Freaks & Geeks Even 25 Years Later Gone Too Soon

 

This week marked the 25th anniversary of the cult classic series Freaks And Geeks, a brilliant show that was cancelled way too soon. It had so much going for it and it's a shame that maybe just maybe it was ahead of it's time. The show had a pedigree of who's who talent before they really became stars. Created by Paul Feig who later directed Bridesmaids, the much maligned but actually good 2016 Ghostbusters reboot, and The Heat among other films. Judd Apatow (40 year old Virgin, Knocked up, TrainWreck) executive produced the series and helped it get greenlit. Future stars such as James Franco, Seth Rogen, Jason Segal, Linda Cardellini, Samm Levine, and Busy Phillips rounded out the cast. 

Set in the 1980's it followed brother and sister Lindsay (Linda Cardellini) and Sam (John Francis Daley) Weir. They both attend William McKinley high school and while trying to navigate high school and find themselves they attach themselves to two separate groups. Lindsay trying to shed her good girl image hangs with the slackers and losers dubbed "The Freaks", while Sam hang's with the akward, timid Dungeons & Dragons loving crew known as "The Geeks". 

In short 18 episodes the series spoke to people of all ages, especially teenagers and young adults trying to find themselves. It also was able to transcend generations as what the kid's experienced in this fictional show set in the 80's, kid's today in 2024 still go through the same thing. In fact, I feel the show would have been more relevant now with nerd/geek culture being more accepted and mainstream now. It had so much more story to tell with these characters and we all saw a little bit of ourselves in Lindsay, Sam, and crew. 

It's a shame NBC didn't do right by the show and didn't see the gem it had on their hands. It's also a shame other networks at the time didn't see the same and swoop in and save the day when it was cancelled. We hardly knew the Freaks and Geeks, 25 years later we lament that it was gone too soon.