Ferris Bueller

OK--this was not up to the original movie (which was great)...but how could it be? For what it was (a TV series) it was pretty good. I thought Schlatter was dead on as Ferris--his talking to the audience was well-done and I laughed out loud when he took a chainsaw to a cardboard cutout of Matthew Broderick from the film. And I though Jennifer Aniston was perfect as his obnoxious sister. I seem to be alone in liking this, but I think people are comparing it way too much to the movie. There's no way any TV series could measure up to that. Taken on it own I thought it was a fun TV series.

You can't blame them really. With 'Ferris Bueller' being such a hug film (which it still is to this day) you can't blame TV networks for wanting to exploit that in some way.

This TV series version of the film isn't bad, it just pales heavily in comparison, and everyone playing the main roles sadly isn't as good as their film counterparts.

It was a nice idea, it just didn't work.

Hey I was a kid in 1990 and I don't ever remember this TV series. I remember watching Quantum Leap all the time, plus Home Improvement, Married With Children, and some 80s shows like Cheers and Cosby Show were still on.

My god this looks so cheesy and horrible, even for 1990, and I was a young teenager at the time!! From the clips I've seen, they missed the point of the movie, which was really Cameron's story and how Ferris was trying to help his friend Cameron out of his despair. This TV show seems to be all about a fake super cool kid who dresses like 1984 Miami Vice in 1990, so of course it was going to fail.

Now I do remember Parker Lewis Can't Lose, it was OK and not nearly as cheesy looking as this....still missed the point of the Ferris movie by John Hughes.

With the success of the 1986 film Ferris Bueller's Day Off starring Matthew Broderick, NBC decided to bring the troublesome teenager to the small screen, thus begins Ferris Bueller: The Series.

As said before, Broderick starred as the titular role in the movie, while on the TV series, Charlie Schlatter played him, and does a decent job playing the role, although it's very tough to top Broderick's interpretation.

We also get the schools principal Ed Rooney (Jeffrey Jones in the movie, Richard Riehle in the series), who usually is the butt of Ferris's many pranks, the schools secretary Grace (Edie McClurg in the movie, Judith Kahan in the series), Ferris's best friend Cameron (Alan Ruck in the movie, Brandon Douglas in the series), his girlfriend Sloan (Mia Sara in the movie, Ami Dolenz in the series), his father (Lyman Ward as Tom in the movie, Sam Freed as Bill in the series), his mother (Cindy Pinkett as Katie in the movie, Cristine Rose as Barbara in the series) and his sister Jeannie (the beautiful Jennifer Grey in the movie, a lovely pre-Friends Jennifer Aniston in the series).

The series adaptation of the movie is mostly forgettable and somewhat bland, but its not the worst thing that's been created, as we've gotten much worse before and after this, and most people will probably only remember this series by it having a pre-Friends Jennifer Aniston, who actually is pretty good in the role.

So, unless you don't mind some heavy 90s cheesiness, stick with the movie, and if you really want to watch the series adaptation, watch at your own risk.

The road to you-know-where is paved with good intentions.

And I'm sure there are a lot of producers, directors and so forth who are headed that way after seeing the prime-time terror they have wrought here.

"Ferris Bueller" is a TV version of the everyday high-school life of the lead character from John Hughes' brilliant movie "Ferris Bueller's Day Off". And while the basic idea is good, everything else is completely done wrong.

Schlatter is a lot of the problem. Though he looks appropriately young, he just seems too cocky, too arrogant and too smug as Ferris to appeal the same way as Matthew Broderick did. He manages to begin the ship sinking early.

Not much better are Aniston as his sister, Riehle as Ed Rooney and not even the actors that play his parents, girlfriend or best pal Cameron Frye make as much of an impression as their counterparts did on film.

And then there were the scripts; not half as inventive as the movie; not even cameos by whomever happened to be on the NBC studio back lot that day make much difference. No, even good direction (by Bixby, Lynn, etc) helps.

In the end, the "Ferris Bueller" series didn't even last 13 episodes. What do you know, looks like Ed Rooney got his revenge after all.

No stars. Hardly worth thinking about; unless you just want to get a headache.