Did anyone root for Brian Krakow in the My so-called life?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They had so much more freedom than teens today. “Just let me know when you’ll be coming home late” was all that was required of these 15 year olds.

And that's really how it was, too! I was a teen in the 80s and early 90s, and no one had any idea where we were most of the time. We just had to track down a phone somewhere to call home if we were going to miss dinner or be home really late. It seems unthinkable now, but I loved that freedom.

Me too. Powerful nostalgia!

[Anonymous]

I just read that Jared Leto was 21 and Claire Daines was 14 when they filmed. That would never happen today!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They had so much more freedom than teens today. “Just let me know when you’ll be coming home late” was all that was required of these 15 year olds.

And that's really how it was, too! I was a teen in the 80s and early 90s, and no one had any idea where we were most of the time. We just had to track down a phone somewhere to call home if we were going to miss dinner or be home really late. It seems unthinkable now, but I loved that freedom.

This is parent-dependent. I graduated from HS in '94 and was barely allowed to stay late at school to audition for a school play. I couldn't have anyone over without prior permission and stating how they'd get to our house, how they'd get home, when they'd arrive, when they'd leave and WHAT WE WOULD DO. And "hang out" was a totally unacceptable answer. And if I said "we'll play games we find in the basement" I had to say which ones, and god forbid my friend chose a different game, I got punished for lying. In four years of high school, I think I had friends over 3 or 4 times, and one of those was without prior authorization and my mother was PISSED and I got a huge lecture (a new girl who I'd befriended missed her bus and was crying and didn't know how to get home and in a burst of insanity I said "Just come home with me!" and so when I brought her home, my mother directed me to show her the phone right away to call her parents to pick her up. I did, and then asked if I could give her a snack and my mother graciously said I could give her a cup of water. The girl sat there like WTF is going on in this house?) I legitimately thought this is just how everyone's household was and couldn't figure out why everyone at school was lying about hanging out all the time. I went to exactly one party in HS. My mother bragged to anyone who would listen that she didn't give her kids curfews. Yeah, because we were never allowed to leave in the first place, except for school or work.

[Anonymous]

Um, I wouldn’t say this is normal. This is more like the other extreme. Reminds me of Laney on Gilmore Girls, or whoever Rory’s best friend was.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The series creator said that, in the second season, Angela would be “destroyed” (actual quote) over the fact that Brian was dating Delia. So, no, he was not a creepy stalker, and the series clearly builds towards his relationship with Angela.

In the video I posted a page ago, the actor who plays Graham talks about how Brian is both adorable and creepy. And he uses the word stalker. So it’s a pretty common impression that character leaves.

he says he, AS A FATHER, vacillates between impression that Brian is an innocent (safe) puppy, and a dangerous stalker. AS A FATHER. who worries about stuff. what you think the father thought about Jordan calatalano?

You need to grow up, sis.

[Anonymous]

I wasn't allowed to play with another 5th grader in the 80s because her parents were divorced so ...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. I was a sucker for Jordan. What can I say…

+1. Jordan Catalano was too dreamy. Brian Krakow didn't stand a chance.

Jordan Catalano is still one of the hottest guys I can think of, even after all these years. Later Jared Leto never held up but damn, he looked good then.

Me too. 💗

Same. The “Jordan Catalano lean” remains the ultimate standard of hotness, and I’m 45!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They had so much more freedom than teens today. “Just let me know when you’ll be coming home late” was all that was required of these 15 year olds.

And that's really how it was, too! I was a teen in the 80s and early 90s, and no one had any idea where we were most of the time. We just had to track down a phone somewhere to call home if we were going to miss dinner or be home really late. It seems unthinkable now, but I loved that freedom.

This is parent-dependent. I graduated from HS in '94 and was barely allowed to stay late at school to audition for a school play. I couldn't have anyone over without prior permission and stating how they'd get to our house, how they'd get home, when they'd arrive, when they'd leave and WHAT WE WOULD DO. And "hang out" was a totally unacceptable answer. And if I said "we'll play games we find in the basement" I had to say which ones, and god forbid my friend chose a different game, I got punished for lying. In four years of high school, I think I had friends over 3 or 4 times, and one of those was without prior authorization and my mother was PISSED and I got a huge lecture (a new girl who I'd befriended missed her bus and was crying and didn't know how to get home and in a burst of insanity I said "Just come home with me!" and so when I brought her home, my mother directed me to show her the phone right away to call her parents to pick her up. I did, and then asked if I could give her a snack and my mother graciously said I could give her a cup of water. The girl sat there like WTF is going on in this house?) I legitimately thought this is just how everyone's household was and couldn't figure out why everyone at school was lying about hanging out all the time. I went to exactly one party in HS. My mother bragged to anyone who would listen that she didn't give her kids curfews. Yeah, because we were never allowed to leave in the first place, except for school or work.

