Wilson Cruz Talks About The 25th Anniversary of ‘My So-Called Life’

[Sascha]

It’s been 25 years since My So Called Life premiered. Are you guys doing anything for the anniversary?

Umm… we’re working on it. That’s all I can say. People want to do something!

https://instinctmagazine.com/post/exclu ... alled-life

[richard]

now that would be amazing

[Jody Barsch*]

Woah! I'm afraid to be excited by this. But in a year that's bringing me a Deadwood movie and a new season of V. Mars, maybe there's reason to be hopeful? I can't even quite picture what this would be. It's hard to imagine it becoming a series again, and it's hard to imagine a film would have the space and depth to tell a story beyond 'Look, they grew up'. Still though, I trust Winnie. It's just so hard to imagine the possibility of this being true. (Though, there was no mention of either a film or show. I feel like, at this point, even a full cast photo shoot is beyond my ability to imagine.) Thank you for sharing!

[Sascha]

I don't expect them to make anything "big" like any kind of revival. But maybe they get together , make a few interviews and some kind of private anniversary party. A public event at the Paley Center for Media or something like that would be nice.

[Jody Barsch*]

I'd be all about a Payley event! (Here's hoping for LA and not NY)

[pgh kenny]

I miss this site more than the show! Thank you for keeping the site / updates alive. Sincerely, this site is a very special corner of the web before modern social media - where we could share our love a very special show, and bond over triple charges and that elusive lunchbox.

I wonder if the show would have achieved the same popularity as a streaming show? Part of my obsession was fueled by coming across an episode surfing channels, NEEDING MORE, then embarking on a mission to "capture" all of the episodes on VHS - at one point skipping class because I forgot to set the timer to record the remaining episode I was missing.

In my imagination, we could organize enough fans to have a 25th anniversary "prom" or "class reunion" with at least a few of the cast - how fun would that be?

[Sascha]

Yeah, I sometimes wonder ... what would have happened if "My So-Called Life" wouldn't have aired in 1994, but in 2019. Maybe as a show on Hulu or Netflix. Would it have the same impact? How different would it look? How would other tv shows of that time ("Felicity", "Dawson's Creek", "Buffy") look if MSCL hadn't aired at all?

I think it would be a success as a streaming show today, of course depending on how you define "success". It would have probably a small, but dedicated fan community - just large enough for Hulu/Netflix to finance about 3-4 seasons, then they would pull the plug (or the creators would decide that it's time to end, like on "thirtysomething"). After those three years, the community would be sad for a few weeks and then everyone would forget about it and move on to the next show. But would it have a similar impact today on pop culture like in 1994/95? I find it difficult to answer that question, because MSCL certainly was a child of its time. Maybe with all that 90s-retro-stuff going on, it could even tell its stories today just like "Wonder Years" did with the 60s, "Freaks and Geeks" did with the 70s and "Stranger Things" does with the 80s (kindof).

I remember how common it was to create elaborate "fan sites" on the web for every actor/show you liked in the late 90s (just like mscl.com was born) -- I haven't seen that over the past years, I guess everybody moved to twitter & instagram. Which is nice too. But different. But I'm one of the "old guys" now who starts every sentence with the words "kids these days..."

[Jody Barsch*]

So... Paley Center is right, but...
As of now it just looks like a marathon screening of selected episodes and a rescreening of the original Paley Center cast panel from 25 years ago. It's happening both in LA and New York, but as far as I can tell, there is no new content being created, i.e. no reunion panel or appearance of any cast members or showrunners, etc. On the plus side, it is on both coasts, and the event is FREE. (And, if you can't make it, you're not really missing out on something amazing.) Maybe something additional will pop up...

I do have tix for the LA event.

Here's the info:
https://www.paleycenter.org/my-so-called-life-screening