The "Revenge of the Nerds" Legacy

[Frosty81]

What do you all remember about the legacy of the franchise that was Revenge of the Nerds?

Most of the franchise's subsequent efforts failed to generate the same sales as the 1984 original: the 2nd film from 1987 lacked Betty Childs (and even so, only a portrait of her is seen at the beginning of the film), a TV pilot with Robbie Rist (y'know, Cousin Oliver on The Brady Bunch, as well as Michelangelo from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles TV series) as Booger failed to get off the ground, and the two movies thereafter were TV specials.

Some of the main and recurring characters from the 1984 film played their own musical instruments: Booger (Curtis Armstrong) on guitar and Judy (Michelle Meyrink) on accordion.

But Timothy Busfield, whose character Poindexter played violin, was not actually an accomplished violinist, and was thus warned by Jeff Kanew that his preliminary violin improvisation would be replaced by that of an established violinist's (think Isaac Stern, Itzhak Perlman, or Jean-Luc Ponty), and Busfield was actually disappointed when the producers, in the end, didn't replace his preliminary violin improvisation.

I also want to ask all of you if there were any actors that auditioned for the roles of Lewis, Gilbert, Booger, Wormser, Poindexter, Stan and Betty, among others, before the final cast was decided?

Think:
Lana Clarkson as Betty Childs
Cheri Oteri as Judy

~Ben