* AccidentallyCorrectWriting: In "Father Figures", Angela mentions the band Porno For Pyros to her dad, and he snarks "I love their Christmas album". It's meant as a joke about their [[IntentionallyAwkwardTitle intentionally awkward name]], but Porno For Pyros did have a sincere [[ChristmasSongs Christmas song]] of sorts - "Pete's Dad" is set at a Christmas family dinner and deals with guitarist Peter [=DiStefano=]'s father surviving cancer; it was originally a BSide and was only released as a promotional holiday single in 1995, the same year the show was canceled.
* AdoredByTheNetwork: The show was re-ran frequently on MTV after its cancellation, which helped it earn more of an audience.
* BannedEpisode: When the series was screened in Britain by Creator/Channel4, "Weekend" wasn't shown thanks to the subject matter being too mature for its 6pm time slot[[note]]the channel's TeenDrama timeslot until [=E4=] launched in 2001[[/note]] - and thanks to the series' only repeat being in an even ''earlier'' slot, it's never been shown on UK TV.
* DawsonCasting:
** Averted with Creator/ClaireDanes as central character Angela and Creator/DevonGummersall as her would-be love interest Brian. Averted (or at least ''mostly'' averted) with Lisa Wilhoit as Danielle, Angela's kid sister. But most of the "high school" cast were at least eighteen (and a few considerably older) when the series began shooting, with co-star Jared Leto, who played Jordan, being 22 when it premiered, making him 7 years older than Claire Danes. In fact, Claire Danes was ''[[InvertedTrope thirteen]]'' [[InvertedTrope playing ]] ''[[InvertedTrope fifteen]]'' when shooting began.
*** The DVDCommentary for the pilot episode includes a joke that the show is television's UrExample of inverted DawsonCasting.
* FollowTheLeader: Whole decades of TeenDrama owe their genesis to this show. ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' was pitched as ''My So Called Life'' meets ''Series/TwinPeaks.''
* QueerCharacterQueerActor: The gay Creator/WilsonCruz plays the gay character Rickie Vasquez.
* RealLifeRelative:
** Creator/PaulDooley, husband of show creator Winnie Holzmann, plays Patti's father in the episode "Father Figures".
** Robert Katims, father of show writer Jason Katims, plays a police detective in the episode "So-Called Angels".
* RealLifeWritesThePlot: Despite a rocky first season, the network was willing to renew the series; it ultimately came to Creator/ClaireDanes getting movie offers that put an end to the show.
* StarMakingRole: For Creator/ClaireDanes and Creator/JaredLeto, leading to high-profile movie roles for both actors.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: So what's up with Angela and Brian? [[spoiler: According to creator / producer Winnie Holzman, Angela and Brian have a very deep connection. But they are too similar to each other, too familiar with one another, and too combative for Angela's comfort. Brian represents those very aspects of Angela's life, and of herself, that she's so desperately trying to run away from, especially at the beginning of the series. By contrast, Jordan Catalano is distant and mysterious and intellectually unchallenging -- everything Brian is not and can never be. This, even more than looks, is Jordan's fundamental source of the attraction for Angela, but also the reason any relationship between them is doomed. In much of the show, Brian comes across as a bit of a StalkerWithACrush. But if the series had continued, Winnie Holzman has said, Brian would have evolved into Angela's romantic confidant, her primary go-to guy for whenever she wanted to vent about Jordan Catalano. The relationship between Brian and Angela might or ''might not'' have ever crossed over into anything ''explicitly'' (mutually) romantic, but it would in many ways have been far deeper than anything possible in her OfficialCouple relationship with Jordan.]]
** The second season would have also included Graham leaving Patty for Hallie, leading to Patty having a breakdown and forcing Angela to assume a lot of the household responsibilities; Sharon getting pregnant; Mr. Katimski's status as a gay man being revealed to the whole school; and Delia and Brian being an item.
** Creator/AliciaSilverstone auditioned for Angela Chase.
** According to the book "Season Finale: The Unexpected Rise and Fall of the WB and UPN", ''Creator/TheWB'' strongly considered picking up this show after it's cancellation at ABC, but it was simply far too expensive of a production for the then-fledgling network to afford.
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