User Reviews

In 1982, former SNL writer Anne Beatts had created this sitcom for CBS, based on her own high-school experiences. Sarah Jessica Parker and Amy Linker are best friends starting their freshman year in high school, but are caught between cliques. Jami Gertz is also memorable as the snobby cheerleader Muffy Tepperman and Merritt Butrick and John Femia are the two hapless goofballs that Parker and Linker befriend in the process. Unfortunately, CBS didn't fully support this show and was cancelled mid-season, but the show eventually lived on in cable reruns.

SQUARE PEGS was the hippest teen show of the time. Great writing, funny characters, tubular new-wave music and fashions--what was not to like? Something, because the show vanished after one or two seasons. An early vehicle for Sarah Jessica Parker that seems to have garnered a cult following and much acclaim at the time(ROLLING STONE did an article on the show and creator Ann Beatts), it has since slipped into oblivion. Historically, TV shows about teen and high school life have short runs, but why couldn't Nick At Nite do a Teen Weekend or something, run SQUARE PEGS and all the other great teen shows like JAMES AT 15, THE BRONX ZOO, THE MARSHALL CHRONICLES AND FREAKS AND GEEKS, along with old school shows like ROOM 222 and DOBIE GILLIS.

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.

When Square pegs premiered on CBS fall 1982, it was the hippest show on TV. It defined the pains, and joys of teenage life in the early 80's. The show featured the appearances of Bill Murray, The Doors drummer John Densmore, as well as rock groups The Waitress, Devo and others. Even though the show lasted only one season and 19 episodes, it ranked as the top show of the 14-30 age demographics, and was a critics darling, CBS canceled the series after just one year. Why? Network shows had much larger audiences at the time, and overall ratings mattered more than the now coveted younger age demographics. It boasted a dedicated 12 million viewers which a network would now consider a hit. Ask anybody from that era, and they will still remember the show, which aired in repeats for several years in syndication. How many shows get syndicated after a mere 19 episodes? And are fondly remembered 25 years later? Sarah Jessica Parker, Jamie Gertz, and Tracy Nelson all launched their careers here. If the show's ratings were judged on the now advertiser desired younger audience demos, it certainly would have lasted longer as it's fan base was huge(it's ratings far exceeded todays definition of a hit). Thankfully it's now on DVD.

This show is great! I bought the DVD of the show about a few months ago and it has seldom left my DVD player since. I really could watch every episode about ten times in a row, and I have a giant crush on Johnny. He's just so great. In fact, every single lead character, with the exception of Marshall, because he sucks, is fantastic! The Devo episode is particularly great because they sing my favorite song of theirs, and the episode basically focuses around Muffy, who is probably my favorite character. This show is fantastic, and if you really think it's terrible, I just don't understand you. Plus, it has inspired me to bring my Waitresses tape out of retirement.

Square Pegs was one of my favorite TV shows, mostly because it was so off-beat. There were frequent references to the new style of music that was just about to break through to mainstream media at the time the show began. i.e. a bulletin board in one classroom had notices for the "Tom Tom Club" (a real band formed by two members of the Talking Heads) as if it was some organization for building school spirit. And the theme song was written specifically for the show by another unique and fantastic early 80s band, the Waitresses.

Quirky in delivery but right on in concept, the show was far and away ahead of its time. Perhaps the only recent program on TV it can be compared with would be "Malcolm in the Middle". Although not as sophisticated as MITM, and with many silly, sophomoric jokes, those of us who were aware of the changes bubbling below the crusty American cultural landscape of the time sensed that this was the first breaker of the "New Wave".

The characters on the show were about as broad-stroked as they could be, yet the characterizations were unlike anything I'd seen before. Patty and Lauren were two high school freshman desperate to be admitted to the "in" crowd, but were often spared of making fools of themselves like the kids who considered themselves too good for our heroines. It didn't hurt that "the skinny one" was played by a young actress that would go on to fame and fortune in one of the most popular TV series of the upcoming century. And to marry Matthew Broderick! SJP did bring much heart and honesty to this very small role, as did her co-star Amy Linker, and that was part of what endeared the Square Pegs to us.

