Something Else to Watch

We have recently started watching the short-lived but so incredibly wonderful NBC series Freaks and Geeks. The show aired in 1999-2000 and was cancelled after 13 episodes. They'd filmed a few more already, so the dvd collection has all 18 episodes. This show is filled with familiar faces. James Franco (from Spiderman and his recent performance art piece on General Hospital) plays the unofficial leader of the freaks, and he spends his time cutting class and hanging out with Seth Rogan (from every Judd Apatow movie) and Jason Segel (from I Love You, Man and How I Met Your Mother). The dad is the hilarious Canadian comic Joe Flaherty, and Shia LaBeouf, Jason Schwartzman, Ben Stiller, and loads of other people are in an episode or two.

Freaks and Geeks is an hour-long show (or 48 minutes or whatever), and I guess it's mostly funny and touching. There are dramatic aspects of the show, but they never get too heavy before something funny or awkward happens. The show takes place in Michigan in 1980, and they use the fashion , music, cars, interior design, etc of the time as the cherry on top of the great scripts and incredible acting. These high schoolers (especially the geeks, who are freshmen and sophomores) really act like kids. I don't know if this is the best bunch of actors ever or if the writers were the best bunch of writers ever, but all of these kids transcend the 'child actor' stereotype. According to the show's wikipedia page, it won the Emmy award for outstanding casting. I believe it!

Part of why I like this show so much is that it doesn't have the typical teenage drama topics... there's no teen pregnancy or any of that stupid stuff. It's just kids trying to make it through normal life filled with teachers and parents and friends and music. But it's very funny and sweet, like normal life can be.