Parker Lewis Can't Lose (1990–1993): Season 3, Episode 20 - Senior Jerry - full transcript
Jerry was always at the top of his class receiving A+ on each and every test, so he gets to skip a year and join a senior class. However, he then gets a B+ and has a nervous breakdown. Meanwhile, Grace dreams about the Scarlet Let...
S
STE
STEIN
STEINER
Bi
Bich
Bichro
Bichroma
Bichromati
Bichromatic
Bichromatic di
Bichromatic dive
Bichromatic divers
Bichromatic diversio
Bichromatic diversion
Bichromatic diversion de
Bichromatic diversion devi
Bichromatic diversion device
Bichromatic diversion device.
Rando-dynamic
stimulation apparatus.
Rubber ducky.
Did my Jerry-berry
make his daddy-waddy
a nice rocket ship?
Um, you better streamline
that airfoil, son.
Look, Ma, I won first,
second and third prize
at the Physics Bee.
You'll do better next time.
My perpetual motion machine
is nearly complete.
I just need an
elastometric substance
with the correct
plastic properties.
Dad, we finally found
a use for that duck thing.
The Jerry Steiner
perpetual motion machine,
always moving, never stopping.
It's been this way
since the beginning.
When other toddlers were
wriggling, giggling and
rolling in the grass,
Jerry was busy redefining
the laws of science.
So much for his wonder years.
- Morning, sirs.
- -Jer, ease into the day, will you?
Yeah, Jerry,
you need some down time
after that Steiner-thon you
pulled in science yesterday.
As usual, I merely answered
the questions put to me.
- I'm not sure anyone even noticed.
- -Cool.
All right.
Amazing in science yesterday.
Way to go.
Enlightening, young man.
Thanks again,
Mr. Superintendent.
Jer, I'm worried about you.
You've got to slow down.
Au contraire, sir.
I need to speed up.
The superintended of schools
called me, "Enlightening".
Usually he calls me,
"The feel-good student
of the year".
I must be slipping.
Park's right. You've got
to de-clench, man.
- No can do.
- Anxiety's a harsh mistress.
Can I share my freshest
feelings of insecurity
with you, sirs?
- Sure.
- You've got it, Jer.
Unfortunately that's all the
time my schedule's allowed
for introspection.
Attention, attention.
Jerry Steiner, report to
Principal Musso's office
on the double.
Your parents are waiting.
Drs. Pierce and McIntyre,
report to OR, that is all.
- My parents!
- I'm not due for another award until three days from now!
What are my parents doing here?
Good morning, Principal Lewis.
You seem bewildered,
Grace Musso.
Are you not prepared
for the big test?
What big test?
Textbooks? Yuck!
I speak of the combo
midterm-final on The
Scarlet Letter, Grace Musso.
If you don't ace this one,
Grace Musso,
you're in big trouble!
Big trouble.
Not again!
Good morning, Ms. Musso!
Ah!
Mom/ma'am, Dad/sir, I'm sorry.
Whatever I did or didn't do,
I won't ever do again
or will do immediately.
Jerry, we're here
with good news!
You've got to
learn to relax, Son.
- How did you do on that chem test?
- -A.
- Good boy.
- Mmm.
- Dr. Steiner
-Hmm?
- Dr. Steiner.
- Mmm?
If I may...
Excuse me, I haven't had
a decent night's sleep
in a week.
Jerry, you know how proud
your mother and I are
of your academic performance.
You've never let us down,
and we're sure you never will.
Or we'll soak
that head in sulfuric acid!
Oh, Dad!-
We're not the only ones
impressed with your
track record, Jer.
- The superintendent of schools...
- -SOS.
Has contacted Ms. Musso.
Yes the, uh, school board
is offering you
a unique opportunity.
- Opportunity?
- Mmm-hmm.
Jer, you okay?
You haven't looked like this
since the space telescope
had that lens thing.
What is it?
I'm going to be a senior, sirs.
Well, we're all
going to be seniors...
if I re-take Spanish.
You don't understand, sirs.
I'm going to be a senior now.
What?
My grades,
letters of recommendation
from NASA,
and my parents home movies
of my academic career
have gotten me into
the Accelerated Senior
Achievement Program,
or ASAP.
Starting tomorrow
I'm upper class.
Today, I consider myself
the luckiest man
on the face of the earth.
Es un hombre muy confuserino.
