My So-Called Life: The Complete Series

"My So-Called Life" is not good television; it's extraordinary television-making. It is what TV shows could be if people took the time to create them instead of worry about how much money will be made. I fell in love with "My So-Called Life" when it was rerun on MTV awhile back, just like everyone else. After purchasing the DVD set and rewatching the episodes, I've fallen in love all over again. How can any show be this good? It's not just the extraordinarily witty and insightful writing, not just the excellent acting, the complex characters, its...everything. MSCL is real; it's the antithesis to shows like Dawson's Creek. Its characters are real. They're flawed, but in believable ways. It's a very complex, nuanced, and subtle show. What's great about this show is that none of the characters are given the "short end of the stick". Each character unforgetable and multilayered. Angela Chase herself is one of the most complex characters ever created for television. There's just so much to her that you can't believe someone made her up. Such a shame that we didn't get to know her better before the show was cancelled. My favourite character though is Brian Krakow, the first TV character I could identify with. Brian's a sort of tragic anti-hero nerd. Characters like this have appeared in other shows, but usually as comic relief. MSCL has sympathy for Brian and gives him a voice, yet does not overlook his many faults. There's just so much psychology, philosophy, so much depth and genius in MSCL. I honestly do not believe there's a bad episode in the entire show (albeit there were only 19 episodes ever made). The Halloween episode comes close, but it was worth it just to see Danielle dressed up as Angela and all the unconscious tension it implied. In general I thoroughly enjoyed watching ever second of every episode. I'm stunned with awe after every episode. This show is for anyone who's ever been a teenager in the 90's. It captures perfectly the defining aspect of our generation. I had the pleasure of personally meeting and Winnie Holzmann, creator and writer of MSCL when she visited UC Berkeley recently (yes, I'm a bear. Cal pride!). I got the opportunty to thank her for creating the show. I think the consensus of the audience that we had our mouths open salivating for more when the show was killed off. But Winnie said it best "It was tragic that the show was cancelled after only one season, but in a way I'm happy with the way it worked out. With only 19 episodes, there's kind of a preciousness to it that's preserved forever, instead of what would have happened, had we continued the show to the point where everyone was tired of the show and no one could come up with any new ideas". Indeed, there is tremendous preciousness to the show. One last thing: Claire Danes is so HOT!!! How can Brian not be in love with her? Anyone else notice how her eyebrows curve upwards in the middle like this: ^ ?

In the Fall of 1994, ABC premiered what Entertainment Weekly would eventual hail as "the greatest cancelled television series of all time." Airing for a total of 19-episodes, with the final installment airing February of 1995, "My So Called Life" not only jump-started the careers of Claire Danes and Jared Leto, but garnered young Danes a Golden Globe for her performance (she was the youngest actress to receive the honor). Years after the show was cancelled ABC regretting their decision by trying to make lightening strike twice by producing similar series, yet ultimately known of them would garner the acclaim or magic of MSCL. Eventually TV Guide would call the series "the sixth best cult show of all time." The premise of the show is simple enough, but yet complex enough to make it unique. Premiering in 1994, right at the emergence of the teen-soap genre MSCL was a breath of fresh-air. Unlike "Beverly Hills 90210" and latter "Dawson's Creek," this series was grounded in reality. Instead of glorifying every teenage rite-of-passage for film, the series seems to gloss over these moments in favor of the emotional outburst they produce: much like real life. Many people don't remembers every detail or their prom, first kiss, and first independent car ride? Yet they remember exactly how they felt, and MSCL capitalized on these moments. The show follows 14-year-old Angela as she tries to ultimately survive not only her freshman year of high school, but the highs (and lows) or first love, as well as becoming her own independent self - separated from the person she tried to be for other people in Middle School. High School is a turbulent time for anyone from the Jocks to the Brains to the Leadership to the Outsiders. Everyone has their ups and downs, just like Angela. But she makes it harder on herself, and yet easier by befriending two outsiders, when she had always been part of the `in-crowd.' The audience follows Angela's transition from quiet wall-flower to her beginning to emerge from her cocoon sometime towards the end of her first year of high school. While on the outside the show may seems like another "90210"/"The OC" teen-soap, but it really isn't. This is a rich, emotional, and movie relationship-drama that once it gets your hooks into you, you cannot stop watching. Unlike most shows of its genre its realistic and each of the major characters represents a person you probably knew in high school. Yet, they probably weren't the most popular kids. They were the kids you were friends with, hung out with, the ones you actually knew. It is a downright disgrace that ABC only allowed this series 19 episodes. More than almost any other show I've ever watched I would have loved to watch these character bloom into full-grown adults through their high school (and possibly college years). But what we are ultimately are given is just this one 8-month snap-shot into these characters lives. But this could ultimately make this show the masterpiece that it really is. There was no room for it go downhill, no room for error. And forever it will be remembered. It has been years since my sister and I sat up all night long one weekend watching horrible copies of these episodes on VHS, and I cannot wait for Halloween, when I will finally have a chance to watch them on DVD, almost anew. This incredibly comprehensive box set includes all 19 episodes uncut (in their ORIGINAL full-screen presentation) on 6 discs. The special features so far include: Interviews with Edward Zwick/Marshall Herskovitz/Winnie Holzman (creator/producers), Todd Holland/Jason Katism/Scott Winant (Directors), Wilson Cruz/Paul Dooley/Devon Gummersall (cast); Audio Commentaries on "the pilot," "Life of Brian," "So-Called Angels," as well as additional episodes; Deleted Scenes; Promos' Book with tridutes from Joss Whedon, Winnie Holzman, and Janeane Garofalo; and more.

