Square Pegs

Since Hollywood has ravenously consumed nearly every "classic" television series and regurgitated them into "big screen" treatments, time has come for "lost" series and failed pilots to become adapted for film.

I became a fan of "Square Pegs" when it was playing in re-run in 1986-87. I was particularly fond of Sarah Jessica Parker as the "ugly duckling" -- you just knew she was a thinly veiled babe waiting to bust out. And speaking of babes, Jamie Gertz ("Still Standing") is hotter than 20 years ago!! Yikes!

In a better, more original, "alternative" universe, "Square Pegs",not "Saved by the Bell", would have ran for 4 or 5 years and be available on DVD. The good die young.

I loved this show and remember it fondly. "Square Pegs" introduced Sarah Jessica Parker(FOOTLOOSE, SEX IN THE CITY), Jamie Gertz(QUICKSILVER, LOST BOYS, LESS THAN ZERO), and Tracie Nelson(DOWN AND OUT IN BEVERLY HILLS, FATHER DOWLING MYSTERIES) to the world and make stars of them. Unfortunately the show got cancelled after only a year. TV Guide had a cover story a few years later about how drugs and money had killed the show. Well that's Hollywood for you.

This is probably the first show about High School that featured teenagers as the leads. Played by actual teenager actors, not twentysomethings. The show was conceived by Anne Beatts, a writer from "Saturday Night Live". The writing was top notch and the actors were funny and real. It's a classic show! Luckily I have 6 episodes saved on Video but it won't last forever. I want it on DVD please!!!!

PS: Another great show of High School life in the 80's was "Fast Times". Does anybody remember that one or was I the only one watching it. That show died after 7 episodes.

I remember being in 7th grade when this show came out and I felt like I've got a glimpse of high school for me with these characters. I loved it and I was so mad when CBS cancelled it after 1 season. I felt like I could relate to these characters and said that I will probably run into these kind of students when I would get into high school. But this show did it for me with the scripts they had and I did pick out my favorite episode was when Muffy (Jami Gertz, who was amazingly beautiful and one of the funniest) had a party and did not want to invite Patty and her gang and the plot in the script worked out very well. I also like the one when Marshall bought a love detector and try to enter it in the science fair and try to prove to Lauren that she was in love with him and it turned out to cause a chaos in school. It was a wonderful show for me to watch and my favorite was Vinnie Pasetta (Jon Caliri) who was the Italian stallion going out with the empty head stuck up popular Valley Girl, Jennifer, which I was hoping he dumped her for Patty when they were casted in the high school play, which I thought that would of been the kiss of death for the character, Jennifer and the show itself. But this is one show I really enjoyed as a teenager and as of this day I was so sorry it lasted for only one season. I have the episode on video for the last 12 years when USA network showed them so that is a collectors item for me.

I was an extra on this show...for one episode. The one with the quiz show. It was filmed at a closed high school in the LA area. You were supposed to be 18 to be an extra, but they didn't check...just asked "are you over 18?" Of course I said yes. We sat around on the set for hours, then were herded into the auditorium where we sat for hours. The cast finally came in and were seated in the front row. I just remember the one actress saying her line "It's OTIS" over and over again. We sat there for hours. It was extremely boring. But I was in love with the blond guy on the show, so it was all good.

So, this isn't a helpful post at all! But a fun memory of the 80s.

One episode featured the drummer from The Doors. I've said it before and I'll say it again, there are never enough TV shows with drummers on them. Square Pegs also made a comical visual reference to Citizen Kane. No wonder it only lasted one season. The biggest weakness of the show was the premise. Every week Patty and Lauren aspired to join the popular crowd. It should have been apparent after their first attempt that a). The popular kids would never accept them, and that, b). Hanging out with Johnny Slash was way more cooler because he knew the drummer from The Doors. One final note: I thought SJP did well at finding her inner nerd.