So I’ve following "quarterlife" http://www.quarterlife.com since its arrival on the net a few months ago. The show is attempting to be new and edgy only airing it's episodes online, with loads of flashy technology, obvious corporate placements and desire to plaster myspace with adds for themselves. The show is focused around the lives of six twenty-somethings lost and confused about life, love, jobs etc. the show's primary gimmick revolves around the "quarterlife" site where artists can upload their work and communicate with other lost twenty-somethings attempting to make it in their chosen artist realm complete with cheesy plots surrounding the shows characters also using the site to showcase their videos and video blogs about their oh so tragic, oh so privileged lives.

The reason this show is even making it to my queer media blog is because of how disappointing it is. One of the shows main selling features is that it's done by the creators of "My So Called Life" whose limited run was truly groundbreaking in terms of diversity and the complexity of issues, which were addressed and shown to teen audiences. It was one of the first shows that were willing to treat teens like adults, and creating a show centered around what it really meant to be a teenager. The show included the complex flamboyant queer character of Ricki, and even addressed things like school bullying. This new show attempting to capitalize on the original shows old fans now all grown up fails to present any of the diversity of it's original- it lacks a single character of color, and with the exception of a brief discussion of girl on girl action where lead character Dylan discusses having been with a girl because of how lost she is, and then getting hit on by her obnoxious female boss the show fails to address queerness at all. The portrayal that it does establish trivializes queer experience as nothing more than an experiment that someone might try in college, less real and valid than heterosexuality, and nothing more than something which is explored when one is so drunk they won't remember it the next morning.

All in all, this show is a flop (which if you read the comments on the website it's clear that many viewers share my feelings). It's nothing more than a washed-up attempt to salvage something which was truly revolutionary and package what had been groundbreaking, and diverse into a white, rich, heteronormative show about how much it must clearly suck to be rich and white and straight and traditionally attractive, and oh so terribly talented.