It's finally on DVD!!! "Freeks and Geeks" without a doubt has to be the most underrated television comedy/drama of all time. It's so unfortunate that audiences didn't pick up on the clever wit of this incredible series before it was cancelled. I guess it was just too sophisticated for most tv audiences.
Simply put, Freeks and Geeks was all about subtlety in it's humor. The show didn't feel it was necessary to hit you over the head with a punch line then follow it up with a canned laugh track like 95% of the lame sitcoms on television today. (I'm looking your way NBC!) With this show, you would catch yourself laughing for the smallest of reasons.
Character and warmth were also very much the backbone of this series. Who could forget the sympathetic brother and sister relationship of freak Lindsey and geek Sam? And who didn't find themselves cheering for Sam as he attempted to turn the attentions of the popular cheerleader Cindy? Who could forget Nick with all of his awkward but humorous problems or Amy the troubled, spiteful "friend" of Lindsey? Of course there was also Bill, the ultimate geek and Neil the geek who wanted to be chic. Plus Millie the geeky dedicated friend of the ever changing Lindsey, and the incredibly hip, Alice Cooper singing guidance counselor? Finally there was also Lindsey and Sam's mother with her blind optimism and their father, the polar opposite.
The reason this show worked so well was that it was directed and filmed in such a way as to truely capture the awkwardness of the teenage years. In its direction it was brutal and honest which made it seem all that more real. I knew people in high school that were just like the characters in this series, I was one of them myself. In the real world, we are not all pretty people who live in adorable little apartments in New York, hang out in ultra hip coffee shops, and get laid on every date we go on. The real world is much less forgiving. It is confusing, and uncertain, awkward, and often times harsh. The spirit of these realities is exactly what this series captured, and it did it remarkably well. Whether you were one the freaks in high school or one the geeks, or even one of the popular kids who wondered how the other 95% of us lived, you should be able to relate to these characters.
As I mentioned before, it's a shame that more viewers didn't tune in to watch this series. I think one of the problems was that the characters were just a little too real for most people. They were normal looking, not glamourized and they didn't live fabulous lives or wear chic clothing. They were simple and down to earth and that made them real. Also, the show was shuffled around so often in the programing schedule that even its dedicated followers had a hard time keeping track of it. Here's some advice from a true geek at heart, Buy this DVD and enjoy it's humor, it's warmth, and it's realistically drawn characters. Re-live a little of those awkward teenage years yourself.