Popular (1999-2001)

Popular 1999 2001 The two girls who are seen in their fictional Jacqueline Kennedy High School as the leaders of two main opposing cliques, the popular one and the not so popular one, clash heads when their single parents meet, fall in love and decide to get hitched However, both the girls and their two cliques slowly grow together and become an unlikely group of friends with both typical and not so typical high school and young adult problems Brooke McQueen is the captain of Glamazons, the schools cheerleading squad Shes considered smart, beautiful and perfect Privately, shes been dealing with self image and body image issues ever since her estranged mother left her and her father She also tries to fight the popular image people have of her She wants to be good and does good and often helps people instead of thinking only about herself but she also has a suppressed selfish side Sam McPherson aims to have the opposite image of Brookes Shes attracted to journalism and wants to be the voice of nonconformists Despite this, she has several flaws like being too judgmental, underestimating people or ignoring the fact that she sometimes acts hypocritically, especially when it comes to love Her anger partially stems from the trauma of losing her father to leukemia Lily Esposito is the schools top environmentalist, animal and human rights activist and an all around liberal On the other hand, she has a fear of sex and sexuality and this creates problems in her relationships with men Shes Sams friend and so is Harrison John, the ultimate friend zoned guyfriend, whos been friends with both Brooke and Sam for a long time and has a crush on Brooke ever since childhood but also feels certain attraction to Sam These three friends make the ultimate love triangle Carmen Ferrara is a slightly overweight girl, who tries to deal with her body issues by trying to accept and enjoy who she is Despite being friends with Sams group, her dream is to become one of the Glamazons and be friends with the popular girls as well and she goes for it Josh Ford is the schools hot popular quarterback, who at first seems like a walking jock stereotype but actually has a lot of depth and is for the most part a nice guy He dates Brooke at first and they become the schools ultimate power couple but he eventually decides to quit trying to be what other people want him to be and become his own man Nicole Julian is the second in command of Glamazons but always wants more power and influence Shes assertive, smart, cynical, egotistical, Machiavellian, combative and attractive and she knows it She sees herself as the Queen B of the school and wants everyone to know it and respect it She does not play fair and wants to see all her real and perceived enemies destroyed The only people she respects are Gwyneth Paltrow and for the most part Brooke However, she sometimes shows her suppressed empathic side and in those moments she becomes a true friend Michael Sugar Daddy Bernardino is Joshs towering best friend Hes cheerful, fun, acts like a rapper, takes the simple approach to life but also suffers from morbid obesity He doesnt let this bother him though and uses his size to his advantage when playing football with Josh for the schools team Mary Cherry is Nicoles larger than life, super rich, both genuinely quirky and amusingly psychotic, best friend and a Glamazon, although Nicole usually treats her like her sidekick Jane McPherson is Sams loving mom Mike McQueen is Brookes loving dad The two meet and fall in love which eventually leads to marriage Brooke and Sam cant accept this and even do their best to try to break them up but the girls eventually see the upside of becoming stepsisters, which doesnt stop them from occasionally stabbing each other in the back Bobbi Glass is the gangs conservative, androgynous, charismatic, ingenious, commanding, tyrannical female biology, science and chemistry teacher and a true frienemy who always comes up with creative ways to put her students down but she also has a somewhat of an empathic side to her She has several twin brothers and sisters April Tuna is the schools scary unhinged psychotic nerdy ginger with a potent sex drive, but boys avoid her nonetheless She leads the actual unpopular kids from the fringes of high school society and has her eye on Harrison Emory Dick is Harrisons self confident geeky friend who doesnt even try to fit in and likes it that way Hes always ready to help his friends and often comes up with silly creative plans that sometime actually make things worse Poppita Fresh is the African American Glamazon and fits in perfectly with Nicole and Mary Cherry George Austin is a smart, nice, hot, and caring African American jock, who falls for Sam and she reciprocates Freddy Gong is the schools uneasy Asian American student, who has a strange masochistic rapport with Nicole Principal Cecilia Hall is the schools caring blind principal who always tries to be just and help the students as well as protect the schools interests Vice Principal Calvin Krupps arrives later to help the school deal with conflicts between students Hes a very smart man, who doesnt mind playing games or confronting students openly if he believes that some good will come of it Principal Hall eventually disappears from the show and he becomes the schools acting principal and he and Ms Glass become buds Godfrey is Ms Glass very strange on and off boyfriend who eventually becomes a priest Cherry Cherry is Mary Cherrys super rich super charismatic no nonsense mother and businesswoman who talks tough and acts accordingly Her dream is to marry the real life actor Erik Estrada and when she wants something, she means business The shows plots, arcs and subplots range from creative quirky over the top parodies to enhanced reality situations and typical high school drama Due to unforeseen cancellation, the show ends on a huge cliffhanger