A Man. And His Blog.

My little 4-day-marathon of MY GENERATION is over now, and I will surely miss this show. Sometimes it was heartwarming, sometimes it was cute and sweet, sometimes it had the moral-of-the-episode thing, but most of the times it just felt like a real documentary of a band of friends followed by a filming crew during their rocked-up times of life. After eight episodes I felt close to the characters, and I didn’t want to miss another day or week with another episode. But the TV business is a harsh thing, where you have to live with a cancellation of a show below its 10-episode-mark. I’ve had to live with it a couple of times these last years, and now MY GENERATION is noted in a list of hopeful TV shows, which haven’t lasted one whole year.

It was a good episode, which surprisingly works well as a midseason closer. It seems that Anders (Julian Morris) and Jackie’s (Jaime King) marriage is broken now, but still the end of the episode gave a feeling of a happy end for both characters. Jackie knows that Anders always loved Brenda (Daniella Alonso), and Anders knows what to do now. Both can move on with their lives and fortunately bring their distracted and pretty much destroyed lives into a right path again, and the following episodes would have showed how they would have done that.

Even Kenneth (Keir O’Donnell) got his share of the happy endings of the episode – having a functional relationship with Sophie (Laura Ramsey), not thinking about Dawn, Rolly and Charlie, and not even mentioning that Kenneth is actually in love with Dawn. This time the writers only hinted that information, which was a nice change. While the first episodes rather focused on Kenneth’s hidden affections for Dawn, he and the writers (and the viewers) are moving on from that plot, going into another direction. And even though it looked like Kenneth never lost Dawn out of his mind, it was sweet to see that Kenneth actually lives for once in a while.

Steven’s (Michael Stahl-David) story was good too. Having to decide whether to write a letter of “recommendation” for his father’s (Reed Birney) parole or not, gave him lots of scenes, where he is reflecting his own life and decisions. Only the scene, where he visited his father in prison, and Michael burst out to his son was ridiculous, since completely predictable, and not even developing for the story. Michael tells his son he can’t do anything, and Steven feels about his father after this situation exactly like he felt about him before he visited him: Michael doesn’t have any rights with his son anymore, and Steven lost his father five years ago. Basically it was a time-stealing story in this episode, but since Michael got released, it would have teased an upcoming storyline between the two.

The story with the letters from the past was really interesting though. Despite the letters sounding like a cliché, and turning up during the fragile times of the characters, they were quite touching and moving, and now I would have wished that my teacher had the same idea six years ago. How interesting would it be to receive a letter from yourself ten years in the past? It is something between a time capsule and the time of reflecting on your own life. And the best part: The whole letter thing was just perfect for the involuntary last episode of the series.

A moving episode of a moving TV series. I will miss this show for the remainder of the TV season, but let’s see if I will think about MY GENERATION in a couple of years. 8/10

A life in a wreckage: Jackie

A life with happy endings: Kenneth and Sophie

A pretty messed up episode. It not just functions as the homecoming party for Rolly (Mehcad Brooks), it even worked as a high school reunion for the nine friends. I’ve had the feeling that the party was the first time in the series, where the band came together for the first time. That everything was fucked at the end, was a nice twist, which could have determined the rest of the first season, yet the series. Instead, this is the second-to-last episode of MY GENERATION, so wipe your tears away.

Short: I liked the episode. The writers decided not to show any flashbacks into the year 2000 (instead just a few very small sequences), and chose to have the typical “One week earlier” as the approach for this episode. Showing the characters talk about the events during Rolly’s party was a nice move, and even though the “x days/weeks earlier”-twist is getting tired with every new action/mystery/thriller series in US television, it was nicely done here. And it was actually thrilling to learn what happened during the party.

That it was all about the clash between Brenda (Daniella Alonso)/Anders (Julian Morris) and Jackie (Jaime King)/Steven (Michael Stahl-David) wasn’t really a surprise, but after all the tension built throughout the last episodes, the writers couldn’t have handled the situation better like they did. It wasn’t nearly as overdone, and it looked very authentic (in writing and in acting), which I thank the series for to show me that it’s still possible to aim realism in a scripted TV show.

