The BEST episodes of Popular season 1

Every episode of Popular season 1, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Popular season 1!

Who's hot? Who's not? The popular ones, the unpopular ones, the geeks. Kennedy High is the set for a big war: the popular against the unpopular. On the popular side: Brooke McQueen, a Barbie doll prototype, the head cheerleader with Nicole, her best friend and the Devil in person. Her boyfriend, Josh Ford, star of the football team; Mary Cherry, the psycotic multi-millionaire Texan girl and Sugar Daddy. On the unpopular side: Sam McPherson, the girl who is always looking for justice; Harrison, the not-so-hot boy; Carmen Ferrara, the fat girl with the warm heart and Lily, the confused girl with the boyish look. Brooke and Sam, enemies by nature, have to deal with their parents' marriage and school problems. A drama? A comedy? A dramedy? You tell!

Last Updated: 3/12/2024Network: The WBStatus: Ended
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All About Adam
star
8.00
11 votes

#1 - All About Adam

Season 1 - Episode 16 - Aired 2/17/2000

Tall, dark, handsome and possibly the first male cheerleader? Could Kennedy High get even more twisted? Newcomer Adam joins the Kennedy High scene, where he befriends Brooke to express his secret desire to become a male cheerleader. Nicole, Poppy, and Mary Cherry are not at all interested in Adam joining the squad - until Adam exposes heavy dirt on the three girls. Meanwhile, Brooke's loyalty to Carmen is put on backburner when Carmen submits a photo of Sam for the new "Power Girl" commercial.

Directors: Perry Lang
Watch Now:Amazon
Windstruck
star
7.75
20 votes

#2 - Windstruck

Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/14/1999

In the play rehearsal, Sam has to sit in Josh's lap, and he has an erection. Sam tells Carmen about it and she accidentally sends emails to the whole school about it. Rumors spread through the entire school, and the big secret comes out: Brooke and Josh are still virgins! Meanwhile, Lily has to face her new job at a fast food chicken shack. Josh seeks for advice in Sam, and a drunk Brooke asks Harrison for help.

Directors: Jamie Babbit
Watch Now:Amazon
Wild Wild Mess
star
7.71
14 votes

#3 - Wild Wild Mess

Season 1 - Episode 9 - Aired 12/2/1999

The "Guest Principal" election turns the school upside down. The popular girls want Gwyneth Paltrow for it, and so they kidnap her personal shopper and torture him. The unpopular gang want George Stephanopoulos, so they look for Harrison's mom, who had an affair with him a long time ago. Sam and Brooke join forces when Brooke might be pregnant. Harrison's mom turns out to be a lesbian, and the girls think it's cool while Harrison wants her in the closet. Sam tells Josh about Brooke's situation, so he can support her, whether she wants it or not. At the end, Brooke is not pregnant and Harrison and his mom agree that he needs more time to deal with her situation.

Directors: Lev L. Spiro
Watch Now:Amazon
Slumber Party Massacre
star
7.69
16 votes

#4 - Slumber Party Massacre

Season 1 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/21/1999

Carmen throws a slumber party for her sweet 16. The popular girls get it, just so Nicole can hit on Carmen's hot older brother, and Brooke can finally do it with Josh. Harrison tries to stop it, but he messes everything up and they end up together. Nicole realizes that Leo is more interested in Sam, and punishes Carmen by hypnotizing her into a chicken. Sam walks in her mother and Brooke's father doing it. Carmen humiliates herself in front of everybody, but ends up ditching the popular girls and hanging out just with her real friends.

Directors: Michael M. Robin
Watch Now:Amazon
Hope in a Jar
star
7.64
11 votes

#5 - Hope in a Jar

Season 1 - Episode 13 - Aired 1/27/2000

Kennedy High goes crazy with the Sadie Hawkins Dance. Everybody gets obsessed with their looks and they run against the clock to get in shape. Josh gets in SD's sweating system to lose a few pounds and get Brooke back. Sam asks Harrison to the dance, but he chooses Brooke when she asks him, and so Sam goes with Josh for retaliation. Harrison works out too much and has a muscle breakdown and can't move. The cheerleading squad starves to lose weight and agree to make April Tuna less weird. Lily takes Emory Dick. Sam wears an inflatable bra. Carmen goes by herself and asks Josh at the dance, but he is dehydrated. And the final lesson is given by Principal Hall, who has only found true love after she lost her sight.

