One Season Wonders: Freaks and Geeks

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The History: In 1995 Paul Feig (Bridesmaids, The Heat) was still primarily known as an actor and was a supporting star of the Ben Stiller and Walt Disney comedy Heavyweights (not that good a film sadly). Judd Apatow ( the 40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up) co-wrote the film, and from it spawned a partnership. Feig's mind was on his time at a high school in Michigan, and so working together with Apatow they created Freaks and Geeks, Feig the credited creator and main writer while Apatow was Executive Producer and another writer. The program began airing in 1999 on NBC but was cancelled after twelve episodes, NBC eventually convinced to air three more due to a fan campaign. In total eighteen episodes were produced and are available on home media and Netflix. Freaks and Geeks has been heralded by TV Guide and Entertainment Weekly as one of the best shows of the past twenty-five years and usually finds itself near the top of lists of shows that were cancelled too soon. The show even won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Casting for a Comedy Series and was nominated twice for writing.

The Show: Set in 1979 and/or 1980 (The Jerk was still in theatres so that's at least 1979), Freaks and Geeks follows the lives of several teens and their families in the fictional Detroit suburb of Chippewa. The Weir family tend to take primary focus, with Lindsay Weir (Linda Cardellini) and Sam Weir (John Francis Daley) being the main protagonists. Lindsay, having recently lost her grandmother, begins to hang around with a group of 'Freaks': Daniel Desario (James Franco), Nick Andopolis (Jason Segel), Ken Miller (Seth Rogen) and Kim Kelly (Busy Philipps). Sam meanwhile has his 'Geek' friends in the form of Neal Schweiber (Samm Levine) and Bill Haverchuck (Martin Starr). Joe Flaherty and Becky Ann Baker starred as Harold and Jean Weir respectively, and the supporting cast is quite dense (many appeared in at least five episodes). The usual struggles of everyday life, with all the hilarity and drama that can entail, follow as the Weir kids and their friends navigate high school.

The Breakdown: While the dramedy was not unheard of, as sitcoms had been doing it for a long time, hour-long programs that have a comedic slant while still happily doing drama can have a troubled history. The Freaks and Geeks approach was both simplistic and complex, since a fair bit of the comedy can be found with general witty remarks and humorous observations around dramatic situations. None the less however the show did have some fun with elements like dramatic irony and subverting expectations. The show as a result had a sort of atmosphere of being like an independent film, offering up reality and letting any hilarity that ensued being a natural progression of events. Getting more into the look of the show, it was presented in a very specific artsy way. I mentioned the independent film thing last paragraph and to get into that a bit more the show, despite being shot in the 90s, felt very 70s (not just with the setting but the filming style), the camera hanging back. While there are plenty of classic cuts one sees on television the atmosphere can give the while show a sort of sense of observation of events, as if a silent bystander, rather than just a typical viewer. This may sound a bit pretentious and it may very well be but something about the film style really helps the viewers attach to the characters. Speaking of characters... Here's Seth Rogen and James Franco on a scooter to make this all seem intentional. The show's cast do fairly solid jobs with their performances, and the characters written quite well. Not all the dialogue necessarily works but spirit of scenes can still work. To give some examples of what I mean, in one episode ( 'm With the Band) Sam is afraid to shower naked in front of his classmates, which is a very real fear I think quite a few people can relate to. The drama and events work quite well, but some of the dialogue, I have no idea if its how often John Francis Daley said 'shower', how he said it or what but it just felt silly, despite the greater point at play. Another example is an episode (Smooching and Mooching) that sees Bill in a Seven Minutes in Heaven situation with Vicki Appleby (Joanna Garcia). Vicki freaks out and Bill ends up laying into her a bit, the pair then bonding and making out. While generally a decent scene that really cemented the more human moments the otherwise stereotypical cheerleader Vicki enjoyed the dialogue again just feels off. You can of course pass this off as an attempt to be more naturalistic (improvisation was a thing, and remains an Apatow staple) but it still feels a bit off. Getting back into the characters themselves a bit more to wrap this up, every character is solidly rounded, with positive traits to make us love them and many other traits to make us loathe them. Lindsay and Sam have obvious hang-ups, Lindsay having a sort of hero complex that can backfire and Sam being a nice guy but having a lot of social issues. Nick seems like a nice guy but is too much of a stoner and can end up being a bit too obsessed with things, especially Lindsay after they hook up. Kim Kelly, seemingly just a slutty bitch, slowly becomes one of Lindsay's best friends, while cool kid Daniel demonstrates both a manipulative side and a love for Dungeons and Dragons. Even supporting characters like Cindy Sanders (Natasha Melnick) are shown to be more than they can appear, the seemingly sweet cheerleader and good student really a bit of a bitch while the bitch-y Vicki, as mentioned, was shown to genuinely be kind of sweet. Adults even got in on the action, the wise guidance counsellor Jeff Rosso (Dave Allen) being shown to be surprisingly harsh with students at times when they resist his attempts to reach them as well as embarrassing himself with several attempts to sound cool and appealing to the kids (despite being a skilled musician). If you want to get into how real the show can be feel, there's your answer, though the main cast all having complicated home lives also helps.

The Fall: NBC aired this cutting edge hour-long dramedy... On Saturdays. Just let that sink in for a moment. There is of course more stupid, but Freaks and Geeks was clearly screwed from day one. Key episodes didn't even end up airing in the original run (the 4th episode Kim Kelly is my Friend being damn important but didn't air until a year after the premiere), not to mention several episodes were aired out of order (including episodes after Nick and Lindsay's thing ended airing before they hooked up). Finally you can factor in preemption (not one new episode aired in December of 1999) and lack of advertising. Considering how many cast members went on to be in popular stuff, how bad to you think certain people who worked at NBC at the time are kicking themselves?

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