I've got a bad feeling
that the Steiner
perpetual motion machine
just went into overdrive.
Destination, burnout.
Oh, wait, I'm not prepared.
What's going on here?
We've been presented
with a multi-essay
analytical examination
of The Scarlet Letter.
A provocative tome
exploring one woman's misdeeds
and her subsequent
branding by society.
The exam score will count for
99% of our final grade.
Please enjoy.
Oh, but...
Please, Grace Musso.
Cheating only cheats
the cheater.
Is there some
problem, Grace Musso?
The Accelerated Senior
Achievement Program,
or ASAP,
will retro-rocket me past
my even most optimistic
life-goal projections.
Well, coolness,
but are you happy?
Happy? Happy?
Sir, thanks to ASAP,
I'm much more happy
and have far less time
than ever before.
Are you sure about
this Jer, that's a big step.
Lots of pressure.
And think about what
you'll be missing.
Your whole junior year.
And the rest of
your sophomore year.
- Seriously, woodshop, music appreciation, theater arts?
- Please!
In my career, I've put in over
11,000 hours studying,
plus the weekend lecturing
the Japanese at the
Tokyo Technology Conference.
What's it all for,
if not this quantum leap
into my future?
And so, the Steiner
cold fusion reactor
can provide clean, safe power
while producing more fuel
then it consumes.
Moving to quantum physics.
The Steiner modification
of the theory of relativity
forever alters our
understanding of
the space/time continuum.
I refer you to my
Journal of Physics
article entitled
"Einstein, Schmeinstein."
- Mmm, yes.
- Turning to medicine.
The Steiner brain transplant.
Brain.
Oh!
There you go.
The sum of square roots
of any two sides of
an isosceles triangle
is equal to the square root
of the remaining side.
Ah, my first senior class
is in 17 hours.
Just enough time to go home,
review all known
math and science,
eat a nourishing meal,
and hit the hay for
eight hours of
level three REM speed sleep,
leaving me completely refreshed.
It's just a question of time
before he hits the wall.
We've got to do something.
Hey, it's Jerry's road, man.
We've got to let him run it.
He's a high-revving,
computer-controlled
Japanese-imported pure Lexus.
I'm going to miss
el nino brain-o.
Very nice job.
A!
My first grade as a senior.
Nice try, Eric.
"A-" is certainly nothing
to sneeze at.
Good work, Jerry.
Good work? Good work? Good?
- Something wrong, Jerry?
- Mrs. Becker,
there must be a mistake.
I got a "B+".
- There was a mistake.
- Oh, good.
You made it.
How can I have been so stupid?
- Let me take another test.
- I'm sure I can do better.
- Take it easy, Jerry.
- Believe me, there will be more tests.
Well, I was distracted,
you know?
Concerned about getting into
the right college,
getting onto the crew team,
making coxswain.
Jerry, "B+" is a fine grade.
But the only time I've gotten
lower than an A is on my
blood type!
Don't worry so much.
Dr. Steiner,
your fusion reactor core
is melting down.
Your brain patient
thinks he's Richard Simmons
and has handcuffed himself
to a fat lady!
And your experiments
with Einstein's theory
have caused a space-time ripple
and it is now five seconds ago.
A space-time ripple
and it is now five seconds ago.
You can't blame that
on our Jerry!
Did you ever get a "B+"
as a high school senior?
Uh... Uh...
Steiner, lose your compass?
Look like you're lost.
Boy, talk about
your busy senior schedules.
I haven't seen him in two days!
He hasn't even touched his
Wall Street Journals.
- Ms. Musso.
- Ms. Musso.
Lewis, Randall, conference,
my office, now.
Oh, excuse me.
Where is Steiner?
Jerry? Probably in
some honors class
doing nuclear physics and Latin.
Why, is there some problem?
Jerry Steiner is not
in this school.
Now, there's a sentence
you don't hear very often.
He leaves for school
every morning.
And comes home for dinner
every evening.
But he hasn't been to class
for the last three days.
Jerry Steiner's playing hooky?
Jerry Steiner's playing hooky?
Jerry Steiner's playing hooky?
Jerry Steiner's playing...
Sorry.
Jerry, are you in there?
- Jerry? Jerry?
- Donde are you?
Just the duck.
Hey, Shel,
where's your heartthrob?
- Brad Penny?
- He's over building a mini mall, practically single-handed.
