Product Description

Inside the walls of Kennedy High, there's a war being waged for the most elusive prize of all...popularity. Get into the heart of the battle as Nicole, Josh, Sam, Mary Cherry and all the characters you love (and love to hate) fight to claim their rightful place on the popularity scale!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15793 in DVD
• Brand: BUENA VISTA HOME VIDEO
• Released on: 2004-09-21
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 6
• Running time: 900 minutes

Amazon.com
The world of high school gets a treatment both glamorous and terrifying in the TV series Popular. The show spins around two characters: Blonde cheerleader Brooke (Leslie Bibb) and brunette alterna-girl Sam (Carly Pope), each the center of their social groups. To their mutual horror, Brooke's divorced father and Sam's widowed mother fall in love, turning these cultural opposites into stepsisters. The large supporting cast includes overweight but determined Carmen (Sara Rue), conniving Lady-Macbeth-with-pom-poms Nicole (Tammy Lynn Michaels), earnest jock Josh (Bryce Johnson), all-encompassing activist Lily (Tamara Mello), frustrated sensitive boy Harrison (Christopher Gorham), and many others. The key to Popular is how it merges melodramatic soap-opera stories with wrenchingly blunt and honest portrayals of the cruelties of adolescence.

While some viewers may find it galling to listen to a gorgeous young actress who's been on magazine covers moan about how she can't be as perfect as a model, the series tackles everything from anorexia to peer manipulation to teen sex with directness and an eye for moral and emotional complexity. An episode about a Sadie Hawkins dance becomes a satirical farce about body image (female and male); a slumber party turns into brutal humiliation; a teacher decides to get a sex-change operation, prompting anxiety throughout the school. Almost every character gets a moment of heartfelt grandstanding, yet the actors pull them off with commitment and guts (Rue routinely turns speeches that could have been cheesy schlock into genuine pathos). Sure, some fantasy sequences are silly, but the show skillfully creates characters and situations that defy easy definition. Repeatedly, Brooke and Sam each set out with good intentions, only to end up hurting their friends and fueling their antagonistic relationship. Popular cunningly subverts expectations; it's a smart show for both teenagers and adults. --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews

Outcasts + Popular Elite / Engagement = Popular
Welcome to Kennedy High. To your right you have the Popular crowd which is headed by Brooke McQueen (head cheerleader), her boyfriend Josh Ford (Star Quarterback), best friend Nicole (biggiest bitch in school), and Merry Cherry (Richiest teenager on the west coast). To your left you have the un-popular crowd with Sam McFerson (reporter at large), her guy-friend Harrison (typical outcast), Carman (larger girl with a heart of gold), and Lilly (the boyish activist).

Through all the years they have attend school together, they have always wondered what it would be like to be in the others shoes, but still keeping a safe distance from each other. But then their world is turned upside down, when the head liners of both groups: Sam and Brooke find out that in a little less than 9 months, they will be more than rivals... they will be sisters.

What can be said for Popular, that hasn't already. It was the freshiest, brilliantly written, and witty show that aired for the two years that it was on the air. All the characters will be remembered, because they were so unique. It sad to think that the ratings for the show went from 3 million to 900,000. But now people will finally have a chance to see what they missed.

I loved this show because It was a spoof on all the other "Teen Soaps" out their. There hasn't really been anything like popular before, nor will there be anything like it again... Hopefully with the DVD sales Buena Vista will realize that they need to make a movie to tie up all the loose ends.

INTELLIGENT. HIP. HILARIOUS TELEVISON!!
Okay, I'm a male in my 30s and when this show first hit the air, I just happened to catch the first episode and I couldn't keep my eyes off the screen! The show moved with sharp wit. Fantastic, sharp and hilarious characters that blend into a collage of colorful entertainment.

I actually recorded every episode, commerical free, onto video tapes... and now I can trash them for the real thing!! DVDs!!!!

The shows are each in their own right, kooky and zany and just down right fun as heck! Each episode has a sort of flash and sass to it, it's addictive.

There is absolutely no question, each episode of POPULAR was WRITTEN with care. Picking the absolute right times to make us laugh and the absolute right times to pull our heart strings. Singing, dancing, laughing and crying... all in one show.

Like I said, I'm a male in my thirties, and I'm proof that you don't have to be a teenager to enjoy this show. This show is excellent because it has excellent WRITING!!

If you're looking for a show to pick your spirits up and see some of the best young talents of the future flesh out some wonderful characters, give POPULAR a shot. I can't wait to get the DVDs in the mail!! September 21st!! Hurry up and get here!

Then I'll just cross my fingers that the second season comes available sometime!! I only got to see the first 5 or 6 episodes when it aired...!!

Highschool Highway: satirical dramedy at it's finest
In autumn of 1999, The WB network debuted the TV series "Popular," a refreshingly clever dramedy set in high school about two girls from opposite social spheres forced into sisterhood when their parents make a love connection. Saturated with scathing humor, pop culture references and social angst, "Popular" explored e-generation ambition and the teen crusade for popularity, acceptance and clear skin among the two girls and their feuding cliques.

In 2001, The WB unceremoniously truncated the show's two-year run after falsely leading the producers and fans to believe the show would be returning for another season. Much to everyone's chagrin, the final image of the series was a disturbing and violent cliffhanger which would never be resolved. However, fans can now relive the first season thanks to Buena Vista Home Entertainment.