MSCL.com

I'd like to hear what each of you think is the key quality
that makes MSCL what it is --- What is the primary reason
you loved the show?

Here's mine:

I've been out of adolescence for many years now, but I must
say that MSCL is the first and only show that accurately reflects
my memory of the mood of being 15 years old. There is a
subtle, characteristic feeling or attitude that MSCL manages to
capture --- it's hard to put into words, but MSCL succeeds in
capturing the mood and feeling through the sum of all the
plot lines, conversations, monologues, music, etc. ---
It's truly amazing and almost magical.

What are your thoughts?

I was the same age of Angela when the show first came on. It was the first show to really capture real life characters and situations. for once the lead wasn't some perfect looking and morally acting character. the lead was like me and my friends. I fell in love with Angela just like Brian and everyone else. afterall, she had like flaws, but we loved her anyway.

so I guess I"m saying the greatest quality was the writing.

emmie

I just loved the fact that there was a part of every character that you could see in yourself, I find it most strange when things happen to me now and I think, 'Wow, that's just like ... in MSCL!!' I don't feel that there was any one character or actor that made it special. while they were all brilliant it was the stories and the story-telling that made it great.

Like you can relate to so many things and people, not just the main character, but all the small characters too.

I think one of the most amazing things about the series was that it wasn't all about perfection, everyone had problems.... I think everyone has one character that they can especially relate to and it kinda makes life easier when you see them doing and feeling the same things that you did. Like, instead of having those moments when you feel like you're the only person going through this life and everyone's coping except for you, watching MSCL is like a therapy (for me anyway). MSCL was just a really unique, amazing show that is the first show that I can truly say "yeah, that's really what it's like!"....

The best qualities in my humble opinion was the symbolism the way every sigle thing had hidden meaning. Also the humour at least every episode contained a dialouge or scene that showed what life truly is - absoloutley hiliarious

It was the first teenager's programme where the things that happened were actually realistic, things didn't turn out perfectly, even in the end with Angela and Jordan. In other shows, everything was always resolved and made better, but MSCL didn't do that, and yet it did give me hope in some way. The characters were just totally relateable. There's this guy at school who is sooo Brian that for the past 3 years I've actually called him that ! I don't think they'll be another show like it....EVER !!!

I'm back again resurrecting more old discussions, and this is one I would hope other newbies like me would post on.

There are so many things I love about MSCL, but the biggest thing for me is how human the characters seemed. While not every aspect of the show was realistic, much of it was true to life and much of it allowed us to see things through the characters' eyes and live those teenaged years again through Angela and the others surrounding her.

"When you drink from the cup of life, chug." ~ Citibank billboard

Couldn't agree more - when I was 15 I thought I was Angela! I had the zits, the boy trouble, friend trouble, the deep thoughts, and the mother! Everytime I watch it I can distinctly remember how I felt when I was 15 and watching MSCL for the first time and I don't think that will ever leave me - even now that I am a twentysomething! The show's quality for me is the range of characters and the totally realistic plot - it is a true reflection of being a teenager with a great perceptive of the types of people in your life at that time.....it's got like flaws......it's real!


"And dance by the light of the moon!"

Absolutely, oldguy. I agree with your points. It is as if Winnie Holzman has a photographic memory...remembers every second, every detail of what she felt like at 15.

I was a junior in college when the show aired...yet it took me right back to the echoes of my high school hallways. The characters were THE MOST REAL people ever to appear on tv or the big screen, in my humble opinion. They had flaws, made asses out of themselves, fell in love, had their hearts broken, screwed up in school or at home...they were real.

Another thing that struck me about the show was those magnificent little touches, when something was SO well written, so accurate, it astounded you.

An example of this for me was when Angela started drinking coffee because Jordan did..."black with three or four sugars." Brilliant! Because I remember what it felt like to have a crush, that big, that hopeless. You want to just be a part of that person. If the guy I was in love with liked a certain song, I started listening to it, just to be somehow close to him. And so when Angela started drinking coffee "black with three or four sugars," I knew why.

I was Angela, and I had a Jordan, a Rayanne, and a Sharon in my life. These people weren't just written for a tv show...they exist.

No other show in history captured the agony, angst, and beauty of teen years like MSCL....

Or whatever...








"You're so beautiful, it hurts to look at you."

I totally agree with your points and so now I am going to have to go back and re-read what I wrote in answer to this thread months ago.....I do have a questions though - yes, I thought I was Angela too and I had all of her friends in MY so-called life as it were --- SO, if we all think we were Angelas does that mean that all of our friends saw us as either Sharon or Rayanne or anyone of the other characters....does anyone actually see themselves as having Angela as a friend or are we all way too introspective? Get my point?? LOL Anyway - the amazing thing about the realism of the show is that yes it is so exactly true - exactly- to everything that happened to me at that very age (at the same time Angela was 15) my life actually mirrored hers! Amazing when I think that even though MSCL brings back those memories, even with a diary, I couldn't 'remember' this feelings as well without the show!

"And dance by the light of the moon!"

Hi Joanna! Guess you're here today too! I love it when people are here...so it doesn't seem so deserted.

Good point about everyone thinking they're Angela! LOL...

I should clarify on that one too though, cause although I primarily identified with Angela...there were times that I felt like Sharon (abandoned by former friends) or Rayanne (doing regrettable things) or Brian (unrequited crush) or Delia (rejected) or Danielle (ignored). The most amazing thing about the show is that the characters are so well developed, they could be ANYONE that we know. So yes, maybe at times I have seemed like or felt like any of these other characters!

Good topic!

-Socalledfan
(Elyse)

"You're so beautiful, it hurts to look at you."

ITA with everything said above but I would add that even without the plot and the characters, this show just feels right. MSCL was shot beautifully, with colors that are bright and yet subtle at the same time. The audio, especially background sounds, gives much the same effect. I played the old BMG DVD on a surround sound system, and the illusion is perfect. When Graham was pacing upstairs in the house I actually thought someone was walking up behind me! And the rain and thunder in Guns and Gossip are unreal. The accent on Angela's angry confrontation of Brian about the rumor is very moody, almost Film Noir .

A personal note you might find interesting: I never attended a bricks and mortar high school, so Liberty is actually kind of an exotic locale for me. In fact, MSCL, Buffy, and Boston Public are the core of my conventional high school experience!

I love it because I can relate to it, because it really truly depicts what it meant to be in high school with real troubles and real problems.
And the parents are dead-on, too.

Like most people have said, I love the show because it is so real. There are things that Angela says and does that are so true, thoughts that I have had myself. Like when she is talking to Jordan, and she says how she wishes there was a button she could push that would make her shut up. Or when she is fighting with Patty about the fashion show and Patty tells her to take the dress off, and even though that's what she wants, she tries to keep the dress on, because she is the one who is supposed to be mad -- not her mom. These are such true emotions.

I think because we can so easily relate to the characters, the other great part of MSCL, at least for me, is that it helped me grow as a person. Because I could so easily relate to angela, i could see how her/my actions affected those around her/me. i could see how my distance from my mother hurt her, or how when a friend did something unforgiveable to me, I wasn't the only one who got hurt. And judging from the traffic on this forum, it seems that my life was not the only one this show touched.