Trivia / Square Pegs

• Dawson Casting: All eight of the main characters were supposed to be high school freshmen (ages 14-15). In credits order...
  • Sarah Jessica Parker (Patty Greene) was 17 (b. March 1965).
  • Amy Linker (Lauren Hutchinson), the baby of the cast, actually was 15 when the series premiered (b. October 1966), turning 16 during production of the first season.
  • Merritt Butrick (Johnny Slash) was 22 when he shot the pilot, turning 23 before the show premiered (b. September 1959^note d. March 1989). That same year he had appeared in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan as a character his own age, if not older.
  • John Femia (Marshall Blechtman) was actually 15 when he shot the pilot and was 16 throughout the first season (b. August 1966).
  • Tracy Nelson (Jennifer DiNuccio) was 18 when the show premiered and turned 19 during the first season (b. October 1963).
  • Jami Gertz (Muffy Tepperman) was borderline, at 16 when the show premiered and turned 17 during the first season (b. October 1965).
  • Are you sitting down? Claudette Wells (LaDonna Fredericks) was 28 throughout the first season (b. February 1954; production probably ended before her 29th birthday in February 1983).
  • Jon Caliri (Vinnie Pasetta) was 22 when the show began and turned 23 toward the end of the first season (b. January 1960).
• Troubled Production: Contributing to the series' demise were an inexperienced Show Runner who feuded with cast and crew, inconsistent writing, and rampant drug use. Read all about it here.
  Platypus Comix: By the end of the season, other shows were doing worse in the ratings than Square Pegs, and it otherwise would have survived. CBS had to can it solely because they didn't want to have to deal with the backstage drama for another year. And that's why it took until 1999 for another producer to be allowed to take a chance on a realistic, well-written, non-soapy high school series.