You won't be disappointed!

Fantastic!

A Disappointing Continuation

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

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.

A special thanks to Netflix for finally putting something worthwhile on instant play. I haven't watched this show since it first aired 17 years ago! Oh! the memories this show brings back to me. Such a brilliant show, gone too soon! It really is a shame the show didn't stay on longer; especially when you consider what shows do get to stay on television. I was 15 in 1994, the same year 'My So-Called Life' first aired. 1994 could be considered to some as the height of the grunge era; it's the same year Kurt Cobain killed himself, the same year the second Woodstock took place (which should have been the last in my humble opinion:)). Generation Xers were certainly the basis of this show, and it shows in the clothing and music as well as issues such as, sexual orientation and school shootings dealt with on the show. The main character, Angela Chase (played by the fantastic Claire Danes) was also 15, and as far as I was concerned someone had taken my life and put it on television.Between Angela's confusion about what crowd she wanted to surround herself with, to those obscure and sometimes awkward voice-over thoughts Angela had about life, friends, family, and Jordan Catalano (sigh), all made for a very realistic teen drama. Even Angela's wardrobe set her apart from all the other shows depicting teens. She was the only teenage character on television that I ever saw wear the same outfits week after week. My dad watched this show with me and I think he really did enjoy it as much as I did.I was so heart broken when the show ended. But just like the good die young, this show had to be put to rest early. I like to think it was all for the best,and if it had stayed on it would have eventually jumped the shark and become a horrible show.Although, I must admit there are those times when I wonder: what would have ever come of Brian and Angela?? I will never forget that long, emotional stare they had with each other in front of her house at the end of the last episode. UGH! The agony of not knowing will always haunt me.

This program came out in late 1994, right smack bang in the middle of my teens putting me on an exact age par with the characters in the series. I simply cannot express just how clever, well written and superbly acted this, at the time, highly original series was. There was NOTHING on TV that was like this, so drenched in teenage angst and drama and so many of the issues, stories and situations (to a degree) hit such a familiar note with so many people that you just cannot fault the show, on anything.Let me just state that I am a guy, and now at the grand old age of 32 I watched the series again and boy did it take 15 years off me. Many of the issues dealt with in the series could be applied to both guys and girls so although it was originally aimed at teenage girls the appeal of the show went far, far beyond that audience.On an angrier note, I think it is absolutely criminal that this poignant, emotional and sharp piece of entertainment was cancelled after only one season due to 'bad ratings'. As I recall not many of the most successful shows did that well on their first season but given a chance they shone so brightly and the same courtesy should have been shown to what is arguably one of the best dramas ever to be shown. But no, corporate greed once again stepped in and extinguished the creative spirit to save a few bucks. Well I hope they are kicking themselves now as to what the show could have become in terms of popularity.We should count ourselves lucky that the existing series was made in the first place, but after 19 episodes of getting attached to characters with whom most of us can say we identified with one season just doesn't seem enough.I wonder just how much this 32 year olds outlook on life would have changed with that second season!

Much of the show is entertaining and at times presents some top drawer thematic material concerning being a teenager. The major, unfortunate problem is the main character who is presented as morose, cynical, depressed, a total downer and on and on. I found her to be tedious and unrealistic. In fact, the whole series lacks a clear, cogent nexus to reality. Unlike the Wonder Years with its wonderful stories, themes, characters, this show wallows in the self-pity and narcissism of teenagers. The writers obviously have problems with an ensemble series, which was also a problem with the hugely overrated 30 something which they also wrote. Some interesting characters, but the show stands or falls with the main character and she flops, so does much of the show.