[shaved_women]

I may be 23 years old, but I love high school dramas with an alternative bent on the "bad kids" or "the losers" - mainly because those have always been my friends and I relate to these types of shows.

Sadly, I know of only three series that really fulfill these criteria.....Freaks and Geeks, My So-Called Life, and Square Pegs (love the theme song by the Waitresses!)

Does anyone else like these sort of shows? Or know of any ones I might have missed out on?

p.s. I know for certain, I wouldn't have wanted to relive high school again.....vive le college

 

[pear_girl]

Love Freaks and Geeks and My So Called Life! Saw Square Pegs long time ago but really need to download them and watch again

How about Fifteen? haha I loved that crap and even funnier seeing Ryan Reynolds in it as a preteen.

Hmmm let's see cannot think of too many shows what about movies? Pump up the Volume and Heathers were faves of mine

 

[shaved_women]

Ooh.....Heathers was great.....never heard of Pump up the Volume.

Fifteen.....oh man, Nickelodeon used to be so great.....Welcome Freshmen, Hey Dude, Clarissa Explains It All, Pete & Pete, Salute Your Shorts......to be honest, I never watched Fifteen. Maybe they have DVD sets of it?

 

[Texaspice]

Heathers

What about DeGrassi Jr High? That show was full of loser and freaks - and I was addicted to it! I think there are new ones but I only watched the original episodes.

(Pump up the Volume is great - check it out)

 

[Spidergrrl]

I liked James at 15 (it showed in the 70s) and I loved Degrassi Jr High!!!!!!!!!!!! It was to me the most real of all the shows out at that time. I remember when Spike was pregnant --it was handled really well. And not just for an episode but for the rest of the show as the baby was born and how she coped with school and being a mom. I really dug Spike's hair. I tried to get my hair to do that.

I also liked My So Called Life--another that I think captured a more true experience. This was very much like my life in high school with the party girl friend with permissive parents and being stuck in the middle. And the gay friend. My first true love was bi and wore makeup (and women's undies--later came out as a tv) but he was lovely and gentle and and an artist and a poet and suffered greatly at the hands of the masses. He is sadly dead of AIDS now. But I found the characters and situations rang true. and her aweful dye jobs. My hair was like that (and so were my parents reactions)

 

[Aimra]

This is kinda like a "guilty pleasures" thread.

I too have watched many of these shows. All that old stuff from Nickelodeon is awesome. I also loved Saved By The Bell and 7th Heaven.

I guess Lizzie McGuire is kinda like them and I have found myself watching a few episodes here and there.

 

[IamJen]

Another Heathers fan.

I can't think of any other TV series off the top of my head.

Freaks and Geeks was fantastic. I still can't believe the NBC execs couldn't see it.

It's not in the same category at all, but I used to dig Party of Five (I know, I know). It was my guilty pleasure show for a good while...something with absolutely no redeeming artistic or social value.

 

[Obladiblada]

Does The Wonder Years meet those criteria? I loved that show.

 

[Spidergrrl]

Oh I forgot about the Wonder Years. I loved that.

I too like Heathers...............however, being a Heather myself I hated that my beautiful name (which was very original in 1969 when I was born) was now the name of all the bitchy cheerleader types at my school. There were 4 heathers 3-4 years younger than me who were all total twats. I was always more like Veronica (except I didn't kill people)

 

[shaved_women]

Wonder Years was great! I hated the brother though.....such a jerk!

I don't know why NBC cancelled Freaks and Geeks.....maybe because people couldn't win a million dollars from watching it, there was no one eating live snakes, or large explosions.....bah, modern TV.

Even tho I'm a boy, I felt I could really relate to Lindsay (and to a lesser extent Angela) in F+G/MSCL because I used to be a huge geek, and then I started hanging out with the freaks and find it totally hard to relate to my old friends now.

 

[Dirty Martini]

Considering Freaks & Geeks wasn't very popular AND the last aired episode was of Lindsay getting high while she was supposed to babysit, I'm not surprised it got pulled. That said, it is definitely in my top 5 favorite series of all time - one of the best, most well-written series I've ever seen.

Wonderfalls was a little similar, though not quite as good. But I enjoyed it while it was on - which was not very long.

 

[IamJen]

I liked Wonderfalls too! It fell victim to that "'let's move it around to 6 different timeslots" curse though.

I can't believe I forgot about the Wonder Years! It was a most excellent show, indeed (well, at least until the last season).