''My Generation'' is an American

mockumentary A mockumentary (a portmanteau of ''mock'' and ''documentary'') is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events, but presented as a Documentary film, documentary. Mockumentaries are often used to analyze or comment on current event ...

comedy drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

television series that aired on the ABC network in the fall of 2010. The one-hour comedy drama, produced by

ABC Studios ABC Signature was a production arm of the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), which is a subsidiary of Disney Television Studios, a sub-division of the Disney Entertainment business segment and division of The Walt Disney Company. The studio's ...

, follows a group of high school classmates in

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

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.

Premise

The series follows a group of nine adults whose lives were being filmed for a documentary just before their graduation from fictional Greenbelt High School 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 September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

, the

Enron scandal The Enron scandal was an accounting scandal sparked by American energy company Enron, Enron Corporation filing for bankruptcy after news of widespread internal fraud became public in October 2001, which led to the dissolution of its accounting ...

, and the

War in Afghanistan War in Afghanistan, Afghan war, or Afghan civil war may refer to: *Conquest of Afghanistan by Alexander the Great (330 BC – 327 BC), the conquest of Afghanistan by the Macedonian Empire * Muslim conquests of Afghanistan, a series of campaigns in ...

. 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

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

script, originally titled ''Generation Y'', was written by

Noah Hawley Noah Hawley (born 1967) is an American screenwriter, director, producer, author, and singer. He is best known for creating and writing the FX series '' Fargo'' (2014–present) and '' Legion'' (2017–2019). He also worked on the series '' Bones ...

. 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 (born 1 September 1967) is an Australian-American film director, film, television director, television, music video director, music video, and commercial director. He is best known for directing the films ''Lars and the Real Gir ...

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.

Cast and characters

Michael Stahl-David Michael Stahl-David (born October 28, 1982) is an American actor, known for his role as Sean Donnelly on the NBC drama series ''The Black Donnellys'' and his lead role as Robert "Rob" Hawkins in the J. J. Abrams-produced film ''Cloverfield''. Ea ...

as Steven Foster, "The Overachiever". He was the class

valedictorian Valedictorian is an academic title for the class rank, highest-performing student of a graduation, graduating class of an academic institution in the United States. The valedictorian is generally determined by an academic institution's grade poin ...

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 University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

. His father was a high-ranking executive at

Enron Enron Corporation was an American Energy development, energy, Commodity, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. It was led by Kenneth Lay and developed in 1985 via a merger between Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth, both re ...

who was sent to prison as a result of the

. 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

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

to work as a bartender. He is now viewed as somewhat of a slacker compared to the thriving high school student that he was. On prom night he slept with Caroline Chung, getting her pregnant unbeknownst to him at the time. *

Daniella Alonso Daniella Alonso is an American actress and former fashion model. She has appeared in a number of horror films, including ''The Hills Have Eyes 2'' and '' Wrong Turn 2: Dead End'' (both 2007). Alonso was a regular cast member in the NBC post-apo ...

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 election, she became a pre-law student and moved to

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

to work as a

congressional staff Congressional staff are employees of a legislative Congress who support legislators in their duties. They handle a variety of tasks, including policy research, constituent services, communications, and administrative support. Staffers may work ...

er. She and Anders also broke up sometime after high school, which neither Brenda nor Anders has fully gotten over. *

Mehcad Brooks Mehcad Jason McKinley Brooks (born October 25, 1980) is an American actor and former fashion model. He is known for his roles as Matthew Applewhite in the second season of ABC's series ''Desperate Housewives'' (2005–2006), Jerome in '' The ...

as Rolly Marks, "The Jock". He is now married to Dawn and enlisted in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

the week after the

. He is on deployment in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

. * Kelli Garner 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 King Jaime Barbara King (born April 23, 1979) is an American actress and model best known for her roles in TV series '' Hart of Dixie'' (2011–2015) and ''Black Summer'' (2019–2021), and films such as ''Pearl Harbor'' (2001), ''Slackers'' (200 ...

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 as awkward and forced. *

Julian Morris Julian David Morris (born 13 January 1983) is an English actor. After appearing in the British television series '' The Knock'' (1996) and ''Fish'' (2000) during his teenage years, he had his first starring role in the American slasher film '' C ...

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'Donnell Keir O'Donnell is an Australian–American actor, best known for his roles in the films ''Wedding Crashers'' (2005), ''The Break-Up'' (2006), '' Paul Blart: Mall Cop'' (2009) and ''American Sniper'' (2014), as well as numerous television appear ...

as Kenneth Finley, "The Nerd". Kenneth dated Dawn in high school and was best friends with Steven. Kenneth's father committed

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

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 producing recording artists and is friends with Steven Foster. He is considered a neutral figure as he is not significantly involved with anyone else in the group. *Anne Son as Caroline Chung, "The Wallflower". Caroline was highly introverted in high school. She had a

one-night stand A one-night stand is a single sexual encounter in which there is no expectation that there shall be any further relations between the sexual participants. It draws its name from the common practice of a one-night stand, a single night performanc ...

with Steven Foster on

prom A promenade dance or prom is a formal dance party for graduating high school students at the end of the school year. Students participating in the prom will typically vote for a ''prom king'' and ''prom queen''. Other students may be honored ...

night and became pregnant 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). Through Kenneth, Caroline became good friends with Dawn and Falcon. After high school, Caroline became more confident and assertive.

Episodes

References

External links

* {{Noah Hawley 2010s American comedy-drama television series 2010s American high school television series 2010s American mockumentary television series 2010 American television series debuts 2010 American television series endings American English-language television shows American television series about teenagers Television series by ABC Studios Television series set in 2000 Television shows filmed in Texas Television shows set in Austin, Texas American television series based on Swedish television series Television series created by Noah Hawley American Broadcasting Company comedy-dramas