Just want to address this: I am not sure if the nose job quips are related to Jennifer Grey's rhinoplastys, which is why I didn't want to comment either way. If it's related to that, then it's mean spirited and *definitely* aligns with the show's humor, and if it's not related, it's STILL mean spirited and weird. Just wanted to put that out there.
I think it's definitely related and insanely mean spirited. It almost seems like this show was made as a middle finger to Hughes, the movie, and everyone in it.
Schlatter was a main character in Diagnosis Murder (a show that lots of Murder, She Wrote fans might like). Incidentally, the actor who plays the "lawyer" in the pilot was the main antagonist in DM's season 4 episode "Murder Can Be Murder."
That show is horrible in every way, except the two pretty girls, haha. Normally the main character talking to the audience is a really fun and rare thing in TV and movies that I enjoy.
@@encycl07pedia- I watched that show all the time with my mother when I was a kid! It would be great if PUR did a video on it. Definitely up her alley.
That's because you have. There were more genuine laughs in this 15 minute video than in the multiple episodes of the Ferris Bueller show that I watched when it aired.
I vaguely remember when this aired. I loved the movie and wrongly thought it would be good. The first episode was more than 12 year old me needed to see.
This show proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that Matthew Broderick's natural charisma was the only reason Ferris Bueller wasn't considered a complete douche nozzle.
I would not call Mathew Broderick charismatic... I do not like Broderick as an actor. Everything seems ... overstaged... like he's trying too hard to play to the cheap seats and everything is overblown and disingenuous. Nothing is sincere, and I do not engage with people like that.
The network : Wow this show is an utter failure! Showrunners : Hey not everything about it failed! I think we really established a strong sexual chemistry between Ferris and his mom and sister!
For what it's worth, I remember the "Parker Lewis Can't Lose" show as being actually somewhat funny, subversive, and often veering into Bugs-Bunny style logic. Basically, it was not afraid to go over the top and try weird things, unlike the Ferris Bueller show which was staid sitcom pablum.
Plus it had some really awesome cinematography if memory serves. It wasn't afraid to be a cartoon. Then again, it only lasted three years before it got cancelled as well. I suppose the irony of Ferris Bueller or any homage is that outside of that one big day their lives are kinda basic.
@@CinemaBiohazard Realistically, his younger sister was a freshman in the first season, so three years was about all they were going to be able to squeeze out of it without it becoming Parker Lewis: the College Years.
At least they tried to make some of the regular cast antagonists likeable. Kubiak the stereotypical dumb jock bully has some sort of moral compass to do good, even the principal who had the rule with an iron fist schtick, but not a buffoon. How the hell did Parker Lewis had every ticket for Depeche Mode in the West Coast.
Parker Lewis also beat out Edward Furlong’s John Connor in the “white teen with inexplicable Public Enemy swag” category by ten months. Funny, I never saw FB, but I distinctly remember that horrible theme song. Meanwhile, PLCL was can’t-miss TV for me, at least in the first two seasons. Things got a little too normal in the final season, and I hated the coach character.
"None of the original characters reprised their role..." THAT is a perfect way to slam the show! So, that's a different set of characters with coincidentally the same names - weird! ALSO: Santa Monica's galleries don't hold a painting of a candle to Chicago.
TV shows based on movies but with new actors can definitely work though: MASH is the perfect example. And Weird Science was funny. So not a perfect slam.
In fairness, the cast of the _Parker Lewis_ television series has solicited less child pornography and killed fewer Irish women than the film's cast has.
@@davidlevy706 So he was driving on the wrong (right) side of the road. Very common mistake by Americans. An accident. You need to quit reading the crazy side of YT if you seriously think Matthew Broderick is a bad guy
@@lazyhomebody1356 I'm not implying that it was anything other than a tragic accident. I do, however, find it outrageous that Broderick got off with a $175 fine.
Before watching: How did I not know this was a thing?! After watching: Thank god I didn't know this was a thing! And thank you for condensing it all in to a delightful video so I never have to watch the actual show.
It seems like the people who made the Ferris Bueller TV show hated the movie, John Hughes, and Ferris Bueller. If their plan was to make the character completely unlikable, mission accomplished!
Honestly the original character had a lot of potentially unlikeable qualities, abusing Cameron and such, but the framing and acting helped smooth it out. The series...didn't do that.
@@JohnDCrafton Yes he is, but it also helped the movie that Matthew Broderick, and Alan Ruck who played Cameron were already good friends in real life doing broadway style plays so they were able to play off each other so well that it just felt natural because it was for them.
I fail to see how the attempted TV version of *Coming to America* would’ve been worse other than taking Tommy Davidson off of *In Living Color.* It, too, would have been inferior to the source material but at least would not have unleashed anybody toxic upon the world.
@@JohnDCrafton all the qualities that made him wrong for the role of Alex P. Keaton on *Family Ties* made him right for this part. That’s why they showed that movie on NBC after the last episode of that show. It must have gotten really good ratings which is what made them think they could get those kind of ratings every week with the TV series. This was also they after they failed to make hits out of TV shows based on the movies *Nothing in Common* and *Baby Boom.*
Fun fact. Parker Lewis Can’t Lose premiered one month AFTER the premiere of the Ferris Bueller tv show. One show was a grand contribution to teenagers everywhere. The other made us wretch. 🐾
The big difference is that Parker Lewis Can't Lose was actually funny, with interesting characters, intentionally ridiculous plots, and a "screw reality, this is a living cartoon" approach that worked really well. And it never tried to hide that it was an homage to Ferris Bueller's Day Off -- in fact, I think the whole reason NBC rushed through the Ferris Bueller show is that they were upset Fox was cashing in on the "Ferris" vibe so well.
I would like to formally apologize to Ferris Bueller's Day Off. I've never liked that movie because I found the main character objectionable and irritating, and I did not see the appeal. I now see what this movie could have been, and am now reexamining it. My DEEPEST apologies, I didn't know how good I had it.
Parker Lewis was the superior show of the two. When Ferris was announced I was super stoked as I was a huge fan of the movie, but I couldn’t get through the pilot episode. When I switched channels PLCL was on and was instantly hooked. The first season is pretty good (in an early 90s sitcom way) but the quality fell off afterwards. It even poked fun at FBs cancelation at the end of an episode. After the main characters finish their shenanigans, you see two dark silhouettes watching in a theater. One of which says to the other, “Wow Ferris. So that’s how you do it.” Talk about throwing shade.
Whenever the boys in PLCL were planning a scheme Parker would say "Synchronize Swatches," which amused me for its 1980's cynicism. The phrase still is on the tip of my tongue all these decades later.
I loved PLCL, it's been a hot minute since I saw the show, not sure how well it still holds up cuz it was almost a live action cartoon at times which I think was part of it's appeal as the characters all try to navigate through life and trials and tribulations while trying to solve problems and help others in a manner that achieves 'coolness'.
Item of note for the time is that his “lawyer” was actor Alan Rachins playing himself, who is hired by Ferris to play his attorney. Rachins was at the time a core cast member of tv juggernaut LA Law, so the near meta joke was a pretty big swing here. Also, the 40 year old teen mentioned was, I believe, comedian and future tv star Christopher Titus.
Omg. I was one of the twelve people to watch this show when it first aired (the pilot at least). I remember being very excited because I loved the John Hughes movie but also I recognized the main actor from a (historically inaccurate) movie about Elvis called "Heartbreak Hotel" that my family watched like a million times... I must have been about 10 when I watched the pilot of Ferris Bueller and even I, with my total lack of discernment at the time, could tell the TV show sucked. ...glad you mentioned Parker Lewis because that's all I could think of during your review... A WAY better show!
I gave the Ferris Bueller TV a shot, but I was a huge Parker Lewis kid. It was like the middle child between Saved by the Bell and Malcolm in the Middle. SYNCHRONIZE SWATCHES!
I misremembered this series as coming after Parker Lewis Can't Lose especially since the title of one episode is clearly an attempt to mock that show: Ferris Bueller Can't Win
Parker Lewis Can’t Loose is a forgotten gem and one of my favorite shows of all times. It was way ahead of its time in terms of fast pace editing and off-kilter cinematography and inspired Malcom in the Middle, Scrubs, and therefore countless other shows after it.
Me, three seconds in: Is that Rachael Friends? What??? Me, sixteen seconds in: They green screened him walking out a door? They couldn't find "a house"? Bonkers indeed. I was today years old when I learned Micky Dolenz had a daughter that's been an actress for like thirty years.
I'm old enough I saw Dolenz as Circus Boy .. But I preffered the elephant .. 'Daughters' ?.. No .. I assumed he was like the Three Stooges, except singular .. TgT
i have to say.... J'ADORE the way they acknowledged the source material here. like, itd be such a good way for an adaptation to explain its differences if only it was in a good adaptation 😩
I watched the first episode when it aired, and thought it was sooo bad and off-putting. Like, immediately, Then a few years later when I saw Jennifer Anniston on Friends, and absolutely recognized her, I thought "Oh hey, good for her." Kinda like seeing Scott Bakula on Quantum Leap after he was in so many bad, failed shows.
