View Full Version : Vintage 1982-83 "Square Pegs" Ads from Variety


JamesG
01-04-2026, 05:22 AM
From the Oct. 4, 1982, edition of Daily Variety


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If you were a teenager in America in 1982, you watched every episode of “Square Pegs”. And you talked about it at school the next day.

This CBS comedy aimed at young adults was not destined for a long run. But no one who watched in the moment ever forgot it. There was nothing like it on TV at the time with its focus on teenage life. And it introduced us to Sarah Jessica Parker.

It would be another decade before Fox and later the WB Network and UPN would serve up shows that tapped the pulse of teens and twentysomethings.








From the Oct. 11, 1982, edition of Daily Variety


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If only “Square Pegs” had gobbled up Nielsen ratings like Pac-Man gobbled up those dots.








From the Jan. 3, 1983, edition of Daily Variety


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“Square Pegs” had a female showrunner in Anne Beatts (an original “SNL” writer) and it employed a lot of female writers and directors. What a legacy.








From the Feb. 4, 1983, edition of Daily Variety


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The show didn’t have long to live by the time this ad ran in February 1983.

But the spirit of Weemawee High and its misfit students will never die.

https://variety.com/gallery/tv-ads-rare-variety-star-trek-freaks-and-geeks-sopranos-dawsons-creek-west-wing/squarepegs4/