a parisian night suit

Freaks and Geeks (1999)

[First I’d like to say that they’re re-releasing the yearbook edition of the series this fall, and I WANT IT. Hint, hint.]

Status: Cancelled after 18 episodes

Genre: comedy/drama/teen

DVD extras: HOURS of extras! It’s a Freaks and Geeks lovefest. Every episode has at least one commentary track. They’re very good in general, too. Lots of deleted scenes, bloopers, screen tests, and even some homemade video type stuff. Also comes with a booklet and playlist from each episode. Yay!

Basics: Created by writer-comedian Paul Feig and executive produced by Judd Apatow, Freaks and Geeks followed the Weir siblings--former math whiz Lindsay and her younger brother Sam--as they navigated the perils and pleasures of a Michigan high school circa 1980. What separated Freaks and Geeks from most other scholastic series was its brutal honesty--Lindsay and Sam, as well as their friends and parents, were given very human personas that showed failure, malice, indecision, and moments of great clarity. Likewise, the plotlines rarely offered pat solutions to the characters' conflicts--the show unfolded in a naturalistic manner, which was a welcome respite for viewers tired of flashy high school dramas.

Basically it’s an anti-Dawson’s Creek. Lindsey starts hanging out with the burnouts/freaks. Sam has a couple of geeky friends and a crush on a popular cheerleader. Hilarious and heartbreaking—it was doomed from the start.

The good: You’re watching the show, cringing at what topic they decided to cover this episode— vandalism, family violence, crushed dreams, parents dating teachers, divorce, hermaphrodites—and then by the end they just totally make it work. It’s so rare for a show to make you feel anything at all, and Freaks and Geeks manages to make you feel everything.

The bad: There’s a reason why F&G didn’t last one season, and Dawson’s Creek lasted six. Every episode of F&G ended bittersweetly—sometimes even somewhat depressingly. It was a little too much like life, where you don’t win the heart of the girl and go on to do great things. That’s what made it so good, but it’s also why no one watched. Somehow, though, anyone who’s seen the series thinks it’s the most awesome thing ever (and rightly so).

The ugly: Well, nothing really.

Why it’s awesome: Most notably, the music, which is a pretty good mix of classic rock. The casting is tops: Linda Cardellini is the perfect everywoman, I would totally play D&D with the geeks every week (and they are seriously geeky—not Hollywood geeky) or toke up in Nick’s basement with the freaks (you know, if I was into that type of thing), and even the minor characters have depth and personality. Every single character experiences a good amount growth. Amazingly, even though it was canceled before the end of the season, they filmed a last episode in advanced so there’s a pretty good conclusion at the end of the series.

Best Episodes: The pilot was like a mini-movie (every episode was, actually), “I’m With the Band” (episode #6) was when I fell in love with the show, “Carded and Discarded” is one of the funniest, “The Little Things” had amazingly impressive writing/acting, and the last episode “Discos and Dragons” was the perfect finale. Looking over the episodes list, I can’t pick one that isn’t an A+.

In conclusion, the best thing that could happen to the series is that it was canceled after 18 episodes. 18 perfect episodes. No disappointing future seasons to diminish the magic of the first. Julia Roberts said it best in Steel Magnolias (yea, you knew I’d manage to reference a movie sooner or later): “I would rather have 30 minutes of something wonderful than a lifetime of nothing special.”