I'm so confused looking at this Ferris Bueller. Here's this preppy looking blonde kid in a light blue button down and khaki pants looking like an accountant and his room is all Sisters of Mercy and Cabaret Voltaire posters. How tf did the set decorators see him as having any goth kid interests? SO weird. Everything is just...off.
There was an earlier version of this basic formula circa 1987 called The New Adventures of Beans Baxter, also on Fox. It was written and directed by Savage Steve Holland of "Better Off Dead" and "One Crazy Summer" fame (and later, Eek! The Cat). His buddy Dee Snider was in an episode, naturally. Things got... weird.
Great video. I saw this show when it initially aired. I can remember, at the time, thinking that "Parker Lewis Can't Lose" was a dumber, cheaper version of "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" and that the "Ferris Bueller" TV show was a dumber, cheaper version of Parker Lewis. It baffled my mind, even as a kid, how somebody could think that this warmed over corpse of Ferris Bueller would ever be popular.
*MASH, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,* and *Cooley High* were all adapted into successful sitcoms despite being bowdlerized for network television. If Linda Lavin could follow Ellen Burstyn’s footsteps for nine seasons, and Alan Alda could do the same for Donald Sutherland for even longer, then what’s this show’s excuse? What makes it all the more ironic is that Matthew Broderick went on to do some truly terrible remakes. Just as there is no Ferris Bueller but him, there is no Inspector Gadget but Don Adams. He also stunk up a Music Man remake that no one asked for except the same Disney shills who made excuses for those shitty remakes of Annie and South Pacific. If I have to suffer from bad TV-related PTSD, so does everybody else.
@@CinemaBiohazard Exactly. While I may love the movie "Ferris Beuller's Day Off", why in the hell would I want to see a sitcom based around an already at that time 4 year old movie? Sure, the movie is a classic, but why try and make it into something it's not? The way the guy playing "Ferris" says it, it makes it seem like "Ferris Beuller's Day Off" was supposedly a mockumentary or documentary about this random douche who's not good enough to carry a show by himself and makes the character we liked from the movie seem like an unlikable, arrogant, manipulative, egocentric douche, who only uses the people around him, which is the exact OPPOSITE of how Ferris was in the movie. I mean, did anybody ask for a TV show of this, or anything else relating to Ferris Beuller's Day Off after the movie? No. The movie was about a cool kid, his girlfriend, and best friend all taking a day off together, and taking a tour of the city; and doing whatever they felt like. Not sure how a sitcom of this same premise could work, but it proved that it could work for a movie. But this was 4 years after said movie. The movie wasn't in theaters anymore, it was on vhs or something by then, so why even bother with a sitcom? You may as well have made a sequel to the movie. While I still like the movie, it doesn't sound like a compelling TV show at all; and could've tried to prove us wrong, but it didn't, and failed. The end. P.S., the theme song is laughably obnoxious.
I always assumed Parker Lewis Can't Lose was supposes to be the TV spinoff of Feris Beuler, and they just had some weird copywrite problems that forced them to change the name and juggle the characters. I thought I was getting Mandela Effected when I saw that there was a literal Feris Beuler show lol
Parker Lewis was one of those Fox shows you knew was Fox simply by watching it. That time period that spawned stuff like Herman's Head! Kinda like USA shows. You could just TELL they were USA Network shows. Even when they reran things like Parker Lewis they just felt like USA Network shows. I kinda miss that late 80s, early 90s feel that certain networks had. Their programming was so random yet at the same time felt unified in it's own universe. The Bundy's lived in the same universe as Martin and 21 Jump Street.
"Parker Lewis was one of those Fox shows you knew was Fox simply by watching it." That is a really good way of putting it. My wife is 5 years younger than me and grew up with no TV in her house, so I sometimes have to pull up video clips online to prove to her that some of the weird stuff I watched as a teenager on Fox really did exist.
@@edvaira6891 They never once mentioned Ferris Bueller in this comment. This is kind of like yelling “water is wet”, we know but this person wasn’t talking about water! lol
Parker Lewis can't lose was definitely the superior show. I found torrents of it back in 2011 to give it a rewatch as an adult.... Still a funny and entertaining show. I really hope it makes it to streaming one day.
I very vaguely remember when the show first aired and even then there were comparisons of how similar it was to Parker Lewis Can't Lose since they both premiered like a week apart. Obviously, Parker Lewis was the better show and went on for three seasons, while Ferris Bueller was promptly forgotten until people on UA-cam dug up its corpse. I'd love to see you cover Parker Lewis, hell the small clips you showed of it were better than the entirety of the Ferris Bueller series and its definitely a show that deserves to be rediscovered.
I re-watched few episodes quite recently and though I was no longer laughing out loud (I chuckled once or twice) as I did when watching the show those 25 years ago, I was still able to relate and understand why PLCL was so good for a 13yo me.
yeah, Parker Lewis was the Ferris show we wanted. around the time we also had Get A Life on Fox, which was my favorite thing ever. not sure how well that has aged.
There’s actually a gag at the end of one “Parker Louis” episode. (Found it! ua-cam.com/users/clipUgkxG2wFtrxHxX-MfbBxqchB9tN6VCpECypz) Just before the credits roll, the camera pulls back on the school auditorium, and two characters sit in the back row. One says “oh so THAT’S how you do it”, to which the other responds: “come on Ferris, let’s get out of here”
You mentioned Parker Lewis, and I'll just add that the fact that that show was actually decently funny helped hasten FB's downfall. Yeah, it was a rip off, but it passed the 'just different enough' test that we were never bothered that it didn't live up to the movie. The FB tv show made the direct play on love for the movie then never came close to delivering on the promise.
Sometimes it ends up going that way. The official version of something is nothing but a cheap cash-in trading on name recognition while the version, uh, _inspired_ by the original actually cares about the things that made it good in the first place. It's happened a number of times in the past, often when something is adapted to another medium/format.
Thats something a lot of movies exec's should pay heed to....if your building a movie around an existing well loved IP to garner name recognition... you better damn well be faithful to the source or your in for a kicking from the very same people you want to hook in using that IP... If you want to make something only shallowly connected to that IP with character names and places then dont coat tale.... let it stand on its own with its own unconnected name and branding.
There was also a Weird Science tv show. The first half of the run was formulaic, but they probably figured it was going to be cancelled, so latter episodes sometimes got real artsy and........weird. it seemed like everyone was having fun filming it at least.
Matthew Broderick said why John Hughes films were so good was because he didn't see the teenage characters as children, but as developing adults. That always stuck with me.
Maybe... but I was a teenager once, and I've always believed that teenagers aren't young adults; they're old children. Whatever maturity they develop comes many years later, if ever. True adulthood for most people doesn't happen until about 25-30. Not knocking Ferris Bueller's Day Off; it's a great movie, but to me the characters aren't really believable, and only work because it's a comedy (I've always thought though the character of Ferris Bueller was a terrible person and it boggles my mind how many people like that character. I hate that he's treated like a hero and never gets caught and punished for the stuff he pulls. But the movie is funny so I can forgive that). They can only be written that way by someone that hasn't been in high school for a very long time and doesn't really remember what people were actually like at that age. They're still children, no matter how eager they are to convince people otherwise. I've always long believed that it's depressing whenever someone says high school was the best years of their life, because it means that nothing improved for them afterwards.
I’m a big fan of Parker Lewis and I remember the final episode in one of the seasons where shadowy figures are seen getting up and leaving a off screen during the credits and says “let’s go Ferris” 😂. Parker Lewis made a bunch of Ferris jokes during the series. Really an awesome show for its time.
I remember an episode where he had to skip school to avoid a fight and he says it was a terrible experience. Something along the lines of "I've never skipped school before, this sucks, what kind of idiot would think this is cool?"
*Webster* (also from Paramount and tied to this show by Corin Nemec playing Web’s cousin Nicky as if that was supposed to make up for losing Chad Allen to NBC) actually beat *Diff’rent Strokes* (now owned by Columbia) in the ratings the years they overlapped. In that case, stealing from Norman Lear is stealing from a thief.
The best part of that reference at the end of the episode (which a web search suggested to me is Parker Lewis Can't Win) to Ferris Bueller goes something like: Boy #1: So that's how they do it! Boy #2: C'mon, Ferris, let's get outta here. Meaning it is also throwing some serious shade.
I can always rely on you Roses to inform me about stuff I was vaguely interested in but never actually enough to watch, you rock! Keep up the great work
The last season was a let down of sorts but something would’ve had to give once he graduated from high school. It established a pattern of Fox stringing shows along and then canceling them right before they accumulate enough episodes for syndication. See also: *Arrested Development.*
I vaguely remember seeing promotions for this show when I was a kid. The fact that I only remember the promotions and the intro tells you everything you need to know about it.
I loved “Parker Lewis” when I was a kid. Never watched the “Ferris Bueller” show though because I didn’t even know it was a thing until a few years ago while looking up Anniston’s filmography.
