MSCL.com

what was this series cancelled? anyone know?

You can find many reasons discussed in the forum. These reasons include low ratings; ABC didn't want to give the show a chance to grow an audience; Claire wanted to act in movies, not on TV; the show was ahead of its time. All of these things and some others I probably left out all played a role in the cancellation of the show.

Winnie, Ed, and Marshall briefly discussed this on the bonus disk. They said Claire came to them with her parents and said she didn't want to come back for a second season; she wanted to act in movies. They believed that ABC didn't want to fight a minor to get her to do the show, when she didn't want to. So, in addition to the low ratings and such, ABC probably used that as an excuse to cancel the show.

I could be wrong, so anyone, please feel free to correct me.

Yes, given her age, ABC fighting Claire to be on a show she didn't want to be on would have generated lots of bad press. Claire's unwillingness to continue on the show was more rumor than fact for a long time. However, the biography on Claire and other more recent interviews and stories have made it clear that she didn't want to return for another year. People who fought to save the show, Operation Life Support, didn't know that she wanted to quit. The network and producers could have hired another actress to play the lead (probably not Angela), but with low ratings, there wasn't much point in hiring someone. It probably would have been a much different show anyway.

TomSpeed wrote:You can find many reasons discussed in the forum. These reasons include low ratings; ABC didn't want to give the show a chance to grow an audience; Claire wanted to act in movies, not on TV; the show was ahead of its time. All of these things and some others I probably left out all played a role in the cancellation of the show.

I deifnitely agree with you when you said that the show was ahead of its time. I think that if the show aired today that it would be a success!

I'm never quite sure what it really means when we label something "ahead of it's time'. Is there a time for MSCL when it would be more widley recieved? I don't think so.

Anonymous wrote:I definitely agree with you when you said that the show was ahead of its time. I think that if the show aired today that it would be a success!

I don't feel that MSCl would do any differently today than it did in the mid-90's; what has changed since then that would make it a success? MSCL will always have an audience, and, judging by people's posts, it is still growing, but I don't imagine that MSCL at any time would be as widely watched as 90210, Friends, or something like that. I actually think that MSCL was really suited to the time in which it premiered.

I read an article a couple of weeks ago in a magazine, I think it might have been Newsweek(?); it talked about how as there are more and more alternative stations (HBO instead of NBC etc...), there has ceased to be a single public audience -- it is fragmented.
Sorry, that was a terrible summary, but it was an interesting article and maybe supports the point that MSCL wouldn't be anymore of a commercial/ huge-audience success today than it was in 1995.

Although, given the context of our discussion -- one of many fansites nearly ten years later, My So-Called Life was a success in it's own right.

I agree with the ahead of its time concept because there was very little niche, or specialized, programming in the mid 1990s. Today, you have an entire network, the WB, which is nothing but specialized programming. I also agree with you that the show would not necessarily have a wider audience if it aired today. However, it would probably have enough viewers in the fragmented marketplace to stay on the air for two or three years. Look at what happened to Dead Like Me on Showtime. It's made by some of the same people involved with MSCL. It's a niche show that's been picked up for a second season. Of course, we cannot turn back the clock. We can only wonder what would happen given different circumstances. The fact that MSCL has any impact at all today is justification for the show itself.

I think there are many shows in the recent years that are good quality that don't last. but some shows are lucky enough to have proactive fans. and with the internet, it's easier to get more people involved. one of my favorite shows was Roswell. despite low ratings, the fans were able to keep it alive for 3 seasons due to a huge "Save Roswell" internet campaign. I just wish that Hollywood would recognize that the Neilson ratings don't reflect everyone's opinion.

This might have been covered somewhere else, but has Winnie, or anyone ever given any indication of where the show was going to go? How it was going to end up? I mean, it's not like they would've been giving anything away . . .

Winnie did share some of the ideas she had for a second season during a Q&A session last year. You can read about it here.

Just to add 2 cents......I think what Winnie and Ed said on the bonus disk was that ABC did not want to go to the mat with Claire and family due to the Network-Minor scenario, but also the fact that the show was "on-the-bubble" made it an easier decision for them to walk away from season #2. Had they felt they had a big hit on their hands, they probably would have slugged it out. Who knows?

she was young and she could've done it, just for the fans. but if she's tired, she's tired.

I wish MSCL would have at least completed the entire season and finished a story line. Also wasn't ROSWELL and MSCL writen by JASON Katims.

yeah, they could have done episode 20 and tell us what will happen with angela/rayanne and angela/brian!!!

that would be sucky reason to cancel I thought it was great