Freaks and Geeks

OK, once again I'm back after a slight hiatus. I'm not gonna make any excuses....I just haven't felt like blogging.

After about a week I went into "olympics overload" and needed to find something else to pass the time. So I dug through my DVD collection and decided on "Freaks & Geeks: The Complete Series." If you aren't familiar with Freaks & Geeks, it is a series that was produced in 2000 about high school students in a small Michigan town in a suburb of Detroit circa 1980.

The Weir family is the center of this show with 2 children in high school. Lindsey is the daughter and she is a "freak" meaning that she hangs out with the burnouts. However, she is also the smartest student in the school, and stuggles between being accepted by the burnouts versus her old friends in the mathletes.

Lindsay's brother Sam Weir is the other main character. He is a freshman and rolls with the "geeks." They are into sci-fi, dungeons & dragons, and comedy like SNL, Steve Martin, and Bill Murray (remember: it's 1980). These guys are supposed to be the sterotypical nerds of high school complete with glasses, girl problems, and goofy clothes.

I was totally into this show back in 2000 when it was originally aired on NBC, but it was cancelled about 3/4 of the way through the season. However, it was nominated for several Emmy Awards after it's cancellation. I think the show is a terrific representation of what high school was about, and covers issues that most of us can relate to, like starting a garage band, getting into mischief, smashing up the family car, getting your folks to let you go to concerts, etc. And being a period piece taking place in 1980, the soundtrack is also pretty rad featuring a lot of The Who, early Van Halen (the real stuff....pre "Van Hagar)and I even heard some Black Flag in one episode. I specifically enjoyed a scene where Mr. Weir is listening to a Who album to decide if he should let Lindsay go to see them live. "Squeeze Box" is the first song and he quickly deems it pornographic, while Mrs. Weir sits next to him making an "accordian motion" and says "Harold, it's just about an accordian!"

If you are familiar with the show you understand why I dig it. I literally watched all 18 hour-long episodes over the course of about 3 days and remembered how much I loved this show. If you've never seen it and you are looking to pass some time, check it out. I don't think you will be dissapointed.