My So-Called Life

Series: My So-Called Life, ABC (1994-1995)
Streaming on: Hulu and YouTube
Episodes: 19
Time it took to binge: Watched it during Black Friday instead of shopping

Meet Angela Chase (Claire Danes in her breakout role), a teenager starting her sophomore year of high school. Like the average teen, she's conflicted and uncertain about herself and wishes to forge her own identity. This leads to her dying her hair red, disobeying her parents, abandoning her old friends and hanging out with her rebellious classmate Rayanne Graff and gay outcast Rickie Vasquez.

image via: startkedwitch.com

Angela, who narrates the series, pines for bad boy Jordan Catalano (played by Jared Leto, so all the stupid things she does to get his attention is totally acceptable.) Unbeknownst to her, however, is that Brian, a childhood friend of hers is in love with her

Reading this, you're probably thinking that show is nothing more than a silly soap opera.
Yes, the show indulges in some soapy conventions, but it's so much more than that.

The show deals with several important issues, which range of self-esteem, homophobia, child abuse and homelessness. However, unlike other shows that do a horrible job of dealing with these issues via "a very special episode (looking at you Glee))that solve these problems with a happy ending at the end of the episode. My So-Called Life did just the opposite. These were issues that were there throughout the series and sometimes took episodes to find something close to a solution. Sometimes one wasn't found.

The show succeeds by treating all these issues and more with such depth and complexity that we realize why these issues are such a big deal for these teenagers that even something as dumb as a zit becomes a life-or-death situation.

It helps to that the characters, from Angela, her friends and her family, are such great characters that are totally reletable.

Of course, with a show that is at times so painful to watch, it shouldn't be such a surprise that the show received such low ratings (it aired at the same time as NBC's Friends and Mad About You.) However, according to some reports, and a 2004 article by Entertainment Weekly, ABC was willing to keep the show alive thanks to its devoted fanbase and critical acclaim (at 15, Claire Danes received a lead actress Emmy nomination, becoming the youngest woman to receive such an honor.)

So what led to the show's cancellation? Homework.

image via: ign.com

Reportedly, Danes and other cast members wanted to focus on their schoolwork and were having trouble balancing high school with filming, leading to them not being enthusiastic for a second season. The show was then cancelled, despite the fact that a huge online campaign popped up to save the show (the first time this happened in the history of television and the internet.)

Good thing then that the show is still being talked about nearly 20 years after cancellation, proving that it's stood the test of time as a classic television show.