Willkommen im Leben

My So-Called Life is one of those instant classics. A brilliant show, it just came along at the wrong time and was subsequently canned after one season. But that only adds to it's legend and in a small way makes the series even more enjoyable now on DVD. The writing never got a chance to waiver. There was never really a bad episode. The cast never had to grow up and face "the college years" or even prom. Instead we are left with this one season, this one year of high school, with a brilliant group of characters who are locked forever in youth.

The shows are great. Claire Danes took the Golden Globe and was nominated for an Emmy. And when you compare this one series with two High School dramas it was sandwiched between; the richy richy farce of the early 90s' Beverly Hills 90210 and the glossy junk of the late 90s' Dawson Creek, you see how true, poignant and amazing these 19 hours My So Called Life truly are.

This was a real classic. That it was canceled so quickly only proves Networks know NOTHING about quality.

I am a grown woman of the X-generation and I used to love this show when I was young. I don't know what kids want anymore. Is it One Tree Hill and The O.C., shows that are fun but that don't really say much about what it is actually like to be a teenager?

Cause that is what this show was for me. It told the story of what I was feeling right then and there. It described what it is like to feel so damn insecure and embarrassed that sometimes you would just like to kill yourself right then and there. And it told the story of what it is like to be an outsider and a thinker, how it is to feel everything so strong that every small compliment sends you flying, every small resistance is a catastrophe.

But that's enough of the sentimentality... Here's the story: Angela Chase is your average intelligent teenager. She's a nice girl from a good home, cute but not a looker. The series picks up when Angela has a bit of an identity crisis. She's tired of being a good girl and breaks off contact with equally nice childhood friend Cheryl. She rebels against her parents, colors her hair bright red and starts hanging out with bad girl Rayanne and her gay friend Ricky. Meanwhile she also falls hard for the silent tough hunk Jordan. Sometimes Jordan acts as if he's interested in her too, only to ignore her the next day. And then there is the neighbor nerd Brian. He is head over heals for Angela, though she is oblivious.

My So-called Life is finally out on DVD. For the last couple of years I've searched for it now and then on Amazon and on torrent download sites. When I saw that it was going to be released I pre-ordered it and got it at once. So far I've watched the first six episodes, and it still holds up. So I recommend it heartily if you're a fan of quality realistic teenage drama.

Actually MTV ran it right after it ran on ABC as part of a campaign to get it recomissioned (and as a brilliant marketing ploy for them, I agree). They ran it every day after school with various members of the cast introducing the episodes.

I was a year older than the characters in this film and yes one person can have that much drama in their lives and especially at that age. People that are too young to have come to this show for the first time need to remember that this was made for the same kids that a few years before were watching 90210 where nothing was even close to a real teen's life. This was very real for a lot of people and it also broken boundaries. Anyone remember a gay high school character on TV before this show? I can't. Plus, the fashion is too true that it is scary.

When seen in order, these 19 episodes form an amazingly rich chronicle of a year in the lives of Angela Chase, her high school friends and the adults in their lives. Writing this great rarely makes it into series television. As disappointing as it was when the show was cancelled after one year, the result was a self-contained almost novelistic tapestry of interwoven stories that stands alone as one of the finest depictions of adolescence and parenthood ever created for the screen.

One of the most distinctive threads that runs through the series is the way both children and adults deceive themselves about what they really want and need out of life. The drama and humor of the series often revolves around the struggle of the different characters to break through to their genuine selves.

Among many fine story lines, one standout is that of Rickie Vasquez, probably the first depiction of a gay teen on series television, and if not the first, certainly the most unapologetic. I could go on way too long about all the other moving, surprising, heartbreaking and ironic story lines, about the way characters are always surprising us with unexpected depths or insights or abilities, about the use of music, about the incredibly honest and unexploitative depiction of teenage sexuality, and about the performances, which are uniformly superb, even in the smallest roles. Best of all the show is so rich and crafted so brilliantly that it rewards repeated viewing.

Just watched the show again, for the first time since it was cancelled. (Thanks Hulu.) Wanted to weigh it with this: I was a man in his early 30s in 1995, and I loved this show. I'm still a man now, and in my early 50s, and I still love this show. One of the things that tubed it back then was that the network (and apparently the public) couldn't understand that a show _about_ teenagers isn't automatically a show _for_ teenagers. Missing from many reviews is the fact that a good chunk of every episode was actually about the parents' lives away from their kids. And that part was just as cutting-edge, and just as good.

The casting was razor-sharp. In 1995 I was just coming to grips with the fact that 1.) lots of people are gay and 2.) that's not a problem. Wilson Cruz was a major part in that belated growing-up. The kid was brilliant. Tom Irwin did the best job of portraying an actual middle-aged man I've ever seen. Just a guy trying to meet his responsibilities, _and_ be happy. This is a lot harder than TV usually makes it out to be, and Tom did a fantastic impression of that high-wire act.

And Claire. Sometimes I wanted to shake her character. Sometimes I wanted to hug her. I knew that girl, when I was a teenager. I knew Brian Krakow, too. (Alright, I _was_ Brian Krakow. Sue me.) They were all great, even the bit parts, even the walk-ons.

My point is that My So-Called Life is not a "kids' show." If ABC had understood that, maybe things would have been different.

Great, history-making television, up there with Lucy and The Honeymooners and Star Trek. See it.