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The Plot: Catherine Cawood is a Yorkshire police sergeant, divorced, living with her sister, raising her young grandson, Ryan.
She's put together the pieces of her life following the tragedy of eight years before that ended in her daughter dead, Catherine's own divorce, raising her daughter's baby, and her son not talking to her.
And then she finds out that he's back. Tommy Lee Royce, the young man responsible for her daughter Becky's death -- even though there was nothing Catherine can prove. That was then, this is now. Catherine's search for justice is going to take her to unexpected places.
The Good: Sarah Lancashire, Sarah Lancashire, Sarah Lancashire.
I love this show so much, and the actress, that I'm never going to do it justice.
I sat up and took notice of Lancashire in Last Tango in Halifax, a show about two people who meet up again after sixty years, fall back in love, and what that means to themselves and their families. It is a terrific show, and I'll write about it one of these days. Lancashire played one of the adult daughters of the couple who remeet. It was created by Sally Wainwright, who then wrote Happy Valley, creating the role of Catherine for Lancashire. (When I looked up Wainwright on IMDB I also found out she wrote one of my favorite Shakespeare Re(Told) episodes, The Taming of the Shrew.)
Happy Valley is a mystery, a police drama, a family saga. Catherine Cawood is a fabulous character. She's tough and capable and good at her job. She's strong but not superhuman. She has flaws. She's in her late forties, with a complicated family. After having a few drinks with a man (see, I'm being very sparse with details), as they're kissing in the car, she matter of factly tells him "I'm too old to be shagging in cars" so invites him in. And yes - I confess that I loved watching a show about someone my age, being given a full, independent life.
In case you can't tell, half the reason I love this show was the amazing character of Catherine Cawood and how magnificently Sarah Lancashire brought her to life. In Happy Valley, it's not just Catherine who is terrific, but the other characters, also. There is a strong ensemble cast, and the other women are just as nuanced and shaded as Cawood.
The other reason I fell hard for Happy Valley is the story. The mystery is two-fold: first is the one close to Catherine's soul, what happened to Catherine's daughter, the role that Tommy Lee Royce played, and what Catherine will be willing to do to get justice -- or, revenge.
At the same time, the viewer watches another mystery unfold: a man unhappy with his job and his boss sets in motion a kidnapping, not realizing the brutality he sets forth in motion. Because the kidnappers demand silence, the police at first aren't aware so that it takes a bit for Catherine to be directly involved. The viewer knows, though, and watches near-misses and overlapping events with a fuller knowledge than any on0screen character. Eventually, the threads of the stories are braided together into strong, marvelous storytelling.
The setting is West Yorkshire, an area called "Happy Valley" because of high incidence of drug related problems. Catherine's sister is a recovering heroin addict, and drug use and trafficking are always lurking in the background, a vague poison to everyone's life. Happy Valley is not happy.
And yes, I'm not giving many details -- because part of the enjoyment for the first watching, at least, is learning secrets and seeing how all the pieces of the puzzle fit together.
Who will like this? Viewers who have enjoyed Broadchurch, the Fargo series, and True Detective. Like those shows, this is not an easy, happy mystery TV series. The stakes are real; their is violence and death. There are no happy endings. . . . but there are resolutions. And, in some ways, people making peace with their lives.
For those who have watched this -- can you recommend any books that have the same type of setting and characters as Happy Valley?
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I cannot understate just how pretty these men are. For those of you who don't care about watching four very attractive men dressed in leather, don't worry, there's more!
There is BANTER. Delicious one liners. And ACTION. Because, you know, swords.
And there is just the right updating. Oh, the series is set in Paris in 1630 and the basic characters from the book are the same -- D'Artagnan, Athos, Porthos, and Artemis; Milady; Cardinal Richelieu; Constance. Confession, I haven't read the book (I know! Tried once and it didn't take), but I adore the 1973 film so, so much. So, between that and wikipedia I know the basics of the source material.
What The Musketeers has done is updated certain aspects for modern viewers (and I don't just mean the leather.) Yes, Athos's tortured backstory is all about Milady, but some of specifics of her crimes and how he discovered it have changed. (Her husband never saw a brand on her? How did that work, exactly?) D'Artagnan meeting the Musketeers has been altered. Porthos's mother was a freed slave, a bit of a nod to Alexander Dumas's own heritage. (Yes, Europe wasn't all white in the seventeenth century).
But my favorite part so far is what The Musketeers have done about the central female characters. Now, so far, they haven't really interacted with each other so I'm not getting into the Bechdel test here. Rather, on their own Milady, Constance, and Queen Anne are fully created characters, independent of the men in their lives. They exist for reasons other than being supporting characters in the Musketeers lives.
