Freaks and Geeks

This show has been on my radar for awhile now.  In fact, I own it on DVD - and it even survived my apartment burning down.  Somehow I never watched it until last week, however.  ???

It's awesome.  

The show is set in the 1980-1981 school year at McKinley High School in a suburb of Detroit.  It focuses on two groups of students: the "Freaks" which is what they call the pot-smoking burnout types, and the "Geeks" or nerds.  Specifically within these groups, the protagonists are Lindsay and Sam Weir.  Lindsay, the older sister, used to be a "Mathlete" but has decided to explore new avenues, resulting in her hanging out with the Freaks for the year.  Sam, a freshman, is so little and cute that you feel sorry for him while also knowing that he's going to hit puberty momentarily and be completely fine.  The storylines are standard high school fare such as unrequited crushes, bullying, overbearing parents, unfaithful parents, parents dating teachers, wrecking parents' cars, extracurricular rock bands, drug experimentation, a hippie guidance counselor, the list goes on.  There are only 18 episodes - the show lasted just 1 season - but here are the reasons you should watch it.

• Judd Apatow executive produces.  If you like his kind of funny (Knocked Up, 40 Year Old Virgin, Pineapple Express, etc.), you'll like this show. 
• Linda Cardellini plays Lindsay Weir.  If you like her cute snarky smirkiness (ER), you'll like her in this.
• John Francis Daley plays Sam Weir.  He is SO CUTE I just want to put him in my backpack and walk around with him all day.  He's the perfect freshman, so cute and young and you just know everything is about to totally change for him.  Which is true.  He grew to 6' and has a regular gig on Bones now.
• James Franco plays Daniel Desario, the requisite heartbreaker pothead.  Messy hair and Cheshire grin, check. 
• Samm Levine plays Neil Schweiber, Sam's best friend, who is also tiny but was like 16 when this filmed and thus didn't get much bigger (5'4").  Neil is a confident, Jewish, ventriloquist of a guy. 
• Seth Rogen plays Ken Miller, with his standard smartass with a hidden heart of gold charm.  He falls for a tuba player in the school band, which is funny and sweet and weird.
• Jason Segel plays Nick Andopolis, a drum-playing dreamer with an Army man for a dad.  He's sweet and likable, in a different way from his How I Met Your Mother character, Marshall.
• Martin Starr plays Bill Haverchuck, a cringe-inducingly heartbreakingly sweet and gentle nerd, complete with goofy glasses and goofy teeth and a hot single mom who starts dating the gym teacher.
• Busy Phillips plays Kim Kelly, Daniel Desario's sometime girlfriend, a sort of complex tough girl.  This is the only thing I've ever seen her in, where I actually liked her.  So I mean that's an endorsement right there.

Why did I just list the cast and an executive producer above?  Because many of these people could carry their own show, but to see them in an ensemble like this at the beginning of most of their careers is a rare treat.  It's a really good show.  Highly recommend.

Availability: DVD and Streaming

Released: 1999

Reason added to my Netflix queue: unknown