My Generation Preview: How Much Can Things Change In Ten Years?

Set to join ABC’s lineup on Thursday nights is the scripted drama series about a documentary that follows a group of young adults as they were in 2000 and again ten years later.

Make no mistake. This isn’t a reality series, but the premise sounds interesting enough, even if it’s made-up. A lot can happen in the ten years that follow high school graduation and more than likely, these kids won’t end up where they think they will. Between the expectations they had for themselves and the vast changes the country underwent (particularly in the first few years of this century), there’s plenty of ground to cover with a show like this.

Below is ABC's description for the series and further down are some clips from the premiere episode.

What a difference ten years can make. In 2000 a documentary crew follows a disparate group of high school seniors from Greenbelt High School in Austin, TX, as they prepare for graduation, and revisits them ten years later, in 2010, as they return home to rediscover that, just because they're not where they planned to be, that doesn't mean they're not right where they need to be.None of these students could wait to graduate and head out into the real world, but the world they were entering got very real, very fast. Personal, social and global events of the last decade shaped and altered their life courses, and when the documentarian reconnects with them, they're faced with the questions of whether their old hopes and dreams were realized, what they've become and where they're still headed.Camera lenses takes us on a path of self-discovery, offering a window into the personal lives of these former classmates. There's Steven Foster, "the overachiever," who found it impossible to live up to his father's expectations and escaped to Hawaii to become a surfer. Steven returns to Austin after a call from Caroline Chung, the shy "wallflower" in high school, who has decided to break the news that she's raising his nine year old son, conceived on prom night.Kenneth Finley, "the nerd" and all-around good guy, is now a teacher and wants nothing more than to have kids and a family of his own. He has created a sort of surrogate family in the meantime by allowing his former high school sweetheart, Dawn Barbuso, "the punk," to stay at his house until her baby is born in three months. Dawn's husband, Rolly Marks, Greenbelt High's former star athlete and "the jock," is serving his country in Afghanistan.High school "beauty queen" Jackie Vachs returned to Austin when her Hollywood dreams didn't pan out. She's in a marriage of convenience to "rich kid" Anders Holt, and wears a thin veneer of polished marital bliss... until she bumps into Steven following his return to Austin.Brenda Serrano, the class "brain" who thought she had found her soulmate in Anders, has not fully recovered from their high school break-up, despite her high-powered job working for a Congressman in DC. A call about her ailing mother will bring her back to their old stomping grounds.And The Falcon, "the rock star" free spirit, is still chasing his rock & roll dreams. Though producing, deejaying and tapped into the underground music scene, it's his ties to his old friends that keeps him rooted. The scripted drama follows the personal stories of these nine friends. The promises they thought their futures held, as well as how far they've come and just how they got here are all told through the camera of a documentary film crew.My Generation stars Michael Stahl-David as Steven, Jaime King as Jacqueline, Kelli Garner as Dawn, Keir O'Donnell as Kenneth, Sebastian Sozzi as The Falcon, Mehcad Brooks as Rolly, Anne Son as Caroline, Daniella Alonso as Brenda and Julian Morris as Anders.Based on a Swedish format entitled On God's Highway, My Generation was created and written by Noah Hawley (The Unusuals, Bones), who is also an executive producer along with Warren Littlefield, Henrik Bastin, Peter Magnusson and Martin Persson. Craig Gillespie directed the pilot. The project is from ABC Studios.

My Generation premieres Thursday, September 23, 8:00-9:00 p.m., ET on ABC.

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Kelly joined CinemaBlend as a freelance TV news writer in 2006 and went on to serve as the site’s TV Editor before moving over to other roles on the site. At present, she’s an Assistant Managing Editor who spends much of her time brainstorming and editing feature content on the site. She an expert in all things Harry Potter, books from a variety of genres (sci-fi, mystery, horror, YA, drama, romance -- anything with a great story and interesting characters.), watching Big Brother, frequently rewatching The Office, listening to Taylor Swift, and playing The Sims.