My Generation (TV series)
Encyclopedia
My Generation is an American mockumentary
television series that aired on the ABC network
in the fall of 2010. The one-hour comedy-drama, produced by ABC Studios, follows a group of high school classmates in Austin, Texas
in 2000, then revisits them ten years after graduation. The series premiered on September 23, 2010, and was canceled
by ABC on October 1 due to the first two episodes' poor ratings.
in 2000. The group includes the Overachiever, the Beauty Queen, the Nerd, the Punk, the Jock, the Brain, the Rich Kid, the Rock Star, and the Wallflower. Their hopes and dreams for the future were recorded, and as they meet up ten years later, they find that things do not always go as planned. Several of the characters' lives after high school are affected by or tied to real-world events such as the September 11 attacks, the Enron scandal
, and the War in Afghanistan
. The series is set in the present with flashbacks to the past.
script, originally titled Generation Y, was written by Noah Hawley
. ABC gave a production order for the pilot in January 2010.
In early February, Keir O'Donnell and Michael Stahl-David became the first actors cast in the pilot. Julian Morris, Daniella Alonso, and Kelli Garner then joined the ensemble cast in late February, followed by Anne Son. Jaime King and Mehcad Brooks came on board in early March, followed quickly by Sebastian Sozzi, who booked the final principal role a few days later.
Filming began in mid-March. Craig Gillespie
directed the pilot. In May 2010, ABC announced it had added the series to the 2010-11 schedule with a fall 2010 premiere planned.
Amid low ratings
, ABC canceled the show on October 1 after airing only two episodes. In early November, ABC made the remaining 6 unaired episodes available online.
Mockumentary
A mockumentary , is a type of film or television show in which fictitious events are presented in documentary format. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on current events and issues by using a fictitious setting, or to parody the documentary form itself...
television series that aired on the ABC network
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
in the fall of 2010. The one-hour comedy-drama, produced by ABC Studios, follows a group of high school classmates in Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
in 2000, then revisits them ten years after graduation. The series premiered on September 23, 2010, and was canceled
Cancellation (television)
In television, cancellation refers to the termination of a program by a network, typically because of low viewership and/or unfavourable critical reviews. Another reason why television programs can be cancelled is to make room for new television programs...
by ABC on October 1 due to the first two episodes' poor ratings.
Premise
The series follows a group of young adults whose lives were being filmed for a documentary just before their graduation from fictional Greenbelt High School in Austin, TexasAustin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
in 2000. The group includes the Overachiever, the Beauty Queen, the Nerd, the Punk, the Jock, the Brain, the Rich Kid, the Rock Star, and the Wallflower. Their hopes and dreams for the future were recorded, and as they meet up ten years later, they find that things do not always go as planned. Several of the characters' lives after high school are affected by or tied to real-world events such as the September 11 attacks, the Enron scandal
Enron scandal
The Enron scandal, revealed in October 2001, eventually led to the bankruptcy of the Enron Corporation, an American energy company based in Houston, Texas, and the dissolution of Arthur Andersen, which was one of the five largest audit and accountancy partnerships in the world...
, and the War in Afghanistan
War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
The War in Afghanistan began on October 7, 2001, as the armed forces of the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Afghan United Front launched Operation Enduring Freedom...
. The series is set in the present with flashbacks to the past.
Development and production
My Generation is based on the Swedish series God's Highway (Blomstertid). The pilotTelevision pilot
A "television pilot" is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell the show to a television network. At the time of its inception, the pilot is meant to be the "testing ground" to see if a series will be possibly desired and successful and therefore a test episode of an...
script, originally titled Generation Y, was written by Noah Hawley
Noah Hawley
Noah Hawley is an American film and television producer, screenwriter, composer, and author. A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, Noah wrote and produced the television series Bones and also created The Unusuals and My Generation...
. ABC gave a production order for the pilot in January 2010.
In early February, Keir O'Donnell and Michael Stahl-David became the first actors cast in the pilot. Julian Morris, Daniella Alonso, and Kelli Garner then joined the ensemble cast in late February, followed by Anne Son. Jaime King and Mehcad Brooks came on board in early March, followed quickly by Sebastian Sozzi, who booked the final principal role a few days later.
Filming began in mid-March. Craig Gillespie
Craig Gillespie
Craig Gillespie is an Australian film director best known for directing the 2007 films Lars and the Real Girl and the Fright Night remake.-Early life:...
directed the pilot. In May 2010, ABC announced it had added the series to the 2010-11 schedule with a fall 2010 premiere planned.
Amid low ratings
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
, ABC canceled the show on October 1 after airing only two episodes. In early November, ABC made the remaining 6 unaired episodes available online.
Cast
- Michael Stahl-DavidMichael Stahl-DavidMichael Stahl-David is an American actor, perhaps best known for his television role as Sean Donnelly on The Black Donnellys and his lead role in the J. J. Abrams-produced film Cloverfield.-Early life:...
as Steven Foster, "The Overachiever". He was the class valedictorianValedictorianValedictorian is an academic title conferred upon the student who delivers the closing or farewell statement at a graduation ceremony. Usually, the valedictorian is the highest ranked student among those graduating from an educational institution...
and as such great things were said and predicted about him. Steven was best friends with Kenneth in high school, and after high school went on to attend Yale UniversityYale UniversityYale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
. His father was a high-ranking executive at EnronEnronEnron Corporation was an American energy, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. Before its bankruptcy on December 2, 2001, Enron employed approximately 22,000 staff and was one of the world's leading electricity, natural gas, communications, and pulp and paper companies, with...
who was sent to prisonPrisonA prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
as a result of the Enron scandalEnron scandalThe Enron scandal, revealed in October 2001, eventually led to the bankruptcy of the Enron Corporation, an American energy company based in Houston, Texas, and the dissolution of Arthur Andersen, which was one of the five largest audit and accountancy partnerships in the world...