Milady is still a villain, deliciously so, and is often the smartest person in the room, but her path towards being this is still unclear. She is probably closest to the original Milady, in that Milady was always the scheming bad guy. What I hope to see more of, thought, is her backstory of who she was before and after her marriage to Athos. While I don't want or expect redemption on the level of Regina from Once Upon a Time, I still hope for more than "oh, evil woman."
Constance, though -- Constance! My memory from the film is that Constance is primarily the love object of D'Artagnan, and is more of a prop in the lives of the Musketeers. The BBC version delightfully makes Constance her own person, with her own desires and wants. She's also given funny lines, and isn't just the foil for the Musketeers. She and D'Artagnan don't have insta-love based on mutual good looks, but instead a developing affection.
And Queen Anne! What that actress can do with a look. It's clear that she sees her husband as immature and spoiled, but heis still the King, and so she has to put up with him and do her best. I'm only four episodes in and often I think there's a permanent thought bubbly over her head going "I should have been king. Really, Louis?" And man, those looks she gives him.
And if The Musketeers follow the book in terms of what happens to Constance, I will be PISSED beyond the telling.
What else? Did I mention banter, action, and some pretty, pretty men?
All images from BBC America.
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Carter is out one day, having fun with her friends, as one will. Which includes breaking into a carousel, as one will. The police come and bring everyone to jail. Carter is the cool one, shrugging it off as no big deal. Except, when her friends are released into their parents' custody, her mother is no where to be seen.
Instead, Carter is taken aside by the police and it's patiently explained to her how her photo and fingerprints were entered into the system. Carter isn't fazed, since she has no priors.
What the police tell her does faze her: her parents, her mother and father, are on their way.
Her real parents.
Over a decade earlier, three year old Linden Wilson was kidnapped.
Carter is Linden.
Carter's going home, to people she doesn't remember.
Finding Carter is about teenage Carter, adjusting to this new knowledge and new family. The added complication? In Carter's view, she had a pretty great life, including a wonderful mother. The opening scene between mother and daughter was very Gilmore Girls, in how the two interacted. So now? Now, she views the Wilsons as people who have removed her from the life she loved.
So far, it's just been a handful of episodes. Carter, and Finding Carter, is very much a young adult novel, with Carter and her wants and needs at the focus. I love Carter: she's fun and confident and self-assured. I also am frustrated with her: she has absolutely no sympathy for the loss that the Wilsons suffered and sees this entire thing only through her own point of view. I both admire that the show is willing to be so dedicated to Carter's truth, while wanting to throw things because would it really hurt Carter that much to realize that this family lost a child?
And, well, the answer to that question is yes. I can see that yes, it would hurt Carter -- it would destroy Carter -- to acknowledge that the woman she adores and calls "mom" could have done something so terrible to someone else. So, instead, Carter is focused on one narrative, her narrative, where she has been kidnapped -- but from the mother she knows and loves.
Part of Carter's intense rejection of her mother's crime is to focus her anger on her birth mother. Again, while this pisses me off tremendously I love how real and true it is. The other members of her blood family are people who didn't have counterparts in her life, so she can let them in and let herself like them: father, sister, brother, grandparents. Mother, thought? That role is taken, so Carter pushes back. Sometimes brutally. I am really, really looking forward to Carter both coming to terms with her "mom's" actions and letting her blood mother in -- even if it takes a season or two.
Carter, Carter, Carter. Because Carter insists her name is Carter, and they all must call her that, not Linden.
The Wilsons have been scarred by the loss of their daughter. Linden's twin sister, Taylor, is a "good" girl but it's also clear that it's a reaction to not just her over protective parents but also her fears. She knows the worst that can happen. It did, to her family. Then there is Grant, a sibling born after Taylor's disappearance. The father wrote a book about Linden's disappearance -- and, unknown to anyone, is writing a sequel about finding Linden. Right now, Carter sees her father as the "good" parent -- a role he embraces -- and I can't wait to see her find out about this betrayal.
Which brings us to poor Mom. Who may be one of my favorite characters, probably because Carter dislikes her so much. Her main crimes: she's not Carter's "real" mother. She's a police officer. And she's not "real" in the way Carter insists a person should be "real": she doesn't show her emotions in the way Carter thinks "real" people do.
Yes, I do want to rant at Carter for judging this poor woman who lost a child. I want to rant at how Carter has such a narrow view on what a good, real person is, and realizing there are many ways of loving. That being a mother is not about baking cookies and someone has to pay the bills. And I want to rant at Carter, about how can she judge a woman so critically when that woman was shaped by the loss of her three year old? A kidnapping that Carter so easily forgives?
