‘The West Wing’ vs. ‘Freaks and Geeks’: TV at a Crossroad in 1999

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https://www.rollingstone.com/tv/tv-f...ure-tv-879204/

How two iconic series debuting days apart — one a long-running crowd-pleaser, the other a cult favorite — represented television’s past and its future



The West Wing will celebrate its 20th anniversary on Sept. 22, while the short-lived Freaks and Geeks turns 20 on Sept. 25. "These are two of the 40 or so best shows in the history of American television, and it’s easy to find people who’d put one or the other at the top of their personal lists," says Alan Sepinwall. "For one network to debut both of them within less than a week is an amazing accomplishment. But quality aside, the two couldn’t be more different in terms of how they were treated by that network, the chasm in their stakes and tones, and what they represented about where television had been in the 20th century and where it was going in the 21st."