My So-Called Life

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For information on the From Zero album, see My So-Called Life (album)

My So-Called Life was a television teen drama created by Winnie Holzman and produced by Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz that aired on ABC from August 25, 1994 to January 26, 1995. The critically acclaimed show was short-lived, airing only 19 episodes before it was canceled on May 15, 1995 due to low ratings and also to an uncertain degree on the reluctance, expressed behind the scenes, of star Claire Danes to return for its second season. For its original run in the United States, it aired on Thursday nights at 8 p.m. against four hit sitcoms -- top ten hits "Mad About You" and "Friends" on NBC, as well as the popular Martin and Living Single on FOX. However, in the time that it has been off the air, the show has gained a substantial cult following which has led many to wish it had been able to go on for many more seasons, especially given the nature of the cliffhanger in the final episode. This groundbreaking series is often thought to have been "too smart for TV."

My So Called Life is also the name of a song on The Ataris' album Look Forward to Failure. The song refers by name to the TV show's lead actress, Claire Danes.

Winnie Holzman, an award winning television and stage writer, spent time at Fairfax High School in Los Angeles (through a program with the Writer's Guild in which writers could guest teach) as research for writing the show. Her brother Ernest Holzman had been working as a cinematographer with producers Zwick and Herskovitz on their hit show Thirtysomething when he introduced his sister Winnie to the producers who grudgingly agreed to look at her "spec" script for what would become the pilot of 'My So Called Life'. They were pleasantly surprised that the draft pilot was brilliant and worked with Winnie to shape the show. Ernest Holzman went on to work as Director of Photography on several episodes of 'My So Called Life'. Zwick and Herskovitz, in many ways pioneers of the type of naturalistic television characters that distinguish the shows they have produced, had worked on a series called 'Family' in the mid-seventies and had struggled to develop a young female character that was played by Kristy McNichol on the show. They have said that in some ways, the character of Angela Chase on My So Called Life was a "spiritual descendant" of the earlier character and that the chance to portray a young woman honestly in a television drama drew them to the project.

The genesis of Angela Chase's signature voice-over was in Winnie Holzman's struggle to write. She and the producers encouraged Holzman to write in the voice of a character as if she was writing a diary. Much of what was written for this exercise was used in Angela's voice-over dialogue in the pilot for the show.

Fourteen year-old actress Alicia Silverstone was one of the actresses who read for the lead part of Angela and was very good but was deemed to be too polished and too self-possessed to effectively play a character that they wanted to project a sense of doubt and anxiety about her place in the world. A thirteen year-old Claire Danes had appeared only in one small part on the show Law & Order but on the strength of her appearance was noticed by casting directors and was brought in to read for the part of Angela Chase while she was in Los Angeles reading for a Steven Spielberg project. The producers and casting director were blown away by the depth of Claire Danes' audition and knew she was the one to bring the character of Angela to life. But they had grave concerns about having a thirteen year-old actress in the lead on an hour-long drama shot on film as her working hours would be so restrictive as to make production very challenging. To that point, most shows about young teenagers were played by actors over eighteen. The producers argued about this issue and eventually decided to take a risk and cast Danes in the lead. The limits of Danes' working hours turned out to serve the show as the producers were forced to expand the screen time of the ensemble actors, making a richer dramatic structure. The producers settled on a four act formula in which there would be at least two major scenes in which Claire Danes' character would not appear. This challenged the writers to expand and develop additional characters, like Ricky Vasquez, played by Wilson Cruz. The alienation felt by the character of Ricky only mirrored and added depth to that felt by Angela, brilliantly adding to the complexity of the show.

During the production of the show, the producers were routinely impressed with Danes' natural acting talent and some of her co-stars were intimidated by it. Danes' audition was a scene that appeared in the pilot in which Angela Chase confronts her best friend Sharon Cherski (later played by Devon Odessa) in the bathroom at school. The producers said that when Danes read the part, her face flushed red and her eyes filled with tears as she read the scene. They were impressed by the physical reaction and authenticity she was able to conjure. Danes repeated the exact reaction when she read a second time for the producers, a third time for network executives, and then when they shot it numerous times during the actual production of the pilot. They were astonished with her talent at such a young age.