One last thing about Carter: she is the "cool" girl. She has the eyeliner and black clothes, the friend with benefits, the casual drug use and drinking and that breaking into the carousel thing. But the thing is? It's also clear that she's a good person. She's not a "bad" girl, just the cool girl. And I really, really wonder about her relationship with her "mom." Some of Carter's actions with the Wilsons are clearly oppositional, done to piss them off and establish her own identity. So, then, what about her "mom"? Is it that she had a "cool" mom who also did this stuff? Will we at some point see something other than Carter's loving memories?
And yet. And yet. Carter is still a teen. A teen who has lost her mother, her home, her life, even her identity. She has some pretty good reasons to be bratty and self-centered and self-destructive.
So, yes, I'm loving this show and am frustrated and can't wait to see where they are going to be go with this.
Anyone else watching?
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This past week's viewing obsession has been AMC's historical drama, Turn, about the spies of the American Revolution.
I am so happy to find out that this has been picked up for a second season, because while a lot happens in the first season, the upcoming seasons are the ones that will be about John Andre and Benedict Arnold. (Let's be clear: historical fact doesn't count as spoilers, OK?)
What the first season does spectacularly is examine the formation of the spy ring. Oh, yes, it's fictionalized and adjustments have been made for making this a visual story. (For more on the real history versus the television history, check out J.L. Bell's posts at Den of Geek.)
Abraham Woodhull is a young farmer living on Long Island during the British Occupation. He appears to be, like his father and brother before him, a Loyalist. Instead, for various reasons, he becomes a spy for the Continental Army. Season One is primarily about Abe's motivations and in a way, Season One is a slow burn of character growth: why will Abe end up risking everything to spy for a cause? If his sympathies are not with the British, why didn't he join up at the beginning, like his two friends, Benjamin Tallmadge and Caleb Brewster?
Without giving too much away, there are reasons! And feelings! So. Many. Feelings. Abe's older brother, Thomas, died, and Abe did the "right" thing by breaking off his engagement with Anna and married his brother's fiance Mary. While he appears to be happily living with his wife and baby son, the truth is he still wants Anna, even though Anna is now married herself.
Abe's own choices are second to what he thinks he should be doing as a loyal son to his father. And yet, what he wants bubbles to the surface: he refuses to live off his father's money, in his father's house, instead doing a (rather poor) job farming. He cannot help his continued love for Anna. And there is more to it, but that's not until about episode 8 or so. (See the metaphor there? Abe's conflicted feelings towards his father, love and resentment, wanting to make his own choices instead of following his father's wishes, mirrors what is happening in his country: loyalty to England, or independence?)
And so it's about Abe, going from unwilling to willing spy. But it's also about the others in his circle, Ben and Caleb and Anna, who while all are stronger (and more vocal) in their political stance, there is still the mechanics of just how a spy ring is put together.It's watching not just a puzzle be put together, but a puzzle be made. And just because I'm talking about the character growth over episodes, and how the building of a spy ring isn't something done in five minutes, there is plenty of action. This is 1776, after all, and there are battles and skirmishes and betrayals.
Slavery factors in: Abe's own slaves are shown so matter of factly that at first I didn't realize that was what was happening. Two of Anna's former slaves factor into the story, also: Abigail and Jordan. Abigail has a son who has been taught to read, and one of the reasons I want another season is to find out more about her and her son. Jordan was born in Africa, and was trained as a Maasai warrior -- and his chance at freedom is offered him not from the Continental Army, but from the British.
The British Officers are interesting, yes -- but here the person who really intrigues and captures me is Major John Andre. He's handsome and cultured and smart. I admire smart in a character. Major Hewlett is a bit of the stereotypical by the rule soldier; and Captain Simcoe is scary-crazy-ruthless; but Andre . . . Andre is one major reason I want to see more seasons. Because I cannot believe that Andre would ever do something as stupid as get captured; yet history tells us that happens.
What else?
Jamie Bell grew up mighty fine. Even though it's like impossible to find a photo of him from Turn of him smiling, because he always has so many feelings. So, many, feelings. Also, hats.
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The Plot: Buffy is a vampire slayer. There is only one slayer, one teenage girl to fight all the vampires and demons. Pretty bad odds. Luckily for Buffy, for seven seasons she has friends and family as she stops an apocalypse or two, fights vampires, demons, gods, and assorted other big bads. In other words? She saves the world. A lot. Angel is a vampire, but one who has been cursed with a soul. The guilt from the atrocities he has committed puts him on the difficult road of redemption.
Together for three season, Buffy and Angel fight -- sometimes the bad guys, sometimes each other. Eventually he moves to Los Angeles and assembles his own team, and for five seasons he helps the helpless.
The Good:
You knew Buffy was going to be included in this list. It is, after all, my favorite television show in the history of the world. It is the inspiration for my blog name.
Joss Whedon has a gift for television. The man is a genius; in addition to Buffy and Angel, he is responsible for Firefly and Dollhouse.
First things first.