I'm sorry. As someone else who graduated in 1994 this hurts to read! What was college like for you?

My parents were pretty clueless about a lot - the main thing they cared about was no drunk driving by me or anyone who drove me. So they always had super loose curfew rules. But I did need to call if I was going to be late.

When I got to college though, it wasn't a shock. I knew how to drink and what to avoid drinking and what to watch out for. I had no interest in drugs because they were around at my high school and it didn't seem novel (didn't do drugs in high school - I will say the DARE program WORKED for me - really scared me!).

The girl who had the strictest parents in my high school was caught in the middle of giving someone a BJ in a car at prom and the whole school found out. It taught me a good lesson not be too strict with my kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My take away is everyone on the show kind of sucks except Ricki. The writers were good at making sure almost everyone slipped.

I wished I could be friends with Rickie.

I really wanted to know how the Mr.Katimsky storyline played out. The show creator Winnie Holzmann said he would have eventually been fired from his job for gibing Rickie a place top stay (and of course, being gay while doing so). Patty Chase was supposed to fight for him to stay. I just wanted to save this storylines played out by the actors.

[Anonymous]

Ugh sorry for all the typos.,

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My take away is everyone on the show kind of sucks except Ricki. The writers were good at making sure almost everyone slipped.

I wished I could be friends with Rickie.

I really wanted to know how the Mr.Katimsky storyline played out. The show creator Winnie Holzmann said he would have eventually been fired from his job for gibing Rickie a place top stay (and of course, being gay while doing so). Patty Chase was supposed to fight for him to stay. I just wanted to save this storylines played out by the actors.

That would’ve been such a great storyline. I love Mr. Katimsky.

[Anonymous]

Original Rickie/Wilson Cruz poster here. Thanks to those of you who picked up on that. I'm so glad there are other fans!

[Anonymous]

Yes! The last episode points to Angela being intrigued by him, I thought. It’s been a while since I saw it but that’s the impression I was left with: those two would eventually get together.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just read that Jared Leto was 21 and Claire Daines was 14 when they filmed. That would never happen today!

In never have I ever, TV was 19 and Paxton was 30. Not as bad but still.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What was up with the expectation that Angela and Jordan were supposed to have sex after he like, held her hand for an episode? Or the depiction that all these 14-15 year olds like Rayanne and Sharon were having lots of sex? That was not the case in my high school. Did this seem seriously young to others?

I’m watching now and had the same thought. Sex was a really, really big deal in the late 80s, at least. My friends who became active in high school did it around senior year with serious boyfriends, for the most part. At 15? It was definitely not prevalent. I had boyfriends and did “everything but” until I felt ready, in my freshman year of college. I know that’s all anecdotal, but I have a 15 year old DD now and she is definitely not ready.

Well, that's just a technicality, if you already did "everything but". For many girls "doing everything" is next level of intimacy. I think you just illustrated that teenagers did, in fact, have sex.

Different poster, but the one who posed the original question about the depiction of sex on the show. I also had a long term boyfriend in high school, and we did most things, but I was definitely not ready to have sex with him and knew that. I knew when I was ready, and it had less to do with the relationship I was in and more of a maturity thing. I wasn’t ready until I was in college and started to understand what mattered to me in relationships and life. While I didn’t know in high school that that’s why I wasn’t ready, I knew very intuitively that I wasn’t and didn’t know myself well enough yet to feel good about having sex.

again, average age of first intercouse in the US is 15. so while you weren't ready and your boyfriend was willing to go slowly, about a half of teens your age have already done it, and many more by the time you graduated. i mean, i get it, i was the same, but at the same time, i knew girls my age who were sexually active and some of those were good, ambitious students, like sharon, so it was not limited to alternative girls or whatever. so it totally makes sense that someone like jordan catalano would not want to wait and that someone like angela was not ready despite pining for him. brian, would, probably, wait, like your boyfriend. but guys like jordan were already having sex, and he was not going to go back to holding hands for 2 years.

once again, the series feels accurate in portraying the HS realities with some of the students (sharon, rayanne, catalano and boys in those circles) being sexually active and then another group (angela, brian, rickie) who were not there yet.

It was different back then. In 1995, 32% of 9th grade girls reported ever having had sexual intercourse. In 2019, the figure was 17%.

Probably has a lot to do with all that “freedom”