Square Pegs - The Complete Series

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Square Pegs - The Complete Series

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Square Pegs follows the hilarious misadventures of Patty (Sarah Jessica Parker, TV's Sex and the City) and Lauren (Amy Linker), two freshmen girls desperate to fit in at Weemawee High School. Befriended by oddball characters Marshall (John Femia), a budding comedian, and Johnny Slash (Merritt Butrick), a wacky new-waver, Patty and Lauren still hope to impress the popular kids: valley girl Jennifer (Tracy Nelson), her tough boyfriend Vinnie (Jon Caliri), and their sassy friend LaDonna (Claudette Wells). And it would "behoove us" to not forget Muffy (Jami Gertz), the ever-peppy preppie!

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Square Pegs was in a class by itself, but much like brainy, bespectacled Patty (Sarah Jessica Parker) and pushy, overweight Lauren (Amy Linker), popularity eluded this late, lamented series, which was expelled from prime time after one season. Rarely seen in syndication, its cult cachet has only increased with time (enhanced by Parker’s extreme makeover into Sex and the City’s trend-setting Carrie Bradshaw). In the words of peppy, preppy Muffy Tepperman (a spirited Jami Gertz in her own career-launching role), it behooves us to report that the series lives up to its rep as a smart and hip alternative to what creator Anne Beatts (in one of the newly filmed interviews with the show’s creators and cast included on each disc) calls "processed cheese television" of the day. Square Pegs was a totally different head; totally. Anticipating 16 Candles and Freaks and Geeks, Square Pegs viewed high school from the perspective of the bottom of the high-school social food chain. Patty and Lauren are freshmen at Weemawee High School. Lauren has it "all psyched out": If the girls can click with the right clique, they will at last have "a social life that’s worthy of us." Alas, it is not to be. The girls instantly run afoul of the school’s reigning Mean Girl, Jennifer (Tracy Nelson), her bad boy boyfriend, Vinnie (Jon Caliri), and her sassy best friend, LaDonna (Claudette Welles). "La Donna doesn’t like anything I do," Patty wails, "and I don’t do anything." They are also treated with disdain by Muffy, who seems to have the run of the school to rally students around sponsoring a "Guatemalan child" (they need swimwear, too). Patty and Lauren reluctantly bond with fellow square peggers Marshall Blechtman (John Fernia), an aspiring comedian always ready with a <>Saturday Night Live or Monty Python reference, and the "laid back and left back" Johnny Slash (the late Merritt Butrick), who’s New Wave, and not punk. (New Wave, he explains, is "a totally different head; totally").

Each episode brings some new fresh hell for Patty and Lauren, but also some hope that their fortunes will somehow change and their stock will rise (in the pilot episode, Patty impresses a "stone fox" upperclassman, and in another, she's Vinnie's leading lady in the Chorus Line-inspired school musical, "A Cafeteria Line"). Until then, cup size may trump IQ, but friendship will trump popularity. Weemawee High School appears to be based in New York, but everything else about the show is totally Los Angeles, from, like, Jennifer’s Valley Girl-speak to an appearance in one episode by Steve Sax and the Dodgers. The laugh track is as lame and half-hearted as the one employed by SCTV, but the show’s left of center spirit shines through. Two standout episodes feature, respectively, Bill Murray (Beatts’ former National Lampoon and <>SNL colleague) as an unorthodox substitute teacher, and Devo, who performs at Muffy’s New Wave Bat Mitzvah. And that’s Wally Cleaver himself, Tony Dow, as Patty’s estranged divorced father in what passes as a Very Special two-part holiday episode. Square Pegs is totally '80s (in one episode, Marshall's Pac-Man addiction can only be cured by an intervention by Don Novello’s Father Guido Sarducci), but the Waitress’s indelible theme song ("I’d like it if they like us/But I don’t think they like us") sets just the right pathetic/persevering tone that will resonate for a new generation for whom "one size does not fit all." --Donald Liebenson

Customer Reviews:

Rating:
Date: 2008-06-29
about time
MY DAD HADE TAPES OF THIS SHOW AND I'VE WATCHED THEM HUNDREDS OF TIMES. AFTER ALMOST 25 YEARS (I'M 23) IT'S HERE ON DVD. so us fans get what we have been waiting for. and now new fans can come about.