Whedon created a teenage girl who fought back. A tiny blond, who looks like the only things she thinks about are fashion, music, dating. Looks are deceiving, and while Buffy does care about fashion, music, and boys -- she also knows how to use a crossbow. Now, books and televisio
10 Comments on Buffy & Angel, last added: 4/25/2010
Why I missed this show the first time around when I was in high school I have no idea! But my husband and I decided to watch it and we love it! (We're on season two still) I felt like I needed to watch it to fully be a librarian;) Such a great show and I'm still an Angel fan, although many people keep telling me how much I'll learn to love Spike in the later seasons.
GreenBeanTeenQueen, you go on loving whomever you love - and maybe it will be Spike but as someone who's quite fond of Spike and Dru, I found Spike without Dru alternately mildly humorous and immensely grating.
Liz, re: "...some may dismiss it as 'just' being genre." When I hear this - and most especially when someone refers to it as a show about vampires - I get grouchy and insist no, it's a show about people in high school (and college and adulthood, though I'm with you on those seasons being less impressive) and the vampires are incidental, metaphorical at most. The show has never really been overly concerned with its own mythology (and still isn't, in comic form). It is a genre show, but the genre is a vehicle for powerful storytelling.
I know I'm saying this to people who already know this.
...also, I think Rupert Giles might be every 21st century librarian's inspiration.
I was always a huge Buffy fan, and I'm having a blast watching all the re-runs on Logo TV. I thoroughly enjoyed the video of Buffy and Edward...LOVED it, in fact. Thanks!
I hadn't seen the season two trailer before -- it's really good.
It's interesting that you think Dead Man's Party is the worst episode. I don't care for it either, but Giles has some of my favorite lines ever in that episode.
I'll be forever thankful to my former associate pastor who insisted that I watch Buffy -- it truly is one of the finest shows ever on tv.
Oh - Doyle! How I ever miss him (and so loved hearing that Irish accent...what a tragedy). And Lindsey! Lindsey was the best bad guy/good guy/you never know what side he's playing guy.
Buffy remains the hallmark for great TV for me and Angel is right behind her (except I can not forgive what happened Cordelia...that whole pregnancy mess....)
I commented the other day that Season 8 in the comic just jumped the shark for me though. Unless Joss fixes this big time in the next issue I'm done and that's saying something. He's lost his ever loving mind...and not in a good way.
But Buffy the TV show? Still and always wonderful.
I am I corporate executive and those that work with me and anyone who knows me, knows Buffy is my favorite TV show of all time. Great article. I enjoyed reading it. I have to say, I REALLY enjoyed the Edward Buffy video you posted. Great find.
Maureen said, on 4/25/2010 11:05:00 AM
Once again, I agree with everything you say. I am always amazed how many people haven't seen Buffy, it is groundbreaking TV in my book. I just rewatched the first 2 seasons, and the show holds up so well. I think Joss is a genius, and the other writers so talented.
It came it me, in a nutshell, why I love these shows so much after watching the Buffy episode where the substitute teacher is a praying mantis, luring boys to her house. The original science teacher, an older man, takes Buffy to task for not working hard enough, he knows she can do better. The guy was on the screen less than 5 minutes, but I really cared about what had happened to him. How many shows make you feel that way, even about the main characters, much less the incidental ones?
These shows might have had some uneven spots, but they remain my favorite TV series. The Giles love also abounds in my house, my 15 yr old daughter swoons over him.
The Plot: Veronica Mars is having a rough Junior year at Neptune High School.
Last year, Veronica Mars's best friend, Lily Kane, was murdered. Veronica's father, the Sheriff, bungled the investigation and lost his job; her mother fled, never to be seen; and Veronica's friends not only deserted her, they turned on her, with the abuse culminating in Veronica being drugged at a party and raped.
Welcome to Neptune.
But don't cry for Veronica. She picked herself up, dried those tears, cut her Alice in Wonderland long blond hair and dealt with it. Her dad is a poorly paid private investigator, helped out often by Veronica; and now that she's learned a trick or two about investigating people, she has a plan.
Find out who killed Lily Kane.
The Good: Veronica Mars may have the most perfect first season of television, ever. Even with Paris Hilton as a guest star. No, really. Rob Thomas, the former young adult author turned television producer, created this show and wow, the benefit of having someone do this who understands story, especially long term story arcs, shows.
Veronica herself is fabulously flawed yet always likable; her view of things is not always right, but it takes a while for the viewer to understand that. Pay attention to how she she labels her former friends who turned on her in the first episodes. As time and flashbacks reveal, those friends also loved and lost Lilly and truly believed that Veronica's father screwed up the investigation to find her murder. It takes time for Veronica to see that she is not the only one hurting.
