My So-Called Life

There is a certain pretentious artiness to the new series, as there was to "thirtysomething," but the characters have life and authenticity; they seem really to live and breathe, at least for one vital hour each week -- especially Angela, a fully dimensional being in contrast to all the stereotyped teenagers that dominate prime time...Controversial or not, My So-Called Life is even better than first-rate.

Marshall Hershkovitz and Ed Zwick, the team that brought us "thirtysomething," have a grasp of adolescence that's so real you can smell the Clearasil. [25 Aug 1994, p.45]

Poignant, provocative, insightful, thoughtful, penetrating, compelling, illuminating, surprising, literate, stimulating, inspiring, profound, visually impressive and sublimely entertaining. [25 Aug 1994, p.E01]

Easily the best show about the teen experience TV has yet produced.[25 Aug 1994]

Stick-to-your-ribs television, the sort of weekly program that instantly wins your heart and your allegiance. [25 Aug 1994]

My So-Called Life is about a teen-ager, but it's the quality adult drama of the TV year. It's also one of the finest family dramas in many years and the best girls' coming-of-age show the medium has ever done. [25 Aug 1994, p.1E]

Teenagers will be fascinated by the show's intimate knowledge of high school hallways, where a whisper can ruin a reputation, an ardent glance can start a romance and the threat of guns and AIDS have become as real as playground bullies. But My So-Called Life is also a show for parents, who may see -- for a change -- an uncomfortably real reflection of themselves. [25 Aug 1994, p.35]

Easily the best new series coming to TV...With enough rich characters to fill several series, Life could become the latest show to shake up network television. [25 Aug 1994, p.1C]

Holzman's writing is brilliant. [25 Aug 1994]

The most extraordinary show of the new TV season. ... It is a blessed relief that Life portrays things that have become 'issues' -- teenage drinking, unwanted sexual advances -- without turning them into moments of preachment. ... And I haven't even made it clear that this is also a really funny show. Just watch this thing, will you?

I'm beseeching you to watch the pilot of this new series. It's not just extraordinary TV--it's the best piece of filmmaking I've seen anywhere this year. ... In subsequent weeks the series settles into a more predictable and sentimental mold, reminiscent of The Wonder Years, but it is still superior TV.

The show's other standout is Bess Armstrong, as Angela's loving, conflicted mother, Patty. She is equally compelling and convincing as a woman still so in touch with her youthful idealism and values that she can't believe she's also a disapproving mother. [23 Aug 1994]

The most self-absorbed and overwrought - and absolutely fascinating - minimalist TV drama since the same producers put a tribe of yuppie icons under the entertaining microscope of thirtysomething. [25 Aug 1994, p.1D]

In some ways, the show recalls the early days of "Beverly Hills, 90210." With its exceptional writing and sensitivity, however, it resembles nothing so much as a "teensomething" version of "thirtysomething." [25 Aug 1994, p.1F]

There is much in the next few weeks that is touching, humorous, painful and admirable. But not insightful, or at least not insightful enough to make going back to high school something that seems like must viewing between 8 and 9 on Thursday nights...Still, My So-Called Life is likely to be as good as you're going to get this season as far as new shows are concerned. [24 Aug 1994, p.65]

It is, overall, a marvelous ensemble, both in concept and in performance.

I like this show, but am not bowled over by it, and I couldn't imagine racing home each week to see it. Kellie Martin had more compelling adventures on "Life Goes On". As for oft-invoked comparisons to "Catcher in the Rye", forget it. [25 Aug 1994, p.G1]