Freaks and Geeks - The Complete Series

I watched this show when I was younger and then saw it at a video store and watched it again. Now im hooked...

When people list shows that were cancelled before their time, "Freaks and Geeks" will frequently come out. With NBC basically clueless about what to do with it despite rabid and passionate fanbases, the show moved to bad timeslots and pre-empted episode showings before getting the axe. And while there's a huge devoted following to the show, I only heard of the show recently and finding it on sale at the store, I figured I'd see what the big deal is and while I'll admit it's funny and well-written, I wouldn't say it's when of the perfect shows out there.

The show, set somewhere around 1980, centers on the title groups, the "freaks" or the ones that are too cool to attend all their classes, prefer lazying around and rocking out, and the "geeks" who love Steve Martin and "Star Wars". In the center of both groups is Lindsay and Sam Weir who try to find their place in high school as Lindsay sheds her mathlete image and hangs with the misfits while Sam struggles with young adolescence and being in love with someone that tells you the dreaded f-word: "friend".

Even though I graduated from high school a few years ago, many of the themes and character moments presented in the show are just as familiar to me as anyone. From the faculty member who thinks he's cool from the punks who think they're better than everyone, there's a lot here people can relate to. Getting away from the overdone melodrama of Dawson's Creek where everyone will inevitably sleep with everybody, this show had least had the intelligence to follow these characters realistically. While future Apatow movies like "40 Year Old Virgin" combined this with more raunchy humor (to a strange disconnect for me, personally), it's this and his follow-up series "Undeclared" that I prefer for taking on more universal themes.

Ironically, the problem I have with the show is some of the characters. While some I loved having such as nerdish Bill, school's badboy Daniel or central character Lindsay, some of the others kind of irritated me. Nick Andapolis, a frequent stoner with ambitions as a drummer, is incredibly creepy and no girl I know would find anything he does romantic and even a bit uncomfortable. Ken, played by Seth Rogan of "Knocked Up" fame, is basically the dry-humored guy who puts down almost everything and doesn't stray too far from that while Sam is incredibly whiny and can barely get through a line without cracking a smile. At least the adults like Tom Wilson, Larry Flaherty and Dave Allen add some spark to the show.

One thing that I can appreciate is the amount of love the creators had for the show as evidenced with the DVD. Attractive book-like packing that reminds me of the old "Smallville" sets, there's lots of featurettes and surprisingly, many commentaries. I'm talking at least 29 commentaries for 18 episodes here folks with people who worked on the show, starred in the show, actors on the show in character and fan commentaries. While most of us probably won't even check out half of em, it's nice to see such a huge assortment of goodies available to fans as opposed to the rather anemic ones on other sets (2 commentaries and 3 featurettes? Booooo).

I'd recommend Freaks and Geeks since there's bound to be people that love it but there's plenty of other shows that I absolutely love and there's some I like, and well...I like Freaks and Geeks.

"Freaks and Geeks", although shortlived, is one of the most relatable and hilarious accounts of high school ever created. I guess the closest comparison I can think of would be my personal favorite, "The Wonder Years" which is a huge compliment to this show. This is a great series for people of all ages, young and old, and it's great seeing how a bunch of these young and talented actors got their start.

Disclosure: I was one of the diehard fans that petitioned creator Paul Feig to put his series on DVD after it was cancelled. Now that you know where I'm coming from, I have to tell you that the set is FANTASTIC! It was clearly put together with much love and dedication for an awesome series that was tortured by NBC before getting the ax. I splurged and got the "yearbook" edition, [...]. The DVDS come packaged in a yearbook with tons of cast photos, essays, interviews and episode notes. Even without all that stuff, though, this collection is a must-have for all Judd Apatow fans (and now there are many, thanks to "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" and "Knocked Up"). The only downside is that after you watch the last episode you CANNOT BELIEVE this show was cancelled and you will ache for more.

I had somehow never seen this show before and netflixed it. I watched one episode and promptly bought the series on AMAZON because I couldn't imagine not watching the rest of it immediately. I think I even went total dork and got the next day shipping. I love it. I have watched it all the way through at least 12 times since then and it has become a requirement of being my friend to watch it with me. Everyone I have introduced it to loves it also. It's incomparable, with the hilarious Judd Apatow comedic genius, an intensely wonderful soundtrack (the scene from the episode where Nick tells Lindsay there's a song describing exactly how he feels about her and then plays Lady by Styxx cracks me up every time! I fall into hysterical peals of laughter no matter how many times I watch it), and very real relatable characters. I myself was a smart kid who decided smoking pot and listening to 70's rock was way cooler than school, of course, I did it in the early nineties as opposed to 1980, but I felt like I understood it just as well as if I'd jumped into Kim's sweet Gremlin and headed off to tour with the Dead myself. Buy this set, you will not regret it...well, unless you're a douche.