Popular
Intro
Popular was a teenage dramedy on The WB, created by Ryan Murphy
(Nip/Tuck) and Gina Matthews (What Women Want, Jake 2.0, 13 Going
on 30), starring Leslie Bibb and Carly Pope as two teenage girls
that reside on polar opposite sides of the popularity spectrum at
their high school, but are forced to co-exist when their single
parents randomly meet and get married.
The show ran for two seasons on The WB from 1999 to 2001. Though
the show was a big hit with The WB's teenage audience during its
first year, the ratings could not sustain the network moving it to
Friday nights, despite some outcry from loyal fans. Fans were also
outraged over the rumor that Ryan Murphy had been promised a third
season, which is why he left the final episode of the series on a
cliffhanger, never to be resolved.
Plot synopsis
Sam McPherson and Brooke McQueen, high school students at
Jacqueline Kennedy High School, are opposites. Brooke is a popular
cheerleader, and Sam is an unpopular journalist. Their respective
gangs are forced to socialize when Brooke's father and Sam's mother
get engaged.
The plot of the first season revolves around the girls' plan to
separate their parents. At the end of the season, Sam finds
Brooke's real mother and encourages her to come back to town. This
breaks up the engagement. By the second season, Sam and Brooke
realize that their parents were happy together, and therefore team
up to reunite them.
In the second season, a reversal of fortunes of sorts took place
with Brooke resigning from cheerleading to focus on school issues
as a member of the student council and Sam experiencing a surge of
sudden popularity at school. Josh and Lily begin dating regularly,
and Carmen replaces Nicole as the leader of the Glamazons. Harrison
finds himself torn between Sam and Brooke, and Sugar Daddy finds
love with exchange student Exquisite Woo. In the end of the second
season finale — which turned out to be the series finale — Brooke
is run over by an angry Nicole Julian.
Reviews
Despite fitting into a rather common category, as a teen-centered
mix of drama and comedy, Popular differentiated itself from its
peers in its quirky, non sequitur humor and overall satirical
approach to characters and story lines, a feature that would grow
as the series progressed. Such elements included Mary Cherry's
long-lost sister from the ghetto, B. Ho (and even their mother's
name, Cherry Cherry); an occasion where both groups switched hair
colours; Bobbi Glass's lost finger being replaced with a metal one
complete with extendable pointer and knife attachments; and Josh's
work as a window seller. The show also utilized a variety of pop
culture references and nonsensical jokes (for instance, April
Tuna's reference to "getting some frottage" in the hall
closet).
Further info
http://www.tv.com/popular/show/254/summary.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=tabssh&tag=tabs;summary
Video Links
Episode 1
Pt 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2-xTEgpTYQ
Pt 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wj_Fj8o98mY
Pt 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS4hWwIDXV0
Pt 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiOgEQS_HwU
Pt 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Z8SFeA5aaY
More episodes
http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=dawn152&p=r&page=1