I wanted this week’s post to be about Matthew Perry’s tragic guest arc on Growing Pains, but it’s nowhere on the internet. Since I doubt I’ll be able to get my hands on my VHS tapes from 1998, this post is probably never going to happen.
Luckily, I found an episode of Clueless (the awful TV show not the awesome movie) that essential rips off the Growing Pains plot. It’s Cher’s birthday and everyone is planning her a surprise party–as they do every year because she is soooo special. (Like this impostor could be as cool as the movie Cher, as if!) So really the surprise is not that there’s a party, but rather the party’s details.
And this party is rockin’ because *NSYNC shows up for a surprise performance. I couldn’t actually watch the second part of this episode because part 2 of 3 was missing from YouTube, but I did find this great clip of “Tearin’ Up My Heart.”
So what appears to be happening in the 14 minutes of this episode I was able to actually watch is pretty tame high school party with a really awesome concert mixed in. Only, Cher’s boyfriend, Murray, and that guy Murray always hangs out with get drunk and then drive home. Or attempt to drive home. Murray is okay, but the other two guys end up in the hospital.
Everything seems fine and then he abruptly dies just as everyone’s making plans to continue life blissfully. It’s literally the exact same plot twist as the Growing Pains episode–except that I think Cher’s dad may be facing a lawsuit on this one. I mean, I didn’t get to see the entire episode so it may not be his fault. But it kind of seems like he threw a rock concert in his backyard, let the kids get drunk, and then allowed them to drive home.
Anyway, you can compare the two on your own below. WordPress won’t let me embed at a specific time, ugh, so you have to skip to 7:26 for Clueless and 0:61 for Growing Pains.
Very Special Lesson: Clueless was such a bad TV Show that it ripped off it’s very special episode from an awesome TV Show. Who is this tragic guest star? I don’t even care. Without the Matthew Perry magic, this episode sucks.
The Very Special Blog 
This episode ends with the cast doing a PSA announcement about the dangers of how young people: teens & young adults driving while being intoxicated or DUI which happens way too often killing innocent lives each & every year especially in High School later College. This is what happens when Alcohol and driving don’t mix together!