Dear Angela includes fourteen critical essays that examine the brief-lived but landmark television series, My So-Called Life (1994-1995). Though certainly not the first young woman to be the center of a television series, Angela Chase and the show about her life were doing something new on television and influenced many of the shows about young people that followed. Michele Byers and David Lavery bring together enthusiastic and engaging voices that bear on a series that continues to be hailed as a breakthrough moment in television, even though more than a decade has passed since its cancellation. Tackling a broad range of topics-from identity politics, to music, to infidelity, and death-each essay builds upon a belief that My So-Called Life is a particularly rich text worth studying for the clues it offers about a particular moment in cultural and television history. Dear Angela offers a sophisticated analysis of the show's legacy and cultural relevance that will appeal to media studies scholars and fans alike.

About the Author
Michele Byers is an associate professor at Saint Mary's University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. David Lavery holds a chair in film and television at Brunel University in London.

Reviews
We have waited too many years for a first-rate book on My So-Called Life. Dear Angela has made the wait worthwhile. Editors Michele Byers and David Lavery have gathered an excellent set of essayists who write on topics ranging from Barbara Bell's brilliant work on language to Kelli Maloy's piece on music to Jes Battis's "My So-Called Queer." And of course Byers' and Lavery's own essays are lucid and moving. This book fills an important place in television scholarship; furthermore, fans of the show are sure to enjoy the thoughtful attention these writers pay to a worthy work of television. -- Rhonda V. Wilcox, author of Why Buffy Matters: The Art of Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Dear Angela is a lively and vivid work that is sure to fascinate any reader interested in thinking about My So-Called Life and its long-lasting cultural impact, which continues today. Anyone curious about teens and television will find this book to be absorbing. -- Sherrie A. Inness, Professor of English, Miami University



Book Information
ISBN 9780739116920
Author Michele Byers
Format Paperback
Page Count 256
Imprint Lexington Books
Publisher Lexington Books
Weight(grams) 381g
Dimensions(mm) 233mm * 154mm * 19mm