So, Anders knows about Jackie and Steven, and Jackie realized that there might be something between Anders and Brenda – it sounds like a cliché, but the execution was well done. The drama and tension between the characters, when Anders was storming out the party was drastically, and I could feel the pain of everybody in the room: a situation, which came from nowhere, but you would have expected for it to come anyway. But at the end you were just beaten to the ground with what happened. All of a sudden, Steven isn’t the lovely guy anymore (for Rolly, he is the guy who broke up the marriage between Jackie and Anders), and I could imagine him being alone like Kenneth in the future (not even Caroline [Anne Son] was talking to him anymore). After all, Steven managed to shake up Caroline’s life in knocking her up, and now he just ruined a marriage.

The little side plot was alright: Kenneth (Keir O’Donnell) drinks away his frustrations, and meets a girl at the party. Finally he gets some deserved attention from a woman besides Dawn (Kelli Garner), and even though it was a bit awkward to see Kenneth half-drunk (I couldn’t think of anything except Kenneth falling for the booze, just so he can forget about Dawn), it was nice that he got some time off here.

A really good episode. Drama writers should watch the episode to know how tension is built during 43 minutes. 8.5/10

Rolly's moment of happiness, before his party got crushed

The face of Steven, who just crushed the party

Somehow my interest for this little TV show gets lost in the woods. While the idea of a road trip was actually fine, the episode itself was somehow boring. Again the writing focused too much on Dawn’s (Kelli Garner) surroundings, and kinda forgot to include the other characters. Falcon still doesn’t have his own story (is Bree already lost and forgotten?), Steven’s drama with Caroline is on a stop, and I don’t care very much about Brenda. But then I have to say: I’m still a sucker for the Dawn/Kenneth thing. This episode was like his very own funeral.

I was glad to see that Rolly’s (Mehcad Brooks) Afghanistan-action didn’t take that long. It’s his return to Austin here, so that story is over now.I would have expected more “craziness” from Dawn though, but instead the writing rather focused on Kenneth’s (Keir O’Donnell) dilemma, and how he feels about Dawn leaving his house, and moving to her very own at the end of the day. Especially moving was the scene, where Kenneth hold Charlie, and Rolly came in the door, waiting for Kenneth to “hand over” Charlie, but he still had to ask him “Can I hold her?” – as if Kenneth felt like the real father of Dawn’s daughter, and he wouldn’t get go of her. I felt sorry for Kenneth, and with Rolly and Dawn giving a hug to Kenneth at the end, the whole episode felt like the very last goodbye for a dead friend.

The Anders (Julian Morris)/Rolly road trip could have been longer though. Rolly could have talked about his time in Afghanistan (what we haven’t seen in the show), and Anders could have talked less about his marriage with Jackie (Jaime King), and him thinking about breaking it all up and stuff. That he showed Rolly the place where he proposed to Jackie was seriously a waste of time though, and something I wouldn’t have needed much. But the small wedding videos were actually cute.

Brenda’s (Daniella Alonso) little side plot in D.C. was uninteresting. I was surprised (negatively speaking) that her contact with one of the lobbyists from the pilot leads to her resignation, but the writers needed a way for Brenda to return to Austin. Otherwise she would have been separated from the characters and the storylines for ever. And now the writers can put all their money into the Brenda/Anders/Jackie threesome.

Average episode. Maybe the thought of having a road trip in this episode made my expectations rise a bit too high. 5.5/10

Anders chooses between Jackie and Brenda

Jackie chooses between marriage and affair

I wouldn’t mind, when the writers kill off the two characters with the less amount of screentime so far: Brenda (Daniella Alonso) and Falcon (Sebastian Sozzi). Even though they were busy in this episode, I definitely had no interest in their storylines at all, though Brenda wins over Falcon, since her storyline involves one of the characters, who seems to be important for the series at the moment.

The episode was totally alright. It had some ABC-inside-jokes, it brought us closer to Caroline (Anne Son) and Jackie (Jaime King) without explaining, why the filmmaker actually wanted Caroline in the documentary, and it finally started the storylines the writers were teasing two or three episodes ago. That Brenda would “return” to Anders (Julian Morris) was not a surprise, when his story was set in Washington, D.C. for this episode. During the whole 43 minutes, I was waiting for the kiss to happen, or at least the all-explainable talk between the two, and there it was at the end. That the marriage between Anders and Jackie is basically screwed, but both don’t want it to be, is a stereotypical story, but it was nicely executed here. A bit more screentime for Anders in D.C. would have been good though.