I really enjoyed this dive into something that felt a bit like an urban legend. Something that I'd heard stories of its existence, but had not actually seen. I would love if you did a video on Parker Lewis Can't Lose. That is a show I actually have childhood memories of watching. They are vague memories, but I feel like they were positive ones. Anyway, please continue the awesome videos! Thanks!
@@Panzer_the_Merganser Fe-Fe-Fe-Fe-Ferris. _BUELLER!_ Yeah I’d really rather forget the time I tried to beatbox during a presentation in English class when I was 11.
@@DissociatedWomenIncorporated Hahaha Was in Catholic school in the 80’s and… yeah beatboxing was all the rage for us too, especially when singing about the lord. No recordings exist. And for that I’m eternally grateful
This looks painful. I know Charlie Schlatter from "Diagnosis: Murder", among other things, and my God, is his character unlikeable here! The creepy, quasi-incestuous dialogue just makes this even worse.
I had totally forgotten about this show, and so had the rest of the world. About the only noteworthy aspect about it was that it gave Jennifer Aniston her big break.
I watched the show when it originally aired and the only thing I remembered was the beginning with the Matthew Broderick cut out. I may have seen a couple of more episodes but likely didn't stick with it. I do recall a seen in the end credits of an episode of Parker Louis Can't Lose. Ferris and Cameron are in a theater watching the credits of Parker and Ferris says something like "so, that's how you do it." I found that quite funny back then.
If you have any urge to watch Ferris Bueller... just watch the much better Parker Lewis instead. (I was 13 in 1990. I was the core audience for both of these shows, and Parker Lewis was the one I stuck with.)
Now you should talk about the 9 to 5 show, the Clueless show, the dirty dancing show, the fast times at ridgemont high show, the Harry and the Hendersons show, the never ending story show, and the weird science show. And maybe Freddy’s nightmares.
The 9 to 5 show especially, when they kicked off a veteran comic actress in the show's cast and replaced her with a supermodel, just to up the ratings. That goes against everything 9 to 5 stood for in the first place.
Richard Riehle (Principal Rooney) has been a side character in a slew of movies and TV shows, so he's one of those actors who's very recognizable even if you can't always remember from where. Offhand he's done some _Murder, She Wrote_ and a few Star Treks (including TNG's fan favorite "Inner Light" in which Picard gets that neat flute), but I tend to remember him from 2006's _Hatchet._
He was also in a flashback in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" the series, the flashback was to the events of the movie and replaced Donald Sutherland (I think it was) as her original Watcher.
@@SethBrower Was there an episode of the show where Kubiac won the Science Fair with a potato powered flashlight that he called "Spud Light"? Or am I thinking of a different show. If it is this show, they it made a lasting impression with me.
Parker Lewis Can't Lose wasn't bad. It did make this show incredibly redundant, even without FB's terrible production choices. If that theme song doesn't get unstuck from my head, I'm blaming you.
While only moderately successful (and now largely forgotten), _Parker Lewis Can't Lose_ was a stylistic oddity that paved the way for _Malcolm in the Middle_ - the popularity of which sparked a single-camera sitcom trend that continues to the present day.
That clip of Jennifer Aniston laughing and then coughing did make me laugh. I would actually like to see you cover the zaniness of Parker Lewis Can't Lose. That show doesn't get nearly enough attention/love.
9:12 This show debuted one year after Saved by the Bell, so im guessing creating a Zack doppelgänger and slapping a previously recognizable name on this so-called character was intentionally (yet erroneously) calculated. A veritable swing and a miss… or you might say “He can’t hit, He can’t hit, He can’t hit, He can’t hit!” 😆
Oh God, in some nightmare alternate reality Ferris Bueller is a long-running Saturday NBC Teen-Com alongside Saved by the Bell and California Dreams. *shudder*
@@CinemaBiohazard I can see the show actually working on Saturday afternoon with those shows. But as a prime-time show on Mondays following the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air... no.
I watched this show back in the day, when it first aired. I thought it was.... okay. In my defense, I didn't see the movie 'til years later, there wasn't anything on across from it that I cared about, and I had incredibly low standards back then. Besides, I apparently suffer from a weird ancient curse where I wind up committing to at least one show a year that doesn't make it past a single season. BTW, the "lawyer" from the pilot was stunt-casting, too. That was Alan Rachins, who was one of the stars of "L.A. Law", a popular courtroom drama-slash-soap opera that was airing on the same network at the time.
I remember going to Sears and other appliance/home electronics stores with my mom when I was a kid. These stores always had a few electric keyboards set up for people to try. Aside from the predictable "piano" and "organ" tones, they also usually came programmed with novelty sound banks like "barking dogs" or "dude yelling." It was impossible to resist switching the keyboard to one of these settings and just mashing away at the keys for a few seconds. Anyway, that theme music sounded exactly like one of my improvised untrained tone-deaf prepubescent compositions.
Speaking of Charlie Schlatter, you should really check out Diagnosis Muder at some point. That is a show that really should have done a Crossover with Murder She Wrote.
Growing up in the suburbs of Chicago, FB the movie was like the blueprint of being a teenager and showcased some of the struggles of growing up against the amazing backdrop of the city. I watched 5 minutes of the show and was like noooope, missed the mark like a drunk storm trooper. I would.like to see you do a set on Parker Lewis, I remember watching and enjoying that show, I think because the Parker Lewis character was so relatable to the movie Ferris Bueller. love the channel and thanks for doing these!
I watched this when it aired. I was EXCITED for this show. When my family first got a vcr in '86 or '87, the first thing I did was borrow a vhs of Ferris Buellers Day Off from my friend. It was the only tape in the house for awhile. I was ten or eleven years old, and a "latchkey kid", so I would be home alone for a couple of hours after school. I watched the movie every day for a month. I would jump up and down on the couch when the Twist and Shout scene came on. I remember that first episode of the Ferris Bueller tv show. I was excited, like I said, but also I could sense that something wasn't right. It looked like exactly what it was, a cheap tv knockoff. I also was upset when he did the chainsaw through the Matthew Broderick cutout, like, I understood that this was disrespectful to the source material and was trying too hard to differentiate itself from the thing that made us all want to watch it in the first place. That said, I can't remember if I only made it a few episodes, or stuck with the whole season. Like you said, Parker Lewis Can't Lose was better in every way. There were kids at my junior high who had pictures of Corin Nemec hanging in their locker! It was a genuine phenomenon, and one of my favorite shows. I wanted to like the Ferris Bueller show better, but it was no contest.
That’s who that was, thank you! I was trying to figure out why the Parker character seemed familiar but I couldn’t place him as I’m not familiar with a lot of 80’s media, but I know him from Stargate SG-1 as Jonas!
I completely forgot about this show, but I remembered every part of that theme sequence as soon as it started playing. That was definitely made in like 15 minutes with a Cassiotone sampling keyboard.
I had heard rumors that this show existed. I am glad I didn't investigate farther. Thanks for taking the pain of watching this and making another great review vid!
If memory serves, Ferris Bueller was the lead-in show to The Fresh Prince of Belair… So if it looked bad on its own, imagine how flat on its face it must have fallen when it was placed back to back with one of the most beloved 90s comedies! As a kid who LOVED the movie, I was super excited to watch Ferris Bueller the show… Not 100% sure but I don’t think I made it through the opening theme song, lol. Btw when you played the theme, it triggered one of those childhood memories that instantly teleports you back several years to the moment you first experienced it, except this was more of a “made my eyelid twitch” moment rather than a nice memory 😂 Great video, PushingUpRoses! Keep ‘em coming! 😁
I was 11 when this show came out. I watched the pilot and possibly 1 or 2 other episodes. All I remember is it made me feel really awkward in the way of early adolescence. I felt I should like it because Ferris Bueller was "cool" but everything about it made me uncomfortable. The associated feeling even caused me to avoid the movie until sometime in college. I'd completely forgotten about this, so thanks?
I remember Charlie Schlatter from one of my favorite tv shows, Diagnosis: Murder where he portrayed Jesse Travis. I'd LOVE for you to cover an episode of Diagnosis: Murder! I adore your Murder she Wrote episodes!!!
I was a huge fan of the movie growing up, and I was 15 when this TV show came out. I remember watching the pilot episode and the chainsaw part. But the rest of the series is a blur from when I first saw it. I'm sure I watched more than one episode , but I have no actually memory of anything except that chainsaw scene.
Dude! That intro to the Ferris Bueller series is almost shot-for-shot identical to the intro to Clarissa Explains It All. Love the video and the channel, btw.
I tried watching the first episode of Ferris Bueller when it aired. I remember Parker Lewis Can't Lose being a much better series. I think within a few years I'd begin to sour on the whole character trope; the "cool school kid protagonist" (which was so popularized by Ferris Bueller's Day Off, but was found throughout movies around that time) was often a manipulative selfish bully who deserved to be caught and/or fail. Which I think is why the villains such a the principal ended up being portrayed as such over-the-top petty and evil figures, as it was the only way to make it look like the main character didn't deserve the punishments they were threatened with.