I meant Jerry.
Oh, he's with Brad.
What?
He's with Brad.
Which of these words
don't you understand?
The last one.
Brad, where's Jerry?
Hello, sirs.
What are you doing here?
Laying bricks.
Uh-huh. Why?
I'm going to be a bricklayer.
What? What about school?
Oh, I'm quitting school.
Well, Grace Musso,
is there some problem?
- Uh, I...
- I didn't read the...
I didn't know the test was...
My grandmother ate my...
My dog...
- My grandmother's dog...
- My dog's grandmother ate...
It seems that Grace Musso
cannot take this exam,
she is unprepared.
Ooh!
And when someone is unprepared,
what do we do, Lawrence?
She must be marked with...
the scarlet letter!
The scarlet letter!
The scarlet letter!
No!
The scarlet letter!
No!
The scarlet letter!
The scarlet letter!
No!
The scarlet letter!
"I" for "Incomplete".
You shall never be
complete, Grace Musso.
And the bloody red
of the scarlet "I"
shall never match
your nail color!
Oh! Oh!
You baited Jerry
into cutting school.
You told him all about
the glamorous world
of bricklaying.
The dirt, the bricks, the...
stuff between the bricks.
Square up that corner, Steiner.
Yes, sir, Mr. Penny.
Hey, the kid came to me,
I didn't go to him.
He said that he needed
time away to think.
When I need to think,
I use my hands.
When I get upset
I also use my hands.
I'm going to go
talk to my friend now.
And when you have enough
of them, that's a wall.
Magnifico-ness.
Park, you've got to let Jerry
teach you about stacking.
Mikey!
Jer, what are you doing?
Park...
- Go easy on the kid.
- He got a "B+".
A "B+"? Jerry?
Shh!
Is he all right?
He's using his muscles.
Do you think he's all right?
Poor kid.
You were right,
you said he was going to
hit the wall.
Yeah, but I didn't think he
was going to build it first.
I wish there was something
we could do for him.
We've just got
to be there for him.
- Support him?
- -And get him back to his parents
before he joins the Peace Corps.
Hey, Jer,
may I ask you a question?
Whatever happened to the
Accelerated Senior
Achievement Program?
ASAP?
I'm going to lay
another brick now.
You're really feeling
the pressure, aren't you?
Pressure, I...-
Maybe I've been feeling
a little pressure.
- We all do, Jer.
- Pressure to achieve.
From our parents,
our teachers... Ourselves.
You feel sometimes like
you're living your life
for somebody else.
Bottom line, you're
responsible for yourself.
You're right, sir,
but that's what I'm doing now.
I'm living my own life.
And no one can tell me
what to do.
- Bricklaying?
- Bricklaying?
Is that why we pulled
every string we have
to get you into the
Accelerated Senior
Achievement Program?
ASAP.
So you could lay bricks?
Jerry, this isn't like you!
Well, maybe I'm not like me.
Or at least not the me
that you think I'm like. Me.
This sounds
like a family conference.
Would you excuse me?
Why don't we make a video tape?
"A Day in the Life of
Jerry Steiner at School,"
and he'll realize how much
he'll be missing
and he'll stay.
- Oh, yeah, and we can call it Operation Jerry?
- Come on.
What's this about, your bedtime?
Fine, 9:45,
three nights a week.
- This isn't about...
- 9:45?
This isn't about that!
Mom/ma'am, Dad/sir,
I'm dropping out of school.
- What?
- What?
Mikey, we've got to talk to him.
Tell him that leaving school
is the totally wrong thing
to do!
This is where he belongs.
I don't know, Park.
I can kind of understand
what Jerry's going through.
I've wanted to quit school
more than
one time myself.
Since the day I was born
I've been on the fast track.
Flash cards in the crib,
my first calculator at two,
pre-pre-pre med.
And every step of the way
you've excelled.
- I had no choice.
- What would you have done if I had failed?
Nothing.
We know you always
try your best.
Really? You wouldn't have
hated me and loathed me
and made me, "No son of yours"?
Jerry!
We have to take
Jerry for a walk.
We have to walk him
through school.
We have to show him
all the things
that are such an important
part of his life.
- We have to...
- -Park, you know what we have to do?
We have to get used
to missing him.
High school without Jerry.
We didn't realize, son.
We've been pushing you too hard.
We only want you
to fulfill your potential.
