'My Generation' - 'Pilot': Back in the Britney Spears days

What did everybody think of the new drama?

By Alan SepinwallThursday, Sep 23, 2010 9:00 PM

The "My Generation" gang in their contemporary days.

Credit: ABC

Yesterday, I reviewed ABC's "My Generation" and found it very wanting. Now it's your turn. For those who watched, what did you think? Did you like the documentary format? Did you find any of the actors convincing in the high school flashbacks? Did all the dramatic irony start to feel silly after a while? And are you going to be trying it again next week?

Alan Sepinwall
Sr. Editor, What's Alan Watching

Alan Sepinwall has been reviewing television since the mid-'90s, first for Tony Soprano's hometown paper, The Star-Ledger, and now for HitFix. His new book, "The Revolution Was Televised," about the last 15 years of TV drama, is for sale at Amazon. He can be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com

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qualler

I said "more like My Generation Kill!" at the scene with Mehcad Brooks in Iraq and my wife said she thought the same "more like" joke at the same time, which is probably the only good thing to come out of the pilot. Actually, I liked some of the actors and the dialogue was written well but like you said, the dramatic irony was just too much. I'll probably check it out again, though.
September 23, 2010 at 9:13PM EST Reply to Comment
Super Jay

The only reason why I tuned in was because I graduated HS in 2000. I hated the docu-style, the acting was sub par - espicially when they looked annoyed at the camera crew. Plot lines are thin at best, and I was wishing for Eggs..err.. Rolly to get shot in the head.
September 23, 2010 at 11:10PM EST Reply to Comment
Carrie

This was TERRIBLE. Just dreadful. The documentary aspect felt so fake. So. Fake. The acting was subpar. All of the characters were unlikeable. Don't even get me started on the Britney Spears and Eminem mentions that were supposed to differentiate "2000" at the beginning. I know Eminem's new album wasn't out when this was shot...but still. Awful.

Another thing that seriously bothered me was the way they used big moments (like 9/11 and Enron) to illustrate character backstory. It just felt so obvious and clunky. When the Enron reveal happened, I literally laughed out loud. Not in a good way. It's a shame, because the idea of this show could be a good one but the execution was so poor.

I will give them credit for one thing: I had a sweater exactly like the pink and green one Jaime King wore in the flashbacks. So, good job wardrobe?
September 24, 2010 at 9:10AM EST Reply to Comment
- Carrie And that sweater was different than the one in my profile pic. I swear. (Apparently I like green stripes.)
  September 24, 2010 at 9:11AM EST
- Mark "It's a shame, because the idea of this show could be a good one but the execution was so poor."
  
  See that's the trouble; these kind of shows do look good on paper, but unfortunately we've seen them in practice, and they are always terrible. But for some reason these shows keep getting the go ahead.
  September 24, 2010 at 11:52AM EST