Thursday Thirteens - Teen Angst Edition

Today, Thursday Thirteens will offer you thirteen tidbits about My So-Called Life, since it's just (finally) come out on DVD, and because I loved that show as an angsty thirteen-year-old. Really LOVED it. I was convinced that Angela Chase was the coolest person ever. So, umm, on that embarrassing note:

1. A.J. Langer, who played Rayanne on the series, is now "Lady Courtenay," having married Charles Peregrine Courtenay, Lord Courtenay. Someday, they plan on living in England, although the Lord is currently a lawyer. Kinda funny, since she played a drunken product of a broken home on the series.

2. Wilson Cruz, who played "Rickie," didn't come out until he was 19, and was thrown out of the house by his father, just like Rickie was on the series.

3. The series wasn't picked up for a second season partially due to low ratings. Hard to imagine when it was competing against such powerhouses as Martin and Living Single.

4. Set in a fictional suburb of Pittsburgh called Three Rivers, the series was actually shot at University High School in L.A.

5. Cameron Crowe included a scene in Jerry Maguire that was taken from a scene in the pilot, along with using several actors from the show in the movie.

6. Devon Odessa, who plays Angela's estranged best friend Sharon, actually lived in New Orleans for a time before moving to L.A. And, bonus observation, there are two Devons in the series, Devon Odessa and Devon Gummersall, who plays Brian, Angela's neighbor. Additionally, A.J. Langer's husband, Lord Courtenay, is the son of the 18th Earl of Devon.

7. Winnie Holzman, the show's main writer, is a prize-winning poet and previously worked on thirtysomething, which I'm guessing is about pre-middle-aged angst as opposed to angst of the teen variety.

8. Angela's hair color on the show was the fictional "Crimson Glow."

9. TV Guide is apparently as obsessed with the show as were most teenage girls at the time that it aired, having named it #16 on the Top 25 Cult Shows Ever, ranking Jordan & Angela's hand-holding moment one of the TV's Most Romantic Moments, and ranking Angela's father Graham as #49 on the list of 50 Greatest TV Dads of All Time.

10. Alicia Silverstone was first considered for the role of Angela Chase, but was apparently too self-possessed for the part.

11. Tino, who was referenced many times on the show, and reputed to love the maternity ward of hospitals, never actually appeared on the series.

12. In the episode entitled "The Zit," the listing of the hottest sophomores featured the names of female crew members.

13. The pilot episode is the only episode in the series in which the school cafeteria is shown. The English class, on the other hand, is shown repeatedly, and figures prominently into several of the episodes.

And I'm pretty sure this list makes me the biggest nerd ever. Like, awesome.