. The scandal also resulted in his family assets being frozen, and as a result Steven was forced to drop out of Yale. He subsequently moved to HawaiiHawaiiHawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
to work as a bartenderBartenderA bartender is a person who serves beverages behind a counter in a bar, pub, tavern, or similar establishment. A bartender, in short, "tends the bar". The term barkeeper may carry a connotation of being the bar's owner...
.
- Daniella Alonso as Brenda Serrano, "The Brain". In high school, Brenda wanted to be a scientist and was in love with Anders. After the controversial 2000 presidential electionUnited States presidential election, 2000The United States presidential election of 2000 was a contest between Republican candidate George W. Bush, then-governor of Texas and son of former president George H. W. Bush , and Democratic candidate Al Gore, then-Vice President....
, she became a pre-law student and moved to Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
to work as a congressional staffer. She and Anders also broke upRelationship breakupA relationship breakup, often referred to simply as a breakup, is the termination of a usually intimate relationship by any means other than death. The act is commonly termed "dumping [someone]" in slang when it is initiated by one partner...
sometime after high school, which neither Brenda nor Anders has fully gotten over.
- Mehcad BrooksMehcad BrooksMehcad Jason McKinley Brooks is an American actor and former fashion model.-Early life:Brooks was born and raised in Austin, Texas, where he attended L.C. Anderson High School...
as Rolly Marks, "The Jock". He is now married to Dawn and enlisted in the United States ArmyUnited States ArmyThe United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
the week after the September 11 attacks. He is on deployment in AfghanistanAfghanistanAfghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
.
- Kelli GarnerKelli GarnerKelli Brianne Garner is an American actress. Her credits include Man of the House, The Aviator, Bully and Thumbsucker. She appeared in two Green Day music videos "Jesus of Suburbia" and the unreleased ""...
as Dawn Barbuso, "The Punk". She was so called because of her juvenile delinquent attitude in high school; her lack of parents often translated into bad behavior. Dawn briefly dated Kenneth, but broke up with him after high school. She eventually married Rolly and is six months pregnant with their baby when the series starts. She is also living with Kenneth while Rolly is deployed in Afghanistan, a fact that Rolly objects to but agrees to for his wife's sake.
- Jaime KingJaime KingJaime King is an American actress and model. In her modeling career and early film roles, she used the names Jamie King and James King, which was a childhood nickname given to King by her parents, because her agency already represented another Jaime — the older, then more famous model Jaime...
as Jacqueline "Jackie" Vachs, "The Beauty Queen". Jackie planned on being an actress and was in one season of The Bachelor; however, she refuses to talk about what became of her acting career. She is married to Anders, but their relationship comes off to the filmmaker as awkward and forced.
- Julian MorrisJulian Morris (actor)Julian David Morris is a British actor known for his roles in the films Cry Wolf and Sorority Row. He also played a recurring character in the TV show ER as Dr. Andrew Wade. He also plays Wren Kim in the TV show Pretty Little Liars.-Career:Morris was born in London, where he began acting at the...
as Anders Holt, "The Rich Kid". In high school, he was best friends with Rolly and was in love with Brenda. Although he married Jackie, he has clearly not gotten over Brenda, a fact that looms over their marriage.
- Keir O'DonnellKeir O'DonnellKeir O'Donnell is an Australian actor best known for his roles in the comedy films Wedding Crashers and Paul Blart: Mall Cop...
as Kenneth Finley, "The Nerd". Kenneth dated Dawn in high school and was best friends with Steven. Kenneth's father committed suicideSuicideSuicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
after Enron's collapse "wiped him out"; Kenneth blames Steven for his father's suicide due to Steven's father's involvement in the scandal. Kenneth is living with his ex-girlfriend Dawn while her husband is in Afghanistan, and works as a fourth-grade teacher.
- Sebastian Sozzi as The Falcon, "The Rock Star". He ended up producingRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
artists and is friends with Steven Foster. He is considered a neutral figure as he is not involved with anyone else in the group.
- Anne Son as Caroline Chung, "The Wallflower". Caroline was highly introvertedExtraversion and introversionThe trait of extraversion-introversion is a central dimension of human personality theories.Extraverts tend to be gregarious, assertive, and interested in seeking out external stimulus. Introverts, in contrast, tend to be introspective, quiet and less sociable. They are not necessarily loners but...
in high school. She had a one-night standOne-night standOriginally, a one-night stand was a single theatre performance, usually by a guest performer on tour, as opposed to an ongoing engagement. Today, however, the term is more commonly defined as a single sexual encounter, in which neither participant has any intention or expectation of a relationship...
with Steven Foster on promPromIn the United States and Canada, a prom, short for promenade, is a formal dance, or gathering of high school students. It is typically held near the end of the senior year. It figures greatly in popular culture and is a major event among high school students...
night and became pregnantPregnancyPregnancy refers to the fertilization and development of one or more offspring, known as a fetus or embryo, in a woman's uterus. In a pregnancy, there can be multiple gestations, as in the case of twins or triplets...
as a result. She waited nearly 10 years before revealing the existence of their son, Tom, to Steven. Tom's fourth-grade teacher is none other than Kenneth (who is unaware of Steven being Tom's father), and this is another source of potential problems.
- Elizabeth KeenerElizabeth KeenerElizabeth Keener is an American actress. She is best known for playing Dawn Denbo on the Showtime American lesbian drama, The L Word....
as The Filmmaker (recurring)
Episodes
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