I'm gonna do what I wanna do and that's what I'm gonna do.
#14. Freaks & Geeks (1999-2000)
NBC, Drama
Choice Song: (Warning: Language)
Oops, wrong song:
Clue: No highs and lows, just a consistently strong middle
- Freaks & Geeks is probably the best coming-of-age period piece in both movies and television. Lindsay Weir (Linda Cardellini) is mathlete-turned-freak and is dealing with new people and old relationships. Sam Weir (John Francis Daley) is just entering high school as a geek. I'm not really sure what to say. It's like a crazy good mash-up between My So-Called Life and The Wonder Years that not only stands on its own but far ahead of its peers. The stories and running plot threads and tightly written and evolving. The character acting is some of the best and most believable around. It's a brilliant show.
However, I don't remember much about it. Like Joan of Arcadia and the Dollhouse already, it's a great show, but it doesn't last in my mind. When I'm watching it, I'm in love with it and recognize everything going on. A few months after the last episode, I can only remember parts of the ending (Dungeons & Dragons, Jason's disco dance), Ben Foster telling Lindsay off, the Geeks shooting off a rocket with the new girl before she's captured by the cheerleaders, Busy Philipps crazy home life and that scene in the car, and something about a senator coming. The scene from the pilot I linked earlier? I have no recollection of that scene even though I've seen the first episode at least three times. Brilliant show, but it slides off like my brain is made of teflon.
Freaks & Geeks is a one-season wonder that still gets talked about all the time. Its stars have gone on to many bigger things and Judd Apatow's a box office sensation in the last half-decade. Seth Rogen with the 40-Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up, Jason Segel with How I Met Your Mother and Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Linda Cardellini with Scooby-Doo and ER, John Francis Daley with Bones, Busy Philipps with Cougar Town, Samm Levine with Kevin Pollak's Chat Show, Martin Starr with Party Down and Adventureland... and James Franco's in everything doing every job on the planet. He's taken over for GameFAQs spellchecker today and is helping me type this up as we speak! Freaks & Geeks was cancelled, but all the stars are enjoying success in the industry. That's just awesome.
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