Thursday, November 20, 2008

Shows Gone Too Soon: "Freaks and Geeks" edition

The year is 1980. The scene opens on a high school football field. The camera pans to the bleachers, pausing on a couple in deep conversation. “Ashley, it’s just that I love you so much it scares me,” the hunky quarterback murmurs to the perfectly coiffed cheerleader before they kiss. Before you can roll your eyes, Van Halen’s “Runnin With the Devil” blasts and the camera pans below the bleachers to reveal a leather-jacket clad guy bragging to a group of obvious misfits about getting kicked out of church for wearing an inappropriate t-shirt. As the camera pans left, Van Halen turns to Kenny Loggins ‘ “I’m Alright” and three kids turn a corner doing their favorite “Caddyshack” impressions. A bully approaches but before he can lay a hand on them, one of their sisters steps in to save the day. They run off with embarrassment, leaving her alone. She sighs and declares “Man, I hate high school.” Welcome to the world of “Freaks and Geeks.”




Created by Paul Feig and co-executive produced by Judd Aptaow, “Freaks and Geeks” premiered in 1999 in the dreaded Saturday night time slot on NBC. Doomed from the start, the show was shuffled around to different nights of the week until it was cancelled after only twelve episodes aired. Fortunately, it garnered a cult following and a DVD release featuring 7 unaired episodes was released in 2004.

Set in the fictional town of Chippewa, Michigan in 1980, “Freaks and Geeks” centers on the, well, freaks and geeks of William McKinley High School. Linda Cardellini (“ER”) is Lindsay Weir, a former honor student facing a mid-high school crisis who ditches the mathletes to hang around with the resident freaks. She focuses her attention on bad boy Daniel Desario, played by James Franco (“Pineapple Express”). Lindsay quickly inserts herself into their gang which includes Jason Segel (TV’s “How I Met Your Mother”) as Nick Andopolis, Seth Rogen (Franco’s “Pineapple Express” co-star) as Ken Miller, and Busy Phillips (“Dawson’s Creek”) as Kim Kelly, Daniel’s loudmouth on-again, off-again girlfriend. And then there are the geeks. John Francis Daley is Sam Weir, Lindsay’s little brother. His best friends are Bill (Martin Starr) and Neal (Samm Levine). Together, they make being an outcast desirable.

John Francis Daley is perfectly cast as Sam; he is scrawny and small for his age. His last name is tragically close to the word weird: it’s as if he was born to be picked on. His crush on cheerleader Cindy Sanders is equal parts laughable and sad but their interaction makes you think that maybe, just maybe, despite high school hierarchies, they could end up together. Samm Levine’s Neal dresses like a middle-aged man complete with khakis and argyle sweater-vests. He hides his insecurities behind awkward impersonations of Bill Murray and William Shatner. Martin Starr’s Bill is the best of the bunch. His lanky frame and thick glasses scream nerd yet he is undeniably charismatic. It’s an odd combination he pulls off seamlessly in every scene. In the episode “Dead Dogs and Gym Teachers,” Bill is sitting on the couch eating from a TV tray while watching Gary Shandling do stand-up comedy. He is completely alone and laughing hysterically, food hanging out of his over-sized mouth. It’s such a simple moment but so genuine that you can’t help but wish you were there. He doesn’t seem to have a care in the world when there seems to be so much to care about, like who’s going to snap a towel at him in the locker room tomorrow or every geek’s worst nightmare: dodge ball.




On the freaks side, James Franco plays Daniel with attitude and indifference. He doesn’t care out school, but he still shows up; he’s always fighting with his girlfriend Kim, but it’s obvious he cares about her. As the season progresses, he struggles with his identity as the lost- cause his family and teachers alike have pegged him as. His stints as a punk rocker and an AV Club member are both hilarious and heartfelt as you realize he’s as desperate to belong somewhere as everyone else. Nick Andopolis is a former basketball player, banished to the land of freaks after being dropped from the team for smoking pot. A promising future in basketball has turned into an unlikely dream of being a drummer. He spends most of days getting high and adding to his drum collection, but his character comes alive when he develops a crush on Lindsay. He serenades her in the basement with “Lady” by Styx in a scene that is both hilarious and painful to watch. Seth Rogen’s Ken is relatively useless, spending much of the season sitting around complaining. It’s not until almost the end of the show that he gets his own storyline. Finally, we see Rogen’s talent for portraying extremely uncomfortable situations with the right blend of honesty and hilarity.

