Parker Lewis Can'T Lose S2

Fans of Parker Lewis Can't Lose -- a witty early-90's program and one of the first hits from the Fox network -- had to wait an agonizingly-long time for the program to come out on DVD. Season One was finally released in June and it sold enough units to propel Shout Factory into issuing a Season Two Release!

So you're telling me we went 18 years with no Parker Lewis to now seasons one and two released on dvd within months of each other? NOT A PROBLEM!

I am an unabashed geek of this show, and even though season one is my favorite, season two contains what is probably my favorite-ever EPISODE: "Stormy Mikey." It contains a great guest turn by the late Sonny Bono, who plays a record executive who sets his eyes on signing Mikey to his label. And he is not above employing nefarious means to accomplish his goal.

This particular episode resonated with me to the point that even 18 years later I still remember Mikey's heart-wrenching song "I've Known You all of My Life" from it. Probably because back in '91 I taped it off of television with my hand held tape recorder so I could listen to it on my walkman in horrible mono sound constantly. Yeah, I told you I'm a geek.

Anyways, this season has a slight tonal shift from season one. Although it still retains plenty of the hijinks and humor, it picks up a slight something -- I don't want to say "edge" -- that just hits me in the gut a little more (in a good way). I was in high school when this show was on, dealing with my own teenage turmoil, and somehow this show really seemed to connect with me. To say this show got me through high school would be an exaggeration...but only a slight one. As you can tell by now I am not the most objective reviewer when it comes to this show.

Here are the 25 Season Two episodes on this set in broadcast order:
1. Father Knows Less (8/11/91)
2. A Walk on the Dark Side (8/18/91)
3. Full Mental Jacket (9/1/91)
4. Future Shock (9/8/91)
5. The Undergraduate (9/15/91)
6. Stormy Mikey (9/22/91)
7. Fat Boy and Little Man (9/29/91)
8. Aging Gracefully (10/6/91)
9. The Parker Chronicles (10/13/91)
10. Rock 'n' Roles (10/27/91)
11. Loves Handles (11/3/91)
12. Boy Meets Girl (11/10/91)
13. Raging Kube (11/24/91)
14. Tower of Power (12/15/91)
15. Obscene and Not Heard (12/22/91)
16. Goodbye Mr. Rips (1/5/92)
17. Civil Wars (1/19/92)
18. Glory Daze (2/9/92)
19. Boy Meets Girl II (2/16/92)
20. Dance of Romance (3/1/92)
21. When Jerry Met Shelly (3/22/92)
22. Geek Tragedy (4/12/92)
23. Money Talks (4/26/92)
24. Home Alone with Annie (5/3/92)
25. Diner '75 (5/17/92)

This is a TV spin-off of John Hughes movie "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." Both NBC and Fox networks tried to cash in on this successful teenage movie into TV series; NBC failed, and Fox won in their bids to make successful TV versions. Parker Lewis Can't Lose became a huge success during the early days of Fox network and produced 25 episodes in the second season of its three year run. The story revolves around three teenage high school kids (The Buds); Parker Lewis (Corin Nemec), Mikey Randall (Billy Jayne) and Jerry Steiner (Troy Slaten) who handle day-to-day problems/setbacks as a team. Their adversaries are school Principal Ms. Grace Musso (Melanie Chartoff), school special helper Frank Lemmer (Taj Johnson), and Parker Lewis's sister Shelly Lewis (Maia Brewton), and occasionally school bully Larry Kubiac (a.k.a. Kube; Abraham Benrubi). In the second season the writers introduce a steady girl friend Annie Sloan (Jennifer Guthrie) for Parker Lewis, and the effect of this on the dynamics of buds relationship is explored.

In the episode "Geek Tragedy," Jerry takes a young nerdish girl from school under his wings and tries to mentor her and show that he can be as cool as his buds. When she leaves the nest too early his eggshell-ego begins to crack. "When Jerry met Shelly" is one of my favorite episodes where Jerry's secret love for Shelly is explored. But beware; the protective brother Parker is one loose who tries to stop the budding romance. In the episode "Glory Daze," an alumnus returns to accept an award. Harry Anderson of Night Court plays the alumnus role. In the episode "Civil Wars," Parker's parents have a couple's spat when Parker's mother (Anne Bloom) takes a philosophy class, and Parker's father, Martin Lewis (Tim Stack) feels left out and his `man's ego" kicks in. The kids feel the effect of the squabble. I very much like this episode since a serious problem in family life is studied in sitcom environment in a splendid way. In the episode "Tower of Power," Grace Musso ask the buds to make a documentary about the school, but Parker has no time thanks to his new history teacher, known for strict discipline in educational system, wears off Parker as well as Frank Lemmer. Eventually Parker confronts the teacher about his exam evaluation methods and defends his adversary Frank who is supposed to be very good in history. Frank Lemmer is portrayed in the show as disciplined and school-rule enforcing, right-wing republican who wants to joint the Air Force Academy to serve the country. In the episode "Raging Kube", Kube gets a girlfriend, who is big like him and loves animals like whales, preaches about protecting environment and practice pacifism, which turns Kube very mellow. The school becomes defenseless against Donald Yemano (Tony Nittoli), a fellow student who runs his affairs at school like God Father Vito Corleone and even buds get scared. A simple fight of will between Kube and Yemano drives the little God Father out of the school. This is another wonderful episode where the problems of bullies are examined in a high school in a situation comedy. In the episode "Fat boy and Little Man," Jerry joins the football team and becomes king of the gridiron. When the school's football star Kube's brain is filled with game plans and can't think anymore, football coach asks for smart kid Jerry to assist in the game. Jerry plays in the football team excels in the game but fumbles on his friendship with buds and Kube, which alienates everyone. At last he sees the light. This is another favorite episode of mine. In the episode "Father knows less," the impact on a kid's education is studied in a one-parent family and the toll it takes on the parent looking after the kid. When a local business man sponsors a family build-a-better-toaster contest, Mikey can't participate because his mother doesn't have the time; but his buds Parker and Jerry get lot of help from their respective fathers.

Character study of Grace Musso, Frank Lemmer and Parker Lewis suggest similarities to Major Margaret Houlihan, Frank Burns and Hawkeye of TV show MASH in terms of antagonistic interactions, but there is no romance between Musso and Lemmer. Corin Nemec, in the lead role does a wonderful job as a cool kid, and Melanie Chartoff as the bossy school principal, Abraham Benrubi as the school bully and Maia Brewton as a meddling sister have provided great performances. I was disappointed when this show was not nominated in the best series category for Emmy award during the first two seasons.

It is unfortunate that series went down hill in the third season as the creative content of the show failed. During the early years of Fox network, there was tremendous pressure from Fox executives to perform better in Nielsen's ratings. Hence, the writers introduced new characters to the show; but they did not fit-in with the existing characters in terms of the story lines. This had significant negative impact on the show overall.

1. Parker Lewis Can't Lose: The Complete First Season
2. Star-ving: The Complete First Season

Parker Lewis Can't Lose: The Complete Second Season is even better than the 1st Season by a mile. Corin Nemec was one of my favorite actors in the early '90s - his comic timing was brilliant! Parker Lewis only lasted 3 seasons but what a treasure this little show was and they don't make dark comedy shows like this anymore. I highly recommend this unforgettable show about the misery and mindless pleasures of high school. Enjoy!

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 11 reviews  4.2 out of 5 stars