Onto Bigger Things

The Once Forgotten Cast of Freaks & Geeks Prevails

Seth Rogen is one of the funniest comedic actors on the scene. He started to make waves as a stockroom attendant with a brash style & raw sexual appetite in The 40-Year Old Virgin. Then, he showed up in another Judd Apatow flick as a sleezy but likeable stoner who parlays a one-night stand into unexpected fatherhood in Knocked Up. While you might remember Rogen from the brief show Undeclared, it was the hastily canceled NBC series Freaks & Geeks that actually launched his career, as well as the careers of many other rising stars.

Freaks & Geeks was a show based on the downtrodden tales of loserdom in a middle of nowhere town that so many can relate to. Its’ large cast of characters was diverse, dynamic and absolutely hilarious and it was celebrated with 13 Emmy nominations and one win for ‘outstanding casting in a comedic series’. If you read the list of actors in that cast you might see a few familiar ones: James Franco, Jason Segel, John Francis Daley, Linda Cardellini, and Busy Phillips being the most likely.

That familiarity exists because Franco turned his season on Freaks & Geeks into prominent roles in the Spiderman franchise, Tristan & Isolde and Annapolis. Segel is an essential member of the cast on the hit series How I Met Your Mother. John Frances Daley can be seen in episodes of Bones and movies including Waiting. Cardellini became a regular on ER- with 96 episodes under her belt and Busy Phillips went on to play “Audrey” in 46 episodes of the once-loved teen drama Dawson’s Creek. Writer/Creator Paul Feig has even gone on to direct episodes of Weeds and The Office and before Apatow broke into films, he too wrote for Freaks & Geeks.

So, why haven’t many people heard of the show that served as a stepping stool for their careers? Maybe the fact that it aired for a mere 18 episodes from 1999-2000 before getting the axe? Or it could have been that it went forgotten for years before finally being made available on DVD; only to see the retail price for the boxed set rise to nearly $70 due to the incredible (yet expensive) list of hit songs used in the show’s soundtrack.

Now all that is left is reflection and all I can do is continue to do the one thing that can keep such an incredible show alive: spread the word. Rent discs 1 & 2 from a video store or Netflix and put aside a day to dive-in. Try not to get discouraged when you’re still feeling the characters out after disc one either, they won’t start to show their and writer/creator Paul Feig’s brilliance until partially through disc two. Then prepare to be hooked and finish off the last four discs

obsessively, with the final episode feeling more bittersweet than a dark chocolate bar washed down with lime juice. You’ll want more...there isn’t any. Like me you'll just have to cherish the one season they gave us and enjoy the work these actors continue to produce today.

A final word- Bill Haverchuck’s performance as Martin Starr will make you forget Paul Pfieffer ever existed. If you've seen the show, what are your thoughts?