When I was in eighth grade, I watched Judd Apatow's Undeclared, a show about freshman year of college. Now, in the latter half of my senior year of college, I went back to watch Freaks and Geeks, a show about high school. This one is a cult favorite and I could only hold out for so long. I think what shocked me most about it from the get go was the then-unknown trifecta of James Franco, Jason Segel, and Seth Rogen starring as three burn-out high school kids. Along the way, several other recognizable people popped up in recurring roles and cameos. Among these were Rashida Jones (The Office, Parks and Recreation), Back to the Future's Biff Tannen, Jason Schwartzman, Samarie Armstrong (Anna from The OC), Ben Stiller, and a very young and hardly recognizable Shia LeBeouf. Even the four actors who composed the central Weir family - all unknowns to me - did a fantastic job. The casting and acting were superb in general. So too were the production value and musical selection. It certainly comes off as a show made by people who really care about what they're doing. No wonder it's lamented as overlooked. Despite its brief run, the series did manage to tackle all kinds of high school issues; underage drinking, young love, vandalism, making a band, getting picked last in gym class, class disparity, bullies, getting high, too-much too-soon relationships, bad driving, break ups, getting a little too old for things you used to do - all of these things, and many more, are explored in some depth (and typically in very realistic ways). The show is also set in 1980, giving it a nostalgic feel. Yet for a show that is ten years old and set thirty years ago, Freaks and Geeks didn't feel dated at all. I suppose teenage issues are timeless (well, at least in the past fifty or sixty years), but I was still impressed by the degree to which everything resonated with me, a high school student in the mid-'00s. As can be expected, the show focuses on two specific "cliques:" the freaks and the geeks. Main character Lindsey is an ex-geek turned freak and her little brother Sam is an incoming freshman, geeky as can be. Never having fully identified with a stereotypical group during my time in high school, I found myself relating easily to both groups (although I suppose that's the intent of the show anyway). The stand-out among the geeks was Bill (played by Martin Starr). While Sam and his friend Neal (the one of a kind Samm Levine) are woefully geeky and embarrassed by their uncoolness, Bill kind of owns his in a subtle but refreshing way. He was probably the funniest character in the show, yet rarely did he try to be. On the freak side of things, it seemed at first like Daniel (James Franco) would be the standout. He was an early crush of Lindsey's and seemed to have some kind of leadership role among the freaks. Yet as time went on, he faded more and more into the background as a one-dimensional character (angsty) while Jason Segel's Nick developed and blossomed into a very complex and interesting guy. Lindsey, the main character, was just well-meaning and naive enough to remain likable, and she was spared from being a cliche "well-off white girl gets bored in the suburbs and wants to run around with the wrong crowd" staple. She was at times a flagrant bitch and a terrible person, but at the end of the day she was very sweet and understanding of those around her, and I can't say that she did anything less than enhance the show. Now, in trying to answer the big question - is this show worthy of all the hype and praise? - I'll first point out that it's a good thing it was canceled. Truth be told, most of the memorable episodes came earlier on in the six-disc set. Latter episodes just weren't as good. Part of the reason for this, I assume, is that the well of "high school issues" began to run a little dry after big episodes like "the parents are gone; let's have a kegger!" came early on. I give all the credit in the world to the show for hitting the ground running, but the obvious trade-off was a dip in quality later on; no one can sprint forever. There were also a few budding plotlines that never came together and a few others that ended rather sloppily or abruptly. In the second episode, for example, it's made clear that Sam's friend Neal is infatuated with Sam's sister Lindsey. This never goes anywhere though. And that's a shame, because an episode partially devoted to a high school freshman wooing an older girl who doesn't even notice him would have been, in my opinion, a great one for the series. Similarly, Sam himself has a crush on a girl named Cindy for essentially the entire series. She's always portrayed as cute, fun, innocent, and extremely nice in general. Then finally in the third-to-last episode Sam starts dating her - only to have the thing go down in flames due to a sudden personality change on Cindy's behalf the very next episode. Suddenly, she's shallow, selfish, and boring. A tad sloppy, no? It's still lost on me whether or not the final episode was meant to be a series finale or just a season finale, but it worked very well as either one. Regardless, Freaks and Geeks is certainly a good and memorable series. It's nothing I'd say you need to see, but it's a great option and you wouldn't regret giving it a chance.
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