|
Always Never Quite Right - Square Pegs DVD is Totally New Wave
By Alyson Novak
.gif)
An old favorite TV show of mine was put on DVD and released just a
few weeks ago. It’s the campy and kitschy new wave series from
1982-83 called Square Pegs. Maybe you saw it then on CBS, or maybe,
like me, you saw it at 1:00am on Nick at Night when they were
running the really obscure stuff. Anyway, if you didn’t get to see
any of this show, give it a whirl. It’s great.
Square Pegs follows two very nerdy freshmen, Patty Greene (Sarah
Jessica Parker, before she was the infamous sex columnist Carrie
Bradshaw) and Lauren Hutchinson on their quest for popularity at
Weemawee High School, hoping to “click with the right clique”. Patty
is small and bookish behind huge coke-bottle glasses, and Lauren is
the chunky girl with braces who always has a snack in her hand.
They’re cute on TV, but in real life, you would have pitied them for
all their starry-eyed love of the popular kids and their desperation
to keep up with the trends.
The series was created and written by SNL writer Anne Beatts,
who sort of turned the typical high school sitcom on its ear by
showing that teens are awkward and gawky at every stage of
popularity. Even the popular kids didn’t have it all together;
everyone was worried about keeping their status, or climbing, like
we all did in high school. I feel like the writing, while pleasantly
cheesy, was perfect for the show, and the time.
What really set Square Pegs apart, though, was the use of music in
the show. It was, like, totally new wave, and it was totally cool.
The first episode features The Waitresses at the first dance
of the year at Weemawee High. They start out with their big hit, “I
Know What Boys Like” with Patty Donahue’s cheeky vocals; it then
goes into them performing the song that they wrote for the series,
creatively titled “Square Pegs”. That song goes on to be the title
song, and plays over the credits. It’s infectiously catchy, believe
me. It’s been in my head for weeks.
In another episode, Devo plays at peppy, preppy Muffy
Tepperman’s (a hilarious turn by Jami Gertz) Bar Mitzvah,
which Lauren and Patty had to do some serious maneuvering to attend.
In all their super weird glory, they perform “That’s Good” (which is
possibly the whole point of the show all rolled up into one
song……..I wonder if they planned it that way).
So
there you go…..the music, the writing, the cuteness of high school
antics. Square Pegs will fit in on your DVD shelf quite nicely.
|