The drama involving Jackie was really interesting. First I’ve had to laugh, when she auditioned for the main role in ALIAS in 2001, and then the filmmaker mentioned she also auditioned for a drama about “doctors in the pacific northwest – we’re not allowed to name the show for legal reasons” in 2004. Besides the inside humor, it was a really tragic backstory, giving Jackie almost having her breakthrough, but then the accident happened. It must really suck to lose out that way (especially since Jackie had the role in GREY’S [probably Izzie? I don't know, but it is fun to speculate]), and I can understand her breakdown in Dawn’s (Kelli Garner) bed at the end, where she realized that her life has to change drastically.

Steven (Michael Stahl-David) and Caroline’s story was a bit lame though. Of course the meeting with Caroline’s parents goes haywire, and of course there is a more “tragical” backstory to Caroline, when she talked about how she blew the adoption and kept Tom. But the writers could start to give some information about the future of the couple: Is there something developing between the two, or does Steven just want to be Tom’s father, and that’s it?

The inside jokes kinda saved the episode, in addition with the little PARANORMAL ACTIVITY joke, when Jackie filmed her audition tape. Other than that the episode was nothing more but alright. 6.5/10

"Hello, I'm auditioning for Paranormal Activity, and this is my nightmare"

She took a cab to kiss Anders. When she was done, she returned back to work.

That’s how you do birth episodes! You don’t even wait for the episode to finally happen (and since Dawn (Kelli Garner) was already heavily pregnant, it helped the writers), and you put so much cuteness into the episode, you feel an overload of everything. And, damn, am I a sucker for those scenes. I was about to cry, I was about to pray for Kenneth (Keir O’Donnell) that he gets the woman of his dreams, I was about to hope that Rolly (Mehcad Brooks) actually dies in Afghanistan, leading the way for a sweet Kenneth/Dawn romance. And then I’m back into reality: MY GENERATION is a primetime soap, and there aren’t probably many happy ends in the show at the end.

Giving explanations of why Dawn and Kenneth broke up in 2000 was a nice move. Slowly I realize that the past storyline is good for explanations of why the characters react to something in the present storyline. And I can’t stop saying that the Kenneth/Dawn couple is absolutely cute – but only in 2010. The series didn’t show much with the two in the past (and what the series showed was rather unusable), but what the writers do with them in 2010 is just unbelievably … a sugar rush (for me). Yes, I hereby confess that I totally like it and that I’m not just a sucker for those kind of scenes in those kind of primetime dramas. I’m a shipper for Kenneth/Dawn, I don’t want Rolly to return to Austin to rock the story (though it’s what’s ultimately coming very soon), and I seriously want a happy end for Kenneth and Dawn. Especially after he was in the delivery room with her, especially after he stayed with her at the end, especially after he told her that it was him who killed her car (funny scene btw).

The rest of the episode was alright. Since it focused on Dawn’s birth (and Kenneth’s feelings during the situation), Steven (Michael Stahl-David) and Caroline (Anne Son), as well as Anders (Julian Morris) and Jackie (Jaime King), got just a few minutes of worthy screentime, which kinda develops their storylines. Steven/Caroline are obviously riding the happy road, with Steven wanting to stay in Austin (of course, otherwise his move back to Hawaii would have separated him from the characters, like the absent Falcon and Brenda at the moment). And it kinda looks like that they will have a relationship in the future (or at least Caroline is hoping for it), which will collide with Jackie’s world of feelings for Steven. It is just too obvious in the moment that Jackie has feelings for Steven, that Caroline wants to have feelings for Steven (maybe she has them already), and that Steven will have a sandwich of women (or it was planned for the latter stages of the first season). I already see a conflict between Anders and Steven coming…

The scenes in Afghanistan were unnecessary again. I don’t need the action in the woods (was it the third life-and-danger situation for Rolly in the series?), and I don’t need to be reminded that Rolly can die at every second. Though it was nice that the camera guy was killed. But at least I liked the scene, where Anders told him about Charlie. Very touching and all…

A great episode. I hope the series stays that way. 8.5/10

Before shit happened: Rolly talks about Dawn

One happy little family: Dawn and daughter Charlie

Three episodes into the season, and MY GENERATION seems to be getting “normal” already. The writers figuring out how to tell the series, the actors are deep into their characters, and even though the genre will be standard proceedings after eight episodes (and even more so, when we would have seen a full season), it is still fun to watch it. And I’m just one of the people, who actually like the genre, and can distinguish a 08/15 soap story from a 08/15 soap packed in a documentary – the latter looks more interesting.

