Television series
Square Pegs
- Comedy
- Light-hearted
A CBS sitcom about two outsider girls navigating the brutal caste system of early-'80s high school. Created by SNL writer Anne Beatts and built on her own humiliations, it's sharper and meaner than network sitcoms had permission to be—the jokes land hard, the social dynamics feel real, and everyone's hair is magnificent. For anyone who was ever on the wrong side of the cafeteria divide.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you enjoy early-eighties teen comedy that finds its laughs in social climbing and awkward outsider nerves, and you don't mind a show that's a little rough around the edges.
Skip it if you need sharp, fast jokes, since this one runs on warm, goofy sincerity and its pop-music references may feel dated.
What it asks of you: Thirty-minute episodes and only twenty of them, so the commitment stays light and the pace stays quick.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
Freaks and Geeks1999
Set in the early '80s with the same DNA: outsider kids, genuine awkwardness, period music that matters, and a refusal to make unpopular kids cute or safe. Paul Feig's love letter to being left out.
But Cancelled after one season and sometimes feels like it's mourning its own cancellation. Heavy at moments, which is earned but not always comfortable.
My So-Called Life1994
Angela Chase is a different flavor of misfit—introspective instead of comedic—but she's navigating identical territory: the arbitrary cruelty of high school popularity, the search for authenticity, the way one conversation can redraw the entire social map.
But Aired on ABC and got 19 episodes before cancellation. It's a mood piece first and a comedy second. Some will find it precious.
The Wonder Years1988
Same era, same high school nightmare logic, but through a boy's perspective. Kevin Arnold is trying to survive and find meaning; the show's nostalgic narration makes you feel every small humiliation and triumph as real memory.
But More sentimental than *Square Pegs*. The laugh track is present. By season three it gets increasingly schmaltzy about its own past.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Square Pegs
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Wet Hot American Summer2001
Both understand that comedy about social outsiders has to be *mean enough to be true*, and both smuggle genuine affection underneath the barbs.
A comedy that deconstructs the sitcom brain itself—it's a camp movie that loves its characters even while it's deconstructing them, absurdist and warm at once. Same era recreation as *Square Pegs*, same commitment to getting the details right.
But Aggressively silly and willing to break its own fourth wall repeatedly. If you want grounded comedy, this will feel like watching someone have a joke conversation you're not invited into.
More like this (7)
Daria1997
Animated but with identical bite. Daria doesn't try to crack the popular crowd—she observes it from a position of principled refusal. Smart, funny, and genuinely contemptuous of bullshit in ways sitcoms rarely are.
But It's animated, which some people still treat as disqualifying. Deliberately flat affect might read as cold instead of wry.
Popular1999
Brutal high school hierarchy comedy from *Dawson's Creek* producer Ryan Murphy. Two girls forced to share a bed after their parents marry; one popular, one not. The show uses the clash to anatomize how arbitrary status actually is.
But Cancelled after two seasons. Aired on The WB and had that network's particular tonal flightiness. Some episodes sacrifice character for concept.
The Breakfast Club1985
John Hughes' definitive *why we pretend to be one thing* statement. Five kids in Saturday detention, and the movie's whole thesis is that the nerd, the princess, the athlete, and the criminal are all performing the same role: survival.
But Can feel stagey for a film. Hughes is sentimental about his own sensitivity, and the resolution is tidy in ways real life isn't.
Fast Times at Ridgemont High1982
Released the same year as *Square Pegs*, same early-'80s SoCal high school setting. Ensemble comedy that actually captures what school feels like: chaotic, sexual, embarrassing, formative, with no clear hierarchy between stories.
But Dated slang and fashion; some humor is cringe-forward rather than cringe-aware. The girl characters are sometimes thinner than the boy ones.
Sixteen Candles1984
Hughes again, this time following Samantha Baker through a day when everyone forgets her birthday. It's a fairy tale but a *bitter* one—the weirdos get their moment, the social structure bends just barely, and nothing is guaranteed to last.
But Problematic elements aged badly. Some of the humor is dated in the 'uncomfortable' direction, not the 'charming' one.
Welcome Back, Kotter1975
Predates *Square Pegs* and came from a different universe—it's warmer, more traditional sitcom. But Kotter's basement dwellers are still rebels and misfits, still finding dignity in their refusal to be assimilated into the system.
But Very much a '70s sitcom: slower pacing, lighter humor, the laugh track is deafening. Won't feel sharp to modern viewers accustomed to *Square Pegs*' edge.
My Own Private Idaho1991
Both are about kids creating alternative societies because the official ones won't have them. *Square Pegs* is comedy; this is tragedy; both are mourning the same thing.
Gus Van Sant's fever dream about street hustlers and social exile. It sounds nothing like *Square Pegs*—it's formally experimental, tragic, sexual—but it's obsessed with the same thing: how identity is performed when there's no permission to be yourself.
But Very dark, very adult, sexually explicit. Formal experimentation that won't feel like TV comedy comfort food. River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves, but not in action movie mode.
People
Cast
Writing
- Anne BeattsCreator