The only friend the two could count on in the show was played with goofy panache by Merritt Butrick. The actor managed to stretch his career out through the end of the decade (and possibly longer; the last I remember seeing him was on Hollywood Squares, probably in the 90s), but his portrayal of the eccentric yet somehow cool Johnny Slash landed him the short-lived program's one catch phrase, "Totally."

More success would come to the actresses who played "the pretty one" (Tracy Nelson, who went on to star in "Father Dowling Mysteries", and is still acting today); and the incredibly uptight and driven one with the unforgettable name of Muffy Tepperman (Jami Gurtz, the lead actress in a number of movies over the ensuing years and star of the recent hit TV show "Still Standing".)

Rounding out the cast was the working class Italian hunk (Jon Caliri in an updated version of John Travolta's "Welcome Back, Kotter" character of the same name), the always angry black girl (Claudette Wells) and the nerdy schemer with another classic name, Marshall Blechtman (John Femia), who I swear I went to high school with.

In the end the show didn't catch on, but it will always remain a bellwether to the energetic shift in music, fashion and attitude that was the 1980s.

Patty (Sarah Jessica Parker) and Lauren (Amy Linker...what ever became of her?) are desperate to fit in with the cool kids in their school. Every episode is pretty much about their efforts to do so. What makes this memorable is how perfectly it captures the new wave music of the era and the accurate valley girl speak that this only helped spawn. It feels like a show that is trying recreate the era, and then you realize, this WAS the era and it knew enough to capture it then.

It even had Bill Murray and Devo as guest stars. Like, totally, oh my Gawd!

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.

For those of us who remember the golden decade that was the 1980's,then you may remember the short-lived series from the early 1980's starring Sarah Jessica Parker and Jami Gertz. During its run,SQUARE PEGS,was the hippest teen show of its day. Created by former Saturday Night Live writer Anne Beatts(who based the show on her own experiences as a high school student)this show had some great writing,funny and outrageous characters,tubular new wave music and fashions that came out during the height of the MTV generation. So,what is there not to like? This was however an early vehicle for both Sarah Jessica Parker and Jami Gertz who would go on to bigger and better things in their careers,but since the show slipped into oblivion,was never to be heard from again....until 2004 when TV Land resurrected this show from the television graveyard of lost shows and aired it as a marathon. And it hasn't been seen since. Historically,and in perspective,TV shows about teen and high school life have short-life spans. For example shows like "James at 15","The White Shadow","Welcome Back,Kotter","Lucas Tanner", not to mention other great teen shows like "The Bronx Zoo","The Marshall Chronicles","Saved By The Bell","Freaks and Geeks","Boston Public",and "Beverly Hills,90210" were brilliant depictions along with classic shows like "Dobie Gillis","The Patty Duke Show","Room 222", "Mister Novak","The Headmaster","Karen",and "Gidget" along the lines of shows dealing with the subject matter involving teens.

"Square Pegs",premiered on CBS-TV on September 27,1982 and ended its run on March 7,1983 producing 20 episodes. The show during the start of the 1982-1983 season premiered on Monday nights on the network's powerhouse Monday night line-up which included "Newhart","M*A*S*H", "One Day At A Time",and the groundbreaking police drama "Cagney and Lacey"(which replaced "Lou Grant" after six seasons). When it premiered it went opposite the competition alongside the variety-reality series "That's Incredible!"(ABC),and the powerhouse drama "Little House On The Prairie"(NBC). When "Square Pegs" left in 1983,CBS replaced with the action-packed adventure series "Scarecrow and Mrs.King".

