My So-Called Rewind

I just finished watching all of the episodes from the series My So-Called Life, a teen drama that aired on ABC from 1994-1995. In my mind's eye, I was older when I watched this on television, but the dates suggest I was only 14 and 15-years-old. Which was the show's target audience I guess.

Anyway, when I first watched the series as a teenager, I found it profound and deep, touching and so very true to life. Now, 17 years later (is that right?! Am I that old now?!), I find it slow, tense, and at many parts, embarrassing.

I decided to re-watch the show for a couple reasons. One, it was on Netflix. I had been meaning to purchase the series, but now I'm glad I didn't; mostly because Netflix is alleviating some of my shelf space issues. Two, I wanted to remember. Often times, I feel that so much of my youth has left my memory. There are a lot of holes that I can't fill and a lot of feelings that I can't place with dates and times, though this show does stick out as one of those things that I watched with friends, and discussed the morning after.

For many kids, including myself, I found that I had a lot in common with a couple of the characters. The protagonist, Angela, especially. Same age, same hair, same dense, vague disposition. Re-watching the series, I couldn't stand Angela's character for the first few episodes. She seemed mean and stupid, and not especially bright. But she began to grow on me (again) and I realized (or perhaps remembered) that most teenagers aren't that bright. After all, we were just kids growing into adults, and all those hormones tend to make you lose common sense.

Actually, now that I think about it, if this show aired when I was a freshman, then I copied her air unintentionally... I don't think I started dying my hair all shades of red until I was a sophomore. Ah, those were the days... Letting your friends put all manner of chemicals into your body. Not that I regret that. Actually, unlike my sitcom doppelganger, I didn't do all that much in high school. Certainly I analyzed everything to death, but I'm pretty sure that's common.

The show was cancelled after only one season, and a short one at that. Only 19 episodes long, the season ends before the viewer gets any answers about the outcome of the characters. We know that Graham (the father) is now in the restaurant business, but will he be successful? Will he cheat on Patty with Hallie? Do Angela and Jordan reconcile? Will they get it on? Will Angela forgive Rayann? Will Brian ever figure out life? These questions, while ultimately futile and pointless are now weighing on my mind.

This show gained quite a cult following. Wiki hinted at this being due to the fact that teenage drama channels like WB and CW hadn't yet begun and this show was one of the first to show the teenage years as anything but a light and airy time of life. Certainly, if you watch any teen shows now, you see that high school is anything but. Well, it took many years, but at least they got it partially right. Calling high school a living hell may be a bit drastic, but not overly so. MSCL still paints a pretty good picture of the struggles of youth. And now, watching as an adult, I think the writing for the parents and adults wasn't bad either. After all, we're all just trying to do our best with the situations that we're given.

Watching this again I've decided wasn't a waste of time. Indeed, I think I needed the reminder that while I had good friends in high school, I was happy to leave there and move on to college. The real world doesn't really have less drama then high school, but at least now we're not all stuck in one building all day long to try to deal with it.