What would have happened in Season 2 of My So-Called Life? Executive producer Marshall Herskovitz reveals where the story might have gone, including the future of Angela Chase and Brian Krakow.
Herskovitz, the acclaimed writer, director, and producer behind My So-Called Life, joins Brian Daitzman on History of the Present for a wide-ranging conversation about the show’s unfinished future, the transformation of Hollywood, the economics of streaming, corporate power, American politics, and the state of the country.
Herskovitz reflects on what a second season of My So-Called Life might have looked like and explains why he believes the show’s short life ultimately helped preserve its legacy. He describes the series as unusually pure and recalls that he and his collaborators were able to make it without many of the compromises that became more common later in the television business.
From there, the conversation expands into a broader examination of what has happened to Hollywood. Herskovitz argues that the entertainment industry has shifted away from a culture built around filmmakers, creative judgment, and long-term artistic value toward one increasingly shaped by corporate management, platform economics, consolidation, and the logic of “content.” He describes the consequences for writers, producers, filmmakers, and audiences, and explains why he believes the current system has made it harder to create enduring work.
The discussion also turns to streaming economics, the decline of the traditional long-tail business model, shrinking episode orders, industry unemployment, and the widening gap between creative workers and highly compensated executives. Herskovitz connects those changes to a much larger argument about American capitalism, inequality, neoliberalism, and what he sees as the erosion of the common good.
Herskovitz and Daitzman also discuss the Democratic Party, political leadership, the Supreme Court, democratic institutions, media consolidation, China, Taiwan, Russia, Ukraine, and the global balance of power. Herskovitz argues that the United States is in what he calls an “existential moment” and lays out what he believes political leaders and citizens need to understand about economic reform, democratic resilience, national purpose, and America’s ability to act collectively.
The conversation ultimately becomes about something larger than entertainment or politics alone: what happens to a country when creative institutions, political institutions, and economic institutions all become less responsive to the people they are supposed to serve?