My potential is far too great
for anyone to be
expected to fulfill it.
Good point.
Jerry, we want whatever
you want for yourself.
But don't give up school
just because we've been
making a mistake.
Attention, attention.
Tonight's movie is
Jerry Steiner:
Your Life is Calling,
starring a cast of thousands,
including Shelly Lewis
as the girl of Jerry's dreams.
- Ms. Lewis, ma'am!
- Hey, Jer.
About your science project...
I was thinking,
if you didn't
have any plans...
maybe we can work on it
Saturday night?
Sure, I'd love to do it
Saturday night.
Watch Jerry earn
the respect of his peers
and the admiration of
his mentor,
principal extraordinaire,
Grace Musso.
Jerry, I passed, thanks to you.
Oh! Together, there's no
limit to where we can go.
Travel down the corridors
of Jerry's past
as he forms lasting
relationships up and down
the evolutionary scale.
Will Jerry retire his
high school locker for good?
Or will he continue to create
new memories
with his best friends,
Parker and Mikey?
Remember the first time
Jer walked through that door
and I said to him,
"Hey, freshman,
welcome to high school."
Remember what he said?
"I'd offer a
reciprocal salutation
"but I'm currently proceeding
to my inaugural
high school class."
How could you not love the guy?
That's Jerry Steiner:
Your Life is Calling.
Presented in 20/20 hindsight,
that is all.
I'm staying in school.
But I'm through being
an accelerated senior.
No more fourth dimensional
advanced calculus,
from now on it's just
normal, regular,
- every-day advanced calculus.
- Oh...
That's fine with us.
And most important,
I'm not going to freak out
if I happen to get another "B+".
- You got a "B+"?
- You got a "B+"?
- That's...
- What...
Fine. Fine.
We're happy for you, son.
A "B+".
Steiner, stay in school.
That's what I'm going to do,
Ms. Musso.
Damn, I'm good.
Jerry Steiner life lesson.
Making the journey isn't fun
unless you take the time
to check out the scenery.
Maybe Jerry will never
get off the fast track.
Maybe he's not meant to.
But, at least
at this new pace,
he'll enjoy the trip.
- Hey, Jer, hang patrol at the diner.
- Want to be a member?
I'll meet you there later, sirs.
You've got it. What time?
Whenever.
Mr. Lewis? Mr. Randall?
Mr. Phillips? Hello?
STE
STEIN
STEINER
Bi
Bich
Bichro
Bichroma
Bichromati
Bichromatic
Bichromatic di
Bichromatic dive
Bichromatic divers
Bichromatic diversio
Bichromatic diversion
Bichromatic diversion de
Bichromatic diversion devi
Bichromatic diversion device
Bichromatic diversion device.
Rando-dynamic
stimulation apparatus.
Rubber ducky.
Did my Jerry-berry
make his daddy-waddy
a nice rocket ship?
Um, you better streamline
that airfoil, son.
Look, Ma, I won first,
second and third prize
at the Physics Bee.
You'll do better next time.
My perpetual motion machine
is nearly complete.
I just need an
elastometric substance
with the correct
plastic properties.
Dad, we finally found
a use for that duck thing.
The Jerry Steiner
perpetual motion machine,
always moving, never stopping.
It's been this way
since the beginning.
When other toddlers were
wriggling, giggling and
rolling in the grass,
Jerry was busy redefining
the laws of science.
So much for his wonder years.
- Morning, sirs.
- -Jer, ease into the day, will you?
Yeah, Jerry,
you need some down time
after that Steiner-thon you
pulled in science yesterday.
As usual, I merely answered
the questions put to me.
- I'm not sure anyone even noticed.
- -Cool.
All right.
Amazing in science yesterday.
Way to go.
Enlightening, young man.
Thanks again,
Mr. Superintendent.
Jer, I'm worried about you.
You've got to slow down.
Au contraire, sir.
I need to speed up.
The superintended of schools
called me, "Enlightening".
Usually he calls me,
"The feel-good student
of the year".
I must be slipping.
Park's right. You've got
to de-clench, man.
- No can do.
- Anxiety's a harsh mistress.
Can I share my freshest
feelings of insecurity
with you, sirs?
- Sure.
- You've got it, Jer.
Unfortunately that's all the
time my schedule's allowed
for introspection.
Attention, attention.
Jerry Steiner, report to
Principal Musso's office
on the double.