Veronica's friendships and romances are not perfect but are perfectly shown, perfectly developed. She starts with "no friends," and is a rather prickly teen. Yet a few people have the patience to befriend her and in return she gives loyalty. Also? Veronica Mars has one of the best father/daughter relationships in the history of television. If I had to pick a TV dad, it would be Keith Mars. Keith, who has lost wife, house, job, place in community. Yet he picks himself up, creates a new home (in a crappy apartment complex on the bad side of town), starts working as a private investigator and most importantly, loves and supports his daughter. Always.
First season, Veronica solves the murder of Lily Kane. How she does it is beautiful; there are false leads, there are road blocks, there is doubt. Always, Veronica is smart, and driven, and kicks ass. She doesn't apologize for who she is and what she does and what she wants. She is both a terrific role model and also scary as hell. Veronica was hurt in the past, so can be slow to trust. Who can blame her, though?
Thomas, perhaps fearing this would be a one-season show, answers all the mysteries raised in the first season. Which, as a viewer? And as someone recommending that you watch this ASAP? Was terrific. However, this led to a problem -- what would be the next mystery for Veronica to solve? In addition, part of the strength of season one was the artful use of flashbacks into Veronica's life "before," before Lily was murdered. Thomas brilliantly used Veronica'
8 Comments on Veronica Mars, last added: 4/23/2010
Did you ever see the "pitch" trailer (I don't know what else to call it) of Veronica's first year in the FBI? It is an extra, if I remember correctly, in the season 3 dvd set.
I discovered VM on DVD and loved it. It's a watch the whole thing in one weekend kind of show. I could gush all day about this show! I still get sad that it's over.
Fabulous post! I have a long, long way to go before I can review like you. I loved Veronica Mars, but the third season wasn't shown here (Australia), or if it was it must have been in a very late timeslot and I missed it. I think I'll forever love TV that's set in highschool. My current squeeze is Vampire Diaries :)
Thank you! I've been looking for a series to watch without the boy, and I think (hope, pray) that this is the one. VM always intrigued me, but I never caught it when it was on TV. Hope my library has it!
Darsa, yes, I saw the pitch for FBI Veronica! I'm not sure if her personality would fit with the FBI. Too much her own person, not listening to other people; but I would have loved more Veronica in any way.
Diana & GreenBeanTeenQueen, "Veronica Mars is smarter than me." Sigh. It seems many of us have Logan as a tv boyfriend.
And GreenBeanTeenQueen -- yes, watching this over a few days is perfect!
Fiona, I'm watching The Vampire Diaries right now. Loving it. I also, ashamed to say, am watching The Secret Life of the American Teenager.
As I explained back in 2005, I watched the original Battlestar Galactica and was highly skeptical of the remake. But since I always fall for a good story, I fell for Battlestar Galactica. Even if they did make Starbuck a girl. They took all the best about the original series, and dirtied it up, made it darker, made it real, made it classic.
Here is the promo that convinced me to give the new Battlestar a chance:
In a nutshell, the plot: The Twelve Colonies (twelve planets) created a robot life form called Cylons, who, rather than be mindless servants, rebelled against their human creators in a violent war that ended in a truce. Forty years later the Cylons end the truce with a devastating attack on the Twelve Colonies. Less than fifty thousand humans survive in a handful of space ships; they are fleeing the Cylons and looking for a refuge and new home. Oh, and another thing? The Cylons have been evolving and inventing (or reinventing?) themselves. They now look like humans. The person next to you? Could be a Cylon. Who wants to kill you. And I have to add... because it was in the original and the sequel... the myth-planet they are looking for, as their hope and salvation and sanctuary is called... Earth.
The Good: So, right there, what more do you want? We're talking classic survivalist, people! Imagine you're on the bus to work and BAM that bus aka space ship turns out to be your new home as you're fleeing murderous skinjob Cylons. And the only clothes you have? The suit you're wearing.
From the start, what made this miniseries, and then television series, terrific was nuanced, in depth characters who made you go "wow." Forget the special effects and the "it's kinda like our world only not" setting. Forget saying "frak" instead of something else. Forget the oddly cut papers.
Instead -- the characters. Bill Adama, his estranged son Lee, gruff Tigh, suddenly President Roslyn. For example, Roslyn begins as a Secretary of Education who becomes President because no one is left. Adama is the defacto head of the military. What kind of community, what kind of government, should they have? Democracy? Military rule? What steps will these people take to ensure both the survival of civilization and of people? These were people you cheered and yelled at, wanted to hug or throw across the room.
As a viewer, you cared. While I love me my teen drama, as you can see from yesterday's entry on My So-Called Life, I also love show
6 Comments on Battlestar Galactica, last added: 4/22/2010
One of my favorite shows ever. I love the fact that everybody on the show was deeply flawed, and yet almost everyone overcame those flaws in the end. I will say that after watching the new series, I was unable to watch the original series and I loved it when it first came out.