The stories were alright. It was nice that the writers laid some focus on the other characters, especially Falcon (Sebastian Sozzi) and Anders (Julian Morris). While Falcon was “absent” in the last episode, he got a complete story with background here (though filled with stereotypes). That Falcon is married was a nice surprise for a second; that he goes through a divorce was another nice surprising second; but that he behaved like an ass to get Bree back was not so great. His behavior in the art museum (or whatever it was) in front of Bree (Bree Condon) and her new beau was just stupid, and I was rolling my eyes here (not the only time I did that during the episode). But it was nice that Falcon got a storyline, since his character is set in New York, and therefore cut from the character pool. And seeing Steven (Michael Stahl-David) trying to help Falcon through his problems was okay too, letting both communicate with each other, and showing some friendship.

I was surprised that the episode went deeper into the 2000-storyline, especially prom night and what happened between Brenda (Daniella Alonso) and Anders. Only the conclusion to that story was shitty: Anders wanted to protect Brenda, because his father didn’t approve the relationship? Oh, come on, that is just cliché-loaded bullshit… But hey, the writers obviously needed a reason for bringing Branders back together in the present, as long as the actual reason of break-up wasn’t that “shocking” – and I was expecting more after hearing that the two didn’t talk to each other after prom night.

The scene with Rolly (Mehcad Brooks) and Jenkins (Jorge Armando Cisneros) was cool. So, Rolly knows that Kenneth (Keir O’Donnell) is using the opportunity, and he already has a plan to “remove” Kenneth from Dawn (Kelli Garner), when he returns from Afghanistan. I already feel pity for Kenneth right now, he won’t have a good time, when Rolly returns. His shyness to Dawn is still too cute to be true.

All in all, the episode was good, but in MY GENERATION terms, it means it was an alright-episode. 08/15, if I might say. 7/10

The "best couple of 2000" about to end their ways: Branders

After the 2003 NY blackout: happy times for Falcon and Bree

The second episode of the short-lived mockumentary showed what the series really would have been like, which the pilot episode wasn’t able to do at all times: focusing on the present storyline, explaining present actions with the past, and showing crucial moments of the lives of the major characters in the past, either going prior to 2000, or somewhere in between 2000 and 2010. And I have to say that this episode worked better than the pilot. Though I can’t really get over the fact that a “documentary” starts at a point, where all the lives are about to dramatically changed. But this is just the genre of the show, so I’m gonna have to accept it.

It was no surprise that the writers focused on Dawn (Kelli Garner) and Kenneth (Keir O’Donnell), as well as Steven’s (Michael Stahl-David) life. With a bit of Rolly’s (Mehcad Brooks) situation in Afghanistan, and Caroline (Anne Son) trying to explain Steven what she wants (or doesn’t want) from him, the rest of the characters are second and third row in a moment, but it doesn’t annoy me. Falcon (Sebastian Sozzi) even appeared in the 2000-storyline alone, and was absent in the present storyline (which lets me wonder what the writers would have planned with him in future episodes), and instead the episode introduced more background characters, like Steven’s father Michael (Reed Birney), and Dawn’s brother (young) Vincent (Ryan Lee). And I have to say I like the series this way better than the way the pilot was pursuing.

The Dawn/Kenneth “flirtations” were sweet and cute (again). The episode showed that Dawn made the biggest impression of life between high school and becoming a mother, wanting to erase all the mistakes her mother was doing, and practically fighting for a home for her child. It seems obvious that the writers work on a possible relationship between Dawn and Kenneth, as long as Rolly is in Afghanistan, and always short before getting killed (off the show), and I’m rooting for that possibility – but only because I still can’t get the marriage between Dawn and Rolly, thanks to him being in Afghanistan. The moment where Kenneth made the 6pm-dinner was sweet, it had a message for the viewers, and it consolidates the relationship between uncle Kenneth, and soon-to-be mother Dawn.

