What are your thoughts? Did you spot Milla Jovovich? I apologize for the loud background music I was trying model how the show always had a backing track. Its been brought to our attention that its annoying.
this was the coolest show back in the day. i wish that it would have lasted longer. they should bring it back with a now adult parker and crew following the original format.if i ever meet corin nemec ata comicon i am definitely going to mention it
I saw her. Remember to that she was married with children when she was a French foreign exchange student living with the Bundy's and she failed French class
I have a memory of Parker consoling his little sister about life, or love and she said something like. " Love blows." I remember being really surprised that the censors allowed her to use the word "blows" in the early 90s on network tv. I also remember Kubiak had a private bathroom with a pizza oven. I want to watch this again now, thanks.
Here in Germany it is on DVD and BluRay. I own both. The BluRay got the whole Series on 2 Discs but the Quality is more like DVD. But hey, i love Parker Lewis and i can watch it anytime i want. :-))))
I have to say I am impressed. Usually no one ever touches on this show. Parker Lewis Can't Lose is one of the most influential shows ever on TV, believe it or not. Every element seen in this show, it is used in single camera sitcoms today. It was way ahead of it's time. Lon Diamond did amazing work on this show
Definitely agree 👍 Believe it or not his video was two years in the making i just didn't feel like I could do the show justice and shelved the project.
This explains why I always remembered PLCL as only having 2 seasons. The surreal elements were what set it apart (locker clubhouse, anyone?) I feel like this show walked so Pete & Pete could run
Seriously. The surrealism is what made the show. I also loved the repeated gags like the door window shattering at least once per episode.( in one I think the door even shattered and the window just “magically” hovered in place). That still gets me every time.
I didn't realize it aired that long either, but I must have stopped watching it long before season 3. It could be just a hazard with shows about high schoolers, or maybe it was just a network problem, but Fox had a lot of shows like this, that would start off strong or interesting, but ran out of gas somewhere in season 2.
"This explains why I always remembered PLCL as only having 2 seasons." Well, PLCL practically did only have 2 seasons because then came PL - that, if one wants to stretch it, did somewhat represent something like a spin off from the original show that turned out to be a bad copy.
You nailed it. The third season, the one where they lost the 'Can't Lose' and rebranded as simply 'Parker Lewis' was a major letdown. What made the show a hit in the first place, and separated it from other teen shows like the concurrent Ferris Bueller series, were the more surreal elements and distinctive style, with a fast pace and frequently wild cinematography. All of which, the third season simply throws away. It became exactly the kind of show that it had spent the better part of two seasons lampooning. Unsurprising that it failed to last after that. It's a shame, because I loved the show back then, til they dumped most of what I loved about it. Even Frank Lemmer. 😟
Another 90s show with surreal elements was Ally McBeal, with Callista Flockheart as Ally. I can’t remember if she was exactly a lawyer or some kind of legal assistant, but she worked in a law firm. This is also one Lucy Liu’s early roles.
The 1st season was great. I was in my early 20s or so and FOX had some of the best shows. 'Herman's Head, 21 Jump Street, and Married W/Children. The fact that FOX didn't really cancel anything right away gave some of those shows room to breathe.
@@victorfergn i liked it at the time, but obviously I was much younger. Don’t know how well I would consider it to hold up today. But I kind of remember they retooled it a bit toward the end and I kind of lost interest
I used to love this show, but nobody I talk to seem to remember it. I loved the episode where Kubiak invents the potato powered flashlight just by taking the batteries out and shoving potatoes in instead. And the episode where the friend with glasses is obsessed with Sega Genesis and has a dream where he’s in Altered Beast. The show also has one of my favorite lines ever: when it came back just titled “Parker Lewis” and he muses to himself “Whatever happened to my old show where I couldn’t lose?”
Parker Lewis Can't Lose and My Secret Identity were my favorite sitcoms of that era. David Faustino aka Bud in Married With Children, made a cameo on Parker Lewis : "Musso and Frank placed me in detention. And I don't even go to this high school !"
Still one of the BEST teen based sitcoms. I really wish it was more well known. Severely underrated cult classic. Even the terrible final season where they changed everything.
I never missed an episode. Rewatched the entire series a few years back with my best friend who passed away. She loved the show too. I'm glad i got to do that. Seeing this makes me miss her, but in a good way
This is still one of my ALL TIME favorite TV series EVER! A friend of mine was able to download all three seasons and just about a month ago, I binged the entire series for the first time in years!! Still an absolute classic! "Not a problem!"
I actually have the first and second seasons on DVD. Yes, the ones you can't find now. That third season is very rare to find. I don't think it came out here but it did in Germany
I think the series was also initially helped by the fact that the Ferris Bueller television show was so uninspired and boring. The writers of PL wisely had the whole cast of characters share the spotlight to the point that Parker himself was often more of the straight man and ”guide” through the universe instead of the focal point. Ferris Bueller is at heart a “teenage ego” fantasy of being the perfectly cool guy and getting away with it all. That is wonderfully entertaining for two hours but you can’t make a series out of it.
