Parker Lewis Can't Lose

Is an American teen sitcom that originally aired on FOX from September 1990 to June 1993.
The series depicts the tribulations of the title character Parker Lewis, a Santo Domingo High School student, for whom nothing is impossible.

Parker often narrates in shows. Just like his best friends Jerry Steiner and Mikey Randall and Parker's girlfriend Annie Sloan, his prime concern is achieving and maintaining coolness.

However, their efforts are often thwarted by Parker's little sister Shelly and principal Grace Musso.

Apart from various aspects of teenage life, embedded in a surreal, living-cartoon-like quality and the clever camera angles and filming techniques, an episode regularly contains more or less subtle references to movies, politics, and celebrities. The surrealism was toned down in the series' final season, with even Parker acknowledging this fact by breaking the 4th wall and 'canceling' a dissolving pixel scene.

The 3,100 students at Santo Domingo High School are called Flamingos, after their school mascot, and the school motto is "E Pluribus Flamingus", clearly mimicking the famous USA's motto E Pluribus Unum.

Characters

Parker Lloyd Lewis (played by Corin Nemec).

A smart guy with a penchant for garish shirts and cutting classes, Parker usually has a plan up his sleeve, and in turn it usually involves outsmarting someone else. Plans put into effect begin with the command: "Synchronize Swatches." Parker is famous for his catch phrase, "Not a problem," which he often says when faced with trouble. He and his two "buds" have their high-tech headquarters hidden above the gym.

Michael Patrick "Mikey" Randall (played by Billy Jayne).

A rock and roll rebel without a cause and by far the most emotionally driven of the trio, he often quotes or paraphrases famous song. Mikey at one point considered dropping out of school at Santo Domingo HS when a prank by Shelly causes Mikey to unknowingly play a love song he composed for a girl for whom he had feelings to be broadcast before the entire school, resulting in embarrassment for him.

Jerry Steiner (played by Troy Slaten).

A stereotypical nerd, in the first two seasons, he wears a trench coat from which he produces almost any object imaginable, apparently fixed inside with Velcro. He addresses everyone formally by last name, e.g., "Mr. Lewis", "Mr. Randall", and even "Mr. Kubiac", or collectively as "sirs". At the end of the credits of the pilot episode, Jerry hid in the locker next to Parker's, talking endlessly to Parker through the door, not knowing that he had left, causing him to plaintively call out: "Mr. Lewis? Mr. Randall? Mr. Phillips? Hello?" Jerry is also known to sometimes utter eek! like a mouse when in danger. One notable episode dealt with Parker and Mikey confiscating Jerry's trench coat for him to stop hiding and get to know a female nerd as a potential girlfriend.

Grace Musso (played by Melanie Chartoff).

Principal of Santo Domingo High, she is Parker's arch-nemesis; at five foot five, she is said to be in her mid-thirties, but is actually older. She wants to get Parker expelled. Often, she breaks the glass on her office door when she makes her distinctive "thumb swoosh" gesture. She has a racy side which is sometimes exposed; her turn-ons include beards and large hands. She was portrayed as a spinster at first, but seemed to have a skill in men, one time having dated an officer of each of the armed forces.

However, Parker's blackmail ideas have sometimes backfired on him; one of his actions resulted in Musso's suspension. When a tougher principal is brought in to replace her, Parker cannot handle it going "from bad to worse", and works to get Musso reinstated.

Shelly Ann Lewis (played by Maia Brewton).

Parker's other nemesis, she is his little sister, who attends the same school as a freshman. She likes to manipulate teachers and parents to her benefit and tries to get Parker into trouble. Shelly also teams up with Musso if she sees a chance to ruin Parker. Most of the time, she is on friendly terms with Jerry and the two seem to end up in a constant relationship at the end of the series. Her favorite saying is: "My brother is a dead man!" whenever she finds an opportunity to bring Parker into an embarrassing situation. She has a tendency to call out "Mom!" when Parker gets one over on her, as seen at the start or end of various programs.

Martin Lloyd "Marty" Lewis (played by Timothy Stack).

Parker's father, he owns a video rental store called Mondo Video with his wife, and is helped by Parker and Shelly on weekends. He tries hard to keep some of the coolness that he had in his own school days when he was a self-described "young hoodlum". It is shown that he graduated from Santo Domingo High School, as well, and had two friends who were similar to Jerry and Mikey.

Francis Lawrence "Larry" Kubiac (played by Abraham Benrubi).

Known as "Kube", at 6 ft 7 ins tall and 270 lb in weight, he is built like a dinosaur with a brain to match, yet with a surprisingly sweet disposition. While walking, Kubiac causes earth tremors. His favorite line is, "Eat now?" In the series' beginning, he was initially introduced as a pure bully, aggressive and hostile towards other characters, but within a few episodes, his character was quickly changed into a more benign and friendly one – a "gentle giant", and he quickly became a helpful character who would often help Parker and his friends in their schemes. Later, it becomes revealed in a moment of confidence with Parker that Larry is more intelligent than he appears and his dim-witted persona is merely an act.

Franklin "Frank" Lemmer (played by Taj Johnson).

Principal Musso's ultra-conservative sidekick and "lapdog" with vampiric tendencies, he has been in school 16 years, wears black, and seems to have a telepathic connection to the principal and is obsessed with war, strategy, and politics. Musso can summon him with a dog whistle. He is able to teleport at will. Despite him largely being an adversary to Parker, at one time Parker actually agreed to help Frank Lemmer win over a girl named Denise (Andrea Elson), who suddenly turns out to be a blood relative of Grace Musso's. He was absent in the show's final season.

Annie Faith Sloan (played by Jennifer Guthrie)

She is Parker's love interest from the middle of the second season to the show's end.