The show ended in a cliffhanger with the expectation that it would be picked up in an additional season. Catherine Clark, author of a novelization of the series, wrote a book entitled My So-Called Life Goes On taking place after the events of the series. This cannot be considered canon, though, as Winnie Holzman in interviews has refused to speculate on what would have occurred in the second season, stating that, while various plot situations had been set up, she never wrote that season and therefore has no way of knowing where it would have gone.

1 Characters
2 Themes
3 Style and legacy
4 Cancellation Controversy
5 Literature
6 External links

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Characters

My So-Called Life had an unusually large and diverse cast of characters for a family-themed series. Most characters presented an expected archetypal aspect and a hidden unexpected side to their personality.

Angela Chase, played by Claire Danes, is a fifteen-year-old girl going through several common aspects of puberty and teenage angst including, among many others, the awakening of sexuality, the fall of parental figures from the superego, a propensity for abstract thought and a thirst for independence. Angela also has literary ambitions; this makes her numerous metaphysical considerations believable as coming from a fifteen year old. For example, some of these themes can be seen in one of her voice-over monologues in the pilot episode set during a family dinner: "I cannot bring myself to eat a well-balanced meal in front of my mother. It just means too much to her. I mean, if you start to think about, like, chewing, what it really is, how people just do it, like, in public."

Patty Chase and Graham Chase, played by Bess Armstrong and Tom Irwin, are Angela's parents. In a way, they are typical suburban American parents. But in other ways, they are an atypical family since Patty is the main bread-winner and, at the beginning of the series, employs her husband. Patty is the father-like authoritative figure, while Graham is a more mother-like affectionate parent who cooks and is far less strict than his wife.

Danielle Chase, played by Lisa Wilhoit, is Angela's younger sister. She rarely influences the major storylines. There is an emphasis on how much she is ignored by her family. She has a crush on Brian and yearns to be more like Angela, whose life and friends fascinate her. Her voice-over narrates the penultimate episode, 'Weekend'.

Rayanne Graff, played by A.J. Langer, is Angela's "new best friend" at the beginning of the series. She is wild, unpredictable, sexually active and irresponsible. She is in many ways the opposite of Angela. However, Rayanne's freedom comes along with a negligent single mother (radiographer, tarot enthusiast and hedonist Amber, played by Patti D'Arbanville-Quinn) and teenage alcoholism.

Enrique "Rickie" Vasquez, played by Wilson Cruz, is Rayanne Graff's other best friend. He is a gay Hispanic fifteen year old boy raised by his uncle who physically abuses him. In 1994, when most of the show takes place, Rickie is as "out" as a teenager could be in his circumstances. When his uncle kicks him out of home, he is fostered by English teacher Richard Katimski (who is also gay and becomes a mentor to Rickie) and his partner.

Sharon Cherski, played by Devon Odessa, was Angela's best friend throughout childhood, until Angela became friends with Rayanne. Their mothers are best friends. From Angela's point of view, Sharon represents a suffocating world of boredom and conventions as opposed to the wild world of Rayanne Graff. Yet most characters are mistaken when they assume that Sharon's life is devoid of passion. Sharon might be as passionate as Rayanne Graff, but is afraid to show it. She is very conventional and academically-minded, as well as active in school activities, including the yearbook committee. During the series, she becomes sexually active with her football-player boyfriend Kyle and develops a grudging friendship with Rayanne by the last episode.

Brian Krakow, played by Devon Gummersall, is the geek of the show. He is remarkably intelligent and conformist. Despite his high IQ, he lacks emotional intelligence and is often socially awkward and self- righteous. This, more than anything else alienates him from his peers. Much like Sharon, he is often mistakenly believed by other characters to be devoid of emotion. He is in love with Angela, but he has no hope of her noticing him as he knows he is unattractive. He has known Angela and Sharon since they were all very young. He is the outsider of the show, but makes friends with Rickie towards the end of the series. the other characters usually turn to him only when they have an academic or technological query. His voice-over narrates the episode, 'Life of Brian', in which we learn more about his inner and outer worlds.

Jordan Catalano, played by Jared Leto, is one of the best remembered characters of the show, though he was possibly the least seen. He is one of the worst students at the high school, and on the brink of being expelled. He's nearly illiterate, and is mistakenly believed to be stupid because of this. Angela is in love with him and during the series they begin an on-off relationship. Although he appears to belong to a group of rebellious teens, he is tired of the meaningless acts of vandalism that his friends commit for fun, yet he has no reason to believe that his life will change. He reveals his emotional depth in his songwriting ability and occasional -seemingly accidental- profound thoughts.

