"This life has been a test. If this had been an actual life, you would have received instructions on where to go and what to do."
-----Angela Chase, from My So-Called Life
I didn't care for 90210 when it started. Maybe I was too young; I don't know. I just know I didn't like it. Two of my best friends thought it was great and really wanted me to start watching it, too, so we could pick it apart at school (or so we could talk about the girls on the show, I wasn't ever clear on that). I watched a couple of episodes and I tried to like it, I really did. I couldn't, though. I hated the characters and how they each fit this neatly into a little niche in high school. I hated the stories. I didn't buy the friendships. I hated how all the "kids" in the show looked like adults. And I always hoped that one of the "poor" kids would get upset one day and take out the school, but even though an episode like that would have given me some satisfaction, I don't think I would have enjoyed it any more than a normal episode.
I suppose what I'm trying to say is that, I didn't get the "teen" TV at that time. Sure Saved by the Bell was funny, somtimes, but it wasn't good. It was all really silly, or really soapy, but it never had emotion or drama to it.
And then came My So-Called Life. It wasn't perfect, the best TV shows rarely are, but it could do the silly and the soapy and have emotion behind it driving the drama forward. Sometimes it would veer into the weird or melodramatic, but it always felt real, to me. The characters meandered through their lives just trying to succeed and when they couldn't do that, they just wanted to survive. People who acted like jerks didn't suddenly have a light shine on them with a chorus sining "ahhhhhhhh" and realize they should be nice to everyone; they continued to be jerks and didn't ever to explain themselves. That, to me, was real. How often in life to bullies pause to reflect on why they suck before they beat you to a pulp?
For the most part, the kids in the show looked liked the kids I was in school with. Jordan Catalano looked more grown up than Angela and Brian because he was older. (He was left back, twice.)
Also, there was the fact that I was, or wanted to be, the main characters. I wasn't as moody as Angela (At least I don't think I was. You'd have to ask my parents.), but I was thinking about the same things as she was. I wasn't a drunk like Rayanne, but I wanted her freedom and lust for life. I wasn't gay like Rickie, but I was different, in my own way, and wondered about how being different from so many of the other students meant about me and them. I wasn't as into school activities as Sharon was, but I thought about it and how much easier my life could have been if I was. And I neither as smart nor as stupid as Brian, but that was only because I was too shy to blurt things out like he did.
For the six, or so, months it was on, My So-Called Life was my favorite show. When I found out it wasn't coming back, I was disappointed. When I found out that it was being rerun on MTV (a channel I didn't have) and nearly everyone in my class was watching it, I was a bit upset. I remember talking about it was some people after it looped from the last episode back to the first and them wondering when it was going to start again. I said never, because people like them didn't watch it when it was first on TV. They sort of quit talking to me then. I didn't mind though, it was people like them who let it get canceled.
When I had TV, I saw the My So-Called Life was rerun on some teen channel, but at 2 AM. I wasn't going to stay up until 2 AM every night. So, I traded in my receiver for one with a DVR in it. Every morning, before work, I'd watch an episode and I was just as thrilled with them as I was when they first aired. Part of it was the nostalgia, I'm sure, but most of it was the wonderful writing and acting in the show. Clothes and music may change, but the right themes stay relevant for years. In the last issue of "Entertainment Weekly," it was described as a mood piece, which is exactly right.
Here's where I shift gears, drastically and let everyone know that it's coming out on DVD next week and that I don't have any plans to go out an buy it because (HINT!) it's make a great Christmas present.
8 comments:
I loved this show. I was the only one of my friends watching. I actually think I might have cried when it suddenly disappeared.
Freaks and Geeks was probably better though.
My favorite teen TV show that seemed rather realistic, except for certain parts, was Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. Not only did they really seem to have all the teen angst, but the "high school jerk payoff" was really high because they usually got shredded to bits or eaten alive. Now that's good stuff.
Queenie -- Glad to know there were other people out there watching it.
Before I got to see all of My So-Called Life again, I would have agreed with you about Freaks and Geeks. Now I know how different the shows were from each other and I'd rather have the combined power of their 27 episodes will one day destroy the crap out there and lead television into a true golden age!
Geewits -- That "except for certain parts" gets me. You're talking about the vampires and demons and cyborgs and sudden sisters and Cordelia dating Xander, right?
I get you're meaning, though. I really like how Buffy used the monsters and such as metaphors for the angst and other problems with growing up. (My favorite use has to be the frat boys who worshiped the giant snake in their basement that gave them their power and great riches. Hilarious!)
Wow, how out of touch am I. I never saw "My So-Called Life", nor Buffy for that matter.
Jazz -- No one saw My So-Called Life, that was the problem. I highly recommend it. And Buffy. I'm 98% sure you'd like Buffy.
Thanks for the Xmas hint.
You're welcome, Mooooo.
Adam -- Thanks for the spam!
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