pinkasphalt

This Stephanie McMillan chick is funny.

When I was a first year in college, I used to get together once a week with my dorm mates to watch My So Called Life. I loved that show. I loved the way it managed to perfectly capture teenage angst, to the point that watching it was sometimes agonizingly embarrasing. And even though the high school life it depicted was in many ways very different from my own, it still really resonanted as authentic. Plus, I was in love with Jordan Catalano. But of course, because it was such a great show, it was cancelled after one season.

This week we have been watching another show, Freaks and Geeks, that has made me think of My So Called Life. It too was only on for one season, and although it is a different kind of show, it also manages to capture all the awkardness and beauty of teenage years. The setting of this show (U.S. in the early 80s) doesn’t match my own high school years, but every episode I watch reminds me of some adolescent experience that I hadn’t thought about in years. I think Freaks and Geeks is less well known than My So Called Life, but if you haven’t already seen it, and you can get your hands on it, I recommend it whole-heartedly. I’m off to watch another epidsode.