'Freaks and Geeks' - what happened?! - appreciation thread

Just got done watching this wonderful series on DVD. My 16 year old daughter rented the series from the library after my best friend recommended the show to her. Well, me, my wife and my daughter are now HUGE fans of this funny and touching show. Probably the smartest high school TV show ever made - they nailed these characters, the kind of kids that were around in 80-81. The music was spot on, too. From Styx to Black Flag to Van Halen to Billy Joel to X to The Who. And, some scenes in that episode where all the kids are going to see the Who made me get a lump in my throat. Two words "I'm One". That's how you score a TV show. There were no "rich" kids as featured in too many modern television shows. Just plain kids.

I went to high school from '78-82 and I was on BS patrol when I started to watch this show and it quickly won me over.

So why did this series get cancelled?

Also, we'd like to buy the series on DVD, but we just heard that a new re-release of the show is coming out on DVD. Which one is the one to get?

I know I'm rambling a lot here, just wanted to start the thread before leaving work and before I forgot to post about it.

Cheers!
Deke

 

I hate to say this, but it was too good and didn't pander to the lowest common denominator TV viewers.

Make sure to get the college years follow up "Undeclared", also available on DVD. It's just as good and you'll love it!

 

The very first episode is as good, if not better, than most of the "celebrated" teen movies out there, i.e. "The Breakfast Club" & "Fast Times at Ridgemont High".

 

It was a special show indeed!
thankfully it's on DVD! for a revisit now and then.

 

I thought it had it all for all viewers...maybe a management problem?

 

The impression I got was that the reissued DVD box set would be the same as the old one, but there may be more recent news that contradicts that. You might want to google and see what you can find out.

Unless you can find the first edition box set for a good price (I'm pretty sure it was a limited edition and isn't being made anymore), I'd say just wait on the second edition. . . . Though you should periodically google for news updates, in case the second edition doesn't happen for some reason.

I can't imagine there being much they could add to the second edition beyond what the first edition has. I'm thrilled with the first edition DVD box set.

Craig(VC).

 

In the fall of 1980,I was in 9th,just like Sam.I knew both the freaks and the geeks very well.That show was ACCURATE...(Although,I caught ONE error,that ANY geek from the time would've noticed.....)

 

I picked up the original DVD set when it first came out on reviews I read on the internet and fell in love with the show. Maybe I should fire up the DVDs again, since I haven't watched it since it first came out.

Maybe I will check out "UnDeclared" as was mentioned.

 

...and if you like Undeclared and don't mind cartoons, you might also like Undergrads, which is more or less an animated version of Undeclared. Like the Apatow shows, it lasted less than a full season; MTV actually had some good cartoons going in the early '90s, which were all promptly cancelled as they weren't as stimulating as Road Rules or whatever.

 

UnDeclared was pretty cool as well....

 

A really special show, and the final episode (well, the final episode shown, anyway) is a gem. So many people involved with it have gone on to do great things.

BTW, there's a good feature about F&G creator Paul Feig in last week's NYT magazine.

 

One of the best shows ever. I kind of wish the characters were real people.

 

I sure you knew a few of those characters in your circle of friends? I did.

 

My personal theory is that it didn't resonate with the modern kids. It really was a show for people (like me) who grew up in that era, but it's hard to market a teen comedy/drama series to an adult demographic.

 

...Like I said.I KNEW those guys.....

 

I adore this show and was excited to see a thread on it. A lot of people have said they identify with the characters on the show or had friends very similar to both the freaks and geeks. Me too.

From what I have read is that the executive who was the show's "champion" moved on to another job (can't remember if it was within the network). The executive who took over didn't believe or "get" the show and thus began the downward slope. At one point, he wanted the geeks to have more triumphs at the end of the episodes because he felt it was too downbeat.

Anyway, the show kept getting moved around from time to time, night to night and anyone who was interested had to work hard in order to find if the show was on. It didn't help that they completely stopped airing it a couple of times, too. It simply couldn't develop a following.

It's is, quite possibly, one of my favorite shows and there's not a wasted moment. Part of that is because the writers didn't hold back their best ideas for the 2nd season when they realized the show was going to be canceled.

It looks like the reissue is of the limited deluxe edition that was available only through the website. I bought the set after buying the regular edition, watching all the episodes and finding myself wanting more because I loved the characters so much.

Essentially, you get 2 extra discs of supplemental material of varying degrees of interest: outtakes, bloopers, table reads and Q & A from the museum of television history in NY. I have to admit, I rarely go back to these discs.

However, my favorite feature is that the set comes packaged is a yearbook. In my estimation, it's worth the cost. It's a beautiful book with articles, reminisces, episode guide (also in the regular set) and really cool feature in which Paul Feig made yearbook notes from each of the characters to Sam and Lindsay. Honestly, there's a lot of love in the pages and you can tell the show was a special project for all involved. I love it.

So, it looks like that's what is being issued in November, at least, from what I have gathered at amazon. The standard set is still in print, as well.

Gosh, that was a long post...I just love the show. Best series finale ever.

 

'Freaks & Geeks' screened here in New Zealand and I absolutely dug that show. I was most dissapointed when I learned it had been cancelled.

 

when did I ask you?

 

There should have been many, many more episodes.
My gosh, all the crap that remains on t.v. year after year........

 

I spent the last two weeks watching this show also.
By the time I finished the last episode, I felt like I had gone to school with all of them and missed them.

 

Freaks And Geeks was great. I watched it when it aired and it was hard to keep up with the show. I'm a few years younger than those characters, but the mid-80s in Pittsburgh weren't much different than the early-80s. One of the most realistic social situations in that show was between Lindsay and Millie. The dynamic of the one friend changing and moving into a different social situation while the other remains relatively the same is real and not usually given much attention. Millie remained close to Lindsay even though Lindsay ceased to be a good friend. Millie was a more reliable friend than any of Lindsay's new friends. I've been on both ends of that dynamic.

I was really disappointed that it lasted only one season, but I doubt a second season would have been as good. All shows with characters have problems as the actors age out of their original roles. I'm sure some good stuff was possible, but that one season seemed to achieve everything the show could have hoped for on a conceptual level.

 

I was blow away when I first saw her on ER!

a stretch indeed.

 

That was the brilliance of the show: The characters grew and changed as friends came into their lives.
Not sure if the last epsiode with Daniel playing Dungeons & dragons with the geeks was completely realistic, but you got the feeling that some weekends hanging out with the same friends got old.
There were certainly times in HS where I got sick of my friends.
I identified with Lindsey the most even though I am a Male.
I never completely assimilated with any group.

 

It would have been cool. I didn't in real life. I was probably a little bit of a geek, though. I would totally want to be friends with Sam, Neal and Bill.

 

It would have been interesting to see how Sam grew if the show had continued. One got the sense that he might have outgrown Neil and Bill which would have been an interesting dynamic.