Freaks and Geeks

[Acapelli]

and i found unaccompanied minors pretty enjoyable for a kids christmas film

[dreamdead]

We finished up this series and have moved onto Deadwood. There's a sense that the series finale throws way too many new ideas at the characters and leaves everything in an odd state of flux, with Nick proving not to be a match for Lindsay and Daniel being adopted by the geeks as a figurehead of what coolness could be, but there's also a strange sense of closure in that experiment as well. Surely such a move was done because Feig that they might get one more season and was laying out the plotlines for another season, but it works surprisingly well.

It's interesting that neither Lindsay nor Sam ends with a significant other in the series and that both nonetheless appear contented. It's a good signification about self-identity and authorship over needing a relationship to possess meaning. Of course, Sam still seems likely to go through a whole set of other relational issues, since so much of his identity is rooted in desiring a girlfriend. And yeah, Bill Haverchuck might be the coolest creation in the whole show... deadpan played right.

Good show.

[DavidSeven]

Watched the series for the very first time (via Netflix). Great stuff. Kind of sad I didn't make greater effort to see it when I was younger. Probably would have hit even harder a decade ago. I'm sure I'm repeating what's already been written millions of times, but this really is a rare show in that it found its footing immediately and basically didn't falter for the rest of its run. There isn't a bad episode in the bunch. I'm sad that I don't get to watch more of this, but at the same time, I feel these 18 episodes still make for a wholly satisfying experience on their own. It's sort of perfect as it is.

Pretty easy to see why Franco was the first to break out. Others in the cast were varying degrees of raw, but Franco came across as pretty damn polished for a new and young actor. The guy was in a league of his own among this cast. Really impressed with Starr, too. My primary experience with him was Party Down, so it was pretty shocking to see him pull this off. Cardellini was a great choice for the lead.

[Pop Trash]

My second favorite show of all time.

[Skitch]

I just started watching this show. Thumbs up here!

[Ezee E]

Cardellini needs a better agent. The work she's been offered since this show is hugely disappointing.

[Skitch]

Grandma's Boy was awesome!

[number8]

Pretty easy to see why Franco was the first to break out. Others in the cast were varying degrees of raw, but Franco came across as pretty damn polished for a new and young actor. The guy was in a league of his own among this cast. Really impressed with Starr, too. My primary experience with him was Party Down, so it was pretty shocking to see him pull this off. Cardellini was a great choice for the lead.

Interesting. I always thought Segel was the most full and convincing performance of the "freaks" and Franco was still in his "I'm just gonna act like James Dean" phase which carried him through the mid 2000s.

Starr is definitely fantastic in this. I find it boggling that he is now cast as the same thing over and over, but none of them are anything like this breakout role. His performance in the Go Kart City episode, to me, is the acting highlight of the entire series, even among the adult cast. My favorite scene of the whole series:

[youtube]cmCpmEQD0L4[/youtube]

[number8]

Let me also say that having this finally up on Netflix is an absolute treasure. The ability to just put on a random episode at any time without digging up the DVD and just watch several episodes in a row during a lazy day is such a gift.

[number8]

About Starr again... According to Paul Feig, most of the kids were cast because they had the right look and personality, and then the writers wrote to their strengths. Franco and Cardellini were exactly how Feig pictured the characters in his head, and he changed Nick's character when they cast Segel, but Starr was the only one who is playing a different type than who he is.

When Martin Starr came in, I knew it was him. That was another epiphany moment. And he was so funny, with that weird energy. That’s not who he really is, but he puts it on so well. Normally I don’t like people playing characters, but when they do it and they make it so real, you’re just like, “Cool.” I had no idea if that was what he was like or not. And then you get to know him later and you go, “Oh, that’s not exactly who he is. He’s much more together than that.”