Popular

Once upon a time, there were a pack of Cool Loser brunettes, led by a girl named Sam. One day, she got into a squabble with Brooke, the leader of the Girl Posse of blondes at her school. Imagine their surprise when the two of them found out that their single parents are now dating each other. And want to shack up. Off-and-on wars ensue, both at home and at school.

Everyone is obsessed with popularity, down to the teachers. The popular crowd get their asses kissed, the Cool Loser crowd get into fights with them, while the actual Nerds try to swim up from the bottom. Much No Going Steady and crossing of the popularity lines ensue, along with doses of surreality and silliness galore. Sadly, it was Too Good to Last.

There are also BUTTLOADS of twins on this show.

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Tropes used in Popular include:

• Absentee Actor: Popita and Adam in season 2 are never even seen at cheerleading!
• Abusive Parents: Josh's dad, Carmen's mom.
• Acting for Two: Diane Delano played twins Bobbi and Jessi Glass. And their brother Rock. And their uncle.
• A-Cup Angst: There was an episode where Sam wore an inflatable bra to a dance because of sudden insecurity about her breast size.
• All Guys Want Cheerleaders
• Alpha Bitch: Pretty much every dang popular girl, but extra points go to Nicole. Less points go to Brooke, who was actually fairly non-Alpha Bitch-like except for when she was pissed off.
  • Lovable Alpha Bitch: Brooke, once you get past her issues, isn't really that bad. Even Mary Cherry has her decent moments. Nicole, not so much.
• Altar the Speed: Josh and Lily
• Bankruptcy Barrel: Mary Cherry
• Bathroom Stall of Overheard Insults
• Better as Friends: Harrison gets all of these tropes.
• The "B" Grade
• Billy Elliot Plot: Josh: School Play or Big Game ?
• Blondes Are Evil: Almost every popular girl is a blonde. Averted by Harrison's mom.
• Boot Camp Episode: introduces the Glass brother. Makes pretty much no sense on this show, but what does?
• Breaking the Fourth Wall
• Broken Ace: Josh Ford.
• Celebrity Lie: Gwyneth Paltrow's "personal shopper."
• Class Reunion: fantasy version
• Cliff Hanger: Brooke gets hit by a car.
• Compressed Vice
• Cool Loser and Hollywood Nerd: Sam, Harrison, Lily, Carmen...all of their particular clique, really.
• Cut Short
• Daddy's Girl: Brooke
• Dating Do-Si-Do
• Dawson Casting: Various members of the cast were in their early (or late!) twenties when the series was made.
• Disappeared Dad (Sam's, deceased)
• The Ditz: Mary Cherry, to the point where people think she's mentally challenged.
• Dork Horse Candidate: April, who wins after Brooke and Harrison drop out of the race.
• Dysfunction Junction
• Evil Makeover: Harrison (this troper found it incredibly hot, though)
• Evil Redheads: April Tuna, sometimes.
• Evil Twin: Jessi, and Mary Cherry's twin, though calling them "evil" really is just that they're only slightly more bad by comparison to the first one. And both of Emory's sisters.
• Fan-Preferred Couple: Sam and Brooke. Word of God confirmed in Season 3 Sam was supposed to come out so it could have happened.
• Food Fight
• Free the Frogs: Lily
• Full-Name Basis: Mary Cherry, Cherry Cherry
• Fur and Loathing: Furs were worn, but by the rich bitches.
• Geek and Nerd: April and May Tuna, Emory, pretty much everybody below the Sam/Harrison crowd on the scale of popularity.
• Gentle Giant: Sugar Daddy
• Girl Posse
• G-Rated Drug: "cough syrup" is the new crack! Also, wacky premenstrual drugs.
• Half-Identical Twins: the Glass twins have a brother.
• Heterosexual Life Partners: Josh and Sugardaddy
• High School Dance
• Hollywood Dateless: Harrison
• I Can't Believe a Guy Like You Would Notice Me: Any time a blonde/jock dates a brunette/non-jock on this show.
• Ignored Epiphany: Nicole
• I Have Many Names: nicknames in the case of Bobbi "Bio" "Chem" "Claw" Glass. And that's not even counting the nastier ones....
• Important Haircut: some girls have to shave their heads when they lose a bet. Naturally, they all have wigs that look just like their old hair again within a few episodes- the reverse of Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow.
