Why must all child stars grow up and disappoint us like this? Please, take me back to the good old days.

There are a lot of inconsistencies between real high school and the way high school is portrayed on TV shows. For example, the fact that TV high schools let students chill aimlessly in the hall every 10 minutes or how they obviously never have any homework since their fictional lives are way too action-packed to have time for anything like that.

But, regardless of the unrealistic differences, we watch and try to relate to these shows… although, it’s pretty hard to relate to a certain class of fictional high school students when none of them ever seem to graduate.

When Ryan Murphy, the producer of Glee, announced that he would be graduating the cast of the show and bringing in new people, I was a bit surprised, but definitely relieved. Yes, the characters we’ve all come to know and love will be missed, but would you really want them to be 3-year super-seniors?

Check out some of the other shows that decided to make their students stay back over and over again for the sake of high ratings.

Do you think it’s okay for shows to “graduate” and replace their original cast, or would you rather see the cast of your favorite show stay in high school forever? Do you remember any other shows whose cast members never seemed to grow up?

Although I am in sad lack of it, patience is a virtue that is greatly rewarded.  If you have patience with wine, it improves.  If you wait a bit with cheese, it tastes amazing (just not too long – that could get dangerous).  Even if you are patient with people, they usually get better. Well, some people. Not my ex-boyfriend.

The last is especially true with some child celebrities.   Sure, most child stars end up passed out in a gutter surrounded by VHS tapes of their glory days, but some – especially some pretty choice boy toys – turn out just right. Let’s take a look at some of our favorite young hotties who grew up, aged like a fine bottle of Boones Farm, and suddenly got super hot.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Yeah, I watched Third Rock From the Sun and was therefore super excited to see JGL starring in that am-AZING classic, 10 Things I Hate About You.  What a cutie, right?  Well, Joey totes grew up and I love him way more than my Skechers (…’cause I don’t have a Prada backpack).

Bow Wow (formerly Lil’ Bow Wow)

To a pre-teen white girl from the Midwest, Lil’ Bow Wow was as hood as it got.  My friends and I used to throw on his CD and pretend we were cooler than we actually were.  Fast forward a decade or so and we’re still doing that…but with iTunes.  And Lil’ Bow Wow has ditched the Lil and replaced it with some serious hotnessss.

Leonardo DiCaprio

Leo was the adorable kid next door (or homeless boy without a family) when he entered our lives via Growing Pains. We didn’t think he could get any hotter than his Titanic days, but it looks like someone just keeps getting better. And better. And better. Leo’s age has done wonders for him – he’s more brooding and handsome than ever. We can only imagine how smokin’ he’ll be when he hits the big 4-0.

Dante Basco

Almost the entire reason for watching Hook a thousand times over was for Rufio in his tights and cropped tank (it was Never Never Land, okay?!?).  Thank goodness Dante left the Land of Lost Boys and joined the World of the SMOKIN’ Hot Men. Seriously, who saw that coming?

Shia LeBeouf

Shia put the “geek” in “totally geeky” back in his Even Stevens days, but he was a master of the physical comedy, so I watched anyway.  Luckily, he grew into that face of his and now he’s playing the lead role in my Transformers-themed sexual fantasies. He is total hotness and has proved that it’s 100% possible to come out of an (long ass) awkward phase.

Which is why I’m slightly excited about Michael Bay’s giant Transformers movie. I can’t tell you if I’ll actually see it in the theaters, but its nostalgia. Nostalgia of the 80’s. Everyone loves them some good nostalgia.

Of course, being 24, there might be one more reason I’m interested in a movie about robots that turn into cars. And that reason might be Hollywood’s new It Kid, Shia LaBeouf.

The strangely adorable LaBeouf began his acting career on Even Stevens, a Disney show that was actually pretty funny, and soon graduated to bigger movies like Holes and this spring’s Disturbia (some of you indie flick lovers may also have seen him in A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, a film that made me cry relentlessly for twenty minutes).

These days, Shia is making huge movies like Transformers and the newest installment of Indiana Jones, but no matter the film’s budget, always seems to carry with him a mature sense of character. He’s a great actor, and everyone seems to be noticing.

What about you, lovelies? Is Shia your new It Guy…or just some guy?