Seit gestern besitze ich endlich diese tolle DVD Box und schaue fleißig die Folgen. Ich habe diese Serie schon geliebt, als sie zum ersten Mal im deutschen Fernsehn ausgestrahlt wurde und ich weiß jetzt wieder warum. Nie wurden Teenagerprobleme so real dargestellt ohne falschen Pathos und ohne einem das Gefühl zu geben, dass die Schwierigkeiten des Erwachsenwerdens nicht ernst gemommen werden. Im Gegensatz zu den ganzen anderen TeenSeries aus den 90ern wie Beverly Hills 90210 oder Melrose Place ist "Willkommen im Leben" (My so-called Life) wirklich authentisch. Das fängt bei den Problemen an, die sich nicht nur ums Aussehen drehen, sondern darum wie man seine eigene Identität findet, wie man mit Armut, Ausgrenzung, Gerüchten und Liebeskummer umgeht und hört bei der Ausstattung der Schauspieler auf. Der Kleiderfundus spiegelt exakt die Mode wider, die Jedem heute auf Fotos eher peinlich ist, die man aber eben getragen hat. Was Angela, Sharon, Rayanne und Co tragen ist einfach nur "so Nineties"! Ich freue mich jetzt schon darauf regelmäßig mit Angela zu leiden und zu bangen, wie es mit ihrer großen Liebe Jordan Catalano auf und ab geht. (Nebenbei bemerkt kann ich auch wieder voll und ganz verstehen, warum Jordan auch meine erste große Liebe war...) Ich kann jedem Einzelnen, der in den 90ern aufgewachsen ist, diese Serie ans Herz legen, von der es leider nur diese eine Staffel gibt. Die Erinnerungen an diese Zeit ist Gold wert!

