On Thursday night, ABC will premiere the new drama series My Generation. Based on a Swedish format entitled On God's Highway, and filmed in the style of a documentary, the series is a then and now story about a bunch of people who went to high school together.
The faux-documentary style of filming isn’t exactly new, however it works for the series as a modern alternative to flashbacks. We’re introduced to each of the characters as they were in 2000, seniors in high school and locked down into some traditional cliquey stereotype (“The Jock,” “The Over-Achiever,” “The Punk,” “The Nerd,” Etc). Along with their social status, we get a taste of what their expectations were for their own futures. And then, jump to ten years later, we see where they are now, who’s still friends, who got married, who lived up to the expectations they set for themselves and who took a different path. Naturally, world events (9/11, ENRON, elections, etc) have played their roles in the lives of the characters.
Anyone who’s made it to (or near) twenty-eight years of age knows that a lot can happen in ten years and most of it doesn’t exactly line up to what you thought would happen when you were eighteen. Therein lies to theme to this series as we see the characters reunite and get a taste of how they feel about their lives now. It’s also evident from the start that the drama is only just beginning as the characters re-connect, bringing memories and emotions back to the surface.
That cast has quite a few recognizable faces, including Julian Morris (Pretty Little Liars, 24, ER), Daniella Alonso (One Tree Hill, Friday Night Lights), Jaime King (Kitchen Confidential, The Class), Keir O’Donnell (Sons of Anarchy), Mehcad Brooks (True Blood, Desperate Housewives), Michael Stahl-David (Cloverfield, The Black Donnellys). Also among the cast are Kelli Garner, Sebastian Sozzi and Anne Son.
My Generation embraces the shifts in pop culture as much as it does the changes in the social, economic and political climate of the country over the past decade. This could get gimmicky and predictable but only if the series dwells too much on the past and the novelty of how things have changed. With that said, there’s enough plot introduced in this first episode to suggest that this will be a story about a group of former classmates revisiting their interlocked pasts, accepting or at the very least, acknowledging the reality of their present-day lives and moving on toward the future, together or apart. If that’s the case, I think this show could be on to something good.
If I had to compare My Generation to any TV series in recent history, I’d have to go with October Road as there is a definitely a similar sense of nostalgia. As a huge fan of October Road, I’m not ready to go as far as to say that My Generation lives up to the charm of that series, but only because it’s really too soon to say. Based on the pilot alone, this series shows promise and has the potential to be an entertaining, drama filled series that many people will be able to relate to on some level.
My Generation premieres Thursday, September 23, 8:00-9:00 p.m., ET