Tino was an oft-mentioned character who was never actually seen. He was allegedly a friend of Jordan and an "acquaintance" of Rayanne. Over the course of the show, each of the main teenage characters referenced Tino at least once and at least one party was attributed to him. For instance, Tino was the lead singer of Jordan Catalano's band, "The Frozen Embryos" [Later "Residue"].

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Themes

My So-Called Life brought up issues that were usually not mentioned in family series in the mid-nineties, when it was aired. These include child abuse, homophobia, teenage alcoholism, homelessness, adultery, kinky sex, same-sex parenting, censorship, and drug use, among many others. While a lot of shows would bring up these themes as a one-time issue (a "very special episode") that would be brought up as a problem at the beginning of an episode and resolved as the end, in My So-Called Life, they were just a part of the world. The very title of the show emphasizes how the perception of meaninglessness that many teenagers experience is the main theme of the series. The show depicts teenage years as difficult and confusing as opposed to a light fun-filled time of pranks and jokes, as it would be in sitcoms like Parker Lewis Can't Lose or Saved by the Bell or in movies like Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

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Style and legacy

The world of My So-Called Life was devoid of last-minute miracles, of simple resolutions and instant revelations. Instead, the least surprising and least shocking thing usually happened. Jordan ignores Angela and no "final revelation" instantaneously justifies his past behavior. Graham considers cheating on Patty, but no spectacular revelation scene happens. Graham simply decides not to do it. This style inspired shows like Six Feet Under and Boston Public which try to be realistic and non-sensationalistic in a similar way, as well as the equally short-lived (and similarly praised) Freaks and Geeks.

The interior voice-overs in My So-Called Life come, with two exceptions, from Angela's point of view. Yet they illustrate all the intertwining plots of the episode. Often, at the end of an episode, Angela will enumerate items or principles that parallel the main points of the episode. For example, at the end of episode 10, "Other People's Mothers," Angela lists the name of a few Tarot cards. For each card's name, a character of the episode is shown to illustrate the role he or she has played in the story. Graham is "The Magician" as a reference to his talent as a cook in this episode, and Patty is "Strength" because that is the quality she showed in this episode. This style is often used (albeit with less emotional subtlety) at the end of the show Scrubs. Scrubs is also driven by an interior monologue and is also realistic in that there are no medical miracles in the show (though some are presented as fantasy sequences to a humorous and satirical intent).

In contrast to its realism, the show has small elements of potential supernatural elements, such as ghosts or foreshadowing, and dreams which act as metaphors for hidden desires. A lot is left unsaid, for the viewer to interpret the meaning.

My So-Called Life was also the basis for Mein Leben & Ich, a popular German television program.

Filmmaker Cameron Crowe was a fan of the series and included a shot in his film Jerry Maguire (of Jerry and Dorothy talking on a residential street at night) that was an homage to a similarly framed shot in the pilot episode of "My So Called Life." The show's creator, Winnie Holzman, was also invited to appear in the film. She is one of the support-group women sitting in the living room during the "You had me at hello." scene near the end of the film.

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Cancellation Controversy

The cancellation was in large part due to the show's low ratings, but it became rumored shortly before the cancellation that star Danes' agent had contacted ABC and used what leverage was available to be sure the show would be cancelled, so that Danes could concentrate on a movie career.

These rumors strongly divided fans of the show, both between those who believed or disbelieved them and those who thought it was forgiveable in any event for a teenage actress to find a way out of a long contract, with others believing it was not acceptable, especially given the secretive nature and Danes' feigned support for the movement to save the show.

In a 2005 edition of Entertainment Weekly, Danes admitted her role in the show's demise, while insisting that she didn't have enough power to cause the cancellation by herself. It is generally accepted that, while ratings for the series were low, it's devoted fanbase and critical acclaim lead ABC to seriously consider bringing it back for a second season and may have even intended to. However, Claire Danes' reluctance to return solidified the end of the series.

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Literature

Catherine Clark: My So-Called Life. Random House Books. 1995. ISBN 0679877894
Catherine Clark: My So-Called Life Goes On. Random House Books. 1999. ISBN 0375801111

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