My So-Called Life
My So-Called Life, critically acclaimed television series about 15-year-old Angela Chase (played by Claire Danes) as she attends the fictional Liberty High School in an invented suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Most episodes are narrated by the teenager, often unreliably, as she deals with school, her parents, her friends, and her crush Jordan Catalano (Jared Leto). The series ran for one season on the ABC network from August 1994 to January 1995 and is considered one of the best coming-of-age dramas for its realistic look at teenage social issues.
History
In 1991 Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick, the creators of the popular ABC television drama thirtysomething (1987–91), asked one of the writers from the show, Winnie Holzman, who had also written for The Wonder Years (1988–93), to work with them on a new teen show. They wanted an “authentic” series that differed from the teen soap operas that were on television at the time, such as Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990–2000). To research teenage life, Holzman taught at Fairfax High School in Los Angeles for a few days and wrote a journal as if she were a teenage girl. The journal entries became the basis for the show’s voice-over. She told Elle in 2016 that, while she was teaching, “there were so many moments of sense memory that brought back high school for me: The sound of the bell. The feeling of being trapped in the room. The kids falling asleep in class. The messiness of the hallways. The clanging of lockers. These things were so evocative, and I know they unlocked some stuff for me.”
Pilot and plots
In the pilot episode, Angela, at the precipice of adulthood, tries to break from the expectations of her parents, Patty and Graham Chase (played by Bess Armstrong and Tom Irwin); her best friend, Sharon Cherski (Devon Odessa); and her neighbor Brian Krakow (Devon Gummersall). She dyes her hair red and begins hanging out with the free-spirited Rayanne Graff (A.J. Langer) and her androgynous pal Enrique (Rickie) Vasquez (Wilson Cruz). In subsequent episodes, Angela’s parents struggle with their unconventional domestic arrangement, in which Patty is the provider and Graham is the homemaker; Rayanne overdoses at a party; and Rickie faces homelessness after being thrown out of his house. Rickie later comes out as gay, and Cruz thus became the first openly gay actor to play an openly gay character in a leading role on prime-time television.
Cancellation and legacy
My So-Called Life received positive reviews from critics, but it never received high ratings. Holzman told Elle, “The network was on the fence about the show pretty much the whole time. [What they] would say was, ‘Who is the show for?’ Like, ‘Is it for adults, is it for teens?’ They were puzzled by that.” It was canceled by ABC after 19 episodes. Fans launched a campaign to renew the series for a second season, but by then Danes had made it clear that she did not want to continue the show as she hoped to finish high school and attend college.
Through its timeless themes the series continued to reach generations beyond the Gen X teens it depicted. It was first syndicated on MTV, then released on home video, and later streamed on Hulu.