the car, Jordan sees her and calls out to her. The police car stops at Rayanne's house, and Angela notices that no one is home. Later, in the police car, Angela tells the police officer a deep insight into Anne Frank's The Diary of a Young Girl. The police officer agrees not to go up to Angela's front door, and Brian attempts to pry the truth out of her. As they are talking, Angela spots her father with another woman. Later, Angela breaks down crying while talking to her mother. The next day at school, Angela talks with Jordan intimately for the first time, and she smiles. Production Casting Although Claire Danes eventually landed the role of Angela Chase, several other actresses almost played the character instead. Alicia Silverstone, who was unknown at the time, was in talks to play the role, but it was eventually decided that the actress was "too pretty" to play Angela. In addition, A.J. Langer, who ended up portraying Rayanne Graff, also auditioned for Angela. However, it was eventually decided that Claire Danes was better at playing an awkward teenager character. Because Danes was thirteen years old at the time (and had to attend school), the show's producers, Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz increased the amount of screen time for Angela's parents. In addition, Jared Leto almost decided not to take the role of Jordan Catalano. The actor was not very interested in acting at the time and wanted to go to art school instead. Filming The episode was filmed on location at University High School in Los Angeles, CA. The pilot was written by series creator Winnie Holzman and directed by Scott Winant. During filming, Holzman changed the status of Jared Leto's character Jordan Catalano. Originally, he was only supposed to appear in the first episode, but after Holzman saw Leto's acting skills, she wanted to keep him as a series regular. "But as soon as we got Jared on film, we knew he had to be a continuing character." Reception Emma Fraser and Julie Hammerle of This Was TV praised the episode, including the complex portrayal of Angela's parents and the device of the voiceovers. "The things that best sum up Angela and her melodramatic teen philosophy is the voiceover…as a device in the pilot it's one I am on board with." In addition, the pair praised Danes' performance—"Claire Danes is one of the best criers on TV, back then and now, and she isn't afraid to go to the full 'ugly' scrunched up crying face. Both the scene with Sharon in the bathroom and with Patty at the end kills me." Amelie Gillette of The A.V. Club gave the episode a B+. While she criticized some aspects of the episode, the reviewer lauded it in general while stating that it was better than many other, more popular teen television shows. "Not many teen dramas attempt to capture what it's like to be a teenager without the filter of nostalgia (The Wonder Years, Freaks and Geeks), or exaggerated elements like excessive wealth (The O.C., Gossip Girl), or cartoony, soapy elements (90210). My So-Called Life, however, did, and it usually did it very well." References Category:1994 American television episodes My So-Called Life