Моя так называемая жизнь

American drama

My So Called Life is an American teen drama television series created by Winnie Holzman and produced by Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz. It originally aired on ABC from August 25, 1994, to January 26, 1995. It is distributed by The Bedford Falls Company with ABC Productions. Set at the fictional Liberty High School in a fictional suburb near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, called Three Rivers, it follows the emotional travails of several teenagers in the social circle of main character Angela Chase, played by Claire Danes. The show was officially canceled on May 15, 1995, despite being critically praised for its realistic portrayal of adolescence and the commentary of its central character Angela, and the series' reception of several major awards, which included a Golden Globe Award for Danes. Besides Danes, the show also launched the careers of several other major actors of her generation, including Jared Leto and Wilson Cruz. The show became a cult classic and has been frequently cited by multiple publications including Time, Entertainment Weekly, TV Guide, The Atlantic, and Rolling Stone as one of the best teen dramas of all time.

Angela Chase (Claire Danes) is a 15 year old high school student who lives in the fictional Pittsburgh suburb of Three Rivers with her mother Patty (Bess Armstrong), father Graham (Tom Irwin), and little sister Danielle (Lisa Wilhoit). Each episode, which is usually narrated by Angela, follows her trials and tribulations as she deals with friends, parents, guys, and school.

My So Called Life dealt with major social issues of the mid 1990s, including child abuse, homophobia, teenage alcoholism, homelessness, adultery, school violence, censorship, and drug use. Many shows at the time used these themes as a one time issue (a "very special episode") that was introduced as a problem at the beginning of an episode and resolved at the end, but on My So Called Life these issues were part of the continuing storyline. The title of the show alludes to the perception of meaninglessness that many teenagers experience and encapsulates the main theme of the series. The show depicts the teenage years as being difficult and confusing rather than a light, fun filled time.

Marshall Herskovitz was approached by Showtime in the 1980s to write a show about teenagers. Herskovitz conceived of the series as a "very personal, very internal" story about a boy with the title Secret/Seventeen, but it was not picked up by the network. Herskovitz said, "We needed somebody who shimmered between beauty and sort of not formed yet. And in walks Claire. She read the scene in the pilot where she has a confrontation with her childhood best friend. There was a direction that said, 'Angela starts to tear up.' Claire gets to the moment. Her whole face turns red. She's having this intense emotional experience — and then pulls it back. Everybody was just knocked out." Wilson Cruz was cast as Rickie Vasquez, who was originally written in the script as "half black, half Puerto Rican, sexually ambiguous like Jodie Foster in Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore". An enthusiastic response from ABC executives and TV critics raised producers' hopes for a series debut in the 1993 1994 TV season lineup; however, ABC delayed My So Called Life’s addition as they pondered over the right time slot for the show. The series was filmed in the Los Angeles area. Scenes at the fictional Liberty High School were shot on location at University High School. Due to the show's rapid shooting schedule and the uncertainty of its future, producers "did not have the luxury of planning out the season's arc in advance," and story lines would unfold episode to episode.

Upon its debut, My So Called Life received critical acclaim. Critic Joyce Millman said the show "evokes the emotional turbulence of adolescence with breathtaking accuracy" and is also "unusually perceptive in its portrayal of the push and pull of mother daughter relationships." Millman added the show has an interesting take on "midlife crisis and marital boredom", and concluded "with bittersweet clarity, My So Called Life shows us that teen angst is something we never outgrow." Steven Spielberg lauded the show and called Danes "one of the most exciting actresses to debut in 10 years", likening her to Audrey Hepburn. On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, Season 1 has a 94% approval rating based on 53 reviews. The site's consensus reads, "Effectively avoiding cliche and cheesy exposition, My So Called Lifes realistic portrayal of the average American girl is ahead of its time". On Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating, the show has a score of 92 out of 100 based on 19 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". It is the 20th highest rated television series on the website. In 2007, it was listed as one of Times "100 Best TV Shows of All TIME". It was number 33 on Entertainment Weeklys "New Classics TV" list of shows from 1983 to 2008, and as number 8 in the "25 Greatest Cult TV Shows Ever". TV Guide ranked the series number 16 on its 25 Top Cult Shows Ever list in 2004, as well as number 2 on its 2013 list of 60 shows that were "Cancelled Too Soon".

YearAwardCategoryRecipientsResultRef.1994Young Artist Awards Best Performance by a Youth Actress in a Drama Series Lisa Wilhoit Best Performance by a Youth Ensemble in a Television SeriesMy So Called Life Best New Family Television Series Best Performance by a Youth Actor in a Drama Series Devon Gummersall 1995 Golden Globe Awards Best Actress – Television Series Drama Claire Danes Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series Claire Danes Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series Scott Winant for "Pilot" Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series Winnie Holzman for "Pilot" Outstanding Main Title Theme Music W. G. Snuffy Walden GLAAD Media Award Outstanding Drama SeriesMy So Called Life TCA Awards Program of the Year Outstanding Achievement in Drama 1996Bravo Otto Awards Best Performance by an Actor in a TV Series Jared Leto

For its original run in the United States, the show aired on Thursday nights at 8 p. m. ET against top 10 hit sitcoms — Mad About You and Friends on NBC, as well as the popular Martin, Living Single and New York Undercover on Fox, possibly contributing to the series' low ratings. The producers said that they could not fault ABC for the creative freedom and support they gave them during production, as there were probably few networks that would have even put My So Called Life on the air in the first place. Although My So Called Life drew adult fans in addition to teenage viewers, the ratings focused ABC concluded not enough viewers of a particular demographic were watching the show during its initial network run. Holzman said, "It is one thing to have huge ratings, but it is quite another to have smaller ratings but with an extremely passionate following. I don't understand why the network did not understand that." When the network was considering canceling the show, producers Zwick and Herskovitz appealed to then ABC President Bob Iger, telling him, "You should keep this show on the air because teenage girls have no voice in our culture, and the show is giving them a voice." In January 1995, it was reported the show averaged 10 million viewers per week, a number ABC president of entertainment Ted Harbert said was high, but still fell short compared to ABC sitcom Home Improvement, which averaged 30 million viewers weekly.

Atlantic Records released a soundtrack of the show, which was originally released on August 25, 1994, then re released on January 24, 1995.

A sequel novel by Catherine Clark, My So Called Life Goes On, was published in 1999 by Random House.