MySoCalledSpace

Add to My Profile | More Videos

There was a time, before the rise of blogs, MySpace and Facebook, when people wanting to immerse themselves in the hyper-self-conscious navel-gazing of the self-aware and highly educated had to depend on the TV shows of Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick. Now the people who brought you thirtysomething (lowercase sic) and My So-Called Life have joined forces with the people who brought you Tila Tequila. quarterlife (lowercase sic again), an original Herskovitz-Zwick series, debuts on MySpace Nov. 11.

The producers originally developed the show as a pilot for ABC in 2005, but they’ve re-engineered it for web video, cutting it into 36 8-minute installments. (Blogging, naturally, is a major part of the story.) Judging from the trailer, though, the talky introspection appears to be straight-up old-school Herskovitz-Zwick.

I have mixed feelings about the preview posted at MySpace. On the one hand, there are some big, clunky, sweeping generational statements shoehorned in there, about what blogging means (“You put my face all over the freakin’ Net!”), and about what 20somethings are like (apparently, they’re confessional, disappointed by adult life, and inclined to spend a lot of time at Toyota/Scion dealerships). On the other hand, I’m among the minority who believes Herskozwick’s shows about younger characters (My So-Called Life, Relativity) were superior to their shows about characters closer to their own age (thirtysomething, Once and Again).

Regardless, I can’t wait to see if they can pull it off. If any old-media pros can understand the culture of broadcasting your tiniest problems and whiniest musings to the world–”What is a blog? Why do we blog?”–it’s the guys who gave us Angela Chase.

[Update: Oh, and there's an associated "social networking site"! Of course there is! Just as with every TV series, videogame and soft drink released today. At what point will there be more social networking sites than social networkers?]

TV Tonight: The Loving Story

For Richard and Mildred Loving, their marriage was a pretty simple matter. They grew up in a small Virginia town where everyone pretty much knew everyone, fell in love (not without some obstacles; she found him “arrogant” at first) and got hitched.

For the enforcers of Virginia’s anti-miscegenation laws, their marriage was also a simple matter: Richard was white and Mildred was black.

Jim Faller

Jimbo, you don’t have a clue. Where is Andy Griffith and The Waltons on that list of top 100 TV programs. Many of them I never heard of before and I go back to the mid fifties. American Idol … come on!!
http://www.sunkenanchor.com John

First off, if the show will share the same sizzling technical specs as the trailer — I watched it on a mac laptop, and the audio was never in sync with the image — forget it.

Tech issues aside, I’m underwhelmed. Maybe it’s that I’m in the “majority” (your words, James, not mine) that has greater affection for “thirtysomething” (though not so much for O&A), but it seems too college-grad whiny. But I’ll take a look when it’s “posted.”

On a tangential note, I’m convinced that the contemporary spawn of “thirtysomething” is “Brothers & Sisters,” which, I’m a little embarrased to say, has become my new guilty pleasure. I’m sure the fact that Olin and Wettig have their DNA all over the show is a factor, but it’s a fun soap, at least for me. Any other “thirtysomething” fans feel the same?
K

Thank goodness somebody else remembers Relativity. I loved that show and I still remember some great moments. It was full of great actors, too–Adam Goldberg, Lisa Edelstein, Jane Adams (hmmm, maybe Goldberg needs to make an appearance on House).
Anonymous

wow. tila tequila is like my totally role model thank god for. myspace.lol