"My So-Called Life".......Best teen drama series ever made? ***POLL***

Although it was comedy-drama, Freaks and Geeks was vastly superior.

Although it was comedy-drama, Freaks and Geeks was vastly superior.

no_more_fayth

No.

Love them both almost equally, and have seen every episode of both shows at least 3 times.

They are on par.

My poll wasn't meant to oust the excellent "Freaks and Geeks", but I would call Freaks and geeks a hybrid, whereas MSCL is pure teen drama, in my opinion the best of its kind ever made.

Also, keep in mind MSCL was an influence on Freaks and Geeks and much of reality TV (for better or worse there), so much so that MTV paid its tribute to the show in the late 90's with MSCL marathons.

AFBrat77

I agree mostly, and I recognize the influence it berthed, but "best" is a subjective term, and I merely said what I think is best.

Pure teen drama? I'd say Skins.

[QUOTE="AFBrat77"]

no_more_fayth

I agree mostly, and I recognize the influence it berthed, but "best" is a subjective term, and I merely said what I think is best.

Pure teen drama? I'd say Skins.

In all honesty I haven't seen skins. I'll check that out.

I respect what you have to say, "best" is largely relative.

But I think there's a good chunk of people who enjoyed "Freaks and Geeks" that would also love MSCL although the 2 shows had their share of differences (starting with early 80's time of Freaks and mid 90's time period of MSCL)

I've been around quite awhile, and at least for me, both shows are in my Top 5 all-time......which one I like better depends on the day.

But neither should be missed IMO.

In all honesty I haven't seen skins.

I respect what you have to say, "best" is largely relative.

But I think there's a good chunk of people who enjoyed "Freaks and Geeks" that would also love MSCL although the 2 shows had their share of differences (starting with early 80's time of Freaks and mid 90's time period of MSCL)

AFBrat77

I would watch Skins before the American MTV version ruins all credibility. ;)

I enjoyed both, and I found myself loving Freaks and Geeks more.

MSCL was a great show, though.

The original skins is the best teen drama I've ever seen. XilePrincess

I agree, definitely my favourite "new" teen drama.

I'm still kind of amazed that so many on here haven't heard of "My So-Called Life", but then again judging from someone's '90's Poll the majority on here were probably born somewhere near 1994.

high school was FAR less of an adventure in real life than any of these stupid shows ever portrayed...comp_atkins

[QUOTE="comp_atkins"]high school was FAR less of an adventure in real life than any of these stupid shows ever portrayed...-Big_Red-

You should check it out......and like it says in the IGN review, this show dispenses with the unrealistic garbage and gets the teen experience right, however unpleasant that may be.

It's influence on Freaks and Geeks and even Buffy (Joss Whedon freely admits he borrowed constantly from MSCL), among other lesser shows is huge.

Speaking of Freaks and Geeks, I'm still dissapointed with Starz for cancelling Party Down (with Martin Starr, Bill, from Freaks and Geeks), that was a good show!

[QUOTE="-Big_Red-"][QUOTE="comp_atkins"]high school was FAR less of an adventure in real life than any of these stupid shows ever portrayed...AFBrat77

You should check it out......and like it says in the IGN review, this show dispenses with the unrealistic garbage and gets the teen experience right, however unpleasant that may be.

It's influence on Freaks and Geeks and even Buffy (Joss Whedon freely admits he borrowed constantly from MSCL), among other lesser shows is huge.

Speaking of Freaks and Geeks, I'm still dissapointed with Starz for cancelling Party Down (with Martin Starr, Bill, from Freaks and Geeks), that was a good show!

I voted no, because I thought it was stupid, but I think every teen drama series is stupid, so it might actually be the best of them.

:|Quick question here. What was teenage life like for you?-Big_Red-

For me? A tale of two high schools, night and day for me.....

I was an Air Force kid the first 14-15 years of my life.

My first 2 high school years were spent near Kaiserslautern Germany on an American Air Force Base. They were great years there, I was very popular (especially with the gals), I would skip school with my first real g/f and we would sneak into the woods, walk up the hills to some castle ruins and spend the day in sexual discovery. Some of the best days of my life I'd say. She was 2 years younger than me (just 12) but she was 12 going on 21, I was 14 going on 15. I was her Jordan Catalano, she worshipped me. Other times I'd skip school with my other friends. At night we'd stay out late causing mischief, some innocent stuff like mooning the Germans (lol) but other times we did things that to this day I cannot believe we did, bad things. We were young bored punk teenagers then. Lots of great memories but some of which i'm not proud of, my father could have lost stripes (he was a Master Sergeant), and yeah I was brought to the German police once for busting windows on a moving train (I had a helluva baseball throwing arm) throwing rocks and another time a buddy and I were snagged by an undercover military cop for stealing at least 10 books from a store (couple books at a time). Lol, irony is, it made me a God in my g/f's eyes for doing bad things. One of my best friends in germany kept in touch with me (after his dad was reassigned) until I got some shocking news.....he and his cousin, both of whom I was tight with, had sped around a curb while drinking, flew off the road and landed in a lake, and drowned.......dead at 17.

Well, we left Germany and my parents divorced thanks to my dads indiscretions with a French military wife in Germany, but civilian school in Pa did not agree with me, I had a hard time breaking into cliques (I've always hated cliques and questioned their purpose) and forming friendships with people who had known each other all their lives. I was a bit of an outsider my last 2 years in high school, I can relate (as a male version) to much of what Angela Chase went through in MSCL at this point....it was no picnic. It was then that I dabbled into underage drinking and smoking pot as my escape. No hard stuff though.

I joined the U.S. Air Force out of high school, and spent 3 wonderful years stationed in England, had a blast there! Also, it straightened me out from any illegal drugs, haven't touched any since high school.