Getting back to SQUARE PEGS,the show not only introduced Sarah Jessica Parker and Jami Gertz,but also Tracie Nelson(the daughter of fame actor and rocker Rick Nelson)and Merritt Butrick. The show also broke ground as well that featured high school students playing themselves and also featured teenagers in the leads,and not some twenty or thirtysomething with a Shakespearan accent from the British theater playing a some kid. This was also a series that both some great musical guests like Devo and The Waitresses(who sang the show's theme song). And speaking of guest stars that appeared on this show which included the talent Bill Murray,and the not so talented Steve Sax,Father Guido Sarducci,and some TV legends like Tony Dow(aka Wally from Leave It To Beaver),and Don Grady(aka Robbie from My Three Sons). As you watch the series from the 1982-83 season,this was a show that came out in the midst of the MTV generation along with some of the music,clothing,catch phrases,video games and much more.

I got interested in this show when I happened to catch the TV Land marathon one weekend night, and I've been a fan ever since.

Square Pegs is about two friends, Lauren (Amy Linker) and Patty (Sarah Jessica Parker) who are high school freshman with the ambition of popularity. Except, things never seem to go as planned.

Square Pegs was great because it never got caught up in the oversexed life of horny teenagers (though there are some subtle remarks), so it wasn't soap opera-esque. That's quite a refreshing break from the incessant self-indulgent dramas and sitcoms targeted for today's teenager. But, nor was it commentary on the critical issues facing american teens at the time. It was just a simple, light-hearted show about a bunch of goofy high school kids. And, tough the situations were sometimes dull (such as the episode where Lauren falls in love with the school handyman), Square Pegs was a pretty funny show about an odd assortment of characters.

Plus, how can you go wrong with a show in which both The Waitresses (who performed the theme song) play the Freshman Dance and Devo appear at super-peppy Muffy Tepperman's Barmitzvah?

Given some of the old short-lived crappy television shows that have made it to DVD, I am wondering when the show's makers are going to get smart and put the entire Square Pegs season (it was only on for one season) on DVD and/or VHS?

I thought Freaks and Geeks was a much more accurate portrayal of the kids I knew in high school - Lindsey is the ONLY character I've ever actually felt any kinship toward in any TV show I've ever watched.

I graduated high school in 1979 so was just a few years ahead of the kids in Square Pegs. I didn't watch it when it came out, but I rented it recently thinking it was harmless entertainment for a teen or tween. My daughter had already watched a few episodes when I passed by and realized in horror that almost every other laugh-track explosion was approbation to all the "fat" jokes about a pretty little teen built like a padded toothpick. How many girls watched this show and judged their bodies based on Sarah Jessica Parker and Tracy Nelson? Really. It's sickening to think anyone ever thought that kind of mean-spirited humor was funny or appropriate. That's not quirky - and if you think it's funny, maybe you're not as witty as you imagine yourself to be.

Basically well-acted, but the script is trite and the laugh track makes me want to drill my eardrums out with a skewer - if only I could do that BEFORE the theme song starts up. If I had to choose between a slow agonizing death and watching Square Pegs again, I'd take Square Pegs if they threw in some earplugs. But... I'd have to think it over.

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.

I was watching the pilot and I heard something ... I didn't realize what it was at first. Turned out it was a "laugh track." It seemed to come on at random times, without any particular connection to the dialog at the time.

Imagine you were watching CSI, and the coroner said "I estimate the time of death between 3 and 5 am" and then there was a laugh track.

Was this show funny in 1982? Hard to imagine, seeing as how it is NOT funny today.

Interesting, delightfully weird characters, but it doesn't SEEM to be a comedy (not even a LITTLE funny). I would characterize it as a half-hour drama.

I have to admit it has been fun to see the period music celebrities.

This quirky high school comedy was very popular with the handful who saw it.

Oddly, I always found Jami Gertz to be strangely attractive here as Muffy Tepperman, the quintessential self-centred, bitchy, asinine, somewhat vacuous prima donna of a Jewish princess.

Merritt Butrick played Johnny Slash, the non-conformist anti-hero. We were all very much surprised to see him pop up as Captain Kirk's clean-cut son in "The Wrath of Khan". An incredible transformation that was.