Your parents are waiting.
Drs. Pierce and McIntyre,
report to OR, that is all.
- My parents!
- I'm not due for another award until three days from now!
What are my parents doing here?
Good morning, Principal Lewis.
You seem bewildered,
Grace Musso.
Are you not prepared
for the big test?
What big test?
Textbooks? Yuck!
I speak of the combo
midterm-final on The
Scarlet Letter, Grace Musso.
If you don't ace this one,
Grace Musso,
you're in big trouble!
Big trouble.
Not again!
Good morning, Ms. Musso!
Ah!
Mom/ma'am, Dad/sir, I'm sorry.
Whatever I did or didn't do,
I won't ever do again
or will do immediately.
Jerry, we're here
with good news!
You've got to
learn to relax, Son.
- How did you do on that chem test?
- -A.
- Good boy.
- Mmm.
- Dr. Steiner
-Hmm?
- Dr. Steiner.
- Mmm?
If I may...
Excuse me, I haven't had
a decent night's sleep
in a week.
Jerry, you know how proud
your mother and I are
of your academic performance.
You've never let us down,
and we're sure you never will.
Or we'll soak
that head in sulfuric acid!
Oh, Dad!-
We're not the only ones
impressed with your
track record, Jer.
- The superintendent of schools...
- -SOS.
Has contacted Ms. Musso.
Yes the, uh, school board
is offering you
a unique opportunity.
- Opportunity?
- Mmm-hmm.
Jer, you okay?
You haven't looked like this
since the space telescope
had that lens thing.
What is it?
I'm going to be a senior, sirs.
Well, we're all
going to be seniors...
if I re-take Spanish.
You don't understand, sirs.
I'm going to be a senior now.
What?
My grades,
letters of recommendation
from NASA,
and my parents home movies
of my academic career
have gotten me into
the Accelerated Senior
Achievement Program,
or ASAP.
Starting tomorrow
I'm upper class.
Today, I consider myself
the luckiest man
on the face of the earth.
Es un hombre muy confuserino.
I've got a bad feeling
that the Steiner
perpetual motion machine
just went into overdrive.
Destination, burnout.
Oh, wait, I'm not prepared.
What's going on here?
We've been presented
with a multi-essay
analytical examination
of The Scarlet Letter.
A provocative tome
exploring one woman's misdeeds
and her subsequent
branding by society.
The exam score will count for
99% of our final grade.
Please enjoy.
Oh, but...
Please, Grace Musso.
Cheating only cheats
the cheater.
Is there some
problem, Grace Musso?
The Accelerated Senior
Achievement Program,
or ASAP,
will retro-rocket me past
my even most optimistic
life-goal projections.
Well, coolness,
but are you happy?
Happy? Happy?
Sir, thanks to ASAP,
I'm much more happy
and have far less time
than ever before.
Are you sure about
this Jer, that's a big step.
Lots of pressure.
And think about what
you'll be missing.
Your whole junior year.
And the rest of
your sophomore year.
- Seriously, woodshop, music appreciation, theater arts?
- Please!
In my career, I've put in over
11,000 hours studying,
plus the weekend lecturing
the Japanese at the
Tokyo Technology Conference.
What's it all for,
if not this quantum leap
into my future?
And so, the Steiner
cold fusion reactor
can provide clean, safe power
while producing more fuel
then it consumes.
Moving to quantum physics.
The Steiner modification
of the theory of relativity
forever alters our
understanding of
the space/time continuum.
I refer you to my
Journal of Physics
article entitled
"Einstein, Schmeinstein."
- Mmm, yes.
- Turning to medicine.
The Steiner brain transplant.
Brain.
Oh!
There you go.
The sum of square roots
of any two sides of
an isosceles triangle
is equal to the square root
of the remaining side.
Ah, my first senior class
is in 17 hours.
Just enough time to go home,
review all known
math and science,
eat a nourishing meal,
and hit the hay for
eight hours of
level three REM speed sleep,
leaving me completely refreshed.
It's just a question of time
before he hits the wall.
We've got to do something.
Hey, it's Jerry's road, man.
We've got to let him run it.
He's a high-revving,
computer-controlled
Japanese-imported pure Lexus.
I'm going to miss
el nino brain-o.
Very nice job.
A!
My first grade as a senior.
Nice try, Eric.
"A-" is certainly nothing
to sneeze at.
