Four members of “My Generation” cast
I have been looking forward to the premiere of ABC’s new primetime ‘mockumentary’, “My Generation” for months. It promises to be a great platform for exploring the joys and anxieties of today’s 28 year-olds.
Here’s the basic premise: Friends from the high school class of 2000 (the year for which Millennials are named) are tracked down and filmed to see what’s happened to their lives over the past, event-filled decade. Director, Noah Hawley, has been tweeting all summer about the production.
The first hour-long episode aired last Thursday night. The good news is that the ensemble acting is superb, the characters are earnest and believable. However, the bad news is that the characters are almost too earnest. The show lacks a sense of fun.
I know its risky to judge an entire season by the pilot, but I found myself feeling like I was watching a real documentary rather than a mock one.
The characters each have their issues, mostly involving romantic mismatches which threaten to rival the Forsyte Saga for poignant plotline potential.
Here’s a brief synopsis:
The Nerd, now earnest schoolteacher, is living with the wacky and pregnant ex-Punker who is happily married to the former Jock who is now deployed in Afghanistan.
The aggressive and Smart young female Capitol Hill staffer is pining after her Rich Kid high school beau who is also also pining after her via old Facebook videos. Alas Rich Kid guy is married to the ex-Prom Queen.
Ex-Prom Queen is aggressively pursuing the beach bum drop-out who has just learned he fathered a child with the Wallflower on prom night 10 years ago.
And to bring it full circle, the earnest school teacher (who used to be best buds with the beach-bum-new-dad) is in love with single-mom-ex-Wallflower.
Back stories are begging to be filled in.
Why did the Rich Boy not marry the Smart Girl when he had the chance? Allusions here to some tragic star crossing involving parents and inheritances.
Why did the beach bum, everyone’s choice including his own for most likely to succeed, drop out? Why is the prom queen so unhappily married?
The hour-long “My Generation” was so busy establishing these entanglements that it forgot something crucial: To be fun to watch.
One of the reasons I treasure Glee and the Office are that while serious stories unfold, there are many over the top, outrageously ridiculous moments to hold my interest. There are more reason to watch than to just find out what happens. On the Office, we knew from the beginning that Pam and Jim would eventually marry. Yet our attention was sustained for four seasons by the crazy antics of Dwight, Ryan (my favorite Millennial character ever), and above all Michael. All the adults in Glee are ridiculous and fun to watch.
My favorite characters are Rolly in Afghanistan and his loopy ex-punker wife, Dawn. Their scenes were memorable, both funny and real. I especially liked the segment ‘filmed’ in Afghanistan and their video-Skype telephone call. I can only hope Rolly isn’t a casualty, I’d like to see more of him.
My other complaint about the show, which is minor compared to taking itself too seriously, is that the Millennial characters don’t really seem to represent their generation as well as they could.
True, the cast is a rainbow of diversity. But It seems more like the Breakfast Club all grown up than Gen Y. All of the characters who seem to want jobs have them. Their careers are fairly standard like the military, politics, the family business, schoolteacher. Most still live in the town they went to high school in. Missing are the grand ambitions, the striving for something more. After all this is Austin, the home of SXSWi. Surely there should be someone who is involved in a tech start up, a philanthropy or start-up?
The lofty idealism and hip-to-be-happy attitude is missing as well. Other than the army couple, there is a joylessness about their lives that doesn’t ring true to me. Who is giving back? Again, this feels more like the “Breakfast Club” ten years after than Millennials.
Also on the plus side is the amazing iPad integration. If you watch with your iPad, it will sense where you are in the show (even if watching on DVR) and provide extra content.
Noah Hawley says there are surprises coming. I have great confidence that new ABC President, Paul Lee, (who I have had the real pleasure of meeting), deeply understand Millennials, having two teen sons of his own and having engineered a remarkable Millennial-focused turnaround at ABC Family with shows like “Secret Life of the American Teenager” and “Ten Things I Hate About You”.
Tweets about #MyGeneration suggest I am not the only one feeling ambivalent.
“I don’t really know what to make of #MyGeneration… It was OK… maybe give it another go next week.”
That sums up my feeling as well. The ratings are low – just 5.1 million viewers vs. 14.0 for Big Bang Theory. I want to like this show and can only hope it gives me some reasons to check back in on how Rolly and Dawn are doing. But to succeed, a show titled “My Generation” had better live up to its title or we may decide to just rewatch the Forsyte Saga again instead.