• In with the In Crowd
• Jerk Jock: subverted, as the jock guys on the show were actually pretty nice.
• Language of Love: Sugar Daddy and Exquisite Woo, though she magically seems to have better English later.
• Les Yay (Sam and Brooke, Carmen and Lily)
• Makeover Montage (of course)
• Make Way for the Princess
• Manipulative Bastard: Nicole is the show's best example. New student Adam is also very capable when it comes to this (his backstory reveals that he forced a girl into a mental institution just by screwing with her head). Brooke and Sam also have their moments, as their ongoing rivalry gives them more than ample time to demonstrate.
• Menstrual Menace: The episode "Caged!" revolves awkwardly around this idea.
• Missing Mom: Brooke's
• Musical Episode
• My Name Is Not Durwood: Mary Cherry always calls Harrison "Joe." Yes, she knows what his real name is.
• My Sister Is Off-Limits: this never works well with Brooke and Sam.
• No Going Steady (doesn't Josh somehow sleep with/make out with/date every female in the cast? Not to mention that you can't keep track of who's interested in who from week to week.)
• Non-Identical Twins: the Tunas
• The One Guy: Harrison
• Parent Ex Machina
• Parent Trap Plot
• Parent with New Paramour: Sam's mom and Brooke's dad date and shack up with each other, and eventually have a baby together.
• Pet the Dog: Nicole does have her moments, giving Harrison a bone marrow transplant, and even apologising to a few of her victims after going to far. She gets worse. Bobbi Glass also has a few decent episodes. Basically, no one hurts her students but her.
• Picture Day
• Poisonous Friend: Nicole to Brooke.
• Popular Is Dumb: Mary Cherry is completely over the top in this. (Brooke, on the other hand, gets excellent grades. Nicole is something of an evil genius.)
• Pretty in Mink: When the context isn't the other trope.
• Red Right Hand: After a cat eats off Bobbi's finger, she gets a fake one, and the nickname Claw. Which she answers to.
• Repetitive Name: Cherry Cherry.
• Rich Bitch: Nicole, Mary Cherry, Cherry Cherry
• Sadist Teacher: Bobbi Glass
• School Newspaper Newshound: Sam
• Screw the Rules, I Have Money: all the rich bitch folks
• Screwed by the Network: Season 2 ends with a cliffhanger because the Show Runner was told he'd get a Season 3.
• Separated at Birth: Mary Cherry and her twin
• Soapbox Sadie: Lily
• Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace
• Special Guest: Mary Cherry's parents were Delta Burke and Ru Paul. Oh, and Ann-Margret is God.
• Stepford Smiler: Pretty much everybody in the popular crowd, excepting Broken Ace Josh. Brooke and Sugar are the depressed variety, Nicole is the psycho version.
• Stock Series Finales: the first season finale did its best to make fun of every trope it could possibly find.
• Invisible to Gaydar: Harrison's mom
• Student Council President
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: the pricipals
• Theme Twin Naming: Bobbi and Jessi Glass, and April and May Tuna.
• Tomboyish Name: Sam.
• Tonight Someone Dies: Pastiched all to heck in the first season finale, with a running vote of who should die going on the screen periodicially, and Bobbi Glass in particular having a really bad day. In the end, it was the Ill Girl May Tuna who bit it at the last moment.
• Transsexualism: The shop teacher, though Bobbi Glass sure did seem to have Issues with that. Hmmmmmmmm...
• Two-Teacher School: Not at first, but later in the series where Bobbi Glass taught everything.
• Unrequited Love Switcheroo: Harrison and Brooke
• Wacky Homeroom
• Wedding Day
• What Measure Is a Non-Cute?: Subverted, as activist Lily will try to save non-cute animals such as lobsters.
• Wonderful Life
• Wondrous Ladies' Room: So fabulous it has a name: the Novak. And all the homecoming queen's pictures are posted there. And both genders wander on through.
• Why Do You Keep Changing Jobs?
• Yet Another Christmas Carol
• You're Not My Father