Anyone remember "Weird Science" TV show? Also from the era... ;) Another great weird little show... Also based on a moderately popular movie of similar form.
I was a student at Alexander Hamilton High when they were filming the series. The studio would paint the halls and doors bright colors and then paint them back to drab colors after filming. The actors would sometimes talk to students and seemed pretty cool. My sister worked as an extra on the series a few times and she thought it was weird since by then she was 18 and had graduated from Hamilton High the prior year.
Loved this show. I didn’t have cable at the time it originally aired, so I’d meet my friends at a local pizza place that had a TV up on the second floor in a little corner by the video games and pinball machines. We’d always hang out eating $2 slices and catching the latest episode of Parker Lewis as well as Star Trek TNG and other shows. Good times.
Corin Nemec was pretty awesome in Stargate SG-1 and it makes me sad that he was only ever a holdover while Michael Shanks was on sabbatical. I wish that he was able to appear more after Shanks had returned.
IIRC his character of Jonas Quinn was featured in only one extra episode after Daniel re-joined the SG-1 team. It was when Carter helped him complete a mission to save his homeworld by drilling down to the planet's core.
I really liked his character and wish he would have stayed. I think Michael Shanks had temporarily quit because he wasn't agreeable with producers on how his character was developing.
I saw him in person at Comic-Con. He wasn't part of any panel, he was just laying around the show floor talking to another actor I think. Nobody either recognized him or came up to him. I knew who he was but didn't approach him either. 😊
That first season was DOPE… I remember as a kid hating how much they changed the show in such a short amount of time… I didn’t even bother watching the 3 seasons… hell, I didn’t even know they had one.
I loved this show! My whole family did! In fact, we had an oversized English Bulldog named Kubiac! I recently found the complete series on an international Blu-ray that I believe is from Germany.
I loved this show! Watched it religiously...def loved it more than the Ferris Buller series. The Dutch angles on this show really puts it in the 90's...in a great way. Such a nice visual style and feel!
Im 40 now. No one i grew up with remembered this show. I wore shirts like those in middle school. I was also 7 when the show came out. Parker Lewis is the coolest.
45 now, still remember watching the show religiously, at least the first season or so... But, yeah, it's faded into obscurity. Along with "Weird Science." Another brilliant little "weird" show.
I really enjoyed the first two seasons as I was the exact age as the characters on the show. I loved the off beat quirkiness of it and always thought Corrin Nemec deserved a bigger career. The third season was absolutely forgettable. I’ll never understand why studios decide to change something that is obviously working.
I remember an episode where someone was holding a sign that said "Thank you for not watching Eerie, Indiana." Of all the 4th wall breaking stuff, that was my favorite, so much so that I still remember it today.
I only discovered it when I saw reruns on cable in about 2002-2003, the first episode I caught was the one where Jerry gets addicted to video games, and I loved it! Damn shame about the retooling and downfall in season 2 and particularly 3 though as you mentioned. Nevertheless, a groundbreaking show.
Loved this show when I was ten. I still yell "spud light!" everytime I have to use a flashlight. I'm surprised the fall off was only in episode 19 as I recall the show being good for a long time? Also, Corin Nemic and David Faustino did a web-series together in the 2000's called Star-Ving where they each reference their respective series quite a bit and the whole vibe is pretty surreal Parker Lewis-ish. They're on youtube.
Man…I remember Parker Lewis Can’t Lose so well. I had a major crush on Parker’s sister and remember wanting every one of Parker’s shirts. Haha The biggest thing was remembering how excited I was to go to high school cause I thought that’s what it was like. Great video, thank you!!
Loved this indepth video on the series. I sadly missed Parker Lewis while it aired but saw episodes on reruns. Hope you cover more classic series, especially from the 90s. :)
I remember enjoying the series-probably season one only, I’d drop a show as soon as it ceased to appeal-at the time, but now I only have vague recollections of the unique (at least, at the time) camera work and wild plots. And when Corin Nemec was a regular replacement for Michael Shanks on a season of _Stargate SG-1,_ I pointed to the TV and said, “Hey, I know that guy!”
Ages later I still think about this show… it was one of my favorite shows to watch. I loved Parker’s crazy shirt…. It’s a shame they messed up a good show.
Seriously, I only remember the first season, they could have gone 4 seasons and gotten the 100 episodes for syndication. Feel free to mix up the videos, you went indepth yet it wasnt too long. It was the right show at the right time.
This was one of my favorite shows as a little kid! I even downloaded the torrents as an adult to rewatch it.... It was even better . This show was straight up Great ...
I loved this show! Back in the days, my daughter was into “Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide” and I told her how it was basically a remake of Parker Lewis. She didn’t know what I was talking about until I pulled up some episodes & she loved it! 😆 I really wish they wouldn’t try to revamp these comedies into dramas.
Speaking as an old fart who remembers the heyday of the show, I confirm the title is accurate; this show was, if not a mega hit, big enough to get frequent commercials and attention, then, after a short time in spotlight, it fell so far, I haven;t heard of it for decades till just now, here, in this video.
