How The 80s Raunchiest Sci-Fi Became The 90s Raunchiest Cable Series

By Jonathan Klotz
| Published 2 minutes ago

John Hughes redefined the teen comedy from the sex romps of Porky’s to the more grounded and realistic Pretty in Pink, Sixteen Candles, and The Breakfast Club. In 1985, during the middle of this run, he also wrote and directed Weird Science, a film that was pure wish fulfillment.

There’s still a high school, and a pair of social outcasts, but there’s also an absolute smokeshow of a computer program with the ability to alter reality, designed from the smallest piece of code to be the perfect woman. Not only was it a hit, but a decade later, the USA Network took the premise and ran with it to make Weird Science, the series, which ran for a mind-boggling 5 seasons and 88 episodes. 

She Blinded Me With Science

Both the film and the series center on high school slackers Gary (Brat Packer Anthony Michael Hall in the original and John Mallory Asher in the series) and Wyatt (Ilan Mitchell-Smith in the film, Michael Manasseri in the series), trying to cut every corner possible thanks to Lisa, the artificial woman who, for all intents and purposes, operates like a Genie. The basic episode has one of the two making a wish, turning the school into a party school complete with pizza in class, becoming rock stars, time-traveling to deal with a bully, or turning Wyatt’s brother into an infant. 

There’s nothing deep about Weird Science. It’s lighthearted, campy fun, and if you’re wondering why this managed to stay on the air for five seasons, it’s because they somehow found the perfect replacement for the movie’s Kelly LeBrock: Vanessa Angel. No one cares about Wyatt and Gary. Weird Science is all about the stacked brunette front and center in every piece of promotional material, every commercial, and every episode. Angel’s take on Lisa was a little goofier than LeBrock’s, but at the end of the day, she was usually the one who ended up solving the problem. 

From Runner-Up To The Reason Everyone Watched

Vanessa Angel found the most success in her career on Weird Science bringing Lisa to life. Taking over for Kelly LeBrock’s iconic portrayal should have been a recipe for disaster, but it worked. Angel’s career in Hollywood was filled with missed opportunities for major roles, first as the original Xena to Lucy Lawless, losing out due to a horribly timed illness, then as the second choice for Seven of Nine behind Jeri Ryan, and finally, as Anise/Freya on Stargate SG-1 when the producers wanted a sexy new female cast member to catch the Seven of Nine wave. Turns out, they already had Amanda Tapping, and her role was cut after only three appearances. 

Weird Science was obviously aimed at a young audience with plotlines that would feel at home a decade later on a Disney Channel original. You can only imagine the fun that the writer’s room had trying to come up with the most insane plotlines possible. The combination of a hot woman and two (or more) inept guys has been the foundation for countless comedies over the decades. Turning the woman into a wish-granting computer program didn’t alter the formula in the slightest. It worked for I Dream Of Jeannie in the 60s, it worked for Weird Science in the 90s, and if Hollywood ever makes another sitcom, it’ll work again. 

Weird Science is streaming for free on The Roku Channel.