Maureen said, on 4/21/2010 9:39:00 AM
You are so eloquent in your review of BSG, I was nodding my head at every sentence!
I became addicted to this show last fall. I rented the first season, and fell in love with the characters-so I bought all the DVDs. I am glad I didn't watch it when it was on TV, because I would have been on pins and needles for the whole series run, wondering what was going to happen next.
Yep, another excellent choice. One of the seasons in the middle (three, maybe?) got a bit draggy, but I never lot my faith in the show. It was creepy how much they could rip from the headlines and utilize for the show and not even make it seem like a stretch. Love!
Best show ever. Season 3 did have a couple of weak episodes (as did the first half of season 4), but the final batch of episodes was just stunning. I watched it entirely on DVD, and after every episode I was like, "They can't possibly top that, can they?" And they did, all the way up to the terrific finale. I've heard some great things about "The Shield" and "The Wire" (need to see both some day), but for my money nothing will ever top "Galactica". Great pick!
A Top Five list of TV Shows on DVD must include My So-Called Life. I actually own two versions of My So-Called Life on DVD. That is love, friend.
My So-Called Life originally aired 1994 to 1995, and was only nineteen episodes long. Claire Danes played Angela Chase, a fifteen year old sophomore trying to figure out who she was. This is classic coming-of-age drama, with Angela balancing the expectations of family and new and old friends. The clothes and music may be dated, but everything else is fresh and current.
While many critics loved this show, others dismissed it. Too white. Too middle class. Too high school.
I LOVED this show. Danes perfectly captured a teenage girl at the crossroads: between child and adult. Discovering and trying to figure out sexual attraction, lust and love. Wanting something new and different, as represented by new friends Rayanne and Rickie. Not knowing how to leave behind childhood and childhood friends easily -- hence her dumping of Sharon, who is too plain vanilla compared to Rayanne and Rickie. Loving cool unattainable Jordan, ignoring next door neighbor Brian.
And Jordan Catalano. The gorgeous object of Angela's affections. Who did not cheer when Angela eventually kissed Jordan? Yet at the same time... Jordan always stayed what he was. A stoner; someone more interested in cars and music; someone -- let us be honest -- not as smart as Angela. Watching this the first time around, and every time since, I loved that Jordan was allowed to be a whole real person, flawed, and was never turned into the "but secretly he's a deep poet" bad boy.
That was the genius of My So-Called Life: while apparently about Angela's so called life, it was actually about each character's own life. Each person was nuanced, with depth, with their own dreams, heartaches, and joys. Rickie and Delia's dance? Rayanne's sexed up version of the theme from Sesame Street? Even the parents were allowed to be whole people.
Little things happened or didn't happen that made this show one whole rather than a series of episodes. The same clothes being worn. Sayings such as "In My Humble Opinion" starting with Patty, Angela's mother, and soon spreading to all of Angela's crowd. And, of course, Tito.
On the one hand, I'm almost glad it was just a season long, a season in the life of Angela Chase. It was, in a way, perfect, a perfect portrayal in the
18 Comments on My So-Called Life, last added: 4/23/2010
Agreed! LOVE My So called life. I paid a ton of money for the 1st DVD set years ago. Then they finally re-released it. I haven't bought that yet. Yet.... ;)
I loved the episodes of this show I saw so much that I'm actually afraid to watch them all. (I'm weird like that, but if there are some I haven't seen then... the show's not over, right?) I agree that the one season is almost perfect -- and then, it's just NOT ENOUGH.
SIGH!!!
Elissa said, on 4/19/2010 10:54:00 AM
I'm a big Herskovitz/Zwick fan, too, but I've never seen any of RELATIVITY. I did watch the other twentysomething (QUARTERLIFE) on the internet a couple years ago, though.
What is the difference in the two versions? I wasn't aware of it. One of my favorite shows ever as well - as well as Felicity. I don't have that on tape though, and haven't thought about it for a while. Now I feel like watching it again.
I loved this one as well - I've seen every episode so many times, although I don't have it on DVD. This particular scene is so perfect; it's what made me think Jordan was worthy of Angela, that he might get it together that even though he was all the things you mention, he had promise. He had guts.
He was just so freaking cool - and the only cool guy ever to actually use his cool for good and date the great girl!!! ha!
Mollie, I just checked my shelves and I also have a solo DVD of three eps. I must have bought it when they sold solo DVDs of eps before realizing box sets was the way to go.
Jeanne, oh I'd love to rewatch that! I think that was one that had music rights issues. Not sure. Does the music sound different?
tanita, as I'm watching series on DVDs I definately get to the point where I want to drag it out so it doesn't end.
Elissa, I really liked Relativity. It had Kimberly Williams and oh the rest of the cast! Jim from GHOST WHISPERER, and the boss from HOUSE, and Poppy Montgomery, and the actor who played Brian Krakow. QUARTERLIFE is the one I haven't watched at all.
