There is nothing overtly Jewish about the seminal teen drama, My So Called Life, but I think we can still consider it a Jew-ish show. It was created by Winnie Holzman and produced by Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz - all Jews. Two characters in the show, Brian Krakow and Hallie Lowenthal, are explicitly stated to be Jewish, while characters like Delia Fisher, Ms. Krzyzanowski, and Mr. Katimski are, in my opinion, ambiguously Jewish.
My So Called Life only ran for one season of 19 episodes, and it isn’t mentioned that Brian is Jewish until episode 15. In episode 12, we’re introduced to Hallie Lowenthal, who hints at being Jewish by dropping Yiddish words like “schnoz,” “shmoozed,” and “fatootsed” before finally telling us she’s a “Jewish girl from Texas” in episode 17. I couldn’t find any information about whether the actors who played Brian (Devon Gummersall) and Hallie (Lisa Waltz) are Jewish, so if anyone knows please let me know in the comments! However, AJ Langer, who plays the inimitable Rayanne, IS Jewish AND a countess to boot! I also discovered in my research that the actor who played the eccentric substitute teacher Mr. Racine, Roger Rees, was Jewish and married to a Jewish husband.
Unfortunately, the small bits of Jewish representation we get in the show fall right into common stereotypes of Jewish men (Brian) being nerdy and wimpy, and Jewish women (Hallie) being overbearing and annoying. Delia Fisher and Ms. Krzyzanowski (played by Winnie Holzman herself), read as lightly Jew-coded to me with their curly hair and last names, as well as Mr. Katimski with his neurotic and effeminate behavior (for more on this, see my post on Jewish stereotypes).
There are numerous reasons I wish the show had kept running, one of them being to see how the Jewish representation progressed. I would have loved to see Delia and Brian rekindle a friendship based on being the only Jewish kids amongst their friend group, maybe getting together on Christmas to eat Chinese food while their friends celebrated with their families. Perhaps Mr. Katimski would have directed a production of Fiddler on the Roof, or Ms. Krzyzanowski would have counseled Brian after an antisemitic incident. Tragically, the show met an early end.
May its memory be a blessing.
Jew-ish Rating for My So Called Life: 3/6
✔️ has Jewish characters
❌ has non-stereotypical Jewish characters
✔️ has Jewish actors
❓ has Jewish characters played by Jewish actors
✔️ has Jewish creators
🤏🏽 depicts Jewish culture
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