Freaks and Geeks DVD?

[killafilm]

I'd just like to share that I'm a bit closer to this show having met Russ T. Alsobrook (the DP) earlier today.

[Stefen]

So, I watched this whole series again the last few days and I just gotta remind everyone how fantastic it is.

Even though there aren't many episodes, it really feels like a long time line. We learn so much about the characters during the small time we had with them.

I really want Apatow to do something like this again. Heart first. His movies have heart, but they're always comedy first, heart second. Freak And Geeks is the opposite and that's what makes it great.

Arrested Development bugged when it ended, but I had let it go. This? I still haven't let it go. It's like how my mom feels about Dukakis.

[squints]

I've heard nothing but great things about this and undeclared and we got the DVD box sets in at my video store months ago and I finally watched both series and you know what? I don't get it. It's (Freaks and Geeks) not that funny or clever or original for that matter. Its an OK show. I'll just put it this way: It's about as good as Okkervil River.

[Stefen]

Freaks and Geeks isn't a comedy. It's a coming of age series. It's got comedic elements but it's a drama through and through as far as I'm concerned. If you're looking for 40 YOV or Knocked Up, you're going to be disappointed.

It's just very genuine. It doesn't feel phony. It's a breath of fresh air and I think that's why it ultimately failed.

[modage]

It's about as good as Okkervil River.

that's true.

Its an OK show.

that's not.

[cine]

what the fuck is going on here?

the show was a COMEDY. it was consistently funny.

[Stefen]

stfu loser. you're a comedy.

It's definitely got comedic elements, but it's a coming of age drama to me. It's not like 40 Year Old Virgin or Knocked Up which are straight comedies with drama mixed in to make the audience give a shit about these comedy losers. It's drama first and comedy second. It's not laugh out loud funny.

[Bethie]

I'm only on episode six and I love it. So many good quotes. Seth Rogen has the best lines ever.


Freaks and Geeks- We can relate. marquee that.

[72teeth]

just finished this with my gf last week and were still in that post-geeks depression... god this was good...

and for whoever missed out on the limited edition "yearbook," i guess it's getting re-released!!! sweet!

[tpfkabi]

IGN are doing a ten question's thing with the cast of Freaks and Geeks...

Sam Levinne (Neil)
http://filmforce.ign.com/articles/513/513971p1.html

woah - check question 10 - i wonder if QT saw it and then cast him?

Anywho, I had seen no eps, but bought this after seeing Mac list it. I had read/heard about it a lot over the years and just decided to buy the whole thing during the DDD sale.

I'm up to ep 8 or so I think.

Favorite scene so far:

Cindy Sanders cuts the cheese (or does she)?*

and

Nick's drumming woes (the tryout, 29 pieces, etc).

*on the commentary they joke about showing longer takes of him testing the chair - is this anywhere on the DVD's as a bonus or easter egg?

[modage]

This is 2 years old but I just read it today.

SF Sketchfest: Freaks and Geeks Speak!
Source: Dead Frog Blog

Ian Lendler, our man in San Fran, gives his second report from the Sketchfest. Freaks and Geeks may not seem like a natural for Dead-Frog, but this is exactly the show I would have picked as well.

It's good to catch up with old friends. That, in effect, is what several hundred of us did at Cobb's Comedy Club in San Francisco over the weekend, when we attended a reunion of the cast for one of the greatest television shows ever made: Freaks And Geeks.

Again, with such an unbelievable line-up on offer during the San Fran Sketchfest, it's incumbent our Your Dead-Frog Correspondent (YDFC) to justify why he chose this event over, say, the wildly popular Match Game with Jimmy Pardo, Patton Oswalt, or the newest latest thing, Whitest Kids You Know. So why, out of all of these did YDFC choose Freaks And Geeks?

Well, you could argue that the Judd Apatow school of comedy (which is actually the James Brooks school of comedy...discuss...) now rules Hollywood. 40-yr-old Virgin and Knocked Up were easily the best comedies of the last few years.  And Freaks And Geeks, as creator Paul Feig remarked during the show, was the prototype of shows that have become gospel in the last few years. With it running story lines, mixture of comedy and drama, and large cast of characters that evolve from episode to episode, Freaks and Geeks could easily fit in alongside Lost, Sopranos, Mad Men, and The Wire.