MR, the second set has to die for extras. Both extras on the discs, but also print extras with details like how a year passed between shooting the pilot and the rest of the season. Which you can kinda tell from Claire Danes height.
Colleen, remember his song Red? Which turned out to be about his car? I'd love to know where they would have gone with his character, to keep him Jordan without turning him into Jesse from Gilmore Girls.
Oh I love this show. Remember when they aired the whole series, marathon style, on MTV? I made my dad record it, and then my friends and I watched those tapes until you could barely recognize the characters on the screen. Also, by the millionth time around we had all succumbed, at least once, to the advertisements for the crappy hair dye that sponsored marathon.
I wish the new set didn't have more extras than the first. It seems silly to own both, but I guess if there's a real reason to get the second set...
I Loved this series! Felicity and Party of Five as well, but this one holds a special place in my heart. It was on during my Junior year in high school and I was in so many ways just like Angela. Destined to never be with a boy who didn't end up being gay, always hanging with the theater and band geeks. Just out there.
I loved having a show that was so perfect in it's portrayal of a typical high school girl, not the inflated Gossip Girls of today (not that those don't have there place, but you know). Just perfect! Great choice and great write up!
MSCL probably influenced my writing more than any book. (Should I have admitted that???)
In fact, I was one of the die-hard fans who promised to buy the complete DVD series if they produced it. No one was releasing full series back then, so they said they would only do it if a certain number of fans crossed their hearts and promised to buy it. I crossed my heart, so I got the limited edition MSCL set...which came in an MSCL lunchbox!!!
It's one of my most cherished possessions. (Should I have admitted that???)
susan, what episode did you miss? (the things i obsess over..)
debbi, i hope you enjoy it -- and if you do, let me know, because it makes this worthwhile
lawral, i really like the extras with the later set. they are real and substantive.
1stdaughter, i've begun watching FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS and i think that is pretty good high school -- not glammed like gossip girl. i've been pretty impressed so far.
jay, there is one set then that I don't own! i don't have the lunchbox! and I cannot wait to say "hi" next wednesday at the NJLA GSTBA luncheon
Loved MSCL. It's like Buffy in it's influence, even for such a short-lived show. Like when you are looking at old photos and your friend says "Who's that?" and you say, "He was my Jordan Catalano" and she totally understands what that means. Sigh.
How I love this show--I was the same age as the characters when it aired, so it's like a personal time machine for me. (If you cross this with Daria, you have an alarmingly good portrait of the teenaged me. Yeep.)
Mr Lush got me the new boxset for Christmas when it came out because I was too poor to buy the original boxset and then it was impossible to find and I was heartbroken. I should have a MSCL marathon as soon as I dig out a babydoll dress, a cross chocker, some flannel, and my Doc Martins.
Life Unexpected. CW. TV series. Monday nights. On TV now, I'm sure there will be DVD this summer.
The Plot: Lux, 15, is a foster child who wants to emancipate herself so seeks out her birth parents. They turn out to be young thirtysomethings who haven't seen each other since high school: Baze, now a struggling bar owner, Cate, a radio personality. Instead of emancipating Lux, the judge awards custody to Baze and Cate.
The Good: First, put aside the "but wait! would a white infant, even one with health issues, really be left in foster care her whole life? but wait! is it really that easy to track down your birth parents? but wait! everyone still lives in the same town?" Also put aside that even a regular name like Cate is spelled, well, in a unique way.
These three struggle with their new, unwanted yet welcomed, roles: Lux as wanted child, Baze as father, Cate as mother. Welcomed, but with absolutely no preparation, no training, no anything. Imagine becoming not just a parent, but a parent of a seemingly independent teen. Imagine yearning for independence (in part because no one ever wanted you) to being a dependent teen with the first two people who didn't want you. Add to it that these two parents are constantly fighting with each other and now in the mix is who can be your "better" parent. That is enough to watch this show, to see Baze, Cate and Lux work through these issues with a mixture of maturity and immaturity, selfishness and grace, wisdom and naivete.
The reason I watch it, though, is I'm fascinated by the road Cate is traveling. The smart, nerdy high school girl at the school dance who ends up losing her virginity to the popular football star. Of course she ends up pregnant. And of course he refuses to do anything, refuses to even to acknowledge a relationship. Fast forward these fifteen or so years and guess what? Baze is still a total asshole to her about it! In talking about that encounter -- about their time in high school -- he paints her as the ugly girl.
Cate is now outwardly successful but with issues. Issues of trust, and self confidence, and what it means to love and be loved. Cate had managed to live with (and ignore) these issues because she had confidently left the past in the past. The boy who had hurt her terribly? Never to be seen again. The child she carried? Given up for adoption and a better life. Except now she discovers that not only did Lux not get a better life -- Cate now has to have Baze back in her life. Reminding her every day of her mistakes and her past.
