Mockingbird at the Movies: Freaks and Geeks

We're all unhappy. That's the thing about life.
-- Lindsay Weir, “Freaks and Geeks”

Mockingbird has been doing more articles on TV series lately, which I think is great. My biggest loves personally are British TV series from the 70s and 80s, which produced some of the best storytelling I've ever seen: Upstairs, Downstairs; I, Claudius; The Charmer; Prime Suspect; Paradise Postponed; and so on.

But there's an American TV series that came out ten years ago that is especially close to my heart. It's Freaks and Geeks, and that's what this week's MATM is about.

F&G is a story about high school. It's a TRUE story. It captures exactly what high school felt like for so many of us -- losers, misfits, scavengers on the fringes -- whether we were Freaks (burnouts, hoods, druggies) or Geeks (I think we all know what that means).

It's true because it captures the central fact of unhappiness at the core of our daily life, paradoxically leavened with moments of geeky or freaky joy (e.g rolling dice in a midnight D&D game). It captures loneliness and aching to be loved and NOT being loved back. It captures the idiocy of teachers and principals and guidance counselors and every other aspect of the Man (including mom and dad).

It's also really funny. In the first episode we get introduced to the three geeks who along with the freaks are at the heart of every episode. One of these (Sam) is a tiny little guy who is wildly in love with a cheerleader. He is trying to convince himself and his two buddies that he'll be able to take her to the prom. His equally geeky buddy Neil tries to explain why this is NOT going to happen:

"The dance is tomorrow. She's a cheerleader. You've seen Star Wars 47 times. You do the math."

It's a great series also because it achieves something against great odds. The series aired originally on NBC -- not HBO or Showtime. And so one of its challenges was to get you to believe in burnouts and druggies who never used profanity (NBC wouldn't allow it). Strictly speaking this is an artistic error -- these characters should be cussing up a storm. And yet the story is so involving and the actors so good that we forget it.

Here are three clips that will give you some feel for the show -- or if you have already seen it, will give you a huge rush of nostalgia. (And I really am exercising restraint here -- I trimmed it down from 30 clips.)

First, the opening credits are just awesome (with a great Joan Jett song "Bad Reputation"):



Next is a scene called Carlos the Dwarf, where the lives of the D&D-playing geeks intersect fleetingly with one of the lead burnouts. It's a lovely moment of how grace and imputed coolness can play out -- in both directions -- in horizontal human relationships.


Finally, here is a long montage of the entire series. If you have a few minutes, watch it to the end. It's very touching, and captures some of the joy and a lot of the melancholy at the heart of the show.


Postscript -- F&G was produced by Judd Apatow, and it was where he first showcased people (Seth Rogen, Jason Segel, etc.) who went on to appear in movies you've seen like Knocked Up, Superbad, and Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Although the series was cancelled before the first year was up, it now appears on Time magazine's "100 Greatest Shows of All Time" list, and Entertainment Weekly ranked it the 13th-best series of the past 25 years.