This one always had a good ensemble feel. All of the characters had an appealing screwiness to them which, subjectively, made this show the most realistic high school programme of its day, in its own peculiar way.

Sort of a "Northern Exposure" for the misfit adolescent crowd.

Let me preface this by saying that I was a teen in the 80's when this came out and I loved this show back then. So when I saw the complete box set for $10 at my local DVD place I picked it up and looked forward to some nostalgia.

Two episodes later I turned it off and put the DVD back in the case and haven't touched it since. The show hadn't changed of course but I had. And it's not like I don't like everything I did back then. There are still shows, music and movies that I loved back then that I still enjoy now. Problem is I'm a lot more discerning than I was before.

The show is typical sitcom fare. Two friends, start high school with the plan to be popular. The idea is, as was put in the intro, to click with the right clique and they're in. Problem is, they're not. Cue the wacky characters and the broad stereotypes and we have an ensemble piece.

Maybe some day I'll give it another try but right now, the memories of the show are more enjoyable than the actual show itself.

This show's one season coincided with my freshman year of high school, so I could relate to it big-time. It's a good candidate for resurrection on DVD, in my humble opinion(please, oh please!). I don't remember too much about the actual episodes, just bits and pieces(it's been 21 years since I last saw it). Again, let us all hope that Square Pegs gets released on DVD.

As far as high school shows go, this has to be one of the absolute worst. First of all the show seem to be proud of having characters that are nothing but cliches. The "Hip black girl with dreadlocks" the "Dumb Italian kid named Vinnie" The Valley girl, the Rich snobby girl named "MUFFY", good god I am surprised they didn't have an Asian kid that is the school genius.

This show is truly awful. The two lead girls played by Sarah Jessica Parker and Amy Linker actually give the best performances simply because they are not quite the obvious cliches everybody else seems to be. Oh and Tracy Nelson's Valley girl voice is horrible. She might be one of the worst characters ever on a sitcom.

This show is just dreadful.

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.

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.

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 love Square Pegs the way I love Welcome Back, Kotter or I Dream of Jeannie: for it's kitsch quality. From an easily-spooked new-waver named Johnny Slash, to the bitchy, overly-bubbly pep coordinator Muffi, to Sarah Jessica Parker in one of her earliest roles as an ugly duckling, this show is full of weird and wonderful characters. True, it's hard to believe why two people like the main characters would want to be friends with the catty popular girls, but we get the feeling the show was asking itself that same question. Anyone who loves the '80s as much as I do would love this show. A theme song by The Waitresses, an appearance by Devo, over-the-top legwarmer and skinny tie costumes worn by everyone; what's not to like?

I couldn't believe it when I watched Sarah Jessica Parker "Inside the Actor's Studio" recently. James "Mr. Blue Cards" Lipton didn't mention this TV series AT ALL. I remember this so well, and couldn't believe it when I looked it up and it only lasted one season. It started it all for Sarah Jessica Parker. I'll always remember her as "the girl from 'Square Pegs'".

Anne Beatts, the only female editor of the National Lampoon in the '70s and an original writer for "Saturday Night Live," created the Nerds (Lisa & Todd) for Gilda Radner, Bill Murray, & Jane Curtin (as Mrs. Loopner). After leaving "SNL" after five years (in 1980), she took the nerds concept and extended it, creating "Square Pegs," a comedy about social misfits in high school. Sound familiar? That's right, "Freaks & Geeks" is NOT that original, it's merely an updating of this short-lived program. What also differentiates the two is that "Square Pegs" was more of a straight comedy, whereas "Freaks" is a "drama-dey" (an excuse for it to be not as funny as "Pegs"). Plus, "Pegs" gave us Sarah Jessica Parker playing a wallflower years before she would become known as an ingenue. The show wasn't brilliant, but it was pretty good and VERY '80s. The fact that "Freaks" is also set in the '80s is further proof of "Pegs" influence.