Directors: David Petrarca
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The Trial of Emory Dick
star
7.58
12 votes

#6 - The Trial of Emory Dick

Season 1 - Episode 12 - Aired 1/20/2000

Emory Dick flunks on Biology and decides to sue the school. Once again, we see Brooke versus Sam. Sam and Lily defending Emory and Brooke is defending the school. The accusations: the popular kids get good grades for their looks, while the unpopular ones are by themselves. Sugar Daddy won't be able to be in the wrestling team because he's too fat. Carmen gets in the middle of the Brooke-Sam fight and she decides to drop out of the cheerleading team. Emory drops the charges and the case ends with no winner.

Directors: Perry Lang
Queen B.
star
7.57
14 votes

#7 - Queen B.

Season 1 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/11/1999

It's homecoming time. Being the homecoming queen means being the most popular girl in school. The war is set. Nicole is out, because she cheated on the bio test, but she's still the Homecoming Court Chairman. She makes plans so only the cheerleaders and Carmen compete. Mary Cherry and Poppy are pressured to support Brooke. Mary Cherry's mom, the beauty pageant winner Cherry Cherry leads her daughter's campaign. A hideous picture of Brooke in the morning is hanging all over the school. Brooke says Sam did it, because she was the only one that could have that picture. But Sam didn't do it, Mary Cherry did. Brooke still gets elected the Homecoming Queen, proving her popularity.

Directors: Matthew Harrison
Writer: Ryan Murphy
Watch Now:Amazon
Caged!
star
7.55
11 votes

#8 - Caged!

Season 1 - Episode 14 - Aired 2/3/2000

As if getting locked in the girls bathroom wasn't bad enough. But what if your deepest secret was threatened to be exposed? When the boys realise that the girls have gone a little chaotic, they decide to lock the girls in the Novak to teach them a lesson. Hours later, Nicole has an interesting plan. After stealing secrets from an assignment in class, she posts the secrets in the Novak for each girl to respond. When the secrets come full circle, everyone's life is destined to change.

Directors: Jamie Babbit
Writer: Ryan Murphy
Watch Now:Amazon
Ex, Lies and Videotape
star
7.54
13 votes

#9 - Ex, Lies and Videotape

Season 1 - Episode 11 - Aired 1/13/2000

The producer of Entertainment Today lands at Kennedy High and asks Sam and Brooke if they want to produce a segment. They both agree on doing a story about Josh. He agrees in hope to get closer to Brooke. April becomes obsessed with Carmen as a cheerleader and starts to worship her as a Goddess, and she even buys Carmen's panties from Nicole. The cheerleader squad wants Carmen to dump her unpopular friends, and she accidentally drives over April in the DMV parking lot. Back to Josh's story, his father walks out in the middle of his play, and they have a discussion. Josh's mom takes his side, risking her marriage. At the end, both Brooke and Sam agree on erasing the story so things don't get worse for Josh.

Directors: Arvin Brown
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Tonight's the Night
star
7.46
13 votes

#10 - Tonight's the Night

Season 1 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/18/1999

A new hot song shakes things up in Kennedy High. Carmen and Sugar Daddy meet on the Internet, but they both lie about their looks, so they both get disappointed. Harrison and Lily try to have sex, because they think it should be with someone you really know, a close friend. But it never happens. Brooke and Sam bet about boyfriends: Brooke has to prove her love for Josh, and Sam has to get a boyfriend in a week. Sam convinces Carmen's hot brother Leo to pretend to be her boyfriend, and Brooke and Josh finally have sex.

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Ch-Ch-Changes
star
7.41
39 votes

#11 - Ch-Ch-Changes

Season 1 - Episode 18 - Aired 4/20/2000

Everyone must face changes in life, and some are destined to cause havoc. Beloved shop teacher Mr. Don, makes the shocking announcement that he is becoming a woman, leaving the class very confused. Despite a possible social downfall, Harrison along with Sam, Carmen, and Lily support the transformed Ms. Debbie. Meanwhile, Cherry Cherry becomes the new home economics teacher and teaches her class a positive lesson which teaches the popular kids to accept Ms. Debbie as well.