Steven and Caroline’s story wasn’t really that interesting, since the question of visitation rights was predictably coming out of the box, and since Steven’s fatherhood didn’t connect well with the story involving RJ (Cameron Banfield), but it seems that it will get more important in the future. And I already see it coming that Steven’s father will be released from prison soon (eventually giving another conflicting story for Kenneth).

The 2000-storylines were good. Dawn got a bit of attention here, and Falcon had unnecessary screentime. But I was rolling with my eyes, when Dawn’s teacher (or principal) wasn’t even nearly on helping Dawn – instead he basically just wanted to give her a message of “you can’t do that anymore”. Something like this always shows me that the school system is screwed, but that is a different topic.

The story involving Steven, RJ, and what happened in 1991 was interesting though. It shows that Michael is a shitty father, and it brings a “mystery storyline” into the series: Did RJ really just ran away (a possible return of RJ knocks at the door), or did something worse happen (a possible return of this storyline hammers at the door)?

The episode could have spared me the sequences in Afghanistan, but somehow all the characters need to be in the episode. Other than that it is surprising that MY GENERATION stayed good over the pilot episode. 8/10

Kenneth: in love with Dawn, or just uncomfortable?

Caroline makes her position clear to Steven

I could live in the virtual world of Hulu. Thanks to them, I have the opportunity to watch more than just two episodes of MY GENERATION, and I gladly accept this opportunity. And what a shame that the series didn’t get through to the viewers at all. What a shame that it almost looks like those kind of TV shows never will get stellar ratings and have the chance to live more than just for one season. What a shame for MY GENERATION, since this mockumentary drama is already one of the missed canceled shows of this season, and will get in line behind EASY MONEY, JOURNEYMAN, NEW AMSTERDAM and THE EX-LIST.

The pilot episode wasn’t stellar at all, and the story was just a soap in drama format, aired on ABC as a lead-in to GREY’S ANATOMY, but the pilot can score with its style. To go a couple of steps further than THE OFFICE never did was already a good idea (for my taste), and I surely wanted to know how the series would have evolved with the episodes, seasons and years. With it, the series had the chance to tell different kinds of storylines, suited for a one-hour drama. The pilot already showed that it can handle a bunch of storylines (though they pretty much looked similar in their dramatization), plus some action set in Afghanistan on Rolly’s (Mehcad Brooks) side. The thing about the pilot is: The stories couldn’t have been more stereotypical.

Okay, I actually loved it. MY GENERATION has a few characters too many, and I found it a bit difficult to get their names (despite them always on screen, when the filmmaker jumped back to explain what happened – and thanks to IMDb I’m learning them anyway) and all their stories. In this case, it wouldn’t have hurt to stack all these storylines into a 90-minute movie (which is why I believe this kind of genre is suited better for a feature), but I don’t know why FOX is the only network broadcaster left when it comes to two-hour pilots. And despite the two handful of characters, the episode still kept the focus on just one handful of characters, which was refreshing – especially since Kenneth (Keir O’Donnell) being unable to have kids, and his troubled past after his father’s suicide, and the Steven (Michael Stahl-David)/Caroline (Anne Son) connection (which was the most biggest cliché in the pilot, but I can live with it). It had the most emotional drama of the episode I want to have in such a show (Kenneth’s little drunken breakdown in front of Dawn (Kelli Garner) was sweet and touched me), and I would wish to see exactly this kind of drama in the other seven episodes too.

Some characters came a bit short, again thanks to the one-hour format of the episode. I didn’t care about Falcon (Sebastian Sozzi) and his one minute of screentime (and I wonder why he was the only one being surprised about the camera team being back), Rolly didn’t have much to do in the present, but he was given a nice background story between the past and present (though I can’t buy that he’s married with Dawn), and the Jackie (Jaime King)/Anders (Julian Morris) couple couldn’t be more awkward at the moment (though probably intended – Jackie behaved like a Stepford wife). Finally, Brenda (Daniella Alonso) was boring in the pilot and her story and fight for a better government law uninteresting.

To cut it short: If the documentary-style wouldn’t rule this episode, MY GENERATION might be just one of those many teen/twen dramas out there, maybe unimportant, maybe even more of a cliché. But the documentary-style is saving the series out of its pettiness, and therefore it is one of the better pilots I have seen. 8/10

2000: where the band of friends was still happy

2010: where Dawn is pregnant, but left behind