@@TheReviewStudios his character @ 3:01 was the blueprint for many iconic characters we see today Gotta give that actor and writers their flowers for that also
There’s no such thing as an underrated classic. Learn the words you use. You’re commenting on a video about what a hit show it was. Look up underrated.
@@tempsitch5632 hey guess what, knob? You don’t get to tell other people what words to use. As for me I stand by mine. You ever heard of an unsung legend? This show is a classic, one of a kind, all time underrated gem
I used to LOVE Parker's shirts, even though I was a tad too young to watch this when it first aired. The whole aesthetic of the show's first two seasons perfectly captures how I remember early 90s pop culture.
Parker Lewis rules I would love to see this show come back and see how the characters grow up just hope they don’t make any changes, it’s a great show, if they made any changes it wouldn’t be cool, a lot of the actors are awesome on social media
I used to watch "Parker Lewis Can't Lose" in the mornings on the USA Network in the mid 1990s. I thought the show was so much funnier than "Saved By The Bell", and very underrated.
I loved this series. The reason why it's not well-known anymore it's because it was not in syndication. I haven't seen an episodes for decades. It's not available anywhere!
It was in syndication one time ever on television and that's about it. On USA Network but that was all the way in the 90s itself. Don't know how I remembered that but I do
Yeah, that first season was gold and the most memorable... Like a completely whacked out cartoonish version of Saved by the Bell. After that it kinda' fell apart a bit.
there were aspects of it that were surreal and comic-booky which I think is part of the charm, with a bit of meta and 4th wall breaking thrown into the mix. It really hasn;t aged well because it is a product of it's time but it is a nostalgia rush to watch again.
I remember this show vaguely, but I remember the goofiness about it and don’t recall it ever being serious. I never really cared for it though, to be honest, but just remember seeing it on all the time. I hate when networks fiddle with a show that’s already working…I mean, who asked for those changes? Clearly nobody since the showed ended up failing because of them. Oh well, all good things must come to an end at one point or another.
Dad had a few of these on tape, and I found a DVD one year at the library of Season 1, but yeah, otherwise, haven't seen that many of this. However, them changing what originally worked was indeed a bad idea. After all, if their viewers wanted to watch 90210, they could watch that. They were tuning in for Parker Lewis Can't Lose, which they they stopped delivering them. Anyways, sure, wouldn't mind seeing more videos like this. Thank you.
"Hyperreality" or whatever this kind of surreal satirical setting is called was still pretty common in the 80s and 90s (another example being "Sledge Hammer") but as far as I can tell, has pretty much died out since then. Corin Nemec, the actor playing Parker Lewis had a short self produced internet show called "Star-ving" together with David Faustino, the guy who played Bud Bundy in "Married with Children" back in the late 2000s, where they both played satirical versions of themselves and poked fun at being struggling has-been actors.
I was too young for the show during it's run but for one magical summer break in either 93/94, the USA channel was blasting it in syndication on weekday mornings. Thanks for the fond memories
Together with the wonder years ,Parker Lewis was one first teen sitcoms that had actual teens and they where a little bit more matured than previous teen sitcoms . It's shame that last season weren't good as previous two that was probably the reason that people forgot about Parker Lewis.
Parker Lewis a.k.a. Ferris Buehler a.k.a. Zack Morris a.k.a. Marty McFly. The white cool guy scam artist who floats on air and always dodges every consequence.
Found the first two seasons on DVD in a discount bin a number of years back. Apparently they never released the third season on DVD in Region 1, which is a bit of a shame even if it wasn't great, because that sort of thing really kills my desire to purchase TV DVD's as a completionist and it's all too common. Parker Lewis Can't Lose was really a TV show of its era, the parents ran a video store, they wore the fashions of the 90s, they wore swatch watches, its truly a time capsule of the 90's, and the 90s were a great decade so it deserves to be remembered today.
I had never even seen Season 3 until recently, when I got the complete series on bluray from Germany. I watched the whole show, and counted how many times they used the "WHOA!" sound for comedic effect. I discovered that they only did this from the middle of season 1 to the middle of season 2. My conclusion: this coincides with "the golden age" of the show. Everything after that point is really awful.
Parker Lewis Can't Lose was a favorite of mine when it came out. They ruined it and I stopped watching by the 3rd season. But in the beginning it was brilliant
I'll tell you why. It's simple. It was on FOX. A channel that canceled it's shows left and right no matter if it was popular or not. If the show cost more than they were willing to pay it was canceled.
I thought i was the only one that remembered this show until I saw that Family Guy episode. For the better part of the 90's i remember saying "coolness".
I loved to watch it until change of tone. Weirdness was what me hooked on Parker Levis, so when they made it just regular teren drama, I lost intrest and only watched out of habit.