'My So-Called Life' remains one of the key TV series of the 1990s, one I'd rank alongside such US TV joys as 'Twin Peaks' (despite the dodgy second series) & 'Homicide: Life on the Street.' The makers of 'Thirtysomething' hit on the perfect TV series in the early to mid 1990s, 'MSCL' hitting our screens in 1994/1995, until it's sad cancellation after 19-episodes. The reason for the cancellation is still vague, recently it has been put down to Claire Danes desire not to reprise the role of Angela Chase, but you can't help but think that the gritty parts of the series - Gram about to have another affair, gay Ricky moving in with homosexual teachers, Angela about to get with Jordan, Rayanne's on-going substance problems etc - might have put some off. 'My So-Called Life' sadly ended, though there has been a culty following for it, creating their own websites, buying the books influenced by the series, and in 2002 getting a limited edition DVD box-set released (an item now quite deleted and on sites like E-Bay). Clearly there was a need to release this series on DVD and I'm very glad they have, it's the best way to watch it and up there with such DVD joys as 'The Wire', the first few series of 'The West Wing', & 'Six Feet Under' (though the latter probably went on too long in the end). MSCL definitely influenced series that followed, from the rarely seen 'Freaks and Geeks', to the more familiar likes of 'Dawson's Creek' and 'The OC' - the latter two becoming more and more ridiculous and soap like in terms of plots, as the characters lived in seabound utopias quite different to the suburbia of MSCL. In fact, 'The OC' probably has more in common with 'Beverley Hills 90210' when it amusingly tried to go edgy. 'MSCL' has a strong female lead character, itself quite unusual, and feels like a classic product of the 1990s, the decade between the wars that were Cold and "on Terror", and a time when angst was in the air. The 19-episodes weren't shot in one continuous run, and more unusually, in blocks over two years - some of the episodes are shown out of sequence, though this isn't an issue since each episode is quite self-contained (though the Jordan-storyline is one example an on-going plot). Some of the episodes focus heavily on Brian, Rayanne and Ricky, the makers unafraid to take the focus away from Angela and show another side to the kids' world. This DVD set contains all 19 episodes: 1. Pilot 2. Dancing in the Dark 3. Guns and Gossip 4. Father Figures 5. The Zit 6. The Substitute 7. Why Jordan Can't Read 8. Strangers In the House 9. Halloween 10. Other People's Mothers 11. Life of Brian 12. Self-Esteem 13. Pressure 14. On the Wagon 15. So-Called Angels 16. Resolutions 17. Betrayal 18. Weekend 19. In Dreams Begin Responsibilities The series hinges on factors that some people still think you can make TV without - it has great writing, a realistic location (rather than the utopias and wealthy locales of the Creek and the OC), and best of all, a brilliant cast. Danes remains fantastic as Angela, a role that she hasn't bettered in her subsequent career in films - though I felt that the lead of 'Shopgirl' was a relative of Angela, the nerd relationship in that maybe the relationship she should have had with Brian (perhaps the director putting MSCL DVDs into one scene made me ponder on that link too much!). AJ Langer is perfect as Rayanne, as Wilson Cruz is perfect as Ricky, as Devon Gummersall is perfect as Brian, as Jared Leto is perfect as Jordan, as Devon Odessa is perfect as Sharon etc. It's strange that not all of the cast have gone on to later successes - Danes and Leto's profiles are kind of there (though the latter's band 30 Seconds to Mars feels like a continuation of Jordan's band, The Frozen Embryos, here!) and Tom Irwin has been around years (Yaphet Kotto's assistant in the classic 'Midnight Run'). Devon Gummersall was in the video to Eminem's 'Stan', while A.J. Langer turned up in 'The Mentor' episode of 'Seinfeld' - fans of satirical cartoon series will note the name of Lisa Wilhoit (Danielle) in the cast for several episodes. MSCL remains for me a perfect series, one that managed to reflect the zeitgeist of the US and beyond at the time - the characters are easy to have empathy with. The music featured in the series fitted well too, this was the grunge era, songs by Buffalo Tom, The Cranberries, The Lemonheads, Madder Rose, REM and Violent Femmes feature - Buffalo Tom turning up as a bar band in one key episode (they play 'Sodajerk' and 'Late at Night'- the latter video features Danes & Odessa in character). The Christmas themed 'So-Called Angels' also features Julianna Hatfield as the homeless angel character who befriends Angela - and is there anything better than the scene where Ricky dances with the girl dumped by Brian to 'Dawn Can't Decide' by the Lemonheads? (well apart from Angela dancing round her bedroom in glee to 'Blister in the Sun'!). MSCL was a great series and is a very welcome DVD issue, pretty much every episode is great, I always liked the more "fun" episodes too. 'Halloween' has a great high school ghost story plot that was nicked for a later episode of 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer', while 'Weekend' is a farce centred around Rayanne being handcuffed to Angela's parents bed, as Tom & Gram go away for the weekend to a hotel ran by the late great Jack Nance (of many a David Lynch movie). MSCL did depict issues - homosexuality, alcoholism, drugs, teenage sex, social pressures of school, gun violence, affairs, family hierarchy, homelessness, illness etc - but it never felt forced down the throat, MSCL not going for the cheesy resolution motif. It was also great enough to focus on the little things, e.g. an argument started when all of Patty's cheese is eaten by Rayanne and Ricky! & no review would be complete without mentioning the running joke of the Tino character, always off-screen, but familiar to all! This reissue of MSCL is the DVD reisue of this year and one to watch if you haven't seen before, or one to re-watch if you haven't seen since the 1990s (it was last repeated on TV in 1997 on Channel 4). Heck, they should be screening it in schools...

Fantastico, per tutti quelli che amano questi generi di film; lo consiglio molto volentieri! Costa poco ed é bello...meglio di così!

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Amazing series that took me right back to my early teens.