The Hard Times of RJ Berger

- Season 1

(2010)

RJ Berger is a nerdy, socially awkward 15-year-old high school sophomore who is shy, cynical, and generally picked on by his peers, along with his two friends Miles Jenner and Lily Miran, who's madly in love with him, and frequently offers her body to him. RJ, however is in love with cheerleader Jenny Swanson, but he's been too shy to proclaim his love for her and is afraid of getting beat up by her boyfriend, Max Owens. When he is forced by Coach Jeriba Sinclair to replace some school basketball players at a game in exchange for the chance to continue skipping gym, ...

RJ runs for Student Government President against his arch enemy, Max Owens.

Without tutoring, RJ's plans to see Jenny are thwarted by her rehearsals for the lead female role in a vampire-themed version of "West Side Story," prompting him to audition for the play, and inadvertently get the lead male role. Though the play includes a romantic on-stage kiss between RJ and Jenny, his lack of practice, fear of Max, a past bad experience in an elementary school play, and his well-known "affliction" could end up complicating his performance on opening night.

To the the dismay of Miles, RJ has been invited to Jenny Swanson's Sweet 16 birthday party, and thinks he's expected to bring an expensive gift. Unable to afford one, his mother recommends that their friends Bill and Linda Robbins hire him to do yard work. Soon enough he finds that Mrs. Robbins wants him for more than just yard work, and is even more surprised about what happens when her husband finds out.

Jenny Swanson breaks up with Max Owens when she finds that another girl's panties are in his locker, giving RJ the perfect opportunity to replace him as her rebound boyfriend. But as tempting as the chance to put the moves on Jenny may be, he also realizes that his nemesis may actually be innocent.

Claire Sengupta, an attractive Indian-British girl moves next door to the Bergers, and RJ finds out that he and this "clunker" have quite a lot in common with each other... except for the fact that she's a fundamentalist Christian who has been abstaining from sex. In order to spend more time with her, RJ and Claire join a local chastity club, and both find it's not what it claims to be.

After three weeks with Claire, RJ becomes self-conscious about the fact that they haven't taken their relationship to the next level, especially after some teasing from his parents and Miles. When a bus driver overhears him and Miles talking about her lack of friskiness, he insists that he should make up a rumor about them going a little further, and he spends the rest of their relationship trying to make sure that rumor comes true. Miles also makes up a rumor about him and Robin Pretnar, which immediately puts Miles at the top of her death list.

Rick and Suzanne are taking a weekend vacation, and are convinced that RJ and Miles can't be trusted to stay by themselves, despite being 15. So they hire a babysitter named Jenni who turns out to be quite an attractive young woman. Miles insists on using their absence as an excuse to throw a party at his house. The trouble is, most of the guests are nerds who aren't used to parties, until their babysitter shakes things up by dispensing his parents' alcoholic beverages, and gets even wilder when the jocks from school crash it.

Hungover from the nerd party(see episode #1.8, "Nerds Gone Wild"), RJ tries to kill the pain with aspirin, some of which he takes with him to school. But when Prinicpal Haggerty call him to his office to reprimand him about the rumors of a party and he takes another aspirin to deal with his headache, the principal accuses him of being a drug addict and sends him to detention, where her meets a gang who thinks he did harder drugs and decide to take him in. Lily tries to join the cheerleading squad in the hopes of attracting RJ and finds out something RJ already knows ...

Unable to concentrate on his tutoring with Jenny, RJ fears that he's losing his focus and failing both himself and the girl of his dreams, so he and Miles conspire to steal a cheat sheet from a teacher's house. Unfortunatley, Miles makes the mistake of getting his psychopathic Iraq War Vet brother involved, and promising the answers for other jocks at Pinkerton High.

RJ has begun to lose all hope of ever going out with Jenny, so he decides to settle for none other than Lily, the girl who has had a crush on him since Kindergarten. When he saves her from being hit by a school bus, they finally agree to go to the school's winter formal and lose their virginity that night. But suddenly, Jenny Swanson, the girl of his dreams asks him to take her to the same dance, forcing him to find a way to turn Lily down without breaking her heart.

With Lily on life support at the hospital, RJ's decision regarding who to take to the winter formal has been made for him(see episode #1.11, "Lily Pad."). Despite feeling guilty over the manner in which that decision was made, RJ promises Jenny that he'll make this the best formal ever. Unfortunatley this effort proves to be difficult for everyone when she and Miles find that Max is taking Robin Pretnar to the dance, even after Robin seemed to accept a date with Miles. Can he still make this a night he and Jenny can both enjoy? Or will other distractions bring their ...