Check out the 'Zach Morris is Trash' series on FunnyOrDie's channel. No laugh tracks or actor charm for cover; purely focusing on the details of Zack's scheme-of-the-week. Dude is a straight up psychopath.
I thought this show only existed in a fever dream I had. It's so odd to find out it really exists and others have to deal with this. Personally I prefer Parker Lewis can't loose for the small screen but nothing beats Ferris Buellers day off.
What's funny is Parker Lewis Can't Lose was actually good! Kubiak having the best character arc is canon, and Ziggy Marley making a cameo to tell Mikey not to drop out of Highschool is a personal classic, the song he sang is burned into my brain!
I remember attempting to watch the pilot as a teenager. I was actually excited for it since I really enjoyed John Hughes movies, but couldn't even make it through one episode for much the same reasons stated in this video. Parker Lewis did it much better.
I was one of the 12 people who watched this when it aired. When I saw the title I was like - hey now, I loved this show - Ferris Bueller with his best friend with all the Velcro and the guy always seems to have a squirrel under his shoes . . . but then I realized I was thinking of Parker Lewis 😂 But I did watch Ferris as well - just I don't remember any of it . ..
I totally remember this at the time! What a good/bad memory :) Thank you for doing the dive into it. I really liked the knock off show Parker Lewis Can't Lose.
The idea of a TV adaptation with none of the stars starting with the lead character complaining about the movie they made of him could work, but would require the writers and creators of the characters to be in (and maybe the stars themselves for a quick cameo) to get the tone right and be willing to go full metacommentary with it, not just a throwaway joke five minutes in that I'm guessing was never mentioned again.
One of the twelve!! I even recorded it on VHS when it originally aired... yep. every week. I was also recording The Flash (John Wesley Shipp) so I had a mix of both on the tapes... ah.. the days :) I saw this video pop up, and was instantly torn... on one hand, I liked the show, I based myself a bit on the character, I even styled myself the same (13.02 could be me) and some in high school even tried to nickname me Ferris. On the other hand, I love your take on things... and i knew you'd not hold back. :) And you're right. I cannot disagree a single point. At the time though, this was new, it seemed to have good messages, was funny... really.. sort of... a bit, for 15yo me. But alternate reality to the movie for sure! Hasn't aged well and it could have been sooo much better. And yes, there's no talking about this without mentioning Parker Lewis Can't Lose...
Dang...I was like "How have I never heard of this, I've at least looked at most 80's and early 90's media....but damn, now I see why this was buried so far down the hole. Thank you for making a video on it
I hope your adjusting to the new move well - take your time - settle in - it can take a while be patient. Finding a good restaurant is very important - I've moved 14 times - love ya!
I remember watching the show. Was also Parker Lewis Can't Lose, Bill and Ted, Back to the Future, Police Academy and a lot of other movies they tried to make into TV shows.
_Weird Science_ is from more-or-less that time period, too. I think that one actually made it to a second season, although that was early enough that the idea of a cable-only channel (early effort by USA) making original programming was novel.
I remember seeing bits of one episode of this show when I was a little kid... I always thought it was some kind of celebrity cameo thing on another show, and never really thought anything more about it. What an odd piece of 90s schlock.
I remember this! Never watched it cuz I was a preteen who didn't like change and thought that only Matthew Broderick was Ferris Bueller and anyone else was a charlatan. Edit: I LOVED Parker Lewis Can't Lose.
I was about to comment "Wait, Ferris Bueller had a TV Show?" Then I remember the disastrous theme song and went "Oh yeah, it did." It literally sounds like they were just hitting the Ferris and Bueller buttons on a soundboard.
I hated that show. It was an exercise in boy bashing and I hated how she basically bullied her little brother. I also thought that Nickelodeon was trying to normalize teenage girls dressing like sluts. They dragged Disney down into the gutter, too (this means you, Kim Possible.)
This was aired in the UK in the early 90s, and I remember watching it at the time (years before I knew it was even based on a film). Even then it was just filler. Something to fill half an hour between better shows back when you couldn't pick and choose what was on. And while that theme song is bad, I don't remember it standing out - it was a bad time for theme songs.
Just want to address this: I am not sure if the nose job quips are related to Jennifer Grey's rhinoplastys, which is why I didn't want to comment either way. If it's related to that, then it's mean spirited and *definitely* aligns with the show's humor, and if it's not related, it's STILL mean spirited and weird. Just wanted to put that out there.
I think it's definitely related and insanely mean spirited. It almost seems like this show was made as a middle finger to Hughes, the movie, and everyone in it.
Schlatter was a main character in Diagnosis Murder (a show that lots of Murder, She Wrote fans might like). Incidentally, the actor who plays the "lawyer" in the pilot was the main antagonist in DM's season 4 episode "Murder Can Be Murder."
On a vaguely related topic, I thought Jennifer Grey was beautiful - totally had a crush on her from Ferris B movie.
That show is horrible in every way, except the two pretty girls, haha.
Normally the main character talking to the audience is a really fun and rare thing in TV and movies that I enjoy.
@@encycl07pedia- I watched that show all the time with my mother when I was a kid! It would be great if PUR did a video on it. Definitely up her alley.
This video is only 15 minutes long and I already feel like I've seen way too much of the Ferris Bueller TV show.
That's because you have. There were more genuine laughs in this 15 minute video than in the multiple episodes of the Ferris Bueller show that I watched when it aired.
Seven year old me: They canceled *ALF* for this shit?
38 year old me: this never would have happened if Jason Bateman had never left *Silver Spoons.*
I vaguely remember when this aired. I loved the movie and wrongly thought it would be good. The first episode was more than 12 year old me needed to see.
At least the guy who played Cameron was decent.
I’ve seen the show and this is an 100% fair assessment, especially when Parker Lewis already existed.
This show proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that Matthew Broderick's natural charisma was the only reason Ferris Bueller wasn't considered a complete douche nozzle.
TV Buller wishes he had his Movie Counterpart's charisma. The way he saw off the cutout only solidify his doucheness.
I dunno... watching as an adult and he really really is a terrible person.
that's how he got away with murder as well
I always found this character extremely hateable
I would not call Mathew Broderick charismatic... I do not like Broderick as an actor. Everything seems ... overstaged... like he's trying too hard to play to the cheap seats and everything is overblown and disingenuous. Nothing is sincere, and I do not engage with people like that.
The network : Wow this show is an utter failure!
Showrunners : Hey not everything about it failed! I think we really established a strong sexual chemistry between Ferris and his mom and sister!
I watched the show when it first aired, and I can tell you that your comment here is far, far funnier than anything that happened on the show.
Wait what
Sweet home alabama
For what it's worth, I remember the "Parker Lewis Can't Lose" show as being actually somewhat funny, subversive, and often veering into Bugs-Bunny style logic. Basically, it was not afraid to go over the top and try weird things, unlike the Ferris Bueller show which was staid sitcom pablum.
Plus it had some really awesome cinematography if memory serves. It wasn't afraid to be a cartoon. Then again, it only lasted three years before it got cancelled as well. I suppose the irony of Ferris Bueller or any homage is that outside of that one big day their lives are kinda basic.
@@CinemaBiohazard Realistically, his younger sister was a freshman in the first season, so three years was about all they were going to be able to squeeze out of it without it becoming Parker Lewis: the College Years.
At least they tried to make some of the regular cast antagonists likeable. Kubiak the stereotypical dumb jock bully has some sort of moral compass to do good, even the principal who had the rule with an iron fist schtick, but not a buffoon. How the hell did Parker Lewis had every ticket for Depeche Mode in the West Coast.
Basically, the difference is that PLCL was on (a very young) Fox and at the time could be more daring while FB was stuck on NBC.
Parker Lewis also beat out Edward Furlong’s John Connor in the “white teen with inexplicable Public Enemy swag” category by ten months.
Funny, I never saw FB, but I distinctly remember that horrible theme song. Meanwhile, PLCL was can’t-miss TV for me, at least in the first two seasons. Things got a little too normal in the final season, and I hated the coach character.
"None of the original characters reprised their role..." THAT is a perfect way to slam the show! So, that's a different set of characters with coincidentally the same names - weird!
ALSO: Santa Monica's galleries don't hold a painting of a candle to Chicago.
(end credits include) "No crickets were harmed during this production"
TV shows based on movies but with new actors can definitely work though: MASH is the perfect example. And Weird Science was funny.
So not a perfect slam.
In fairness, the cast of the _Parker Lewis_ television series has solicited less child pornography and killed fewer Irish women than the film's cast has.
@@davidlevy706 So he was driving on the wrong (right) side of the road. Very common mistake by Americans. An accident. You need to quit reading the crazy side of YT if you seriously think Matthew Broderick is a bad guy
@@lazyhomebody1356 I'm not implying that it was anything other than a tragic accident. I do, however, find it outrageous that Broderick got off with a $175 fine.
Before watching: How did I not know this was a thing?!
After watching: Thank god I didn't know this was a thing!
