I didn’t watch “My So-Called Life” when it was on television, but after watching the DVD I’m pretty bummed that I didn’t get to experience this show during its run. This is a show that dealt with issues that face teenagers without sugarcoating them.

For all of you out there who like me have never seen this show before, it follows 15-year-old Angela Chase (Claire Danes) as she deals with the difficulties facing teenagers during the grunge generation. Brilliantly, the writers of this show made Angela’s problems no different from any other teenager living in that time period. She deals with love, friendship, and guns in school, homosexuality, and parents. Angela is one of the most human characters that I’ve ever seen on a television, she skips class but feels guilty about it, she thinks her problems outweigh those of others only to find out that some people really do have it tougher than she does, and she struggles with the notion of sex vs. love in a generation where sex usually trumps love hands down.

The episodes are engaging and the characters are alive. The directors and writers were completely tuned into the struggles facing teenagers. Nothing about this series feels faked. It never ceases to amaze me how the best television shows get canceled while crap like “American Idol” can hold the publics’ interest day after day. I’m thankful for the availability of shows like this on DVD so that poor bastards like myself who missed out on them during the first go round get to enjoy them at a later time. If your reading this then do yourself a favor and pick up this DVD set because “My So-Called Life” is a killer series.