I watched this show in its initial run and loved it. Never missed an episode for the first season. It was more "Ferris Bueller" than the actual "Ferris Bueller" show (which sucked). But, yeah, I could definitely feel the shift in the second season and gradually lost interest and stopped watching it. I guess it's a good thing I never bothered with the third season. Shame...they ruined a great show.
This was on during my first year in college and Sunday night was THE night to watch the fun shows on Fox. If I remember right, it was Simpsons, Parker Lewis, Herman's Head and In Living Color. (Fairly sure that was the lineup) But I honestly totally forgot they dropped Can't Lose and got more serious. It's likely by that point I didn't have a TV wherever I was living so I wasn't paying attention to shows.
I remember getting a YDKJ TV question right where the answer was this show. My two friends did NOT, to my delight. "Which sitcom character would win in a fight between these four?" "That's right! Since the name of his show is "Parker Lewis Can't Lose" it stands to reason that he would come out on top in a scrap!"
What are your thoughts? Did you spot Milla Jovovich? I apologize for the loud background music I was trying model how the show always had a backing track. Its been brought to our attention that its annoying.
She was in the pilot! Definitely one of the reasons that 13 year old me became interested in the show to begin with! 😀
I thought that was her!
this was the coolest show back in the day. i wish that it would have lasted longer. they should bring it back with a now adult parker and crew following the original format.if i ever meet corin nemec ata comicon i am definitely going to mention it
I saw her. Remember to that she was married with children when she was a French foreign exchange student living with the Bundy's and she failed French class
@@11679MRTshe was very attractive with that brunette perm hair
Parker Lewis Can't Lose instantly became one of my favorite shows ever made when I was a kid. I'm so happy I have the complete series on Blu-ray
It is on Blu Ray??
nice.. I was lucky to find the entire series online, definitely not Blu-Ray quality
I have a memory of Parker consoling his little sister about life, or love and she said something like. " Love blows." I remember being really surprised that the censors allowed her to use the word "blows" in the early 90s on network tv. I also remember Kubiak had a private bathroom with a pizza oven. I want to watch this again now, thanks.
Wait!!! I never heard of this on Blu Ray
Here in Germany it is on DVD and BluRay. I own both. The BluRay got the whole Series on 2 Discs but the Quality is more like DVD. But hey, i love Parker Lewis and i can watch it anytime i want. :-))))
I loved Parker Lewis when I was a kid. Fox had the best Sunday night lineup with this, Get a Life, and In Loving Color.
Get A Life is genius.
Get a Life is another great one that I’ve forgotten about.
Another great show I loved was Herman’s Head
@@hatednyc I wasn't sure if anyone even remembered Get A Life. My dad and I loved it and he still references it to this very day.
I remember at the end of one episode where Parker literally says, *"I gotta hurry up, In Living Color is on in three minutes!!"*
For years after this show, any time I saw Abraham Benrubi in anything, I would shout “Kubiak” at the tv. No one knew what I was talking about.
I did that every time I saw him on ER. My girlfriend at the time would always say “Who?”.
I still do that to this day. Just like Rob Reiner will always be Meathead, Benrubi will always be Kubiak.
I did the same thing when i saw him in Twister (1996). This was a great show and much better than the Bueller tv series.
It was one of the first things I thought when he was first shown.
@@illegalaryan8400 I have the same story lol
I have to say I am impressed. Usually no one ever touches on this show. Parker Lewis Can't Lose is one of the most influential shows ever on TV, believe it or not. Every element seen in this show, it is used in single camera sitcoms today. It was way ahead of it's time. Lon Diamond did amazing work on this show
Definitely agree 👍 Believe it or not his video was two years in the making i just didn't feel like I could do the show justice and shelved the project.
so true. I loved this show when I was a kid
😂😂😂 dopey
This was a clear case of network interference killing an interesting show.
Couldn’t agree more!
This explains why I always remembered PLCL as only having 2 seasons. The surreal elements were what set it apart (locker clubhouse, anyone?) I feel like this show walked so Pete & Pete could run
Absolutely 💯
Seriously. The surrealism is what made the show. I also loved the repeated gags like the door window shattering at least once per episode.( in one I think the door even shattered and the window just “magically” hovered in place). That still gets me every time.
I didn't realize it aired that long either, but I must have stopped watching it long before season 3. It could be just a hazard with shows about high schoolers, or maybe it was just a network problem, but Fox had a lot of shows like this, that would start off strong or interesting, but ran out of gas somewhere in season 2.
"This explains why I always remembered PLCL as only having 2 seasons."
Well, PLCL practically did only have 2 seasons because then came PL - that, if one wants to stretch it, did somewhat represent something like a spin off from the original show that turned out to be a bad copy.
You nailed it. The third season, the one where they lost the 'Can't Lose' and rebranded as simply 'Parker Lewis' was a major letdown. What made the show a hit in the first place, and separated it from other teen shows like the concurrent Ferris Bueller series, were the more surreal elements and distinctive style, with a fast pace and frequently wild cinematography. All of which, the third season simply throws away. It became exactly the kind of show that it had spent the better part of two seasons lampooning. Unsurprising that it failed to last after that. It's a shame, because I loved the show back then, til they dumped most of what I loved about it. Even Frank Lemmer. 😟
Absolutely, thanks for sharing
I also didnt care too much when they gave Parker a steady girlfriend. The actual "romance" of the show was the three buds...and Kube.😅
you nailed most of it along with what @eddierascalhaskell4954
said about it being more a bromance show than it playing on romantic interests.
