(Amanda)

My So-Called Life.

I know I saw this back in the day, but barely. The not-allowed-to-watch-TV ethos of my household was very limiting.

So I've watched a couple of disks worth and ... OH ... MY ... WORD. This show is so incredibly good. When I've read people's reactions to Freaks and Geeks (my absolute number one show), so many fans are giddy about how closely they can identify with the it all. To me, F&G is hardly at all tied to my reality, so I love it in a not-at-all-related-to-my-experience way. Well, watching My So-Called Life puts this feeling in my gut that makes me finally appreciate those F&G fans and their true fanaticism. Now, I'm not saying this new show has replaced Freaks and Geeks as my number one true love. The show is flawless and fantastic, absolutely. What really gets me is that Claire Danes is my age, exactly, so this show is incredibly specific to my own time and experience. I don't identify with Angela's broodiness, but I feel so emotionally connected to being that age at that time.

That the show is dated as hell is incredibly funny to me. Mid-high school wasn't THAT long ago, but, apparently, it was. That's a hell of a lot of flannel, is all I'm saying. But, no, it's more than the flannel. The show just hits me with a frequency that was felt by the older fans of Freaks and Geeks and the much older fans of, I don't know, Harry and the Hendersons.

Anyway, so, the show is absolutely amazing. Claire Danes is SO GOOD as Angela I can hardly handle it. Ahhh, the mid-nineties and early high school. TGFMSCL.