Square Pegs? (1 Viewer)

[Jon Hertzberg]

Caught an episode of this cult 80s sitcom a few years ago on TVLand and was hooked. It looks to be an Embassy title with Columbia involved in distribution--something tells me this is not a good thing.

With all things New Wave '80s being in, I'd think this might have some retro appeal. On top of that, Sarah Jessica Parker is one of the stars. The show is like a proto-Freaks and Geeks and also has a kinship with the films of Wes Anderson. Bill Murray made a guest appearance as did the inimitable Devo.

Sounds like a winner, so where is it?

 

[Ethan Riley]

I'm real surprised they didn't put it out there FIVE YEARS AGO, because they can put Sarah's face on the cover, along with her name.

 

[Jon Hertzberg]

Well, since Gap dropped her, Sex and the City has been over for a couple of years, and her films are not exactly going through the roof, the boat may have been missed. :frowning:

 

[Mark Edward Heuck]

I think it's those dreaded music rights again. "SQUARE PEGS" was very much on the button with featuring the popular artists of the day. The Waitresses sang the theme song, there was a Devo guest episode, and all of that's likely made it very cost-prohibitive to do a DVD release.

It would be so nice if Shout Factory could wrest this away and do a complete set, because they have proven their willingness to spend the extra dollar to preserve TV show music, and it would be a perfect fit with "FREAKS AND GEEKS."

The sad part is that while you could probably get SJP, Anne Beatts, Jami Gertz, and Tracy Nelson to participate, we lost Johnny Slash (actor Merritt Butrick) over a decade ago. He was such a great character. And dare I say it, without him, the show is a totally different head, totally!

 

[pitchman]

Mark, I think you are exactly right. Much like WKRP, there is simply not much point to a Square Pegs release without its original music. As much as I'd LOVE to have this on DVD, if it is issued with replaced songs, I'll take a pass.

 

[Jay_B!]

well, Failure To Launch is doing fine at the box office, and The Family Stone did reasonably well for a depressing "chick flick", so maybe there's another opportunity to cash in on. She's doing much better right now than Jennifer Aniston is doing.

 

[Jon Hertzberg]

That would be great since this takes place in the same milieu that Freaks and Geeks harkens back to. I wouldn't be surprised if Apatow and the others behind that show were quite familiar with Square Pegs.

 

[Joey Gunz]

There's a website that sells Square Pegs DVDs. I think the guy recorded it on VHS tapes and then transferred it to the DVD format. Supposedly he has every episode but the quality varies due to its age and source. I have no interest in buying it from him though. I prefer to have an official version.

 

[Ethan Riley]

There is a MAJOR bootleg site; I will not post a link. They have pretty much all the dvds we whine about on this site...! The quality of those dvds is not therefore, guaranteed. For Square Pegs, I do recall lots and lots of music but who knows at this point. They really should have released it while Sex was still on the air; it would have sold like hot cakes.

 

[Jay_B!]

if it's the site I think you're talking about, the episodes he has are TV Land rips, because he has screencaps of some of the episodes and almost all of them have the TV Land logo on it... so even then they're just syndicated versions

 

[Mikel_Cooperman]

I watched this show when it was originally on and I just didnt really think it was funny. Nowhere near as good as Freaks and Geeks.
The only one I can remember I laughed at was the Bill Murray episode.

 

[Jon Martin]

I don't remember that being the case either. It wasn't as music specific as WKRP. At least I don't remember it that way. And definitely not as bad as FREAKS AND GEEKS.

The Waitresses were in the opener, and I don't think that music rights for them would be that expensive (they were a great band though). DEVO just released a kids album, with children singing their old songs, so I don't think those rights are that bad either.

Shout Factory would be a great company to release this.

 

[Ethan Riley]

Surprise! I'm actually in contact with Anne Beatts. I asked her about Square Pegs on dvd and here's what she had to say:

Everybody asks why Pegs ain't on DVD, there was even "DVD's We're Dyin' For" in Entertainment Weekly. Just can't get Sony off the dime. Maybe it will be eventually. XXX AB

 

[todd s]

Ethan, is Anne still acting? I would be curious to see how she looks now? Still wearing the braces?

 

[Ethan Riley]

Anne Beatts was the creator/producer. She never did much acting. I think you're thinking of Amy Linker, who played Lauren. Amy hasn't acted in 20 years or more, but Anne still writes and teaches.

 

[todd s]

Ethan...Your right. My bad.

I hope her not acting was her choice. If it wasn't you got to wonder how bummed she feels whenever she sees Sarah.

 

[Ethan Riley]

I don't think many women get bummed when they see that mutt, Sarah. HAHAHHAA

 

[Eric Vedowski]

Amy Linker was just on tv this week on the TV Land awards show. She looks good. She was one of the people who guide the presenters & winners off the stage. The other was Tina Yothers from Family Ties.

 

[Claude North]

As I recall, music was featured prominently in the show, albeit in bits and pieces. Marshall was a DJ on the school radio station, so snippets of songs could be heard in those scenes. For some reason, the one that stands out in my mind is "He Could Be the One," by Josie Cotton.

The thing I loved about the show was the "new wave" musical leanings--how refreshing for someone who went to a high school where the only acceptable musical acts were Journey, Foreigner, and Genesis.

 

[Ethan Riley]

I graduated from H.S. in '83...all they listened to was VanHalen and whatever crap heavy metal band was around at the time. The Dungeons & Dragons crowd listened to stuff like Oingo Boingo. Madonna had about 6 months before she became popular. We were listening to Michael Jackson's Thriller a lot, I recall. Really, all I remember from those days was a lot of boom boxes with bad, forgettable heavy metal guitars screeching away. It's a shame because as far as rock goes, the early 80s were probably the weakest era, EVER for that genre.