And thank you for condensing it all in to a delightful video so I never have to watch the actual show.
It seems like the people who made the Ferris Bueller TV show hated the movie, John Hughes, and Ferris Bueller. If their plan was to make the character completely unlikable, mission accomplished!
Honestly the original character had a lot of potentially unlikeable qualities, abusing Cameron and such, but the framing and acting helped smooth it out.
The series...didn't do that.
@@FFKonoko And Matthew Broderick is a gem.
@@JohnDCrafton Yes he is, but it also helped the movie that Matthew Broderick, and Alan Ruck who played Cameron were already good friends in real life doing broadway style plays so they were able to play off each other so well that it just felt natural because it was for them.
I fail to see how the attempted TV version of *Coming to America* would’ve been worse other than taking Tommy Davidson off of *In Living Color.* It, too, would have been inferior to the source material but at least would not have unleashed anybody toxic upon the world.
@@JohnDCrafton all the qualities that made him wrong for the role of Alex P. Keaton on *Family Ties* made him right for this part. That’s why they showed that movie on NBC after the last episode of that show. It must have gotten really good ratings which is what made them think they could get those kind of ratings every week with the TV series. This was also they after they failed to make hits out of TV shows based on the movies *Nothing in Common* and *Baby Boom.*
Fun fact. Parker Lewis Can’t Lose premiered one month AFTER the premiere of the Ferris Bueller tv show. One show was a grand contribution to teenagers everywhere. The other made us wretch. 🐾
The big difference is that Parker Lewis Can't Lose was actually funny, with interesting characters, intentionally ridiculous plots, and a "screw reality, this is a living cartoon" approach that worked really well. And it never tried to hide that it was an homage to Ferris Bueller's Day Off -- in fact, I think the whole reason NBC rushed through the Ferris Bueller show is that they were upset Fox was cashing in on the "Ferris" vibe so well.
I can honestly say that Parker Lewis was a better adaptation of Ferris Bueller than Ferris Bueller.
Watching this episode just makes me think J. B. Fletcher needs to solve the case of "who murdered Ferris Bueller."
... but there are so many suspects, she eventually gives up.
It was me, officer. I take full, GLEEFUL responsibility for it.
Oh, great. The reason for the crime wave in Cabot Cove, Maine.
Life moves pretty fast -- Even faster for some.
I was totally waiting for a "so this guy's dead." 🤣
I would like to formally apologize to Ferris Bueller's Day Off. I've never liked that movie because I found the main character objectionable and irritating, and I did not see the appeal.
I now see what this movie could have been, and am now reexamining it. My DEEPEST apologies, I didn't know how good I had it.
The entire cast got on my nerves. No clue why this was so popular.
Parker Lewis was the superior show of the two. When Ferris was announced I was super stoked as I was a huge fan of the movie, but I couldn’t get through the pilot episode. When I switched channels PLCL was on and was instantly hooked. The first season is pretty good (in an early 90s sitcom way) but the quality fell off afterwards. It even poked fun at FBs cancelation at the end of an episode. After the main characters finish their shenanigans, you see two dark silhouettes watching in a theater. One of which says to the other, “Wow Ferris. So that’s how you do it.” Talk about throwing shade.
Parker Lewis is one of favorite shows of all time. Never saw any resemblance with Ferris Bueller to me it was more Dobie Gillis.
Whenever the boys in PLCL were planning a scheme Parker would say "Synchronize Swatches," which amused me for its 1980's cynicism. The phrase still is on the tip of my tongue all these decades later.
Yeah, hopefully she does a video on Parker Lewis at some point.
I watched both shows but yeah, I was more of a Parker Lewis fan.
I loved PLCL, it's been a hot minute since I saw the show, not sure how well it still holds up cuz it was almost a live action cartoon at times which I think was part of it's appeal as the characters all try to navigate through life and trials and tribulations while trying to solve problems and help others in a manner that achieves 'coolness'.
Item of note for the time is that his “lawyer” was actor Alan Rachins playing himself, who is hired by Ferris to play his attorney. Rachins was at the time a core cast member of tv juggernaut LA Law, so the near meta joke was a pretty big swing here.
Also, the 40 year old teen mentioned was, I believe, comedian and future tv star Christopher Titus.
Totally missed out on a Douglas Brackman tie in between both shows which might have made it bearable lol....
sure LOOKS like Titus, but he's not listed in the imdb page so it'd be uncredited if so
Omg. I was one of the twelve people to watch this show when it first aired (the pilot at least). I remember being very excited because I loved the John Hughes movie but also I recognized the main actor from a (historically inaccurate) movie about Elvis called "Heartbreak Hotel" that my family watched like a million times... I must have been about 10 when I watched the pilot of Ferris Bueller and even I, with my total lack of discernment at the time, could tell the TV show sucked.
...glad you mentioned Parker Lewis because that's all I could think of during your review... A WAY better show!
I was going to say. They both came out at the same time and Parker Lewis Can't Lose was definitely the superior show of the two.
I gave the Ferris Bueller TV a shot, but I was a huge Parker Lewis kid. It was like the middle child between Saved by the Bell and Malcolm in the Middle. SYNCHRONIZE SWATCHES!
Parker Lewis was the Ferris Bueller that didn't suck.
Parker Lewis Can't Lose rocked!
I misremembered this series as coming after Parker Lewis Can't Lose especially since the title of one episode is clearly an attempt to mock that show: Ferris Bueller Can't Win
Parker Lewis Can’t Loose is a forgotten gem and one of my favorite shows of all times. It was way ahead of its time in terms of fast pace editing and off-kilter cinematography and inspired Malcom in the Middle, Scrubs, and therefore countless other shows after it.
Parker Lewis better
Me, three seconds in: Is that Rachael Friends? What???
Me, sixteen seconds in: They green screened him walking out a door? They couldn't find "a house"? Bonkers indeed.
I was today years old when I learned Micky Dolenz had a daughter that's been an actress for like thirty years.
He has 4. One of them looks just like him!
I think the first movie I saw Ami in was called "She's Out of Control" and Tony Danza played her dad.
@@theasinclaire52 Ooooo!
Weird coincidence. Jennifers Aniston and Grey were in love triangle on Friends.
I'm old enough I saw Dolenz as Circus Boy .. But I preffered the elephant .. 'Daughters' ?.. No .. I assumed he was like the Three Stooges, except singular .. TgT
i have to say.... J'ADORE the way they acknowledged the source material here. like, itd be such a good way for an adaptation to explain its differences if only it was in a good adaptation 😩
I watched the first episode when it aired, and thought it was sooo bad and off-putting. Like, immediately, Then a few years later when I saw Jennifer Anniston on Friends, and absolutely recognized her, I thought "Oh hey, good for her." Kinda like seeing Scott Bakula on Quantum Leap after he was in so many bad, failed shows.
Good lord, I feel young and I’m 28 lmao
I'm so confused looking at this Ferris Bueller. Here's this preppy looking blonde kid in a light blue button down and khaki pants looking like an accountant and his room is all Sisters of Mercy and Cabaret Voltaire posters. How tf did the set decorators see him as having any goth kid interests? SO weird. Everything is just...off.
All the actors look trapped in the FB series. I’ve seen most of them do good work elsewhere.
There was an earlier version of this basic formula circa 1987 called The New Adventures of Beans Baxter, also on Fox. It was written and directed by Savage Steve Holland of "Better Off Dead" and "One Crazy Summer" fame (and later, Eek! The Cat). His buddy Dee Snider was in an episode, naturally. Things got... weird.
I adored that show. The cartoon bean in hightops in the credits killed me every time!
Great video. I saw this show when it initially aired. I can remember, at the time, thinking that "Parker Lewis Can't Lose" was a dumber, cheaper version of "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" and that the "Ferris Bueller" TV show was a dumber, cheaper version of Parker Lewis.
It baffled my mind, even as a kid, how somebody could think that this warmed over corpse of Ferris Bueller would ever be popular.
*MASH, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,* and *Cooley High* were all adapted into successful sitcoms despite being bowdlerized for network television. If Linda Lavin could follow Ellen Burstyn’s footsteps for nine seasons, and Alan Alda could do the same for Donald Sutherland for even longer, then what’s this show’s excuse?
What makes it all the more ironic is that Matthew Broderick went on to do some truly terrible remakes. Just as there is no Ferris Bueller but him, there is no Inspector Gadget but Don Adams. He also stunk up a Music Man remake that no one asked for except the same Disney shills who made excuses for those shitty remakes of Annie and South Pacific.
If I have to suffer from bad TV-related PTSD, so does everybody else.
I think the bigger question was 'why did anybody think that Ferris Bueller would be a good show four years after the movie? At that point who cared?
