My So-Called Life (1)

I have it on DVD and it's high time I watched it again. I've always been on about BEVERLY HILLS 90210 and its successor 90210, but those big, big efforts often, no, more often than not, took on too much and ran away with themselves. This one has that real feeling. And it often inspires these fuzzy warm feelings, hey, just the memory of it...! I have several ShoutFactory products as I'm into "decades past" and the ad pops up regularly, and I salute it every time it appears. Angela Chase is one of my all-time favorite girls on film. Coupled with ROMEO + JULIET, I am a hugé Claire Danes fan.Just today, I voted for it on the polls as "Greatest Series Set Mainly in a High School" or something like that. At their best moments, the 90210's were great, but far from consistent. This one, you knew what you had, it was always not just good, but great. More than that, it tugged at your heart.Was unfortunately doomed because of course Claire was destined for movies. Which sunk Season Two. That was the show's only flaw. It had a star it couldn't keep.By the way, A.j. Langer, cheered for you too!I maintain that the best TV came from the Nineties. This one is a prime example.Highly recommended. Soft-hearted romantics into unrequited love especially.{and I so wanted to post that classic quote "like a toaster or something", oh! but somebody beat me to it...!}

My So called life first aired when I was 11 and in my first year of junior high. Well I was the perfect age for it as I could relate so much to a lot of the issues the teens on the show were going through. The show revolves around a 15 year old girl named Angela Chase. Angela has recently ditched her childhood best friend Sharon to hang out with the free spirited yet troubled Rayanne Graff and her gay male friend Ricki Vasquez. They encourage Angela to dye her blonde hair a deep red color much to her parents dismay. Angela is in love with an older boy named Jordan Catalono a quiet,mysterious but gorgeous guy. All of this is revealed in the first episode and if it sounds like a boring typical teen drama trust me its not. It's so much more! There are numerous characters and detail is giving to all. The show deals with a lot of issues such as young love,problems with parents,substance abuse,guns in school,sex,friendship and so much more. Most of everything is seen from Angela's POV,and we get frequent voice overs from her as well. The series has aged well from 1994.It's actually quite refreshing to not see smart phones everywhere or hear references to social media like Facebook and twitter. I believe teens nowadays can still enjoy this show. Girls will probably enjoy it more then guys but I do remember a few of my male classmates admitting they enjoyed it as well. I enjoyed re watching My so called life as an adult as it brought me back to my middle school days watching it with my mom and my best friend and I dressing just like Angela and Rayanne ..I admit re watching this made me want to dig up all my old flannel shirts and baby tees:) My recommendation? Whether you are nostalgic for some good 90s television or are a teen debating if you should watch this show I say go for it! You will be pleasantly surprised how realistic and entertaining My so called life is.

As a now College Freshman, I think it is one of the best shows to come out on television. I was only a toddler when this show was on, but to watch it later on as an adult is pretty incredible to see. Claire Danes is excellent as Angela Chase, and she is so realistic. She does portray one of those kids that we all knew of in High School. Her parents are realatable, because most of us intend to have them. I was the exact opposite of Angela when I was in High School. I knew who I was, yet I later on wanted to have streaks in my hair, later on dyeing it. I knew the person I was, yet I did not fit in. I was in fact, an anti-typical teenager. Like Angela, I too, hid my personal feelings, and did not want to explain how I felt about certain things. We all had friends like Ricky and Rayanne, but that what makes the show so incredible. It is that good. I am sad that it did not continue on.

This show is probably the reason why most teenage girls still dye their hair red when they're being rebellious. :) When My So-called Life first aired, I was maybe ten or eleven, but I remember watching the show with my mom. I didn't understand much of the stuff that the show dealt with first time round, but it all became clear later on when I watched re-runs (and dyed my hair red). I related to the show completely, and even had the Rayanne and Sharon friends, and chose Rayanne over Sharon. I guess that what made the show so compelling was, as most people already pointed out, how realistic it was. I was never too big on TV shows, and the only other teen drama/soap I watched with any amount of interest was the Australian show "Heartbreak high" which contained almost no drugs and no gay people.MSCL was different from anything else on television because it was just an ordinary show about ordinary people with ordinary problems. It wasn't trying to sell an image of anything nor preach any kind of values, it was just a girl's so-called life and that's what made it brilliant. And compared to the heinous 90210 (which I tried watching a number of times only to fail miserably) that was the poster child for 'your brain on television', MSCL crossed boundaries and covered new ground and actually challenged you to think about the stuff that was going on around you. It's a pity that it ended so soon, but at least it didn't have a chance to get bad. I haven't seen it in years, but I just picked it up on DVD yesterday and I'm going to go re-watch it as soon as I finish writing this comment.