Good work, Jerry.
Good work? Good work? Good?
- Something wrong, Jerry?
- Mrs. Becker,
there must be a mistake.
I got a "B+".
- There was a mistake.
- Oh, good.
You made it.
How can I have been so stupid?
- Let me take another test.
- I'm sure I can do better.
- Take it easy, Jerry.
- Believe me, there will be more tests.
Well, I was distracted,
you know?
Concerned about getting into
the right college,
getting onto the crew team,
making coxswain.
Jerry, "B+" is a fine grade.
But the only time I've gotten
lower than an A is on my
blood type!
Don't worry so much.
Dr. Steiner,
your fusion reactor core
is melting down.
Your brain patient
thinks he's Richard Simmons
and has handcuffed himself
to a fat lady!
And your experiments
with Einstein's theory
have caused a space-time ripple
and it is now five seconds ago.
A space-time ripple
and it is now five seconds ago.
You can't blame that
on our Jerry!
Did you ever get a "B+"
as a high school senior?
Uh... Uh...
Steiner, lose your compass?
Look like you're lost.
Boy, talk about
your busy senior schedules.
I haven't seen him in two days!
He hasn't even touched his
Wall Street Journals.
- Ms. Musso.
- Ms. Musso.
Lewis, Randall, conference,
my office, now.
Oh, excuse me.
Where is Steiner?
Jerry? Probably in
some honors class
doing nuclear physics and Latin.
Why, is there some problem?
Jerry Steiner is not
in this school.
Now, there's a sentence
you don't hear very often.
He leaves for school
every morning.
And comes home for dinner
every evening.
But he hasn't been to class
for the last three days.
Jerry Steiner's playing hooky?
Jerry Steiner's playing hooky?
Jerry Steiner's playing hooky?
Jerry Steiner's playing...
Sorry.
Jerry, are you in there?
- Jerry? Jerry?
- Donde are you?
Just the duck.
Hey, Shel,
where's your heartthrob?
- Brad Penny?
- He's over building a mini mall, practically single-handed.
I meant Jerry.
Oh, he's with Brad.
What?
He's with Brad.
Which of these words
don't you understand?
The last one.
Brad, where's Jerry?
Hello, sirs.
What are you doing here?
Laying bricks.
Uh-huh. Why?
I'm going to be a bricklayer.
What? What about school?
Oh, I'm quitting school.
Well, Grace Musso,
is there some problem?
- Uh, I...
- I didn't read the...
I didn't know the test was...
My grandmother ate my...
My dog...
- My grandmother's dog...
- My dog's grandmother ate...
It seems that Grace Musso
cannot take this exam,
she is unprepared.
Ooh!
And when someone is unprepared,
what do we do, Lawrence?
She must be marked with...
the scarlet letter!
The scarlet letter!
The scarlet letter!
No!
The scarlet letter!
No!
The scarlet letter!
The scarlet letter!
No!
The scarlet letter!
"I" for "Incomplete".
You shall never be
complete, Grace Musso.
And the bloody red
of the scarlet "I"
shall never match
your nail color!
Oh! Oh!
You baited Jerry
into cutting school.
You told him all about
the glamorous world
of bricklaying.
The dirt, the bricks, the...
stuff between the bricks.
Square up that corner, Steiner.
Yes, sir, Mr. Penny.
Hey, the kid came to me,
I didn't go to him.
He said that he needed
time away to think.
When I need to think,
I use my hands.
When I get upset
I also use my hands.
I'm going to go
talk to my friend now.
And when you have enough
of them, that's a wall.
Magnifico-ness.
Park, you've got to let Jerry
teach you about stacking.
Mikey!
Jer, what are you doing?
Park...
- Go easy on the kid.
- He got a "B+".
A "B+"? Jerry?
Shh!
Is he all right?
He's using his muscles.
Do you think he's all right?
Poor kid.
You were right,
you said he was going to
hit the wall.
Yeah, but I didn't think he
was going to build it first.
I wish there was something
we could do for him.
We've just got
to be there for him.
- Support him?
- -And get him back to his parents
before he joins the Peace Corps.
Hey, Jer,
may I ask you a question?
Whatever happened to the
Accelerated Senior
Achievement Program?
ASAP?
I'm going to lay
another brick now.
You're really feeling
the pressure, aren't you?
Pressure, I...-
Maybe I've been feeling
a little pressure.
