person to watch. Weekly watch parties became the routine for thousands of people, including me. The weekly release schedule of “TSITP” gave viewers something to look forward to each week, and fans tried to make the most of it.
Forging these in-person connections allows the show to exit the screen and become intertwined with the viewer's life, which only made more people want to watch so they could become part of this special routine.
But “the Walter Boys” follows the format of most Netflix shows, dropping the entire season at once. Instead of creating community, viewers feel the need to binge-watch all the episodes before details are spoiled.
While neither show is the most life-changing piece of media, “TSITP” got people talking and brought viewers together. I look forward to the next show that can recapture that sense of community. But “the Walter Boys” wasn’t it.
Contact Kaitlyn Ocuto at kocuto@alligator.org. Follow her on X @KaitlynOcuto
