Trivia / My So-Called Life

• Accidentally-Correct Writing: In "Father Figures", Angela mentions the band Porno For Pyros to her dad, and he snarks "I love their Christmas album". It's meant as a joke about their intentionally awkward name, but Porno For Pyros did have a sincere Christmas song of sorts - "Pete's Dad" is set at a Christmas family dinner and deals with guitarist Peter DiStefano's father surviving cancer; it was originally a B-Side and was only released as a promotional holiday single in 1995, the same year the show was canceled.
• Adored by the Network: The show was re-ran frequently on MTV after its cancellation, which helped it earn more of an audience.
• Banned Episode: When the series was screened in Britain by Channel 4, "Weekend" wasn't shown thanks to the subject matter being too mature for its 6pm time slot^note the channel's Teen Drama timeslot until E4 launched in 2001 - and thanks to the series' only repeat being in an even earlier slot, it's never been shown on UK TV.
• Dawson Casting:
  • Averted with Claire Danes as central character Angela and Devon Gummersall as her would-be love interest Brian. Averted (or at least mostly averted) with Lisa Wilhoit as Danielle, Angela's kid sister. But most of the "high school" cast were at least eighteen (and a few considerably older) when the series began shooting, with co-star Jared Leto, who played Jordan, being 22 when it premiered, making him 7 years older than Claire Danes. In fact, Claire Danes was thirteen playing fifteen when shooting began.
    • The DVD Commentary for the pilot episode includes a joke that the show is television's Ur-Example of inverted Dawson Casting.
• Follow the Leader: Whole decades of Teen Drama owe their genesis to this show. Buffy the Vampire Slayer was pitched as My So Called Life meets Twin Peaks.
• Queer Character, Queer Actor: The gay Wilson Cruz plays the gay character Rickie Vasquez.
• Real-Life Relative:
  • Paul Dooley, husband of show creator Winnie Holzmann, plays Patti's father in the episode "Father Figures".
  • Robert Katims, father of show writer Jason Katims, plays a police detective in the episode "So-Called Angels".
• Real Life Writes the Plot: Despite a rocky first season, the network was willing to renew the series; it ultimately came to Claire Danes getting movie offers that put an end to the show.
• Star-Making Role: For Claire Danes and Jared Leto, leading to high-profile movie roles for both actors.
• What Could Have Been: So what's up with Angela and Brian? According to creator / producer Winnie Holzman, Angela and Brian have a very deep connection. But they are too similar to each other, too familiar with one another, and too combative for Angela's comfort. Brian represents those very aspects of Angela's life, and of herself, that she's so desperately trying to run away from, especially at the beginning of the series. By contrast, Jordan Catalano is distant and mysterious and intellectually unchallenging — everything Brian is not and can never be. This, even more than looks, is Jordan's fundamental source of the attraction for Angela, but also the reason any relationship between them is doomed. In much of the show, Brian comes across as a bit of a Stalker with a Crush. But if the series had continued, Winnie Holzman has said, Brian would have evolved into Angela's romantic confidant, her primary go-to guy for whenever she wanted to vent about Jordan Catalano. The relationship between Brian and Angela might or might not have ever crossed over into anything explicitly (mutually) romantic, but it would in many ways have been far deeper than anything possible in her Official Couple relationship with Jordan.
  • The second season would have also included Graham leaving Patty for Hallie, leading to Patty having a breakdown and forcing Angela to assume a lot of the household responsibilities; Sharon getting pregnant; Mr. Katimski's status as a gay man being revealed to the whole school; and Delia and Brian being an item.
  • Alicia Silverstone auditioned for Angela Chase.
  • According to the book "Season Finale: The Unexpected Rise and Fall of the WB and UPN", The WB strongly considered picking up this show after it's cancellation at ABC, but it was simply far too expensive of a production for the then-fledgling network to afford.

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