Welcome Freshmen

I'm 17.

I was 10 or 11 when I started seeing this show while channel surfing, and I was pleasantly suprised with what I saw. Nickelodeon had been the home, at the time, to countless terrible shows such as "Nick Arcade" and "Fifteen". Anyway, if Nickelodeon decides to do something sane and cancel mindless tripe like "All That" and "Kenan and Kel" and replace with re-reruns of this, "Doug", "Finders Keepers" (remember this?), and "Salute Your Shorts", the next generation of 5th graders will be all too better.

This is another under the radar gem that has been overlooked and forgotten. This show came out about the same time "Saved by the Bell" was popular and this was Nickelodeon trying their hand in connecting with the teen age group. You don't have to worry about this show being another "Saved by the Bell" clone which it is because this show by its nature is a skit comedy. I really like that because it's something different in both the teen and skit comedy genre. Sure, we've seen skits on high school or teen agust shows but like I said those are only skits they don't count, this show is a solely focused skit comedy focused on teens and high school is something that hasn't been done before or again since.

The production value is decent they worked well with what they were able to manage and get, they have all the right set pieces. The theme song is solid, it's not on my favorites list but it's a fun theme song to listen to, it's a grungy rocking tune which fits as this show was made in the 90's and fits the nature of this show as it's a mixed bag of fun.

Characters are good, Merv is a favorite of mine. His character is sort of a geek/nerd but he's not the stereotypical kind. What I like about him is even though he's smart he's kind of a fool he's guilty of being an egocentric as well as a bit of a schemer. He's is always trying to find short cuts or colorful easy solutions just to get his way or whatever he wants as well as inflate his ego, (though sometimes he succeeds but not always). Which makes it all the funnier and slightly satisfying to see him fall flat on his face in the end, and really have only himself to blame. But what I love about him is despite his flaws he's not boring, one of the highlights of the show is him having his own documentary program called "Merv-V-Mentry" (like I said egocentric), he's pretty much an investigative news reporter not just trying to tackle the subject of today but also trying to be the first to make a bust or have a story of the century, but is once again knocked down by his own shortcutting and forgetting one of the most important rules of journalism, to actually investigate.

My second favorite is Mr. Lipman he's also funny, the actor that play him kind of looks like actor Robert Picardo, but he isn't. His character always cracks me up as he's an uptight principal that likes his job a little too much but can't stand high schoolers. This guy always has some of the best lines and scenes, it's always funny seeing sort of the slight clashing between both the high schoolers and him as both are just giving each other grief.

Third is Walter whom is sort of the jock of the group though I'm not sure what sport or sports he's involved in. He's sort of a simple-minded person but his heart is in the right place. One quirk of him is his how he is constantly hunger, always thinking about food even more than Luffy from the anime series "One Piece"; though I can sometimes emphasize with that because even I get hungry quickly sometimes.

There are some memorable episodes, I really like how each of the episodes are on a theme and parodies on it. It's funny because it's slightly true because as teenagers we had to think and deal with matter like that.

One favorite episode of mine is the subject on the the environment, my favorite in that episode was seeing Mr. Lipman going into imagination land and imagining the school without certain essentials that inadvertently contribute to pollution. It's just funny and kind of sad at the same time seeing each of the high schooler characters just paying the price over the losses like instead of using paper and pencil they have to write "Flintstones" style by chiseling on stone slabs, from those images I could just imagine Lipman just relishing in their grief. I thought that was funny because it's pretty much a dose of reality for anyone resorting to extreme eco solutions but also the things we tend to take for granted and their importance of why they should still be around.

Another is on "Bullies" which I'll admit is a rather touchy subject, but this show tastefully parodied on the subject well. This episode has my favorite Merv U mentry as Merv for once is documenting and cracking down on an important subject, that is unfortunately before they crack down on him.

And the courtroom episode where Walter is on trial. It's sort of this show doing "Rashomon" as we see one person's perspective on what happened is more ridiculous and inaccurate than the other. My favorite one was the Janitor's story which is a fantasy tale I'll just say it's no "Game of Thrones" but funny as heck.

Overall this is a good comedy, it's not one of my favorite skit comedies or even teen shows for that matter but it's a fun one all the same that like any section of a yearbook it's worth looking over.

Rating: 3 stars

I used to watch this show when I was a little girl. However, I don't remember much about it. If you ask me, it was a good show. Two other things I remember pretty well are the opening sequence and theme song. In addition to that, everyone was ideally cast. Also, the writing was very strong. The performances were top-grade, too. I hope some network brings it back so I can see every episode. Before I wrap this up, I'd like to say that I'll always remember this show in my memory forever, even though I'm not sure if I've seen every episode. Now, in conclusion, if some network ever brings it back, I hope that you catch it one day before it goes off the air for good.

i remember when this show was on the air along with other grand shows like "hi, honey i'm home", and "clarissa explains it all". the golden oldies of nickelodeon... *tear, how i miss them so! this show lived longer than "hi honey..." and about, if even, half of the time "clarissa..." i remember the merv, safety advice, because merv was a little runt, and grant was the smart black guy who wore a lot of white and light lime green, and walter was a gross, white trash kid, i believe alex was really popular, and possibly a cheerleader, and erin was the good-girl that was very nature-friendly. mr. lippman, was a nearly bald skinny principal whose boss-man was always breathing down his neck. i can't really remember the begining song like most people usually always remember, but i do remember that this group of people were considered the under-classmen, hence the name, and were looked down upon and teased by the upper-classmen. they also always sat around this little indoor tree thing with steps around the sides, it was their hang-out place. a very good show, i miss it greatly even though i was only in 2nd grade when it was on.

This show can't be a guilty pleasure anymore, since it was so horrendously CANCELLED! I always watched this show, even if I had no idea as to what was going on. I just thought that was the coolest place (their school), all of those high school shows were cool at the time. Of course, now that I can say 'been there done that' about high school, I can honestly say that the world is full of stereotypes...BRING THIS BACK! Even though it was semi-superficial, I still liked it. We need a new network for all the golden-age Nickelodeon shows!