Another 90s show with surreal elements was Ally McBeal, with Callista Flockheart as Ally. I can’t remember if she was exactly a lawyer or some kind of legal assistant, but she worked in a law firm. This is also one Lucy Liu’s early roles.
@@keithtorgersen9664 Peter McNicol is what made that show good, and RDJ being in it in the latter part.. JMO
The 1st season was great. I was in my early 20s or so and FOX had some of the best shows. 'Herman's Head, 21 Jump Street, and Married W/Children. The fact that FOX didn't really cancel anything right away gave some of those shows room to breathe.
Herman’s Head was another show that stayed out good but also got re-tooled and was cancelled not long after
Is Herman's Head good?
@@victorfergn I enjoyed it when i was in my early 20s.
@@victorfergn i liked it at the time, but obviously I was much younger. Don’t know how well I would consider it to hold up today. But I kind of remember they retooled it a bit toward the end and I kind of lost interest
That changed in the early 2000s with Firefly and continued onward from there
I used to love this show, but nobody I talk to seem to remember it. I loved the episode where Kubiak invents the potato powered flashlight just by taking the batteries out and shoving potatoes in instead. And the episode where the friend with glasses is obsessed with Sega Genesis and has a dream where he’s in Altered Beast. The show also has one of my favorite lines ever: when it came back just titled “Parker Lewis” and he muses to himself “Whatever happened to my old show where I couldn’t lose?”
POTATO LIGHT.
IS GOOD.
Yes!
Parker Lewis Can't Lose and My Secret Identity were my favorite sitcoms of that era. David Faustino aka Bud in Married With Children,
made a cameo on Parker Lewis :
"Musso and Frank placed me in detention.
And I don't even go to this high school !"
Still one of the BEST teen based sitcoms. I really wish it was more well known. Severely underrated cult classic. Even the terrible final season where they changed everything.
I never missed an episode. Rewatched the entire series a few years back with my best friend who passed away. She loved the show too. I'm glad i got to do that. Seeing this makes me miss her, but in a good way
Treasure the memory
Loved "Parker Louis cant lose".
Thanks for watching
Just like Peter Griffin.
*Lewis
Loved this show. This contributed to the "cool teen" trend that was popular at the time and gave me another role model to try to emulate as I grew up.
This is still one of my ALL TIME favorite TV series EVER! A friend of mine was able to download all three seasons and just about a month ago, I binged the entire series for the first time in years!! Still an absolute classic! "Not a problem!"
Coolness
I actually have the first and second seasons on DVD. Yes, the ones you can't find now. That third season is very rare to find. I don't think it came out here but it did in Germany
I think the series was also initially helped by the fact that the Ferris Bueller television show was so uninspired and boring. The writers of PL wisely had the whole cast of characters share the spotlight to the point that Parker himself was often more of the straight man and ”guide” through the universe instead of the focal point. Ferris Bueller is at heart a “teenage ego” fantasy of being the perfectly cool guy and getting away with it all. That is wonderfully entertaining for two hours but you can’t make a series out of it.
Definitely agree with you
Anyone remember "Weird Science" TV show? Also from the era... ;) Another great weird little show... Also based on a moderately popular movie of similar form.
I was a student at Alexander Hamilton High when they were filming the series. The studio would paint the halls and doors bright colors and then paint them back to drab colors after filming. The actors would sometimes talk to students and seemed pretty cool. My sister worked as an extra on the series a few times and she thought it was weird since by then she was 18 and had graduated from Hamilton High the prior year.
That's awesome, thank you
That was my HS as well! Class of ‘95! You?
Loved this show. I didn’t have cable at the time it originally aired, so I’d meet my friends at a local pizza place that had a TV up on the second floor in a little corner by the video games and pinball machines. We’d always hang out eating $2 slices and catching the latest episode of Parker Lewis as well as Star Trek TNG and other shows. Good times.
Ahh... the good old days.
It was on Fox, you didn't need cable.
They started changing it and they ruined it
Hey no spoilers... Just Kidding yeah that's the summary Thanks
Corin Nemec was pretty awesome in Stargate SG-1 and it makes me sad that he was only ever a holdover while Michael Shanks was on sabbatical. I wish that he was able to appear more after Shanks had returned.
IIRC his character of Jonas Quinn was featured in only one extra episode after Daniel re-joined the SG-1 team. It was when Carter helped him complete a mission to save his homeworld by drilling down to the planet's core.
@@BCBaron Yes, that's right.
I really liked his character and wish he would have stayed. I think Michael Shanks had temporarily quit because he wasn't agreeable with producers on how his character was developing.