@@CinemaBiohazard Exactly. While I may love the movie "Ferris Beuller's Day Off", why in the hell would I want to see a sitcom based around an already at that time 4 year old movie? Sure, the movie is a classic, but why try and make it into something it's not? The way the guy playing "Ferris" says it, it makes it seem like "Ferris Beuller's Day Off" was supposedly a mockumentary or documentary about this random douche who's not good enough to carry a show by himself and makes the character we liked from the movie seem like an unlikable, arrogant, manipulative, egocentric douche, who only uses the people around him, which is the exact OPPOSITE of how Ferris was in the movie. I mean, did anybody ask for a TV show of this, or anything else relating to Ferris Beuller's Day Off after the movie? No. The movie was about a cool kid, his girlfriend, and best friend all taking a day off together, and taking a tour of the city; and doing whatever they felt like. Not sure how a sitcom of this same premise could work, but it proved that it could work for a movie. But this was 4 years after said movie. The movie wasn't in theaters anymore, it was on vhs or something by then, so why even bother with a sitcom? You may as well have made a sequel to the movie. While I still like the movie, it doesn't sound like a compelling TV show at all; and could've tried to prove us wrong, but it didn't, and failed. The end. P.S., the theme song is laughably obnoxious.
I always assumed Parker Lewis Can't Lose was supposes to be the TV spinoff of Feris Beuler, and they just had some weird copywrite problems that forced them to change the name and juggle the characters. I thought I was getting Mandela Effected when I saw that there was a literal Feris Beuler show lol
Parker Lewis was one of those Fox shows you knew was Fox simply by watching it. That time period that spawned stuff like Herman's Head! Kinda like USA shows. You could just TELL they were USA Network shows. Even when they reran things like Parker Lewis they just felt like USA Network shows. I kinda miss that late 80s, early 90s feel that certain networks had. Their programming was so random yet at the same time felt unified in it's own universe. The Bundy's lived in the same universe as Martin and 21 Jump Street.
"Parker Lewis was one of those Fox shows you knew was Fox simply by watching it."
That is a really good way of putting it.
My wife is 5 years younger than me and grew up with no TV in her house, so I sometimes have to pull up video clips online to prove to her that some of the weird stuff I watched as a teenager on Fox really did exist.
Except THIS WAS ON NBC! A similar show called PARKER LEWIS CANT LOSE (which was actually Much Better) was on Fox and lasted three years
@@edvaira6891 They never once mentioned Ferris Bueller in this comment. This is kind of like yelling “water is wet”, we know but this person wasn’t talking about water! lol
Parker Lewis can't lose was definitely the superior show. I found torrents of it back in 2011 to give it a rewatch as an adult.... Still a funny and entertaining show.
I really hope it makes it to streaming one day.
@@edvaira6891 are you having a stroke because I straight started out talking about Parker Lewis!
Watch Parker Lewis instead: That show is extremely creative, has well defined characters and season 1 and 2 are just pure gold. I still love it today!
I very vaguely remember when the show first aired and even then there were comparisons of how similar it was to Parker Lewis Can't Lose since they both premiered like a week apart. Obviously, Parker Lewis was the better show and went on for three seasons, while Ferris Bueller was promptly forgotten until people on UA-cam dug up its corpse.
I'd love to see you cover Parker Lewis, hell the small clips you showed of it were better than the entirety of the Ferris Bueller series and its definitely a show that deserves to be rediscovered.
I re-watched few episodes quite recently and though I was no longer laughing out loud (I chuckled once or twice) as I did when watching the show those 25 years ago, I was still able to relate and understand why PLCL was so good for a 13yo me.
I remember some Parker antics that were funny, but probably watched a lot more saved by the bell and charles in charge, haha.
Parker Lewis was a lot closer to Ferris Bueller than this dreck.
One of the episodes was even named Ferris Bueller Can't Win, clearly a reference to Parker. doing so only a few episodes in was not a good sign
yeah, Parker Lewis was the Ferris show we wanted. around the time we also had Get A Life on Fox, which was my favorite thing ever. not sure how well that has aged.
There’s actually a gag at the end of one “Parker Louis” episode. (Found it! ua-cam.com/users/clipUgkxG2wFtrxHxX-MfbBxqchB9tN6VCpECypz)
Just before the credits roll, the camera pulls back on the school auditorium, and two characters sit in the back row.
One says “oh so THAT’S how you do it”, to which the other responds: “come on Ferris, let’s get out of here”
You mentioned Parker Lewis, and I'll just add that the fact that that show was actually decently funny helped hasten FB's downfall. Yeah, it was a rip off, but it passed the 'just different enough' test that we were never bothered that it didn't live up to the movie. The FB tv show made the direct play on love for the movie then never came close to delivering on the promise.
Sometimes it ends up going that way. The official version of something is nothing but a cheap cash-in trading on name recognition while the version, uh, _inspired_ by the original actually cares about the things that made it good in the first place. It's happened a number of times in the past, often when something is adapted to another medium/format.
Synchronize Swatches!
Thats something a lot of movies exec's should pay heed to....if your building a movie around an existing well loved IP to garner name recognition... you better damn well be faithful to the source or your in for a kicking from the very same people you want to hook in using that IP...
If you want to make something only shallowly connected to that IP with character names and places then dont coat tale.... let it stand on its own with its own unconnected name and branding.
@@johntowers1213 The cast of *What’s Happening!!* would like a word with you.
Cast chemistry is so important, and so frequently overlooked... good chemistry can save an awful work and bad chemistry can doom a great one.
There was also a Weird Science tv show. The first half of the run was formulaic, but they probably figured it was going to be cancelled, so latter episodes sometimes got real artsy and........weird. it seemed like everyone was having fun filming it at least.
The show wasn't too bad either.
PUR needs to cover that one! I loved the movie, never knew about the show
Matthew Broderick said why John Hughes films were so good was because he didn't see the teenage characters as children, but as developing adults. That always stuck with me.
Maybe... but I was a teenager once, and I've always believed that teenagers aren't young adults; they're old children. Whatever maturity they develop comes many years later, if ever. True adulthood for most people doesn't happen until about 25-30.
Not knocking Ferris Bueller's Day Off; it's a great movie, but to me the characters aren't really believable, and only work because it's a comedy (I've always thought though the character of Ferris Bueller was a terrible person and it boggles my mind how many people like that character. I hate that he's treated like a hero and never gets caught and punished for the stuff he pulls. But the movie is funny so I can forgive that). They can only be written that way by someone that hasn't been in high school for a very long time and doesn't really remember what people were actually like at that age. They're still children, no matter how eager they are to convince people otherwise.
I've always long believed that it's depressing whenever someone says high school was the best years of their life, because it means that nothing improved for them afterwards.
I’m a big fan of Parker Lewis and I remember the final episode in one of the seasons where shadowy figures are seen getting up and leaving a off screen during the credits and says “let’s go Ferris” 😂. Parker Lewis made a bunch of Ferris jokes during the series. Really an awesome show for its time.
I remember an episode where he had to skip school to avoid a fight and he says it was a terrible experience. Something along the lines of "I've never skipped school before, this sucks, what kind of idiot would think this is cool?"
*Webster* (also from Paramount and tied to this show by Corin Nemec playing Web’s cousin Nicky as if that was supposed to make up for losing Chad Allen to NBC) actually beat *Diff’rent Strokes* (now owned by Columbia) in the ratings the years they overlapped. In that case, stealing from Norman Lear is stealing from a thief.
Yes!!!! So loved this show 🤗
"You're like that Ferris Lewis guy." [VO] Whoa!
The best part of that reference at the end of the episode (which a web search suggested to me is Parker Lewis Can't Win) to Ferris Bueller goes something like:
Boy #1: So that's how they do it!
Boy #2: C'mon, Ferris, let's get outta here.
Meaning it is also throwing some serious shade.
I can always rely on you Roses to inform me about stuff I was vaguely interested in but never actually enough to watch, you rock! Keep up the great work
I remember Parker Lewis fondly. I even remember how they dropped "Can't Lose" from the title. It seemed a little bit more self-aware than this.
The last season was a let down of sorts but something would’ve had to give once he graduated from high school. It established a pattern of Fox stringing shows along and then canceling them right before they accumulate enough episodes for syndication. See also: *Arrested Development.*
I vaguely remember seeing promotions for this show when I was a kid. The fact that I only remember the promotions and the intro tells you everything you need to know about it.
I loved “Parker Lewis” when I was a kid. Never watched the “Ferris Bueller” show though because I didn’t even know it was a thing until a few years ago while looking up Anniston’s filmography.
I really enjoyed this dive into something that felt a bit like an urban legend. Something that I'd heard stories of its existence, but had not actually seen. I would love if you did a video on Parker Lewis Can't Lose. That is a show I actually have childhood memories of watching. They are vague memories, but I feel like they were positive ones.
Anyway, please continue the awesome videos! Thanks!
For those of you who weren’t around back then, yes, the early 90s was just as painfully awkward as this TV show made it appear.
At times like this I’m grateful there were no smartphones then to immortalize some of the things I said and wore.
@@Panzer_the_Merganser Fe-Fe-Fe-Fe-Ferris. _BUELLER!_ Yeah I’d really rather forget the time I tried to beatbox during a presentation in English class when I was 11.
