You can blame it on The Office, because they started the trend of shooting a television series as a “mockumentary”. Or maybe you can blame Modern Family for doing the same thing and making it work again. Now it appears there will be a lot of shows who will attempt the same thing. My Generation is the first “scripted” drama to attempt to be shot in a “documentary” format.
Here is the synopsis of My Generation straight from ABC:
“What a difference ten years can make. In 2000, a documentary crew follows a disparate group of high schoolers from Greenbelt High School in Austin, TX as they prepare for graduation, then revisits these former classmates ten years later as they return home to rediscover that just because they’re not where they planned doesn’t mean they’re not right where they need to be. These students couldn’t wait to graduate and head out into the real world. But the world they were entering got very real very fast. As these classmates return home to revisit their old hopes for their future, they’ll discover that, even if you don’t get exactly what you thought you wanted out of life, it’s not too late to get what you need.”
My First 10 Thoughts on the “Pilot” Episode of My Generation:
1. A great premise for a television show.
2. The documentary style for a drama is a little odd, though.
3. You really just want to laugh at the end of all of the close-up / “look into the camera” shots, because that’s what you do on The Office and Modern Family.
4. The cast is diverse, but overall they do a solid job in their roles.
5. It’s not totally believable to have such a diverse group of people be connected in some way 10 years later, when most of them weren’t friends to begin with in high school.
6. The “behind the camera” producer lady could get annoying really quickly.
7. Hasn’t found the right mix of drama and comedy yet.
8. Might be too many people to follow and remember how they all knew or didn’t know each other 10 years earlier, and how they know each other now.
9. It has tough competition in its Thursday night timeslot, but not the worst position to be in, since Grey’s Anatomy airs right after it.
10. This show definitely needs more time before an opinion can be formed on it. It has potential to be good, but the documentary format will take a lot of getting used to for a drama like this.