So, basically I went from one extreme to another just by moving to a different environment. From very popular to an outsider.

College however, was absolutely great!

Hope I didn't bore you to tears.

Freaks and Geeks

Freaks and Geeks

garathe_den

I think Freaks and Geeks is on par with MSCL, but really the Poll was more for straight-out Drama, not a Comedy-Drama mix.

I love Freaks and Geeks also though.

[QUOTE="-Big_Red-"]

:|Quick question here. What was teenage life like for you?

For me? A tale of two high schools, night and day for me.....

I was an Air Force kid the first 14-15 years of my life.

My first 2 high school years were spent near Kaiserslautern Germany on an American Air Force Base. They were great years there, I was very popular (especially with the gals), I would skip school with my first real g/f and we would sneak into the woods, walk up the hills to some castle ruins and spend the day in sexual discovery. Some of the best days of my life I'd say. She was 2 years younger than me (just 12) but she was 12 going on 21, I was 14 going on 15. I was her Jordan Catalano, she worshipped me. Other times I'd skip school with my other friends. At night we'd stay out late causing mischief, some innocent stuff like mooning the Germans (lol) but other times we did things that to this day I cannot believe we did, bad things. We were young bored punk teenagers then. Lots of great memories but some of which i'm not proud of, my father could have lost stripes (he was a Master Sergeant), and yeah I was brought to the German police once for busting windows on a moving train (I had a helluva baseball throwing arm) throwing rocks and another time a buddy and I were snagged by an undercover military cop for stealing at least 10 books from a store (couple books at a time). Lol, irony is, it made me a God in my g/f's eyes for doing bad things. One of my best friends in germany kept in touch with me (after his dad was reassigned) until I got some shocking news.....he and his cousin, both of whom I was tight with, had sped around a curb while drinking, flew off the road and landed in a lake, and drowned.......dead at 17.

Well, we left Germany and my parents divorced thanks to my dads indiscretions with a French military wife in Germany, but civilian school in Pa did not agree with me, I had a hard time breaking into cliques (I've always hated cliques and questioned their purpose) and forming friendships with people who had known each other all their lives. I was a bit of an outsider my last 2 years in high school, I can relate (as a male version) to much of what Angela Chase went through in MSCL at this point....it was no picnic. It was then that I dabbled into underage drinking and smoking pot as my escape. No hard stuff though.

I joined the U.S. Air Force out of high school, and spent 3 wonderful years stationed in England, had a blast there! Also, it straightened me out from any illegal drugs, haven't touched any since high school.

So, basically I went from one extreme to another just by moving to a different environment. From very popular to an outsider.

College however, was absolutely great!

Hope I didn't bore you to tears.

Is it better than South of Nowhere? Kagai13

Never seen that one, I'll have to check it out.

I've never seen it, but I might look into it if I have some extra time.

I don't watch stuff like that.

[QUOTE="AFBrat77"]

[QUOTE="-Big_Red-"]

:|Quick question here. What was teenage life like for you?-Big_Red-

For me? A tale of two high schools, night and day for me.....

I was an Air Force kid the first 14-15 years of my life.

My first 2 high school years were spent near Kaiserslautern Germany on an American Air Force Base. They were great years there, I was very popular (especially with the gals), I would skip school with my first real g/f and we would sneak into the woods, walk up the hills to some castle ruins and spend the day in sexual discovery. Some of the best days of my life I'd say. She was 2 years younger than me (just 12) but she was 12 going on 21, I was 14 going on 15. I was her Jordan Catalano, she worshipped me. Other times I'd skip school with my other friends. At night we'd stay out late causing mischief, some innocent stuff like mooning the Germans (lol) but other times we did things that to this day I cannot believe we did, bad things. We were young bored punk teenagers then. Lots of great memories but some of which i'm not proud of, my father could have lost stripes (he was a Master Sergeant), and yeah I was brought to the German police once for busting windows on a moving train (I had a helluva baseball throwing arm) throwing rocks and another time a buddy and I were snagged by an undercover military cop for stealing at least 10 books from a store (couple books at a time). Lol, irony is, it made me a God in my g/f's eyes for doing bad things. One of my best friends in germany kept in touch with me (after his dad was reassigned) until I got some shocking news.....he and his cousin, both of whom I was tight with, had sped around a curb while drinking, flew off the road and landed in a lake, and drowned.......dead at 17.

Well, we left Germany and my parents divorced thanks to my dads indiscretions with a French military wife in Germany, but civilian school in Pa did not agree with me, I had a hard time breaking into cliques (I've always hated cliques and questioned their purpose) and forming friendships with people who had known each other all their lives. I was a bit of an outsider my last 2 years in high school, I can relate (as a male version) to much of what Angela Chase went through in MSCL at this point....it was no picnic. It was then that I dabbled into underage drinking and smoking pot as my escape. No hard stuff though.

I joined the U.S. Air Force out of high school, and spent 3 wonderful years stationed in England, had a blast there! Also, it straightened me out from any illegal drugs, haven't touched any since high school.

So, basically I went from one extreme to another just by moving to a different environment. From very popular to an outsider.

College however, was absolutely great!

Hope I didn't bore you to tears.

2 years younger? I remember the only girls I got in high school were older. I don't know why. Girls my age resented me.

I don't watch stuff like that.

dunl12496

I don't usually watch much of them either......but this one pulled it all together.

Most of the others have unrealistic scenarios and dramas in them, this one is like you were there as a teen, though it is through the eyes of a 15-year old girl.

It is the Half-Life of the Teen Drama, re-directed the entire course of the genre. The directors of both Freaks and Geeks and Buffy the Vampire Slayer have both mentioned that there own shows were greatly influenced by this one.