Rating: Summary: Awesome Show, Awesome DVD Review: This is a great show (except the hermaphrodite episode, that was kinda silly). Great DVD also, every episode has deleted scenses and multiple sets of commentary. It's a nice treat for those of you've that have never seen the show on tv.
Rating: Summary: Best Series Ever! Review: This was the best TV series ever! It was sad that Freaks and Geeks got canceled, but thanks to this DVD maybe an entire new audience can be found since NBC did not try to find them. The music, acting, and story line is awesome! A must buy!
Rating: Summary: Brings back memories of high school Review: Though I consider myself neither freak nor geek, this wonderful series brings back memories of my high school days in the early 1980's. From the clothes and fashion (even Sam's jumpsuit!), to the popular music, all these little things were lovingly recreated to vividly bring that era back to life.
The quality acting and well-written stories natually resulted in the development of interesting and complex characters. How did Lindsay Weir, one of the smartest students in school, get drawn to the freaks? How did her relationship with her friend Millie change because of it? Supporting character like Bill Haverchuk, and especially smart aleck freak Ken seemed to add depth to their character with each subsequent episode. Watching the stories unfold was pure joy.
Freaks and Geeks exuded a warmth and humanness sorely lacking from shows today. I've grown so sick of this tiresome sitcom storyline: a main character lies about something, tries in vain to cover it up, and in the end has everything blow up in his face. Sound familiar? You can see this theme over and over again in popular shows like Seinfeld, Frazier, and Friends. Freaks and Geeks surpasses all these shows with its recurrent themes of friendship, trust, betrayal, and (not) fitting in with the popular crowd. I am thankful that this series came out on DVD.
Rating: Summary: Very overrated! Review: Without recapping the entire series, let's just say that this box set is worth every penny if only for two episodes: "Chokin' and Tokin'" and "Tricks and Treats".
Watching Lindsay Weir get stoned and watching the geeks get beat-up for their Halloween candy are two of the best scenes in television comedy, ever. There are countless other moments throughout the series that have contributed to its soaring popularity, but it all boils down to superb casting, superb directing, superb writing, and some of the best, most underrated talent in Hollywood today.
Although the "main" characters are worthy of their praise, two lesser mentioned performances are those of Millie Kentner (Sarah Hagen) and Allan White (Chauncey Leopardi). As the goodie-two-shoes and the weasel-like school bully, they were the perfect foils for Lindsay (who always seemed to run into Millie when she was running from her moral conscience) and Haverchuk (who was once idolized by Allan in grade school as the king of sci-fi).
You can't cast any better than this.
The commentaries are cute, but I would prefer a little more technical information. The chatter on the commentaries usually
doesn't pertain to what's happening onscreen, but it's entertaining, nonetheless.
It's pretty much all been said. It's sad the show got cancelled, but at least it went off the air without jumping the shark. It may be the best single season of television ever produced, and for that we should be thankful.
Rating: Summary: It's about time! Review: Yes! F&G is finally coming out on DVD!For those of you who weren't lucky enough to watch F&G during its all-too-brief run, you'll soon have your chance to experience a true television gem on DVD. Freaks & Geeks ran sporadically on NBC during the 1999-2000 series, and then in reruns on the Fox (now ABC?) Family Channel. In short, it's the story of two siblings: Lindsay & Sam Weir, and their trials and tribulations as high school students in Michigan circa 1980. Lindsay is a junior and a former overachieving whiz-kid who undergoes a crisis of self after the death of her grandmother, and tries to find herself as a new member of a clique of underachieving stoners. Her brother Sam is a sensitive, nerdy guy trying to make his way through freshman year with a tight band of dorks and misfits. As I write this, I realize that a brief summary doesn't begin to do justice to this multi-layered show. It's hysterically funny, poignant, often painful, and never tries to have the neatly tied-up generic sitcom ending. The secondary characters are as well realized as Sam & Lindsay, and really make the show special (including SCTV's Joe Flaherty as the ambivalent Mr. Weir, Samm Levine as Neil, and Martin Starr as Bill Haverchuck). There are so many moments on the show that I personally identified with, and I can't imagine anyone who was subjected to the tortures of high school life that wouldn't be able to at times. (Though it helps if you lived through the early 80's or can connect with references to the Jerk, Dallas, Dungeons & Dragons, and/or Neil Peart of Rush...). I could keep on going about the show, but I'll let you find out the rest for yourself. Now, to the DVD... The standard edition of the DVD is described in some detail here, and includes the 6 episodes that never aired on NBC, as well as many extras. However, especially if you are a fan of F&G, you owe it to yourself to check out the limited Deluxe Edition that's available directly from the creators of the show at www.freaksandgeeks.com. Here's the description from the site: "In this Deluxe Edition, we put it all into an expanded 80-page foil-stamped and embossed yearbook presented in true Freaks and Geeks style loaded with photos and memorabilia from the show. The yearbook is filled with personalized notes, tons of photos, even photos of many of you, script pages, a quiz, a letter from Paul [Feig, creator of the show], a Q&A with me [Judd Apatow, exec. producer], details about every show, a letter from Mr. Rosso, poetry, rock and roll lyrics, reprints of articles about the show, and lots more. ·three live "table reads" of some of our best episodes ·a one-hour Q&A with Judd, Paul & the entire cast at the Museum of TV & Radio in LA shot a few days before we got cancelled ·tons more auditions, deleted scenes, promos and outtakes ·some of our favorite scenes in the raw footage from a single-camera perspective ·guidance counselor Jeff Rosso & Feedback live in concert ·the full original electronic press kit, filled with interviews with the cast and crew ·a script that was never shot ·a special music and photo gallery ·surprise Easter eggs ·even more behind the scenes footage edited by Jason Segal and Martin Starr ·and other things that are weird and hard to describe" It runs for the steep price of $120, but the way I figure it is, this is the only season of F&G you're going to get, so you may as well do it right! However, you won't go wrong with either version, so do yourself a favor and check it out.
Rating: Summary: The best show you've never seen... Review: You suck. You never watched Freaks and Geeks when it originaly aired 4 years ago on NBC. Perhaps you thought it was another Dawson's Creek teenage drama crap. Maybe you didn't watch it because you thought it was just for teenagers. Maybe you even tried to stay away from freaks and geeks in high school, so why the hell would you watch a show about them. Whatever the reason you didn't watch it, you should regret it. If you ever had an awkward moment in your high school life, ever tried so desperately to fit in, or worried about what everyone else though of you, you should check this show out. I hate to sound so subjective, but this show was truly one of the best that aired, and deserved much more than the 17 episodes it got. The show revolves around the Weir siblings in 1981. Sam is a geek. He's seen Star Wars over 20 times and idolizes Steve Martin. His friends Bill and Neil are also geeks, perhaps even bigger than himself. Lindsey desperately wants to fit in with her new friends, who are "freaks," but can not seem to her goody two shoes past behind her. This show is about as realistic of a show about high school life has ever been, and probably ever will be, never focusing on the unrealistic drama of the jocks and cheerleaders. Nor does it features actors playing kids half their age. Watching certain moments in the show you'll see yourself in every character. You'll find yourself cringing at certain times, sympathizing with the characters on the show. The fact that this show is set in the 1980's seems to have little to do with what the show is about. The characters and events could easily been moved to current day without sacrificing much. But with the show taking place 20 years ago we get too see a show featuring an Atari and other about disco, and that can't be all that bad... I guess.
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