What was it about?
The show chronicled the (so-called) life of Angela Chase, a 15-year-old struggling to make sense of being a teen in mid-1990s America and all the wonders and tribulations it brings: family, friends, romance, school, drink, drugs, music, depression, spots… everything.
However, instead of depicting the teenage years as either a fun-filled, uproarious period of unbridled excitement and excess or a bleak, bedroom-bound, Joy Division-on-the-stereo phase of deep unhappiness, My So-Called Life showed they can be both – often in rapid succession or even simultaneously.
Such an almost painfully accurate realism was unparalleled amongst other teen dramas of the time.
Who was in it?
Before their ascent to bona fide Hollywood stardom, Claire Danes (Homeland) starred as Angela and Jared Leto (Requiem for a Dream) played her sometime boyfriend Jordan Catalano, while AJ Langer (Rayanne), Devon Gummershall (Brian) and Wilson Cruz (Ricky) still regularly appear in films and on television.
Lisa Wilhoit, who played Angela’s younger sister Danielle, currently voices occasional recurring character Connie D’Amico in Family Guy.
Best moment?
One of My So-Called Life’s great strengths was the way it weaved the characters’ idiosyncrasies and dilemmas into the fabric of each episode, rather than dedicating single instalments to them as other shows might.
For example, although Rayanne’s alcohol abuse climaxes at the party where she inadvertently overdoses on Ecstasy, her drinking is shown gradually becoming a problem throughout the preceding shows (boozing at home, at Angela’s house, even at school) instead of being the subject of a single episode and nothing else. Even after Rayanne has sworn off the sauce – the point at which even the most diligent drama might have tied it off in a bow and declared it finished – My So-Called Life still regularly references it.
Similarly, Ricky’s homosexuality, Jordan’s dyslexia and Brian’s eternally unrequited crush on Angela are important facets of their makeup throughout the series, rather than being dwelt upon in a single episode and never spoken of again. In that respect – and many others – all 19 editions of the show form one, long, joyous ‘best moment’.
Last seen?
Despite winning critical acclaim, the first season of My So-Called Life (which debuted on ABC in the autumn of 1994 and was shown on C4 in the UK the following year) was also the last. The network cancelled the show in May of 1995, meaning the cliffhanger ending of Episode 19, In Dreams Begin Responsibilities, was never resolved.
Claire Danes has subsequently stated that she would have been unwilling to continue in the role of Angela anyway, leaving it unclear as to whether the show would have continued even if ABC had renewed it.
The future?
Although My So-Called Life now seems very much of its time – if you’re of a certain age, watching it in 2012 is like looking at an incredibly realistic and almost unbearably poignant snapshot of the nineties – its fundamental grasp of what teenage life is like has seldom been captured so perfectly since.
Anyone setting out to make a modern drama for young people could do a lot worse than look back to the adventures of Angela and her friends in Three Rivers, Pennsylvania for inspiration.
What are your memories of My So-Called Life? Let us know below…