- We all do, Jer.
- Pressure to achieve.
From our parents,
our teachers... Ourselves.
You feel sometimes like
you're living your life
for somebody else.
Bottom line, you're
responsible for yourself.
You're right, sir,
but that's what I'm doing now.
I'm living my own life.
And no one can tell me
what to do.
- Bricklaying?
- Bricklaying?
Is that why we pulled
every string we have
to get you into the
Accelerated Senior
Achievement Program?
ASAP.
So you could lay bricks?
Jerry, this isn't like you!
Well, maybe I'm not like me.
Or at least not the me
that you think I'm like. Me.
This sounds
like a family conference.
Would you excuse me?
Why don't we make a video tape?
"A Day in the Life of
Jerry Steiner at School,"
and he'll realize how much
he'll be missing
and he'll stay.
- Oh, yeah, and we can call it Operation Jerry?
- Come on.
What's this about, your bedtime?
Fine, 9:45,
three nights a week.
- This isn't about...
- 9:45?
This isn't about that!
Mom/ma'am, Dad/sir,
I'm dropping out of school.
- What?
- What?
Mikey, we've got to talk to him.
Tell him that leaving school
is the totally wrong thing
to do!
This is where he belongs.
I don't know, Park.
I can kind of understand
what Jerry's going through.
I've wanted to quit school
more than
one time myself.
Since the day I was born
I've been on the fast track.
Flash cards in the crib,
my first calculator at two,
pre-pre-pre med.
And every step of the way
you've excelled.
- I had no choice.
- What would you have done if I had failed?
Nothing.
We know you always
try your best.
Really? You wouldn't have
hated me and loathed me
and made me, "No son of yours"?
Jerry!
We have to take
Jerry for a walk.
We have to walk him
through school.
We have to show him
all the things
that are such an important
part of his life.
- We have to...
- -Park, you know what we have to do?
We have to get used
to missing him.
High school without Jerry.
We didn't realize, son.
We've been pushing you too hard.
We only want you
to fulfill your potential.
My potential is far too great
for anyone to be
expected to fulfill it.
Good point.
Jerry, we want whatever
you want for yourself.
But don't give up school
just because we've been
making a mistake.
Attention, attention.
Tonight's movie is
Jerry Steiner:
Your Life is Calling,
starring a cast of thousands,
including Shelly Lewis
as the girl of Jerry's dreams.
- Ms. Lewis, ma'am!
- Hey, Jer.
About your science project...
I was thinking,
if you didn't
have any plans...
maybe we can work on it
Saturday night?
Sure, I'd love to do it
Saturday night.
Watch Jerry earn
the respect of his peers
and the admiration of
his mentor,
principal extraordinaire,
Grace Musso.
Jerry, I passed, thanks to you.
Oh! Together, there's no
limit to where we can go.
Travel down the corridors
of Jerry's past
as he forms lasting
relationships up and down
the evolutionary scale.
Will Jerry retire his
high school locker for good?
Or will he continue to create
new memories
with his best friends,
Parker and Mikey?
Remember the first time
Jer walked through that door
and I said to him,
"Hey, freshman,
welcome to high school."
Remember what he said?
"I'd offer a
reciprocal salutation
"but I'm currently proceeding
to my inaugural
high school class."
How could you not love the guy?
That's Jerry Steiner:
Your Life is Calling.
Presented in 20/20 hindsight,
that is all.
I'm staying in school.
But I'm through being
an accelerated senior.
No more fourth dimensional
advanced calculus,
from now on it's just
normal, regular,
- every-day advanced calculus.
- Oh...
That's fine with us.
And most important,
I'm not going to freak out
if I happen to get another "B+".
- You got a "B+"?
- You got a "B+"?
- That's...
- What...
Fine. Fine.
We're happy for you, son.
A "B+".
Steiner, stay in school.
That's what I'm going to do,
Ms. Musso.
Damn, I'm good.
Jerry Steiner life lesson.
Making the journey isn't fun
unless you take the time
to check out the scenery.
Maybe Jerry will never
get off the fast track.
Maybe he's not meant to.
But, at least
at this new pace,
he'll enjoy the trip.
- Hey, Jer, hang patrol at the diner.
- Want to be a member?
I'll meet you there later, sirs.
You've got it. What time?
Whenever.
Mr. Lewis? Mr. Randall?
Mr. Phillips? Hello?