Rewatch My So Called Life With Me

Under the Influence with Jo Piazza

Jo Piazza, Influence Inc.

Society & Culture, Kids & Family, Parenting, Personal Journals, Technology

4.3 • 833 Ratings

🗓️ 11 November 2025

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

It’s been thirty years since My So-Called Life premiered—thirty years since Angela Chase fell for Jordan Catalano and quietly redefined what teenage angst looked like. This week, Under the Influence rewinds to 1994 for a nostalgic deep dive into the one-season show that changed how we saw adolescence, parents, and ourselves. Emily Crandall, a political theorist with a PhD from CUNY who moonlights as an underemployed adjunct and podcast maker (“Yay, capitalism”), and Esme Shaller, a clinical psychologist and professor at UCSF whose middle school daughters are currently reading The Babysitters Club, join the conversation. Together, they explore how My So-Called Life captured the confusion and loneliness of being fifteen, why its portrayal of parents feels so different through adult eyes, and how it laid the groundwork for every coming-of-age show that followed. It’s a love letter to the nineties—a time before phones, when friendship was analog, music was everything, and watching a boy lean against a locker could still break your heart. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Let's hear from the Chancellor Jeffrey. From the Chancellor, Nigel. Chancellor John Norman. Kenneth. Gordon. Allister. George Philip. Sagi. Sagi. Rishi. Nadeem. Quasi Jeremy. And now, Rachel. Another year. Another budget. Over the past 40 years, we've seen it all. Our experts will continue to filter through the noise and uncertainty, helping you make the
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1:04.3	Hey all, Joey here and you are listening to Under the Influence. Now, just in case anyone wanted a reason to feel old today, or older, perhaps,
1:18.5	I want to tell you that the television show, my so-called life, premiered 30 years ago.
1:26.3	30 freaking years, my friends, 30 years since Angela Chase said she just likes the way that
1:32.6	Jordan Catalano leans.
1:34.4	It just likes how he leans.
1:36.0	Yeah.
1:36.6	Mm-hmm.
1:37.2	I was exactly the same age as the character of Angela Chase in that show back in 1994.
1:44.0	And I freaking loved it.
1:45.0	I loved it when it first ran.
1:46.6	I loved it when it was in reruns constantly on MTV.
1:50.1	It's one of the first shows I remember watching and being like, oh, oh, this is like my life.
1:57.0	Wow.
1:58.2	Wow.
	...

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