keir odonnell

If you happen to live in New York City (as this 'TV Squad' writer does), then the ads for 'My Generation' are fairly inescapable. They're plastered on every bus and subway car -- teaser posters featuring attractive twenty-something people, with vague yet pithy quotes below the characters' faces.

These quotes are meant to illuminate the characters' inner lives; they say stuff like, "Dumping you was the worst mistake I ever made," or "When I'm with him, I'm thinking of you," or "I'm done paying for your mistakes." It's all very intriguing; or at least, intriguing-ish.

But now, the actual series pilot is upon us, and it's time to see if it lives up to the pre-show hype. Who are these pretty young people? What is 'My Generation' (Thu., 8PM ET on ABC) actually all about?

[Warning: Spoiler alert.]

In this new Outside the Box interview, the stars of 'My Generation' -- Jaime King, Julian Morris, Michael Stahl-David, Keir O'Donnell, Kelli Garner and Mehcad Brooks -- sat for our cameras to discuss what they were like in high school, their most embarrassing experiences there and just how awkward filming love scenes can be.

The cast told us that recreating high school life as adults wasn't as easy as it might look. King and Brooks, in particular, found cheerleading and playing full court basketball as if they were still energetic teens particularly exhausting. But reenacting school isn't all work: Everyone had good things to report about shooting the faux prom.

(S01E04) Any time we can go back and look at the blackout itself, I'm interested. But the use of an idyllic park scene and Björk's "It's Oh So Quiet" created an almost peaceful panorama -- until a bus drove into the lake, nearly missing someone lying nearby. Throughout the entire opening sequence, though, the scenes of serenity and death melded flawlessly with the song.

It was a great opening reminder of the event that put the entire series into motion, as well as an introduction to Ned. Ned is Dr. Benford's patient this week, who helps her come to terms with her own feelings about the flashforwards. He's also the calmest and most collected guy you could ever meet. But there's a reason for that.

What might be the most important thing for some people still on the fence about this show, Dominic Monaghan (Lost) finally showed up this week. As expected, he's going to be playing a pretty damned important role in the series. His introduction created a relationship with one of our main characters that I absolutely didn't see coming.