I saw him in person at Comic-Con. He wasn't part of any panel, he was just laying around the show floor talking to another actor I think. Nobody either recognized him or came up to him. I knew who he was but didn't approach him either. 😊
@@volvoguy804 That's true, although he kept showing up now and then as figments of his fellow SG1 teammate's imaginations.
I saw a few episodes of this show when I was a kid and I thought Corin Nemec was cool AF! I really expected his career to go places.
Me too
My roommate and I used to love this show in college.
Thanks for sharing
That first season was DOPE… I remember as a kid hating how much they changed the show in such a short amount of time… I didn’t even bother watching the 3 seasons… hell, I didn’t even know they had one.
I loved this show! My whole family did! In fact, we had an oversized English Bulldog named Kubiac! I recently found the complete series on an international Blu-ray that I believe is from Germany.
I loved this show! Watched it religiously...def loved it more than the Ferris Buller series. The Dutch angles on this show really puts it in the 90's...in a great way. Such a nice visual style and feel!
This show was ahead of it's time
We seen so many characters that are inspired by characters in this show on many movies and tv shows now
The pilot episode is burned into my brain. One of my favorite shows when I was younger.
Im 40 now. No one i grew up with remembered this show. I wore shirts like those in middle school. I was also 7 when the show came out. Parker Lewis is the coolest.
I’m
Same age and remember this well! My mom said it was my favorite show as a kid
I was in middle school. And had the shirts and the hair doo!😂😂
45 now, still remember watching the show religiously, at least the first season or so... But, yeah, it's faded into obscurity. Along with "Weird Science." Another brilliant little "weird" show.
He lost lol
pretty accurate, thanks for watching
This show was amazing! I wanted Jerry's coat so bad!
Me too
Had a very "Goonies" aspect to it, IIRC... At least that's vaguely my recollection... Haven't seen it in years...
@@MGmirkin Goonies? More like a cartoonish Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
I really enjoyed the first two seasons as I was the exact age as the characters on the show. I loved the off beat quirkiness of it and always thought Corrin Nemec deserved a bigger career. The third season was absolutely forgettable. I’ll never understand why studios decide to change something that is obviously working.
I remember an episode where someone was holding a sign that said "Thank you for not watching Eerie, Indiana." Of all the 4th wall breaking stuff, that was my favorite, so much so that I still remember it today.
Yes, I saw that so funny
Eerie Indiana predicted main character syndrome(influencers)in the epidode where everyone was an actor awaiting their cue.
I loved that show! 😊 Melanie Chartoff should have won a Best Supporting Comedy Actress Emmy for her performance. 😊
I was not a big TV watcher in high school but I loved this show. You are right in that it was so different from other shows aimed at teenagers.
I only discovered it when I saw reruns on cable in about 2002-2003, the first episode I caught was the one where Jerry gets addicted to video games, and I loved it! Damn shame about the retooling and downfall in season 2 and particularly 3 though as you mentioned. Nevertheless, a groundbreaking show.
Loved this show when I was ten. I still yell "spud light!" everytime I have to use a flashlight. I'm surprised the fall off was only in episode 19 as I recall the show being good for a long time? Also, Corin Nemic and David Faustino did a web-series together in the 2000's called Star-Ving where they each reference their respective series quite a bit and the whole vibe is pretty surreal Parker Lewis-ish. They're on youtube.
Jerry from er is in this show
wow I completely forgot about that thanks
Man…I remember Parker Lewis Can’t Lose so well. I had a major crush on Parker’s sister and remember wanting every one of Parker’s shirts. Haha The biggest thing was remembering how excited I was to go to high school cause I thought that’s what it was like. Great video, thank you!!
Loved this indepth video on the series. I sadly missed Parker Lewis while it aired but saw episodes on reruns.
Hope you cover more classic series, especially from the 90s. :)
Thanks for the opinion I appreciate it.
in-depth
I was like- Parker's sister in the show. Was she familiar to me???🤔 Then I looked her up in the cast. A-hh. 😄 Adventures In Babysitting! Thor girl!😁
Yes, good catch on that one
I loved "Adventures in Babysitting" as a kid... ;)
I was 12 when this show came out and I loved it
I remember enjoying the series-probably season one only, I’d drop a show as soon as it ceased to appeal-at the time, but now I only have vague recollections of the unique (at least, at the time) camera work and wild plots.
And when Corin Nemec was a regular replacement for Michael Shanks on a season of _Stargate SG-1,_ I pointed to the TV and said, “Hey, I know that guy!”
Ages later I still think about this show… it was one of my favorite shows to watch.
I loved Parker’s crazy shirt…. It’s a shame they messed up a good show.
Seriously, I only remember the first season, they could have gone 4 seasons and gotten the 100 episodes for syndication. Feel free to mix up the videos, you went indepth yet it wasnt too long. It was the right show at the right time.
Thanks
Shout Factory needs to release season 3 on dvd!
0:03 The wonder years is your example of a cookie cutter teen sitcom? It's neither cookie cutter nor a sitcom. It was the outlier.