You could argue all these things. But why bother? The reason YDFC went to this shows was that Freaks and Geeks kicked ass. And YDFC, like the hordes of fans that have driven the Freaks and geeks cult, wanted to glean any information that could shed light on how the show managed to kick so much ass.

But as moderator Patton Oswalt noted, we talk endlessly about the greatness of this show, but that's not why we were at Cobb's and that's not why anyone is reading this now. So let's get to the good stuff:

The participants in the show included creator Paul Feig, Linda Cardellini (Lindsay), an unrecognizably tall John Francis Daley (Sam), Samm Levine (Neal), a very possibly stoned Martin Starr (Haverchuck), Busy Phillips (Kim), David Allen (Mr. Rosso, who's character, due to legal reasons, was almost named Mr. Del Monte), and Steve Bannos (Mr. Kowchevski)

So what did we learn?

   * Paul Feig is the unluckiest man on earth. Anyone who has read his memoir, "Superstud", will know that the majority of the most embarrassing moments from the show (Sam's Parisian night-suit, Lindsay's car accident) were taken directly from Feig's life. But it was revealing to learn that every moment on the set when Feig was in charge managed to devolve into slapstick disaster. When Feig organized an on-set softball game, actor John Daley took a fly-ball directly to the face, delaying shooting. And Feig was directing the scene (in "We've Got Spirit") that sparked an actual brawl between James Franco and Busy Phillips. Though they're now good friends, Franco and Phillips notoriously hated each other during the shooting, a fact which the writers gleefully exploited to get more tension out of their scenes together.
   * Even better, we learned the direction that characters might have taken if their had been a second season. Paul Feig knew exactly what the first scene of the second season would have been: Lindsay at a Grateful Dead show on a stretcher having a bad acid trip.
   * The Geeks were going to go their separate ways: Haverchuck, under the guidance of Coach Fredericks (the thinking man's Mr. Woodcock) was going to turn into a jock. Sam was going to start to hang out with the popular kids. And Neal, well, Neal was going to stay a virgin for a loooong time.
   * But perhaps the best potential story-line was that Kim Kelly, under the increasing influence of Millie, Lindsay, and her experiences following the Dead, was going to a) try out for the school musical b) get cast and c) become the school's theater geek, much to the bemusement of all.

There was general gossip of the "wasn't it fun being on set together?" sort which is always fun to listen to but doesn't really read very well in print, so YDFC will spare you.

The floor was then thrown open to some surprisingly nut-job-free Q&A. The only fairly dull question being: "What are you guys doing now?" (Answer: That's what imdb is for. Stop wasting everyone's time. Although it must be noted that Feig's answer, "I've got a series of young-adult sci-fi novels coming out," took everyone by surprise.)

However, the answers (ER, Bones, the writers' strike, etc.) weren't as instructive as the fact that every one of those actors have gone on to totally decent careers. It's rare feat for a cast that included three 14-yr-olds and a bunch of 19-yr-olds to go on to bigger things (just ask Gary Coleman and Danny Bonaduce). And it provides some clue as to the show's enduring qualities.

Paul Feig, Judd Apatow, and Mike White set out to create a show in which teenagers were portrayed as they actually are— awkward, gawky, frustrated, and misunderstood. There were no snappy one-liners. No witty repartee. So was it any surprise that when they asked a cast of teenagers to just be themselves, that's exactly what they got?

------------------------------------------
A little more:

For what it's worth, I asked Apatow what remaining plans he had for a second season that didn't get used up by episodes like this and the Sam dates Cindy arc, and this is what he wrote:

    I wanted to write about Lindsay having a real drug problem. Bill's mom would marry the gym teacher and Bill would be forced by his step dad to play on the school basketball team. And I would have explored Neal's parents' divorce trial and his life as he lived with his mom and saw dad on Sundays.

If Paul Feig or any of the other writers are out there and want to share any other stories they hoped to do in year two, fire away. Clearly, though, there was lots of material still to be written about these characters. (Lindsay having a drug problem -- no doubt part of her time with the Dead -- would have set up an unexpected role reversal with the suddenly-clean Nick.) But do you think the show could have still been the show we all worshipped if it came back? And what would you have wanted to see in a second season? (As I mentioned last week, my big hope was for some scenario, any scenario, that put Bill and Kim Kelly in a room together for a few minutes, just to see what happened.)

[Pubrick]

did you look that up after seeing this imaginary summary of season 2 based on the stuff revealed at sketchfest?

[modage]

Yes, I did!