Rating:
Date: 2008-06-27
NOT AS SQUARE TODAY
One of the great things about DVDs has been the release of past television shows that were once favorites or new cult hits. Having the chance to watch Columbo ruminate over the clues that have been present for all to see or watching the stranded cast of LOST was so much easier being able to stop and start without fear of missing a few seconds.

Then again, some of the shows chosen have left a lot to be desired. There have been numerous occasions where childhood memories were crushed as we watched shows that were not near the hilarious fun fests we remembered them as. Such is the case with SQUARE PEGS: THE COMPLETE SERIES.

This series from the eighties followed the misadventures of Patty (a young Sarah Jessica Parker) and Lauren (Amy Linker), two freshmen at Weemawee High School whose main goal seems to be trying to fit in. Not only do they want to fit in, they want to be part of the IN crowd. But the chances of that were slim to none.

Though it sounds like a nice premise for a series, it fails on so many levels. Which is stunning because I recalled this as one of those shows that was a must see and has developed a cult status since its departure. The biggest problem? It relies far too much on stereotypes. While this may make it easy to keep the characters separate, it also makes for a boring show week to week.

First off is the school stuck up snooty valley girl Jennifer (Tracy Nelson). As portrayed here we here the phrase "like..." so often that you can almost program your watch with how many seconds until it's said again. Her boyfriend is another stereotype held over from both HAPPY DAYS and WELCOME BACK KOTTER. Vinnie Jon Calilri) is the leather jacket wearing Italian stud who spills over with juvenile delinquency.

The two friends the girls do make are also cardboard cutouts. Marshall (John Femia) is a standup wannabe, the nerdiest of nerds to be found. His partner in crime is Johnny Slash (Merritt Butrick), the male counterpart to Jennifer's valley girl who overuses the phrase "totally" to the point of exhaustion.

Lastly in the cast of characters are LaDonna (Claudette Wells), Jennifer's sassy black girlfriend who seems more like a white girl trying to act black than a black actress could do on her own. The writers really messed this character up. Along with her comes Muffy (Jami Gertz pre-LOST BOYS), the preppy cheer happy school supporter.

Toss these characters into the mix and you get very little to laugh at. Plotlines move from the first school dance to video games to school reporters to radical lifestyles. The most interesting parts are not the stories or the acting involved but the look of the show. Based almost completely on the new wave fashions and catch phrases, the show offers a somewhat skewed historical look at the times. VH-1's "I Love The Eighties" does this better though.

Fans of the show will no doubt be pleased to see its release. Parker fans will probably want to see her in pre-SEX IN THE CITY times. But for most of us, this series seems "totally" lame. It might be fun to show the kids if you grew up then. But other than that it offers little.

Rating:
Date: 2008-06-26
Like totally bringing back memories, totally! : )
Wow, the dvd of this beloved show from my youth has been treated with extreme care,pristine picture and sound, and speaking of sound they captured the sound perfect, where alot of other shows at the time were blaring loud sounds, music riffs, etc etc, this show always had the sound of what school was really like, sometimes loud, but sometimes hollow, like when you are alone on a hall, they captured all that and i think that helped make the show more realistic, it did for me anyways!Packaging is great, as to be expected with Sony, slimline double disc packaging, can't go wrong with that, a huge space saver when you have a ton of dvds!Thank you to the people who put this package together , i just started watching and haven't gotten to the extras yet, and i can't wait!

Rating:
Date: 2008-06-20
Gift for son
I bought this item as a gift for my son. He will definitely love it!

Rating:
Date: 2008-06-16
Bringing Back The Geeky Memories!
I remember loving this show every week when I was like 9 years old! Then it disappeared! Now that I got it on DVD I am loving it all over again! I can't beleive it only lasted one noncomplete season. When I was 9 it felt like an eternity! I wish they had been on for many seasons, becuse it was the coolest show the 80's probably ever gave us!

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