This was one of my favorite shows as a little kid!
I even downloaded the torrents as an adult to rewatch it.... It was even better .
This show was straight up Great ...
I loved this show! Back in the days, my daughter was into “Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide” and I told her how it was basically a remake of Parker Lewis. She didn’t know what I was talking about until I pulled up some episodes & she loved it! 😆
I really wish they wouldn’t try to revamp these comedies into dramas.
Another minor character was John Pinette. Rest his soul. Funny on the show and even better once he went into stand up.
Was most famous for being the fat guy who got carjacked in the Seinfeld finale
😆
John started in stand-up in the late 80s. He was best known for his Chinese Buffet bit. YOU GO NOW!
That bit still comes up all the time, recently I saw a reaction video to it.
Speaking as an old fart who remembers the heyday of the show, I confirm the title is accurate; this show was, if not a mega hit, big enough to get frequent commercials and attention, then, after a short time in spotlight, it fell so far, I haven;t heard of it for decades till just now, here, in this video.
Thanks for sharing
Beautiful moment in time when this show existed
Definitely
@@TheReviewStudios his character @ 3:01 was the blueprint for many iconic characters we see today
Gotta give that actor and writers their flowers for that also
As a massive FOB fan, I was wondering if you'd mention the song name. Nice!
Yes, great theme song!
I’ve always loved this under rated classic. That cast, writing and music was all spot on. I have the first 2 seasons on DVD
There’s no such thing as an underrated classic. Learn the words you use. You’re commenting on a video about what a hit show it was. Look up underrated.
@@tempsitch5632 hey guess what, knob? You don’t get to tell other people what words to use. As for me I stand by mine. You ever heard of an unsung legend? This show is a classic, one of a kind, all time underrated gem
Parker Lewis can’t loose, followed up by Herman’s Head
I loved Parker Lewis. I was an elementary school kid watching this show and all I wanted to be was as cool as Parker.
I used to LOVE Parker's shirts, even though I was a tad too young to watch this when it first aired. The whole aesthetic of the show's first two seasons perfectly captures how I remember early 90s pop culture.
Parker Lewis rules I would love to see this show come back and see how the characters grow up just hope they don’t make any changes, it’s a great show, if they made any changes it wouldn’t be cool, a lot of the actors are awesome on social media
I used to watch "Parker Lewis Can't Lose" in the mornings on the USA Network in the mid 1990s. I thought the show was so much funnier than "Saved By The Bell", and very underrated.
USA network was really good at one time.
I loved this series. The reason why it's not well-known anymore it's because it was not in syndication. I haven't seen an episodes for decades. It's not available anywhere!
There's a German blu-ray set, which is region free, if you're interested.
It was in syndication one time ever on television and that's about it. On USA Network but that was all the way in the 90s itself. Don't know how I remembered that but I do
Being "Early Fox" also means that not everybody had access to an Affiliate during the early seasons if not the duration of the show's run...
@@TheDumontShowI was very very young when this aired. I wouldn't be able to have access to that rerun either way.
Yeah, that first season was gold and the most memorable... Like a completely whacked out cartoonish version of Saved by the Bell.
After that it kinda' fell apart a bit.
there were aspects of it that were surreal and comic-booky which I think is part of the charm, with a bit of meta and 4th wall breaking thrown into the mix. It really hasn;t aged well because it is a product of it's time but it is a nostalgia rush to watch again.
I remember this show vaguely, but I remember the goofiness about it and don’t recall it ever being serious. I never really cared for it though, to be honest, but just remember seeing it on all the time. I hate when networks fiddle with a show that’s already working…I mean, who asked for those changes? Clearly nobody since the showed ended up failing because of them. Oh well, all good things must come to an end at one point or another.
Love the "in-depth look" format. Excited to see which shows you'll cover next!
Awesome, thank you!
I was 11 when this show came out I thought it was a fever dream until now 😂That first season is right up there with eerie Indiana for young me
Definitely thanks
Dad had a few of these on tape, and I found a DVD one year at the library of Season 1, but yeah, otherwise, haven't seen that many of this. However, them changing what originally worked was indeed a bad idea. After all, if their viewers wanted to watch 90210, they could watch that. They were tuning in for Parker Lewis Can't Lose, which they they stopped delivering them. Anyways, sure, wouldn't mind seeing more videos like this. Thank you.
Thanks or taking the time to leave feedback. Those are all great points
There's a German (region free) blu-ray set, if you want to check it out.
"Hyperreality" or whatever this kind of surreal satirical setting is called was still pretty common in the 80s and 90s (another example being "Sledge Hammer") but as far as I can tell, has pretty much died out since then.
Corin Nemec, the actor playing Parker Lewis had a short self produced internet show called "Star-ving" together with David Faustino, the guy who played Bud Bundy in "Married with Children" back in the late 2000s, where they both played satirical versions of themselves and poked fun at being struggling has-been actors.
