My So Called Life vs. Buffy (1 Viewer)

[Adam Tyner]

Buffy is a comedy/horror show, while MSCL is a drama.

I personally think of Buffy as a dramatic series with elements of comedy and horror elements mixed in. A dramatic show with a smattering of good one-liners doesn't make it a comedy any more than killing off a character makes a sitcom into a drama.

 

[Bob McElfresh]

I personally think of Buffy as a dramatic series with elements of comedy and horror elements mixed in.

The creative mind behind Buffy, Josh Whedon, intended for Buffy to be a "Comedy/Drama" hybred.
One of Buffy's problems with the Emmy awards is that it does not exactly fit into the Drama catagory or Comedy so it gets ignored on both fronts despite critical aclaim.
Look at his FireFly show. An odd mix of Sci Fi and Western.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

JOSS! JOSS WHEDON
Why does everyone make that error?

 

[Jason Quillen]

The idea of SMG doing Shakespeare is plain funny.

Well, at least it would be funny - which is more than "Romeo + Juliet" can claim.
It all comes down to the fact that Buffy and MSCL are two completely different shows and so they each require different things from their leads. Because of that, comparing the actresses or even the whole show against one another just isn't fair to either of them.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

If you haven't seen all of the existing eps of each series you can't really judge

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

If you haven't seen all of the existing eps of each series you can't really judge

Well then I won't judge, because I am not going to suffer through all of Buffy just to compare these two. MSCL grabbed me with one episode. The few times I've actually attempted watching a complete Buffy episode, it had me wondering whether someone at least got naked to make continued viewing worthwhile (that's a joke FYI).
To each their own.

 

[Ted Todorov]

There are a lot of people saying that one shouldn't be comparing Buffy & MSCL. The reason for the comparison is, as I said, because it was precisely that comparison that got me interested in My So Called Life in the first place. (Sorry I don't remember the exact reference, I did a google search and found tons of such comparisons, but not the one I recall, which was an article praising Buffy, going into it's various metaphors and referring to it as "My So Called Life with vampires")
I don't exactly disagree that such comparisons may be unfair or pointless, but they were there already. In any event, this thread has spurred plenty of discussion of both shows, so I have no regrets.

Tell ya what, I'll take Daphne and Scooby Doo anyday over Julie Barnes and the Mod Squad

You got me there, Mod Squad is one of the worst movies ever made. And Danes will be in T3 which has all the markings of another stink-bomb. For the rest though, I'll take all the individual episodes being bandied as evidence of SMG's acting ability and will raise you EVERY single MSCL episode for Claire Danes
Ted

 

[Ted Todorov]

If you haven't seen all of the existing eps of each series you can't really judge

Oh, come on! I have to watch every single episode of some dumb TV show to know it sucks?? Mind you, I'm not referring to Buffy, but the idea is the same.

Ted

 

[Daryl Stovall]

SMG was Quite good in Cruel Intentions & she did win a daytime emmy best supporting actress award for her role in All My Children. Ted in all fairness, you should checkout the rest of season 2 & certain eps such as the Body & the Gift from season 5 just to name a few. The girl can act.

 

[Jason Quillen]

Oh, come on! I have to watch every single episode of some dumb TV show to know it sucks??

Depends what you're talking about. If you're talking about the macro story, then yes, you do need to watch all the episodes. If you're talking about the acting, then no (but judging SMG by her performances in S1 and S2 might be a little misleading).

JQ

 

[Ted Todorov]

Ted in all fairness, you should checkout the rest of season 2 & certain eps such as the Body & the Gift from season 5 just to name a few. The girl can act.

Having now finished watching Seasons 1 through 6 of Buffy, I have to admit that SMG's acting improves. Certainly the Body was superbly acted (and written) episode, and there were quite a few episodes in season 6 that really shine.
I am total Buffy addict now -- I can't believe I have only one more season left -- sniff, sniff.
I also finished watching My So Called Life and do stand by my original assessment that it is untouchably great.
Ted

 

[Robert Ringwald]

The Buffyverse claims yet another fan.

 

[MattGuyOR]

Hey Ted, how have you dealt with the non-ending of MSCL? It was a toughie for me.

 

[Ted Todorov]

Hey Ted, how have you dealt with the non-ending of MSCL? It was a toughie for me.

Not well. I may need years of therapy
Really, the people who cancelled the show are a bunch of criminals. The irony is that a show that good will start getting higher ratings if left on the air long enough. I guess the fact that UPN & WB didn't exist back then was another bad thing -- certainly Buffy couldn't have survived on ABC.
Ted

 

[DeborahK]

Just a quick note here about acting: Don't forget the role of the director in the quality of any individual episode or film. I have seen some pretty awful performances from some pretty fine actors when the direction was poor.

