u/welshric

SOLVED by rosiedacat. It was a show called Oliver Beene

Not particularly looking to watch it but it's just annoying me that I can't remember what it was called to find it. Especially since I have two episode descriptions that you'd think would help, but for some reason I can't get myself to type the right combination of words to make this searchable in a search engine.

It's American.

Set sometime between 50s-70s.

Came out either while Malcolm in the Middle was at the height of its fame or not long after Malcolm in the Middle was finished (I think other shows like The Middle and Modern Family might have been coming out at the same time but not 100% sure.)

No laugh track

Main character is a very young kid (very early teens I think) Written as nerdy, awkward but can't remember if they looked nerdy (don't think they went for glasses "poindexter" look.) the show is narrated by an adult version of the main character talking about their childhood, hence me saying (perhaps unfairly) that it rips off the wonder years format.

Has a mom, dad and older brother.

2 friends, boy and girl. The girl had a more typical nerdy look from what I remember. No romantic set up between the her or the boys that I can remember (although this is addressed in one episode that I'm going to describe.)

I can remember 2 episodes from it.

One episode involves the main characters older brother teaching him how to perfectly play spin the bottle because he's going to his first unsupervised party and wants to guarantee he gets to kiss a certain girl. At the party, it's his turn to spin the bottle, it's going to be a 7 minutes in heaven (7 minutes in a alone in a closet with the other person) situation, but he realises the girl he's into is visibly upset by that idea of the bottle landing on her, so he intentionally messes it up and makes it land on his friend (nerdy girl) and spends "7 minutes in heaven" with her instead where they talk about the possibility of a relationship together and decide it would ruin their friendship. (Joke in this moment is the narration saying this is the best rejection I've ever received.. this is the worst rejection" and then it does a cutaway gag to him being declined for a job as a fast food employee.) Scene ends with the two of them deciding they need to make their friends think they did something together in the closet, so they proceed to copy the noises the girl said her parents make when they're in their bedroom together (the two of them are too young to understand what those noises mean) which leads to an embarrassing moment where the party kids parents come home early and open the closet.

The 2nd episode I can remember, nerdy girls parents are getting divorced, which is a point of scandal/gossip because of the time period it's set in. She explains all the warning signs she saw that in her parents that this was going to happen. Due to a series of misunderstandings, the main character thinks he sees these same signs in his own parents, and accidentally ends up announcing on live TV (they'd gotten tickets to a joint the audience of a TV show, which I might be misremembering but I think it had Krusty the Clown vibes to it) that his parents are getting divorced (they're not) which leads to some misunderstandings because of people's attitudes to divorce at that time, such as people trying to sell their house without their permission etc. They explain to main character they are not getting a divorce and he's happy but realises he hasn't been there for his friend who is going through this.