@@DissociatedWomenIncorporated Hahaha Was in Catholic school in the 80’s and… yeah beatboxing was all the rage for us too, especially when singing about the lord. No recordings exist. And for that I’m eternally grateful
And EVERYTHING took place in California.
The late 1990s was worse and would’ve been unbearable without Ricky Schroder‘s ass.
This looks painful. I know Charlie Schlatter from "Diagnosis: Murder", among other things, and my God, is his character unlikeable here! The creepy, quasi-incestuous dialogue just makes this even worse.
I had totally forgotten about this show, and so had the rest of the world. About the only noteworthy aspect about it was that it gave Jennifer Aniston her big break.
Surely it was the classic movie ‘The Leprechaun’ with Warwick Davis that propelled her to the stratosphere?
@@heyhonpuds Nah, it was the legendary and forgotten Fox comedy skit show 'The Edge.'
@@heyhonpuds Exactly!!
@@heyhonpuds Yeah, I was going to say that. :)
Nah, this didn't give Aniston her big break. That was 'FRIENDS'.
I watched the show when it originally aired and the only thing I remembered was the beginning with the Matthew Broderick cut out. I may have seen a couple of more episodes but likely didn't stick with it. I do recall a seen in the end credits of an episode of Parker Louis Can't Lose. Ferris and Cameron are in a theater watching the credits of Parker and Ferris says something like "so, that's how you do it." I found that quite funny back then.
If you have any urge to watch Ferris Bueller... just watch the much better Parker Lewis instead. (I was 13 in 1990. I was the core audience for both of these shows, and Parker Lewis was the one I stuck with.)
So I'm not the only one that was reminded of Parker Lewis Can't Lose
Now you should talk about the 9 to 5 show, the Clueless show, the dirty dancing show, the fast times at ridgemont high show, the Harry and the Hendersons show, the never ending story show, and the weird science show. And maybe Freddy’s nightmares.
The 9 to 5 show especially, when they kicked off a veteran comic actress in the show's cast and replaced her with a supermodel, just to up the ratings. That goes against everything 9 to 5 stood for in the first place.
No way is there actually a Dirty Dancing show?
Richard Riehle (Principal Rooney) has been a side character in a slew of movies and TV shows, so he's one of those actors who's very recognizable even if you can't always remember from where. Offhand he's done some _Murder, She Wrote_ and a few Star Treks (including TNG's fan favorite "Inner Light" in which Picard gets that neat flute), but I tend to remember him from 2006's _Hatchet._
Richard Riehle looks like the budget version of William Conrad. He's like, Jake and Some Other Fatman.
He was also in Executive Decision playing the Airline Marshall.
He was the prison guard who uncuffed Richard Kimble in The Fugitive.
He was also in a flashback in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" the series, the flashback was to the events of the movie and replaced Donald Sutherland (I think it was) as her original Watcher.
And for the Nerd insert: He was in Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom as Chief Technician Robert 'Pliers' Sykes
That intro took me back to music class when everyone was given a keyboard with the dj button
"Parker Lewis Can't Lose" was actually a fun show, if my member is correct. It has been a long, long time since I've seen it.
It got 4 seasons to Ferris's 1, so it's at least four times as good as this one.
Part of me always had a "oh hey it's Kubiac" when his actor went on to be a recurring character on ER for years.
@@SethBrower Was there an episode of the show where Kubiac won the Science Fair with a potato powered flashlight that he called "Spud Light"? Or am I thinking of a different show. If it is this show, they it made a lasting impression with me.
@@BrotherAlpha Just looked it up, season 1 episode 12 "Science Fair"
@@SethBrower I'm not sure I should be proud to remember that or not. ... No. I know I shouldn't be proud to remember that, but I am anyway.
Never expected a Rocked and PushingUpRoses crossover. Two of my favorite channels! Great video as always.
Parker Lewis Can't Lose wasn't bad. It did make this show incredibly redundant, even without FB's terrible production choices.
If that theme song doesn't get unstuck from my head, I'm blaming you.
While only moderately successful (and now largely forgotten), _Parker Lewis Can't Lose_ was a stylistic oddity that paved the way for _Malcolm in the Middle_ - the popularity of which sparked a single-camera sitcom trend that continues to the present day.
@@davidlevy706 As I remember, the ratings fell off, so the show was retitled "Parker Lewis" -- maybe he CAN lose.
Now you need to make the Ferris Bueller theme a ringtone on your phone. Must Annoy Public With Horrible Music. 🤣
I'm also guessing from your name you loved Charles In Charge.
Another great ringtone. 😂🤣
That clip of Jennifer Aniston laughing and then coughing did make me laugh. I would actually like to see you cover the zaniness of Parker Lewis Can't Lose. That show doesn't get nearly enough attention/love.
9:12 This show debuted one year after Saved by the Bell, so im guessing creating a Zack doppelgänger and slapping a previously recognizable name on this so-called character was intentionally (yet erroneously) calculated. A veritable swing and a miss… or you might say “He can’t hit, He can’t hit, He can’t hit, He can’t hit!” 😆
Oh God, in some nightmare alternate reality Ferris Bueller is a long-running Saturday NBC Teen-Com alongside Saved by the Bell and California Dreams. *shudder*
@@CinemaBiohazard The real reality is nightmarish enough and that TNBC shit is part of the reason why.
@@CinemaBiohazard I can see the show actually working on Saturday afternoon with those shows. But as a prime-time show on Mondays following the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air... no.
I'm glad you're back. 😊
I watched this show back in the day, when it first aired. I thought it was.... okay. In my defense, I didn't see the movie 'til years later, there wasn't anything on across from it that I cared about, and I had incredibly low standards back then. Besides, I apparently suffer from a weird ancient curse where I wind up committing to at least one show a year that doesn't make it past a single season.
BTW, the "lawyer" from the pilot was stunt-casting, too. That was Alan Rachins, who was one of the stars of "L.A. Law", a popular courtroom drama-slash-soap opera that was airing on the same network at the time.
Rachins was also a *Golden Girls* guest star that same season, foreshadowing the acquisition of Fox by Disney.
I remember going to Sears and other appliance/home electronics stores with my mom when I was a kid. These stores always had a few electric keyboards set up for people to try. Aside from the predictable "piano" and "organ" tones, they also usually came programmed with novelty sound banks like "barking dogs" or "dude yelling." It was impossible to resist switching the keyboard to one of these settings and just mashing away at the keys for a few seconds.
Anyway, that theme music sounded exactly like one of my improvised untrained tone-deaf prepubescent compositions.
You're welcome hahahahahahaha
Never realized how much I needed a video version of Where's Waldo where you have to find Stanley Zbornak.
Speaking of Charlie Schlatter, you should really check out Diagnosis Muder at some point.
That is a show that really should have done a Crossover with Murder She Wrote.
Diagnosis Murder She Wrote?
Would love to see her take on Diagnosis Murder. Just watched episode with Betty White as Dr Sloan's sister.
@@NastyWoman1979 RIP A True Golden Girl.
They already had mutually exclusive *Pete’s Dragon* cast members as guest stars.
Growing up in the suburbs of Chicago, FB the movie was like the blueprint of being a teenager and showcased some of the struggles of growing up against the amazing backdrop of the city. I watched 5 minutes of the show and was like noooope, missed the mark like a drunk storm trooper. I would.like to see you do a set on Parker Lewis, I remember watching and enjoying that show, I think because the Parker Lewis character was so relatable to the movie Ferris Bueller. love the channel and thanks for doing these!
I watched this when it aired.
I was EXCITED for this show.
When my family first got a vcr in '86 or '87, the first thing I did was borrow a vhs of Ferris Buellers Day Off from my friend. It was the only tape in the house for awhile. I was ten or eleven years old, and a "latchkey kid", so I would be home alone for a couple of hours after school. I watched the movie every day for a month. I would jump up and down on the couch when the Twist and Shout scene came on.
I remember that first episode of the Ferris Bueller tv show. I was excited, like I said, but also I could sense that something wasn't right. It looked like exactly what it was, a cheap tv knockoff. I also was upset when he did the chainsaw through the Matthew Broderick cutout, like, I understood that this was disrespectful to the source material and was trying too hard to differentiate itself from the thing that made us all want to watch it in the first place. That said, I can't remember if I only made it a few episodes, or stuck with the whole season.
Like you said, Parker Lewis Can't Lose was better in every way. There were kids at my junior high who had pictures of Corin Nemec hanging in their locker! It was a genuine phenomenon, and one of my favorite shows. I wanted to like the Ferris Bueller show better, but it was no contest.
That’s who that was, thank you! I was trying to figure out why the Parker character seemed familiar but I couldn’t place him as I’m not familiar with a lot of 80’s media, but I know him from Stargate SG-1 as Jonas!
@@jean14256 no problem! I didn't know that he was in Stargate SG-1, so I learned something too! Thanks!
Great video. As someone who was a teenager in the 1980s, glad I missed this.
I completely forgot about this show, but I remembered every part of that theme sequence as soon as it started playing. That was definitely made in like 15 minutes with a Cassiotone sampling keyboard.
