The Best Show Ever Cancelled

Growing up, I wasn't too into the TV teen drama genre. Dawson's Creek, Party of Five, Buffy, and all that WB crap. Most teen shows are about attractive rich white people and their relationship problems. I was a gawky, working-class immigrant kid who wasn't even allowed to talk to girls. How the hell could I relate?

I recall a few years back perusing thru the DVDs at the local library, when I chanced upon a disc of Freaks & Geeks. I recalled the rave reviews about this coming-of-age show, so I thought why not give it a go and proceeded to the checkout counter.

And from the first episode I was hooked. A show with teenagers who actually looked and talked like normal teenagers. A show with teenagers who feared and respected their parents, and siblings who got along. A show with enough hilarity to have you busting your gut in laughter one minute, and the emotional pull to have you choking back tears the next. A show so well-written and adroitly dramatized that it absolutely sucks you into their reality. A show that poignantly captures the pains and angst of high school and growing up, that manages to be sweet and whimsical without being preachy and schmaltzy. A show so honest and real that you forget it's just a show.

The lead kid Sam is pretty much me in the early years of high school - a small, innocent, wide-eyed late-bloomer with a goofy smile, frightened by authority and painfully shy around girls. But we see that he has a good relationship with his parents and his sister and his good friends, and is really a nice, likeable kid. His tormentor Kim is like all the trashy girls at school I was terrified of growing up, but we grow to appreciate her too. Harris is all the guys in the comfy lounge of the Math building at UW. And watching now, the lead girl, Sam's older sister Lindsay, bears a startling resemblance to a Caucasian Julia, in appearance and personality - the same cherubic smile and eye gestures and facial expressions, a mathlete(!) and hella smart, but confused and troubled at the same time... it's really like seeing her coming to life again on screen. Maybe that's why I love this show so much - Was I in love with the living embodiment of a richly drawn television character? Or is it the other way around?

Two great scenes.





The scene above is classic. The standard teen dramedy would have the cliched cool guy pick on the nerdy, fragile D&D kid. But Freaks & Geeks flips the script. We learn that the tough guy has weaknesses and vulnerabilities and is insecure like everyone else. The on-the-surface-badass is really a nice guy who begrudgingly respects Harris for getting good grades and for his self-assuredness. The smart writing and rich characterizations - laced with nuanced comedy - is what sets this show apart.

Someone went to the liberty of putting up all 18 Episodes on YouTube. It's even better when you watch it older, on second viewing. The pilot is just OK, so start with Episode 2 and digest the goodness while you can.