Directors: Craig Zisk
Watch Now:Amazon
Booty Camp
star
7.23
39 votes

#12 - Booty Camp

Season 1 - Episode 15 - Aired 2/10/2000

Everyone has a right to their own opinions, but some opinions shouldn't be spoken out loud. And that is what the kids of Kennedy High are learning. After Brooke and Nicole's fallout, the two are no longer on speaking turns. But their rivalry gets more heated when Nicole bullies Freddy Gong. Lily wears a sexy outfit that creates uncomfortable reactions from the boys. But most importantly, Ms. Glass's brother is recruiting new members for his "Booty Camp". Who will get a surprise invite?

Directors: Michael M. Robin
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Lord of the Files
star
7.21
38 votes

#13 - Lord of the Files

Season 1 - Episode 17 - Aired 2/24/2000

There is an attractive fellow wandering the halls of Kennedy High, but how could he share the same last name with that weird Lunch Lady? The women of Kennedy are in a full-on war to win the affections of Calvin Krupps, the school's new vice-principal. This leads to all of the girls signing up for Calvin's new tai-chi class, but a few girls go a little to far to impress him. Harrison's newfound passion for music leads him to write a song that parallels Josh and Carmen's roller-coaster relationship. It is further complicated as Brooke finds herself still attracted to Josh...

Directors: Lev L. Spiro
Watch Now:Amazon
We Are Family
star
7.18
38 votes

#14 - We Are Family

Season 1 - Episode 20 - Aired 5/4/2000

Jane and Mike's wedding is approaching. Sam and Brooke are making plans on how to stop them. Brooke and Sam's plan fails. Mike and Jane say that they want to adopt the girls. Brooke tells Jane that she'd love to be her daughter, leaving Sam by herself. Erik Estrada buys Mary Cherry's acceptance with his original CHiPs jacket, a piece of his table at Hollywood Squares and an interview for E!. Brooke tells Sam that she misses a mom, since her real mother abandoned her. Sam tells Harrison that she's afraid of losing her mother to Brooke. Sam asks Nicole to help her ruin the wedding, but Nic tells Jane and Brooke Sammy's plans.

Directors: Elodie Keene
Watch Now:Amazon
Hard on the Outside, Soft in the Middle
star
7.16
37 votes

#15 - Hard on the Outside, Soft in the Middle

Season 1 - Episode 19 - Aired 4/27/2000

Is it true that blondes have more fun? That is the question Sam, Lily and Carmen begin to ponder. After the three girls experience several fallouts due to their hair color, the unpopular girls make a bet with the popular ladies that blondes do have an advantage. This creates huge shock waves through Kennedy with the blondes becoming brunettes and the brunettes becoming blondes. The only downfall: the losers get Mohawks. Meanwhile, Sugar Daddy and Josh compete for the affections of an attractive foreign exchange student.

Directors: Jamie Babbit
Writer: Ryan Murphy
Watch Now:Amazon
Mo' Menace, Mo' Problems
star
7.16
25 votes

#16 - Mo' Menace, Mo' Problems

Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/30/1999

Josh decides to get in the play. Brooke feels guilty about shutting Carmen out of the cheerleading squad. She and Nicole are treated like monsters by the entire school. Sam gets invited to their party, and Harrison, who has a crush on Brooke, tells her that she sold herself. Brooke meets Carmen and they share feelings. Brooke tells her that she was the best dancer, but only too fat to get in the squad. Sam decides that her friends are important too, and so they go to the party, uninvited. Brooke and Sam are having a huge argument when their parents arrive, with the news: they're getting married.

Directors: Michael M. Robin
Writer: Ryan Murphy
Watch Now:Amazon
What Makes Sammy Run
star
7.08
36 votes

#17 - What Makes Sammy Run

Season 1 - Episode 21 - Aired 5/11/2000

Sam is missing. She ran off to San Francisco to find Brooke's mother, who denies having a daughter. The girls are worried that Sam might have been kidnapped and be in danger, so they try to go on with Jane's bridal shower acting like nothing happened. The boys try to go in Caesar Crouton's Breast 'n Thighs Chicken Buffet / Strip Club, but they're underage and not even fake ID's can get them in. Mary Cherry wants to get back at her mother for denying her existence on TV. She discovers that Wanda Rickets has been living secretly in the girls bathroom since she ran away from her house, making tons of money as a teen trash, so Mary Cherry and Nicole decide to join her as strippers, and Mike is arrested for all the minors in the strip club. Just as Jane is about to have a collapse from Mike's arrest and Sam's kidnapping, Sam shows up.

