My So-Called Life — 30 Years Later

When Claire Danes landed the lead in My So-Called Life at age 14, it didn’t take much to immerse herself in the role of introspective lovestruck teen Angela Chase. “I don’t think I had ever read a more accurate account of the experience that I was having in that moment,” she says of the pilot script. “I was just so thrilled to have my internal life articulated for me.”

Like Danes, viewers quickly identified with My So-Called Life’s cast of angsty high school adolescents, and the coming-of-age show achieved cult status—despite lasting only one season, which debuted Aug. 25, 1994. “We knew that it was such a good show, and everybody loved it and really appreciated it, but I don’t know necessarily if the network understood what they had,” says Devon Odessa, 50, who played Angela’s ex-best friend, “good girl” Sharon Cherski. Now, to honor the show’s 30th anni-

versary, the stars and creator reflect on its impact and legacy. “It is really a radical show,” says Danes, praising writer Winnie Holzman. “She created a genre of television that didn’t exist before.”

The drama centered on Angela, her family and her friends as they navigated high school in a fictional suburb of Pittsburgh. The episodes tackled challenging subjects including teen sex, guns in school and drug and alcohol use with rare frankness. “I think it was just so surprising to really enter the inner world of

a teenage girl who was so earnest and so curious and thoughtful and sensitive,” says Danes, whose character narrated most episodes.

There also hadn’t been an openly gay teen on primetime TV. Wilson Cruz, 50, made history playing the bighearted Rickie Vasquez, who endured abuse, homophobia and homelessness throughout the season. Rickie was best friends with Angela and the rebellious Rayanne Graff (A.J. Langer). Inspired in part by the “respect” with which Barbra Streisand’s character in 1973’s The Way We Were was written, Holzman, 70, aimed to create characters that transcended their stereotypes.

“In high school, very often there’s that feeling that you’ve been labeled,” she says. “And what I was playing with and exploring was the idea that people are a stereotype—but they’re also so much

Take Angela’s crush, Jordan Catalano (Jared Leto), the brooding musician who secretly struggled with a reading disorder. “[Jared] made something really specific and textured and real and actually quite moving out of that character,” says Danes, 45. He also was very patient with the actress, who was seven years younger. “Poor Jared had to educate me,” she says with a laugh as she

recalls being “very confused” over a kissing scene.

Despite praise from critics, low ratings caused ABC to cancel My So-Called Life after 19 episodes. “It was the first time really that a show about high school was taking these young people and their lives seriously,” says Cruz, who still gets stopped “every day” by fans for his portrayal of Rickie. “It’s not lost on me how much [Rickie] means to people, especially queer people of color, because in many ways he gave us permission to just own our fabulousness,” he says.

When fans stop Langer, 50, who became a countess and later moved to England, they say the show helped them with difficult discussions. “A lot of people say, ‘I couldn’t even talk to my kids about these things, but we sat and watched the show together, and then we were able to have conversations on how to start,’” she says.

Danes, 48, who won a Golden Globe for her role, also hears from moms her age who watch the show (which is now streaming) with their teenage daughters. “I’m so grateful for its resilience, and that it can

be shared from one generation to another,” says Danes, who is beginning to view adolescence from

a new perspective. “It’s a really rich and harrowing phase of life that we all go through. My eldest son

is 11 and a half, and I’m just bracing myself. We’re on the edge of it, and I’m a little anxious.” Despite

its short run, many of the cast members remained close. “These are forever friends. They’re a part

of my heart,” says Odessa. In fact, she and Danes were bridesmaids in each other’s weddings. “It’s

the gift that keeps on giving,” Holzman says.

When Danes reflects on the show’s legacy, she recalls the quote, “ ‘It doesn’t matter who does it first, it matters who does it second.’ I think My So-Called Life was a first, and I think that’s why it had such a limited lifespan. It was so new I think people didn’t immediately know how to register it.” Adds Cruz: “There would’ve been no Dawson’s Creek or Freaks and Geeks or any of those shows without My So-Called Life setting the stage for an audience to accept a drama about teenagers.”

Three decades later Holzman is content with how her work is remembered. “It didn’t need to be a ratings juggernaut. It didn’t need to have more than 19 episodes to affect people. In its own small way it did make this positive effect,” she says. “That’s plenty for me.”