I just plowed through a few episodes of Square Pegs for the first time in 30 years, and while the nostalgia trip back to '82 was fun, and the music performances were nice (Patty Donahue RIP), the episodes were pretty bland. I watched the pilot with The Waitresses, the Devo episode, Muffy's Bat Mitzvah episode, and the ones with Bill Murray and Steve Sax. I think I laughed all of once, and that was when Dena Dietrich ("Mother Nature" from those 70's margarine commercials, who I hadn't seen or thought about in years, but she was instantly recognizable) showed up and started hitting on Johnny Slash.
The show was considered somewhat hip back in its day, with Sarah Jessica Parker and Amy Linker playing freshmen geeks who really wanted to be more popular. And the SoCal "dude-speak" of the early 80's was just getting going and featured here, with Sean Penn's Spicoli from Fast Times and Moon Zappa ranting on her dad's album cut "Valley Girl" the forerunners of the Square Pegs' writers jumping in with Tracy Nelson's one-note "gag-me-with-a-spoon" character. But it was all for naught. Paul Feig's Freaks and Geeks from '99 really blew Square Pegs away with 3 freshman boys trying to survive in the early 80's, and F&G featured way more laugh-out-loud dark humor, without a creepy laugh-track to unfunny lines bringing it down.
The interviews on the extras were OK (shot in 2008), but don't waste your time unless you really want to see what John Femia and/or Claudette Wells are up to these days.
The show was considered somewhat hip back in its day, with Sarah Jessica Parker and Amy Linker playing freshmen geeks who really wanted to be more popular. And the SoCal "dude-speak" of the early 80's was just getting going and featured here, with Sean Penn's Spicoli from Fast Times and Moon Zappa ranting on her dad's album cut "Valley Girl" the forerunners of the Square Pegs' writers jumping in with Tracy Nelson's one-note "gag-me-with-a-spoon" character. But it was all for naught. Paul Feig's Freaks and Geeks from '99 really blew Square Pegs away with 3 freshman boys trying to survive in the early 80's, and F&G featured way more laugh-out-loud dark humor, without a creepy laugh-track to unfunny lines bringing it down.
The interviews on the extras were OK (shot in 2008), but don't waste your time unless you really want to see what John Femia and/or Claudette Wells are up to these days.