Directors: Jamie Babbit
Watch Now:Amazon
Fall on Your Knees
star
7.08
13 votes

#18 - Fall on Your Knees

Season 1 - Episode 10 - Aired 12/9/1999

It's Christmas time and everybody is happy, but Nicole. She is the Devil impersonated. All the cheerleaders accept her vote for Carmen to get in the squad after she sprains her ankle taking private dancing lessons. Bio Glass gives fruitcake and cancels the exam for everyone, but still Nic gets her fired of her new job. The ghost of Marley Jacob haunts her, along with the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future. From a little pure child through Devil, we learn all about Nicole, and how she changed with the death of her anorexic friend, the death of her grandmother, and other facts. Sam and Brooke get along by throwing together a Christmas party for all their friends and family. Finally, Nicole falls on her knees and gives everyone a gift. Carmen is accepted in the cheerleading squad and the Nurse Glass gets her pussycat.

Directors: Elodie Keene
Writer: Ryan Murphy
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Truth or Consequences
star
7.06
16 votes

#19 - Truth or Consequences

Season 1 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/4/1999

Nicole and Mary Cherry steal the bio midterm. The popular kids ace the test, and the unpopular ones get in big trouble when their grades are not so good. Sam overhears Nicole and Brooke's talking in the bathroom. In an operation to prove that the popular gang cheated, Harrison becomes friend with Josh and Sugar. But he gets a little carried away and walks out on the middle of the operation. Sam publishes the story. It all ends up in a big food fight, headed by Brooke and Sam. To make things better for the girls, their parents decide to move in together. Sam and Brooke have to share a bathroom. That can't end well...

Directors: Marc Buckland
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Two Weddings and a Funeral
star
7.03
38 votes

#20 - Two Weddings and a Funeral

Season 1 - Episode 22 - Aired 5/18/2000

It's Mike and Jane's plus Cherry Cherry and Erik Estrada's double wedding, but before the ceremony begins tension arises. The gang seek revenge on Ms. Glass after she ruins their skip day which leads to unexpected consequences, Brooke begins reconnecting with Josh, Carmen reveals a life changing secret, and a ghost from The McQueen's past returns to stir the pot.

Directors: Lev L. Spiro
Writer: Ryan Murphy
Watch Now:Amazon
Under Siege
star
6.91
23 votes

#21 - Under Siege

Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/7/1999

Josh is pressured to quit the play, so Mr. Vincent gets back at coach Peritti by giving Sam the sports budget. The scandal is set and the Glamazons are the first ones to be axed. Brooke tries to convince Josh on quitting the play and they have another fight. Nicole tells Principal Hall that Sam and Mr. Grant are having an affair, and he can't prove wrong. Lily refuses to dissect a frog and Ms. Glass makes her walk around carrying the dead frog. The McQueen-McPherson family dinner is a disaster and Brooke slaps Sam. But they realize that their parents are really in love.

Directors: Perry Lang
Writer: Ryan Murphy
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The Phantom Menace
star
6.84
25 votes

#22 - The Phantom Menace

Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/29/1999

It's the first day of classes at Kennedy High. We meet Sam McPherson, a unpopular girl, and her friends, Harrison, Lily and Carmen. And the popular ones: Brooke McQueen, the head cheerleader, Nicole Julian, the Devil impersonated, Josh Ford, Brooke's boyfriend and captain of the school football team, Mary Cherry, and Sugar Daddy. These groups hate each other. But unfortunately, Brooke is assigned to be Sam's lab partner in biology. Carmen tries out for the cheerleading squad. Sam tries to help her with the cover story on the school paper about popularity, but instead she ends up trying to get invited to Sam and Nicole's party, which will define who's hot and who's not. Josh decides to be on the school play, and that becomes an issue because Brooke doesn't want to date a drama geek. Carmen doesn't make the squad, she is discriminated against because of her weight.

Directors: Brian Robbins
Writer: Ryan Murphy
Watch Now:Amazon