Optic Nerve: Freaks and Geeks R.I.P. page 3

This Site Is Dead! Last updated some time in 2002. Here for archival purposes. This is where the action is.

Freaks and Geeks: R.I.P.

The show flirted with sterotypes - the tough bad girl, the sexy bad boy, the stoner, the brain, the dork, the cranky dad -- only to demolish type at every opportunity. "You never quite knew where you were going to go as a character," says Jason Segel, "but it was always going to be interesting." Indeed, the show's seasonal arc was less about developing a narrative, less a matter of gathering force toward a conclusion or cliffhanger, than of enlarging understanding: The arc was inward, you might say, and the series grew richer, and more serious, with each episode -- though it was at the same time extremely, if most often painfully, funny.

Fox Family has the rights to the show and could commission a second series. However, with each passing day that seems more and more unlikely. Most of the actors have gone on to do other shows, and they probably look a little too old for their characters now anyhow. So, the original 18 episodes are probably it. Thanks Paul Feig and Judd Apatow for creating this gem, and thanks Sam, Neal, Bill, Harris, Lindsay, Nick, Daniel, Ken and Kim for making me laugh harder than I thought I could at a TV show.

Sources and Resources

The starting place would be the official site at www.freaksandgeeks.com. This is run by Paul Feig, and I used some of the episode guides from there. Another good site is http://www.gbdesigns.com/freaksandgeeks/, I got some other episodes from there. The rest I wrote myself. Another fine site is http://haverchuck.org/--the home of Operation Haverchuck, but I didn't lift anything from there. Another great site is http://www.retroweb.com/freaksandgeeks.html.

If you can't catch it on tv you've got a couple of options. The entire series pops up on eBay every so often. The quality varies from VHS straight of the TV to supposed studio dubs without commercial. Also, rumor has it that Rhino Handmade is preparing to release the entire series on DVD if they could just get corporate schlockers Van Halen to release the rights to some background music.

Next page: Episode guides.

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by neil

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