My So-Called Life S01E01 - Pilot FULL REACTION!

Late comment is late, but I absolutely love this show. It came out when I was 12, so it was really formative for me in both good and bad ways. The show addresses all your concerns regarding the parents in the (13? 14? 15? episodes) and does after-school special type plots in a less cheesy way than other shows of the time. To me, it perfectly captures how when you're a teenager everything feels more important than it actually is which causes clashes with your parents.

canyonoflight

wasnt really interested in this.

Emma goldsbrough

...yeah... not interested... to each its own I guess.

Tammy L. Faulkner

I love that you reacted to this and would love to see you continue with this show! Maybe also edit and add to YouTube?

Jennifer Mitchell

That theme has a serious Mark Knopfler/Dire Straits vibe going on.

Timotey Kuhn

In the 90's there were not too many shows that had this kind of perspective. Yeah, the parenting was shitty at times, but also, the teenager was shitty at times too. I've been in that internalised over dramatic mindset that Angela was. Nowadays, I can see the point of view of the parent a bit more clearly. Also, this show started my love for Jared Leto. Hot damn.

Monique Hunt

I was 11 when i first dyed my hair (way back in the 90s) and it was all good. Now my oldest is nearly 12 and I keep putting it off 😂 "let's talk about it in a few months" I'm the worst 😂😂😂 Oh, and hi, neighbour! 🇩🇰

Signe (Seena) Stewart

Never watched the show before, but always wanted to. It was funny to me how strongly you (and the characters on the show) reacted to the hair thing. By age 13 I always dyed my hair the way I wanted to and never had to ask for permission. Maybe it's a 80s/90s thing. Or maybe it's a cultural thing (living in Germany). After all, it's just hair, it grows out.

Alexandra Wege

For anyone interested here is a link to a website that analyzes each episode in pretty good depth. There are spoilers throughout though if you haven’t seen the whole show. <a href="https://www.mscl.com/angelasworld/index.html" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.mscl.com/angelasworld/index.html</a>

Shashank

It didn¨'t occur to me before, but Angela's hair is clearly a metaphor for mensuration and sexual awakening, as well as being an act of individuation. In the first episode, she develops her infatuation for Jordan and she seems to be more fascinated by Anne Frank's thoughts on love and exploration of her body and burgeoning sexuality, than the historical context of the holocaust. Her father is uncomfortable seeing her in a towel. Etc, etc.

Also I feel for every side of the arguments, the parents aren't great, the kids aren't great, that's teenagers. But I was wondering how you would deny a 15 year old? Does grounding work? Does yelling work? I was pretty awful at that age and I have no idea how I would have dealt with me, but I think they are trying their best? Poor little sister trying to show off and no one notices...

Melazond

I had fights with my mom and conversations with friends that were word for word the same as in the show. When I saw it for the first time, I was shocked. I was like, "how did they know?" I still feel like it's one of the most realistic shows I've ever seen.

Kristin Carter

I didn't watch this show when it aired but have since, and I love how argumentative you are with it. It's delightful.

Melazond

Claire Danes was my first celebrity crush

WB

I'm excited too, except my favorite character from the show isn't in it.... can we skip to 1x04 ;)

Elisa Ingo

Hey, around 3:35, the bathroom scene: Recognize Kendra (from Buffy)?

Alexis Cardarella

I think the dad was being sarcastic about not knowing what she did with her hair. But in terms of the "tell her to get a bigger towel" I think it's just society's misogyny/creepy father daughter sexism. Like, what if your mom is gay? Should you not be in her sight in a towel? Should you have to avoid wearing a shirt showing your cleavage? The patriarchy makes it acceptable for fathers to request this of their daughters on the basis that it makes them "uncomfortable"? The fuck? ..Men are gross.

Alexis Cardarella

I was really melodramatic and pseudo-philosophical as a teen.

I'm so excited about True Blood but I really hope you finish this show too!

Kristin Carter

On re-watches I’ve grown to really appreciate how they give each character and age group a real depth, no ones just there for plot devices or a foil, eventually everybody gets some fleshing out even Brian. One of my favorite episodes is the one called Father figures, it really captures the contentious relationships between adult children and their older parents, and how the importance of those relationships linger throughout life.

Shashank

This is my favorite show of all time and SO 90's it makes me nostalgic. It came out when I was 9, but I didn't watch it until the reruns came out in 1998 when I was 12, and I just thought it described my life so perfectly. Now I'm 32 and I relate to the parents a little more than the teenagers, but I still love doing a rewatch on this show.

Kristin Carter

A few spoilers about the rest of the series … not events but recurring themes: It’s kind of an ongoing joke that’s never really stated explicitly, that Angela thinks Jordan is a real deep thinker and sensitive guy, but actually, he’s mainly just a stoner. They are always, repeatedly waiting for “Tino” to arrive. He never does. Brian Krakow (the curly-haired boy) is Angela’s longtime neighbor. They know each other from earliest childhood, which is why they are kind of friends but kind of not.

Andrew Pulrang

Thanks for reacting to this! It was interesting to hear all your comments. Also one of the few people ever to pronounce my name right just by reading it, that’s impressive. Your comments about not going out so much made me wonder if not having social media and cell phones made people have to go out a lot more back then[when I grew up in the 90’s]. I recall always having to go out or sneak out just to talk/interact with people. I thinks it's pretty hard to image a world without at least the internet....let alone all the other stuff if you didn’t live in it for a while. That’s one thing I've really noticed over the last 20 years, teens seem to have less need/desire to meet up at places. I basically wandered around my town/neighborhood since third grade....if I stayed out late my folks would get mad but they didn't really know "where" I was most of the time. I always felt this show did a lot of the subtext of Buffy high school years as text.....or Buffy had a lot of this show’s themes as subtext to the literal story. You recognizing baby Joker was also hilarious. As a small note, I always liked how they showed the little sister repeatedly trying to get her parents attention, and they keep ignoring her because they’re too preoccupied with worrying over Angela…. At least from what I recall people really did talk that way….mostly…a little less melodramatic but only a little Small Spoiler below: Ricky is not bi but gay in the show as it goes on, I think he was one of the first main gay characters in primetime back then.

Shashank

OMG... Jordan Catalano... can't wait!!

Elisa Ingo