I had heard rumors that this show existed. I am glad I didn't investigate farther. Thanks for taking the pain of watching this and making another great review vid!
Hmm, a show starring Charlie Schattler that involves a character named Sloan..I wonder if we could work that into a medical drama.
Exactly what I was thinking!
Cue the theme music….
Oh Rose, the things you go through to inform and enlighten we humble viewers. 🌹
"You found my grandfather's medalion. I can't wait to put it on!"
You know it.
If memory serves, Ferris Bueller was the lead-in show to The Fresh Prince of Belair… So if it looked bad on its own, imagine how flat on its face it must have fallen when it was placed back to back with one of the most beloved 90s comedies! As a kid who LOVED the movie, I was super excited to watch Ferris Bueller the show… Not 100% sure but I don’t think I made it through the opening theme song, lol.
Btw when you played the theme, it triggered one of those childhood memories that instantly teleports you back several years to the moment you first experienced it, except this was more of a “made my eyelid twitch” moment rather than a nice memory 😂
Great video, PushingUpRoses! Keep ‘em coming! 😁
Nailed it, once again.
I am so glad my love of MSW lead one of my kids to share your channel with me.
Thanks for keeping it snarky and informative. 🤘
Well done! Thanks for making!
I was 11 when this show came out. I watched the pilot and possibly 1 or 2 other episodes. All I remember is it made me feel really awkward in the way of early adolescence. I felt I should like it because Ferris Bueller was "cool" but everything about it made me uncomfortable. The associated feeling even caused me to avoid the movie until sometime in college.
I'd completely forgotten about this, so thanks?
I remember Charlie Schlatter from one of my favorite tv shows, Diagnosis: Murder where he portrayed Jesse Travis. I'd LOVE for you to cover an episode of Diagnosis: Murder! I adore your Murder she Wrote episodes!!!
Instead of Charlie playing Bueller imagine if he played Holden Caufield in a sitcom version of Catcher In The Rye
...Why does "Ferris" have the Union Jack on his bedroom door?
Never knew this series existed. Great video as always, Roses!
I was a huge fan of the movie growing up, and I was 15 when this TV show came out. I remember watching the pilot episode and the chainsaw part. But the rest of the series is a blur from when I first saw it. I'm sure I watched more than one episode , but I have no actually memory of anything except that chainsaw scene.
Dude! That intro to the Ferris Bueller series is almost shot-for-shot identical to the intro to Clarissa Explains It All.
Love the video and the channel, btw.
Another show that should’ve stayed in the 90s.
I tried watching the first episode of Ferris Bueller when it aired. I remember Parker Lewis Can't Lose being a much better series. I think within a few years I'd begin to sour on the whole character trope; the "cool school kid protagonist" (which was so popularized by Ferris Bueller's Day Off, but was found throughout movies around that time) was often a manipulative selfish bully who deserved to be caught and/or fail. Which I think is why the villains such a the principal ended up being portrayed as such over-the-top petty and evil figures, as it was the only way to make it look like the main character didn't deserve the punishments they were threatened with.
Check out the 'Zach Morris is Trash' series on FunnyOrDie's channel. No laugh tracks or actor charm for cover; purely focusing on the details of Zack's scheme-of-the-week. Dude is a straight up psychopath.
Omg, you're friends with Luke from Rocked? A PUR and Rocked crossover was not something I was expecting to see today. :o
I thought this show only existed in a fever dream I had. It's so odd to find out it really exists and others have to deal with this. Personally I prefer Parker Lewis can't loose for the small screen but nothing beats Ferris Buellers day off.
I laughed out loud when everyone walks in on Ferris and it zooms in to the Birds face and he said tramp.
My favorite part was the "Dorothy, it's me Stan" clip
What's funny is Parker Lewis Can't Lose was actually good! Kubiak having the best character arc is canon, and Ziggy Marley making a cameo to tell Mikey not to drop out of Highschool is a personal classic, the song he sang is burned into my brain!
I remember attempting to watch the pilot as a teenager. I was actually excited for it since I really enjoyed John Hughes movies, but couldn't even make it through one episode for much the same reasons stated in this video. Parker Lewis did it much better.
Glad you made a post, i never got a notification
I was one of the 12 people who watched this when it aired. When I saw the title I was like - hey now, I loved this show - Ferris Bueller with his best friend with all the Velcro and the guy always seems to have a squirrel under his shoes . . . but then I realized I was thinking of Parker Lewis 😂
But I did watch Ferris as well - just I don't remember any of it . ..
That opening makes me feel like Ferris is about to stumble into the Home Improvement house.
B-B-B-B-B-BUELLER! OW!!!
I totally remember this at the time! What a good/bad memory :) Thank you for doing the dive into it. I really liked the knock off show Parker Lewis Can't Lose.
I was looking at Charlie Schlatter going "I know him from something really well, but what?" And it's goddamn Diagnosis Murder. What a show.
I was too disinterested as a child to watch Diagnosis Murder, now Im interested its like impossible to find. I cant find anywhere that streams it.
for me, that would be Who Framed Roger Rabbit
I graduated high school in 1989 and missed this. Never heard of it till this video. Thanks. Thanks soooo much.
The idea of a TV adaptation with none of the stars starting with the lead character complaining about the movie they made of him could work, but would require the writers and creators of the characters to be in (and maybe the stars themselves for a quick cameo) to get the tone right and be willing to go full metacommentary with it, not just a throwaway joke five minutes in that I'm guessing was never mentioned again.
One of the twelve!! I even recorded it on VHS when it originally aired... yep. every week. I was also recording The Flash (John Wesley Shipp) so I had a mix of both on the tapes... ah.. the days :) I saw this video pop up, and was instantly torn... on one hand, I liked the show, I based myself a bit on the character, I even styled myself the same (13.02 could be me) and some in high school even tried to nickname me Ferris. On the other hand, I love your take on things... and i knew you'd not hold back. :) And you're right. I cannot disagree a single point. At the time though, this was new, it seemed to have good messages, was funny... really.. sort of... a bit, for 15yo me. But alternate reality to the movie for sure! Hasn't aged well and it could have been sooo much better. And yes, there's no talking about this without mentioning Parker Lewis Can't Lose...
Dang...I was like "How have I never heard of this, I've at least looked at most 80's and early 90's media....but damn, now I see why this was buried so far down the hole.
Thank you for making a video on it
I hope your adjusting to the new move well - take your time - settle in - it can take a while be patient. Finding a good restaurant is very important - I've moved 14 times - love ya!
I remember watching the show. Was also Parker Lewis Can't Lose, Bill and Ted, Back to the Future, Police Academy and a lot of other movies they tried to make into TV shows.
Don't forget the absolute banger that was Honey! I Shrunk the Kids! The freaking hilarity of the deathwish Snuggle Bear.
Don't Forget Uncle Buck which IMHO even without the original cast was the only one that kind of worked besides StarGate SG1.
_Weird Science_ is from more-or-less that time period, too. I think that one actually made it to a second season, although that was early enough that the idea of a cable-only channel (early effort by USA) making original programming was novel.
@@boobah5643 I forgot about Weird Science, that one worked as well because they updated it to be more 90's, and it was further apart from the movie.
@@DahVoozel that actually looked like it was better than the last movie in the series.
This was a great video! I like when you go out and find older forgotten/minor shows! And if course, the humor always lands!!
I remember seeing bits of one episode of this show when I was a little kid... I always thought it was some kind of celebrity cameo thing on another show, and never really thought anything more about it. What an odd piece of 90s schlock.
I remember this! Never watched it cuz I was a preteen who didn't like change and thought that only Matthew Broderick was Ferris Bueller and anyone else was a charlatan.
Edit: I LOVED Parker Lewis Can't Lose.
I just want to say that (FERRIS) I really appreciate that you sat through this (BUELLER!) cruddy old show for our entertainment. (F-F-F-F-FERRIS)
The bird mascot saying "tramp" is hilarious out of context
I was about to comment "Wait, Ferris Bueller had a TV Show?" Then I remember the disastrous theme song and went "Oh yeah, it did." It literally sounds like they were just hitting the Ferris and Bueller buttons on a soundboard.
I thought I remembered watching this while growing up, but then you brought up Parker Lewis Can't Lose, and turns out I was remembering that lol.
"Clarissa Explains It All" definitely did the format better justice.
I'm actually surprised this comparison wasn't made in the video.
I hated that show. It was an exercise in boy bashing and I hated how she basically bullied her little brother. I also thought that Nickelodeon was trying to normalize teenage girls dressing like sluts. They dragged Disney down into the gutter, too (this means you, Kim Possible.)
She didn't want to sully Clarissa's name
I’m as old as a millennial can be, and this painful to watch. I do love how crazy the idea of a phone in a car seemed at the time.
This was aired in the UK in the early 90s, and I remember watching it at the time (years before I knew it was even based on a film). Even then it was just filler. Something to fill half an hour between better shows back when you couldn't pick and choose what was on. And while that theme song is bad, I don't remember it standing out - it was a bad time for theme songs.