I was too young for the show during it's run but for one magical summer break in either 93/94, the USA channel was blasting it in syndication on weekday mornings. Thanks for the fond memories
Thanks for sharing!
I had a huge crush on corin nemec I mean who didn’t? 😂❤ always looked forward to Ms musso thumb and breaking her glass door every week 😂
Together with the wonder years ,Parker Lewis was one first teen sitcoms that had actual teens and they where a little bit more matured than previous teen sitcoms . It's shame that last season weren't good as previous two that was probably the reason that people forgot about Parker Lewis.
Parker Lewis a.k.a. Ferris Buehler a.k.a. Zack Morris a.k.a. Marty McFly. The white cool guy scam artist who floats on air and always dodges every consequence.
While PLCL hasn't held the same pop culture following something like saved by the bell has, but in the early 90s, he was the peak of cool for kids.
Found the first two seasons on DVD in a discount bin a number of years back. Apparently they never released the third season on DVD in Region 1, which is a bit of a shame even if it wasn't great, because that sort of thing really kills my desire to purchase TV DVD's as a completionist and it's all too common. Parker Lewis Can't Lose was really a TV show of its era, the parents ran a video store, they wore the fashions of the 90s, they wore swatch watches, its truly a time capsule of the 90's, and the 90s were a great decade so it deserves to be remembered today.
I've been watching Ferris Bueller and I've watched Parker Lewis recently and Parker Lewis has much much better music
Saved by the Bell was the only one that worked with Zack Morris basically being Ferris Bueller.
I had never even seen Season 3 until recently, when I got the complete series on bluray from Germany. I watched the whole show, and counted how many times they used the "WHOA!" sound for comedic effect. I discovered that they only did this from the middle of season 1 to the middle of season 2. My conclusion: this coincides with "the golden age" of the show. Everything after that point is really awful.
PLCL was definite a take on Ferris Bueller, but with a cool sureal twist, kinda similar to The Adventures of Pete and Pete on Nickelodeon.
Parker Lewis Can't Lose was a favorite of mine when it came out. They ruined it and I stopped watching by the 3rd season. But in the beginning it was brilliant
I'll tell you why. It's simple. It was on FOX. A channel that canceled it's shows left and right no matter if it was popular or not. If the show cost more than they were willing to pay it was canceled.
It was a great show, and I’ll never forget “coolness” I still say that word to this day
I thought i was the only one that remembered this show until I saw that Family Guy episode. For the better part of the 90's i remember saying "coolness".
yeah I had to slip a clip in from that episode.
I loved to watch it until change of tone. Weirdness was what me hooked on Parker Levis, so when they made it just regular teren drama, I lost intrest and only watched out of habit.
It definitely jumped the shark once he got a girlfriend. The first season was so wacky and funny that it couldn’t be topped.
I loved this show. I was in middle school when this came out. I dressed like Parker with the loud design rayon shirts and stylized high hair
Disney should do a season of a follow up series Where Parker is the dad character and Jerry is married to Shelly.
First season was so good and fresh that they exported it to Latin America and dubbed it in spanish. I remember I had a crush on the principal
I've never in my life met a parker lewis hater lmao. They might not know about it. but never a hater
I watched this show in its initial run and loved it. Never missed an episode for the first season. It was more "Ferris Bueller" than the actual "Ferris Bueller" show (which sucked). But, yeah, I could definitely feel the shift in the second season and gradually lost interest and stopped watching it. I guess it's a good thing I never bothered with the third season. Shame...they ruined a great show.
Coob nowadays lives somewhere in Germany under the alias Reiner Winkler. True story
I still say "not a problem" regularly, which i got from Parker Lewis.
I loved this show. It was like Ferris mixed with Beverly Hills 90210 mixed with saved by the bell.
Does anyone remember Beans Baxter?
Loved the show and loved Timothy Stack. Watched Night Stand, when too young but thought he was so underrated.
synchronize swatches!
Used to watch the reruns on the USA Network during the summer.
10:02 somehow Parker has the worst hair in this photo. Who thought that was a good look????
The Ferris Bueller inspired show that was better than the actual Ferris Bueller show.
LOVED THIS because it reminded me of THREE OCLOCK HIGH. The editing and cinematography was cartoonish. I had a huge crush on the sister
This was on during my first year in college and Sunday night was THE night to watch the fun shows on Fox. If I remember right, it was Simpsons, Parker Lewis, Herman's Head and In Living Color. (Fairly sure that was the lineup) But I honestly totally forgot they dropped Can't Lose and got more serious. It's likely by that point I didn't have a TV wherever I was living so I wasn't paying attention to shows.
I wonder if the writers dropped the cant lose because they knew the end was near and Parker would lose.
I had completely forgotten about this series and I LOVED it so much! Memory unlocked!
Awesome
I remember getting a YDKJ TV question right where the answer was this show. My two friends did NOT, to my delight. "Which sitcom character would win in a fight between these four?" "That's right! Since the name of his show is "Parker Lewis Can't Lose" it stands to reason that he would come out on top in a scrap!"
nice