Back in the late 70's up until the early 80's the single most splendidly overwrought and sensationalized (not to mention absurdly inaccurate and exaggerated) source of teen angst melodrama on TV was the infamous ABC Afterschool Special. These delightfully ludicrous half hour to hour long howlers usually were broadcast around 3 o'clock in the afternoon and addressed in clumsily earnest and heavy-handed fashion such pressing adolescent issues as peer pressure, under-aged sex, teenage pregnancy, dysfunctional families, homosexuality and, naturally, drug abuse.
One of the more fondly remembered of these programs was this legendary gut-busting anti-marijuana riot starring onetime "Tiger Beat" pin-up hunk Scott Baio, who achieved his teen scream fame playing Chachi on the hit sitcom "Happy Days." Scott plays Jack, your garden variety squeaky-clean goody-goody two shoes gradehound wonk with dorky wire-rim glasses, the dreaded pocket protector, and the expected lousy social status amongst his fellow high school students. In other words, he's a hopelessly awkward and much picked-on nerd. Feeling neglected and desperately wanting to fit in, Jack starts smoking weed so he can impress hottie Felicity (foxy blonde Largo Woodruff; the irritating tease who refuses to have sex in "The Funhouse") and be deemed "cool" by the resident hip kids who are always banging the gong in the bathroom. At first Jack successfully pulls off the transition from pathetic bumbling geek to funky giggling freak, but things soon go downhill at an accelerated rate. The show's two undeniable hilariously campy highlights are: 1.) Jack ravenously devouring ice cream right out of the container with a scoop because he's got the munchies and 2.) the truly choice moment when Jack almost kills his jock older brother during a boating expedition by accidentally clocking him in the head with a huge oar. Tasty trivia tidbit: Writer/director John Herzfeld previously guested on an episode of "Starsky and Hutch" as Starsky's brother and later went on to make such acclaimed films as "2 Days in the Valley" and "Don King: Only in America." To conclude this comment on an ironic note, two whole years after doing this cautionary Nancy Reaganesque "just say nope to dope" parable Baio starred in the entertainingly inane comedy "Zapped," in which not only does toking on joints once again enable Scott to make a magical metamorphosis from terminally hapless dweeb to totally happening dude, but also gives Baio amazing telekinetic powers ala "Carrie."
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