Part of Cate's success is her engagement to Ryan, her radio co-host. Problem is, when Baze reappeared, there was a night after a fight with Ryan when Baze and Cate slept together. While I understand why Cate did this, Ryan cannot.
What I don't like about the show, and am struggling with: part of the radio-persona for Cate and Ryan was that Ryan was the good guy and Cate the whiny, insecure single gal. Every possible worst stereotype of desperate slutty girl was thrown at her for a while.
Also? Baze is a good father under the traditional requirements of good fatherhood: he breathes, shows up half the time, and has good intentions. For all these, he, his daughter, his friends, society, applaud him. Cate is measured also by the traditional requirements of good motherhood. I'm sure you can all guess what they are and how she fails.
Frankly, those gender stereotypes are enough to almost make me give up on the show. Even if they are real, and we see and hear and read them every day.
4 Comments on Life Unexpected, last added: 3/14/2010
I'm hooked too, Liz, though I hadn't put the thought that you did into figuring out why. I think it's mostly Lux. She's adorable. Plus I like seeing Shiri Appleby (sp?) in a post-Roswell role.
I love Lux. How could she have not been adopted? I really think there should be PSAs during this show for foster parents/ older children adoptions. Because man...Lux! Tosh! Bug!
And I get the giggles thinking "Liz left Roswell for Portland... Lux is secretly Max's child..."
I saw the previews for this show. It looks interesting, but I'm still not sure about it. Lux seems like the best reason to watch it, but the whole thing sounds so unrealistic. Then again, I do watch Lost... Anyway, this review helped!
Why I missed this show the first time around when I was in high school I have no idea! But my husband and I decided to watch it and we love it! (We're on season two still) I felt like I needed to watch it to fully be a librarian;) Such a great show and I'm still an Angel fan, although many people keep telling me how much I'll learn to love Spike in the later seasons.
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GreenBeanTeenQueen, you go on loving whomever you love - and maybe it will be Spike but as someone who's quite fond of Spike and Dru, I found Spike without Dru alternately mildly humorous and immensely grating.
Liz, re: "...some may dismiss it as 'just' being genre." When I hear this - and most especially when someone refers to it as a show about vampires - I get grouchy and insist no, it's a show about people in high school (and college and adulthood, though I'm with you on those seasons being less impressive) and the vampires are incidental, metaphorical at most. The show has never really been overly concerned with its own mythology (and still isn't, in comic form). It is a genre show, but the genre is a vehicle for powerful storytelling.
I know I'm saying this to people who already know this.
...also, I think Rupert Giles might be every 21st century librarian's inspiration.
What a catharctic remix video.
I was always a huge Buffy fan, and I'm having a blast watching all the re-runs on Logo TV. I thoroughly enjoyed the video of Buffy and Edward...LOVED it, in fact. Thanks!
I hadn't seen the season two trailer before -- it's really good.
It's interesting that you think Dead Man's Party is the worst episode. I don't care for it either, but Giles has some of my favorite lines ever in that episode.
I'll be forever thankful to my former associate pastor who insisted that I watch Buffy -- it truly is one of the finest shows ever on tv.
Oh - Doyle! How I ever miss him (and so loved hearing that Irish accent...what a tragedy). And Lindsey! Lindsey was the best bad guy/good guy/you never know what side he's playing guy.
Buffy remains the hallmark for great TV for me and Angel is right behind her (except I can not forgive what happened Cordelia...that whole pregnancy mess....)
I commented the other day that Season 8 in the comic just jumped the shark for me though. Unless Joss fixes this big time in the next issue I'm done and that's saying something. He's lost his ever loving mind...and not in a good way.
But Buffy the TV show? Still and always wonderful.
I am I corporate executive and those that work with me and anyone who knows me, knows Buffy is my favorite TV show of all time. Great article. I enjoyed reading it. I have to say, I REALLY enjoyed the Edward Buffy video you posted. Great find.
Once again, I agree with everything you say. I am always amazed how many people haven't seen Buffy, it is groundbreaking TV in my book. I just rewatched the first 2 seasons, and the show holds up so well. I think Joss is a genius, and the other writers so talented.
It came it me, in a nutshell, why I love these shows so much after watching the Buffy episode where the substitute teacher is a praying mantis, luring boys to her house. The original science teacher, an older man, takes Buffy to task for not working hard enough, he knows she can do better. The guy was on the screen less than 5 minutes, but I really cared about what had happened to him. How many shows make you feel that way, even about the main characters, much less the incidental ones?
These shows might have had some uneven spots, but they remain my favorite TV series. The Giles love also abounds in my house, my 15 yr old daughter swoons over him.