Stuck in the middle is Lindsay, who can’t seem to figure out if she’s a freak or a geek. She ditches her plaid skirts and bobby pins for her dad’s army jacket, as is, like most high schoolers, trying to figure out where the heck she belongs. She’s has enough of solving math equations for fun but she can’t stop feeling guilty after spending Halloween out smashing pumpkins and destroying mailboxes. It’s a feeling almost everyone can relate to and you find yourself pulling for her to make the right decision, even if you’re unsure what that is.

What makes “Freaks and Geeks” such an excellent show is the cast’s ability to make being a freak or a geek seem so cool. They are the very definition of outcasts but it doesn’t matter because they’re happy. Sure they have problems (it wouldn’t be a TV show if they didn’t), but they have each other and they have fun and you can’t help but want to be friends with them.

“Freaks and Geeks” also relies heavily on music from the era in which it takes place. One of the biggest delays in the release of the DVD was secure the rights to reproduce all the songs featured because it was so important to Feig and Apatow to keep the soundtrack intact. It was a smart decision because the show would not be the same without it. From The Who to Styx to Billy Joel, the music is the soundtrack to these kids’ lives and essential to the mood of the show.

There is no doubt that “Freaks and Geeks” was before its time. It came to NBC when sitcom money-makers “Friends” and “Will & Grace” ruled the airwaves and shows that were “different” were hard to catch on. Today, the more a shows break s the mold, the more it’s lauded. It’s too bad all the characters are ten years older and have mostly gone on to become fairly big stars or they could recreate the show today with the success they deserved 8 years ago.

Both Feig and Apatow are self-admitted high school geeks. In fact, much of the show draws directly from their lives. And that’s the hope for this lovable cast of characters. We’ll never know what happened to these lovable freaks and geeks, but if Feig and Apatow can make it, maybe they did too. Sometimes in the end, the geeks do get the last laugh.


Freaks and Geeks

Monday, November 17, 2008

random observation 1.0


I was on campus today walking to the library when I found myself traveling behind two guys with their pants below their butts. Naturally,this isn't the first time I've seen such a sight as this has been an on-going trend for many years now. For some reason though, today it got me thinking...I wonder if they really think that looks good?






As I watched the guy on my right struggle to climb a few small steps because there wasn't enough room for movement in his upper-thigh-hugging jeans, I started to wonder if perhaps the guys had purchased the jeans too small and had no choice but to wear them below the butt because they simply didn't go up the rest of the way. I also wondered if they had girlfriends, which led me ponder the type of women who might find that attractive. Strangely enough, I couldn't come up with one. In all my years of talking to women, and talking to them about guys, never once as a preference have I heard one of them say "Oh yeah, and I really love it when a guy's pants hang below his ass."


Does it make the trip to the men's room quicker? The guys with the pants below their asses wear their boxers up all the way, so that can't be it; there's still work involved. Maybe it's easy access in case of spontaneous sex? There's less time for a girl to change her mind if your pants are already half way to the floor. Then all you have to do is grab hold of the belt and pull. Speaking of belts, they seem to often wear belts when rocking the jeans below the ass look. I find this particularly amusing because I was brought up to believe that belts were used to hold pants up, not down.



Anyway, to all the guys out there waddling around with your pants below your ass, stopping to tug them up a little with every step, I'm here to tell you that it is not cool. It is not hot. It makes you look lazy, like you were too bothered by an extra two second tug that would have sat your pants happily at your waist, where they belong.