Season 1 - 18 episodes (1999-2000)
Rent Freaks and Geeks on Amazon Video (paid link)
Created by: Paul Feig
Starring: Linda Cardellini, John Francis Daley, James Franco, Samm Levine, Seth Rogen, Jason Segel, Martin Starr, Busy Phillipps
Rated: TV-14
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Plot
A high school mathlete starts hanging out with a group of burnouts while her younger brother navigates his freshman year.
Verdict
It's not a new subject, but this does such a great job exploring the teenage experience. The focus is Lindsay, a junior, and her younger brother freshman Sam. Through them we see what it's like trying to figure out who you are while re-establishing your identity and struggling to survive that first year. This gives the characters such depth, exploring the underlying reasons of who they are. Lindsay and Sam benefit from a stable home life while several characters struggle in school due to their hardships. It's a shame this only got one season. It deserved so much more. This is such an endearing series where we quickly begin caring for the characters.
Watch It.
Review
While it was canceled after only fifteen episodes aired, the series later became a cult classic. It was popular critically, but it failed to get an audience due to erratic scheduling and competing with much more popular shows. The show didn't get a chance to establish itself.
This show is about finding your place in high school while simultaneously trying to figure out who you are. This does a great job of capturing the characters. There's the dichotomy of the freaks, Lindsay's (Linda Cardellini) new burnout friend group and the geeks, Sam (John Francis Daley) and his friends. Both of the Weir kids are trying to figure out who they want to be. Sam is trying to survive being a freshman. He's in this place where he's leaving childhood behind, and that can be emotional. Everyone is doing the best they can to make it in high school.
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| E1: Linda Cardellini plays Lindsay Weir |
In the first episode, Lindsay joins a new friend group. She's trying to distance herself from her old friends. In the very first episode this captures the ups and down of high schools, the defeats and victories. Through Lindsay and Sam we see that whether just starting out or even a junior, high school doesn't get any easier.
Ben Foster appears in the first episode and Rashida Jones guest stars in the fourth.
In the second episode Sam tries to protect Lindsay while she throws a party that quickly grows out of control. They're both trying to be cool. It rarely works out. In episode four Lindsay gets to see how lucky she is when she visits Kim's (Busy Phillipps) house. Kim's aggressive, and that seems to stem from insecurity and unsupportive parents. The kids with most difficult circumstances cause the most trouble at school. It's easy to see the connection, though few people ever spend the time to investigate it.
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| E7: Seth Rogen, Jason Segel, Linda Cardellini, James Franco, Busy Philipps play Ken, Nick, Lindsay, Daniel, Kim |
Lindsay's parents don't like her friends. She sees it as an affront, but her parents care for and worry about her. They don't realize she's trying to help her new friends. She's making poor decisions, but it's for good reasons.
Despite how confrontational the characters are, it's frequently the older teens that readily help out Sam and his friends. Daniel (James Franco) seems to have a learning disability. He's managed to skate through school this far, but the show never addresses it. He just wants to get by. Lindsay tries to help him, but he doesn't care. She also tries to help Nick's (Jason Segel) drumming aspirations, but that only generates contention. Nick asks the band to practice more and they quit. She unfairly gets blamed for making the band feel like school.
Sam has had a crush on Cindy since the beginning of the season. In episode eight he gets friend zoned. In contrast, Lindsay and Nick begin dating and she gets a lot of unsolicited advice. Sam tries to get closer to Cindy while Lindsay tries to get away from Nick.
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| E1: Samm Levine, Martin Starr, John Francis Daley play Neal Schweiber, Bill Haverchuck, Sam Weir |
The reoccurring concern of Lindsay's parents are her new friends. We understand why she feels stifled and why her parents wonder about her friends. Lindsay's friendship is fractured when she crashes her father's car while helping them out. When they show up for her academic event, she realizes they're genuine. Sam changes his look to be cool. It doesn't work out.
While high, Lindsay ponders why she and Millie are no longer friends. Millie has been a great friend even while Lindsay tries to distance herself. Allen, the freshman bully admits to Bill that he's jealous of the geeks.
The show also gets serious with Neal's (Samm Levine) parents facing problems and Bill's (Martin Starr) mom dating the gym teacher. In episode seventeen, Sam realizes his dream girlfriend isn't so dreamy.
The seasons ends with Lindsay ditching an academic event. Daniel, forced to join the AV club as punishment, bonds with geeks by playing Dungeons & Dragons.
This show does such a great job of capturing the high school experience through both Lindsay and Sam. The series also balances children and parents. Both have valid concerns, but it's difficult to bridge the gap between them. It's one of the few shows that I wish got at least another season.
In a 2012 interview Paul Feig described the characters' futures: Lindsay would become a human rights lawyer after following the Grateful Dead, Sam joined the drama club, Neal joined a swing choir in school, Bill became a jock after joining the basketball team which led to tension with the geeks, Daniel went to jail, Kim become pregnant on tour while following the Grateful Dead, and Nick was pressured by his strict father to join the Army.
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