Popular

I remember early in the year 2000 listening to a local AM Talk Radio Station in Los Angeles (I believe it was Phil Hendrie). The topic of the hour was "What's your favorite TV Show currently on the air?" For the next hour I heard a lot of references to two shows: "Malcolm in the Middle" and this other show, "Popular." I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I had already seen "Malcolm" and knew it was hilarious. But what about "Popular?"

The commercials made it look like a typical weekly teeny-bop High School show, a la "Saved By The Bell," but in Prime-Time (lest we forget Zach did go to college in the evenings though). The amount of praise I heard for "Popular" made me check it out.

The advertisements were wrong.

What I found in this show was a sleek, hilarious, dramatic, clever, filled to the brim with 80's references show not about kids in High School today (circa 1999-2000), but if kids from my generation were to go to High School today (yes, I went to High School in the 80's).

I think the failure of "Popular" was the advertising I referred to earlier for the show...it was going after kids in high school for ratings. But the show was made for (I feel) an entirely different generation. If only the ones it was made for had watched....it would probably still be on.

This is one of the few programs I have ever seen that managed to balance outright slapstick comedy with serious drama...and it did it so well in my opinion that I seriously mourned the loss of the show when it was canceled.

My favorite Season Two moments -

1) Mary Cherry's (Leslie Grossman) audition for judges, including Jim J. Bullock (way before "American Idol" became a household name). "Rock Me Amadeus, by FALCO!"

2) Nicole Julian's (Tammy Lynn Michaels) "rise" to Class President (one of the most clever and complex episodes ever written for television -- flat-out incredible comedy).

3) Every scene with Michelle Phillips ("Abra-abra-cadabra!!!!").

4) The "Gay" episode about Bobbi Glass (Diane Delano) - it gave me chills and again proved how the writers were almost magically able to juggle comedy and drama every week.

The casting of the show was simply brilliant. Everyone did an incredible job and I am pleased to see several of the cast riding other roads to fame as of 2008 (Christopher Gorham on "Jake 2.0" and then the successful "Ugly Betty").

The only thing I can pray for at this point are either reruns (Lifetime or Oxygen I'm guessing...but maybe Comedy Central?) or, *gasp* -- A DVD Release. Then a lot more people can have a chance to see a show that I firmly believe should have been "Popular."

*EDIT* Both Seasons are on DVD now. There really IS a God!

My personal thanks to the callers of that Los Angeles AM Talk Radio Program who touted the praises of this show. You got it right, and I'm glad I saw of it what I did.

"Popular" has to be one of the most clever series to be developed in recent years. To those who think it's an unrealistic depiction life, you need to look deeper. I highly doubt anyone in high school ever depended on constant popularity polls to the degree that the people on this show do, or had "ghettofabulous" limousines, or had former prom queens sabotage the prom votes, etc. This show exaggerates those petty aspects of high school life in order to expose them for what they are: petty! It exaggerates popularity contests, it exaggerates materialism. In doing so, one realizes how silly those things were. It's brilliant. Not to mention that the situations are well-written, the dialogue is crisp and fresh, and the acting is perfect. But aside from the exaggeration and the camp, the show also touches on some serious aspects with a refreshing sincerity that comes off much more realistic than on other, more "serious" shows. This is definitely not a teen series. It is an adult series dealing with teenage situations.

This is one of the few TV shows I can think of that was always consistent during its time on-air. There was a great ensemble cast who never failed to entertain week after week and could perform both comedy and drama to a high standard. The writers managed to bring out every emotion. A great example is the episode 'Ch-Ch-Changes' (#118) about a male teacher going about a sex change. The first half of the show was extremely funny, but then it seamlessly changed in tone to be about discrimination and had an ending that couldn't help but leave a tear in your eye. Despite some great dramatic storylines the show never took itself too seriously, and characters like Nicole and Mary Cherry were always around to provide some light relief. The show has been sorely missed since its cancellation.

Yeah, this show is good, but the reason it got discontinued right after season 2 in the wrong time because of the bad relation between former WB network president Jamie Kellner and the entire WB network station.

This show was favored by the entire WB network station, but not by Jamie Kellner. Jamie is both an ableist and an ageist and that's why he messed up this show's entire second season and that led to this show's discontinuation.

This show may need to be rebooted and aired in a low public type of cable network station, so it can last beyond 3 or more seasons without problems.

Popular is best described as a dramedy, for its 43 episodes it both had its bittersweet moments ones that made you cry to it's repulsive laugh out loud black comedy moments which made us die with laughter. Popular dealt with the issue we all face in high school the divide between the popular people and the unpopular people and for once it shows us that those people arent losers as they were in other stereotypical teen dramas. The cast were first class, the leads were good choices as they did seem like representable teenage girls. Plus the fact that Sara rue (perharps one of the best actresses on the show) represented fat people like me without any difficulty because shewas so honest with the role. I've read on here that people think this season made fun at delicate issues. That is not true it did indeed show that they were done in a new light. not with the same softpading done with other shows. Honest Brutal and touching. Popular dealt with issues truthfully the way we have to in the world and in the world it shows us not everything is peachy. Plus we finally got funny moments admist the sadness which took away the depressing parts of the show. So for all the cast the top acting skills which i plan to continue enjoying i enjoyed after last moments of brooke and co and sam and co as it was good to see something other than stereotypical rubbish when popular broke the boundraries of our modern society