Yeah I love those kinds of shows that are *all* about the characters and focusing on their character development each season, and it's hard to find that much outside of the teen genre (maybe soap operas I guess?) Usually most shows will have another hook, so that you're following the characters more in whatever line of work they're in

One Tree Hill is probably one of the few high school shows that I haven't seen actually, but I was very into Dawson's Creek, The O.C, and Gossip Girl.