The Creek, as you called it when you explained why you were busy on Wednesday nights, blew up out of the box, helping The WB find its teen serial lane along with shows like Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Felicity, and later Charmed and Smallville. Like the characters on the rest of those shows, the kids on The Creek had superpowers, and theirs was the coolest of all: they talked like wise, insightful grownups who'd read a lot of books.
Early in 1992's Wayne's World, a bunch of rockers squeeze into an AMC Pacer with custom flames painted on the side. As they drive past the automarts, car washes and beef stands of downtown Chicago, Bohemian Rhapsody plays on the car stereo. The song's operatic verses are used for laughs (the Let me go line becomes a cry for help from a friend who is partied out and might honk in the backseat)
Richard Marcinko was a gentleman that trained CIA officers and special-ops people how to endure torture. He gave me a litany of things that I could do when I began to spiral. Like punch myself in the leg as hard as I can. Have a friend that I trust and punch him in the arm. Eat everything in sight. Changing patterns in the room,