There is no doubt that CD is an amazing performer, but SMG is no slouch, given the right material and the right director. She was also very good at moving more or less effortlessly between the tears and laughter that are part and parcel of BUFFY. I think it is easier for a performer to be either dramatic or comic and combining the two successfully is quite challenging. I am not sure that people really appreciate some of complexities of this kind of performance.

I watched MSCL from it's first episode on ABC and was very involved in the on-line effort to save the show. The truth is that when ABC put it on hiatus, CD moved on and in the end she told the producers she would not be coming back, even if the show were to be picked up. Like a lot of actors before her, she found the grind of a weekly television show just too tough and since she had other opportunities already knocking, she wanted to move on. A lot of the fans were really angry with her, believing that she was the one who finally signed the shows death certificate. But who could blame her? ABC had been jerking everyone around for more than a year and she was just ready to let it go.

Deborah

 

[Jefferson Morris]

I also finished watching My So Called Life and do stand by my original assessment that it is untouchably great.

I have nothing to add to this other than, "You're right!" I saw this series a number of years back when MTV picked it up. Didn't expect that it would be my cup of tea - the adventures of a bratty teenage girl in Pittsburgh? But of course it was breathtaking. The depth of character development that was achieved in only 19 episodes remains unequaled in television, imo.

It was clearly too good to last, however, and that's how I reconcile myself to its untimely demise. At least we never had to watch it devolve into contrivance and irrelevance, as most great shows do once they get past five seasons or so.

But here's a tantalizing tidbit of what might have been: Series creator Winnie Holzman (sp?) said that if the show had lasted into a second season, the father character would have left his family - presumably for the woman he started the restaurant with. Given the extraordinary drama this show was able to squeeze out of life's minutiae, I can't imagine how intense that would have been.

--Jefferson Morris

 

[chris rick]

My So Called life is a wee bit pretentious. I have the same problem with this show that I have with Dawson's Creek--people, hell KIDS, DO NOT TALK OR THINK THIS WAY! Nine out of ten high school kids do not think or act the way that the Claire Daines character does. There are parts of the show that work, but as with Creek, much of this show panders to the stereotypical notions of high school students that so badly need to be changed.

There is this feeling amongst these kids on these shows that the world is going to end tomorrow, and they are oh so self aware of that fact and every other depressing thing that LIFE deals them. The dialogue on these shows is just a tad bit TOO GOOD at expressing every little quandry that life throws at someone this age that I grow a bit tired of it. Essentially, it is rediculous and pretentious, life is fun at this age, if it isn't then what the hell is the rest of your life after these years for? That is when you're an adult, when you are in high school sure sometimes life sucks, but it's also funny in a sometimes tragic sense and never as heavy as raising a child or working for a living for most people. I'm sick of these types of shows garnering attention when there are insanely better treatments of this period of life out there such as: Rushmore, Welcome to the Dollhouse, Ghost World (ok well they just graduated high school in this flick but nonetheless), hell even Thirteen has a lot more to say than this critically acclaimed series.

Buffy on the other hand is brilliant precisely because it mostly avoids the pitfalls of series' like Creek and Life. Sure these kids also think the world's going to end, and indeed oftentimes it is, literally! But the dialogue isn't pretentious, and with Buffy you either buy into the "Buffyverse" or you don't. Somehow, I can tolerate believing in something completely fictitious vs. something that is supposedly portraying a slice of real life, but is doing so in pretentious ways. As yet another point in this comparison; If you think that SMG can't act, then again to those of you that feel that way I second the suggestions of 5x16--The Body and 5x22--The Gift. While she may not be the greatest actress in her films, Gellar is an incredible actress in this role. For that matter, much of the supporting cast of Buffy are superb actors/actresses who blow away all of the actors in "Life" Anthony Stewart Head, James Marsters, David Boreanaz, Julie Benz (the latter more in the buffyverse as fleshed out in Angel) to name a few--are far better dramatic actors than anyone on "Life" IMO.

 

[Daryl Stovall]

AND DAT BE DA TRUTH RUTH.

 

[Dan Rudolph]

Chris, I'm 22 and have 2 teenage brothers. Trust me, many high-schoolers do think like that. Many also think they can talk liek that, though few actually can.

 

[Andy Sheets]

My So Called life is a wee bit pretentious. I have the same problem with this show that I have with Dawson's Creek--people, hell KIDS, DO NOT TALK OR THINK THIS WAY! Nine out of ten high school kids do not think or act the way that the Claire Daines character does. There are parts of the show that work, but as with Creek, much of this show panders to the stereotypical notions of high school students that so badly need to be changed.

I agree about Dawson's Creek but I don't remember feeling that way about MSCL. If anything, that show was too realistic. I would get bored watching it just because I felt like I was already living something similar to it.

I wouldn't necessarily compare the show to Buffy, though. While they're both shows about teenage girls in high school (or at least Buffy was in the beginning), they're quite different in tone and as Deborah pointed out, the demands on the actors were likewise very different.