This blog will bring you recommendations based on personal choice and old time favorites. So do not expect only new material cause classics are the shit!
This particular TV series is a favorite of mine. Although it only lasted one season due to unforeseen circumstances such as stuck-up, narrow-minded network execs, it was and IS a true gem. It tackles high school with rigorous authenticity and snappy humor. This was a first for its time. Creator Paul Feig (Spy, Ghostbusters 2016) and producer Judd Apatow (Pineapple Express, Superbad, Anchorman) decided to tell a story about the true struggles of surviving high school.
Set in the early 80s, the series follows a brother (Sam) and sister (Lindsay) going through the existential, dramatic escapade of teenage evolution. Straight-A student and mathlete Lindsay decides to rebel and join the slackers of the school called ‘freaks’. Her younger brother Sam tries to find his cool, while being labeled a ‘geek’. It is a precious experience watching all characters striving for happiness and fighting their everyday battles. To achieve absolute authenticity, creator Feig questioned the show’s writers on their best and worst high school experiences, which ended up on screen.
That’s where most of our stories came from. Weirder stuff happens to people in real life than it does on TV. It was a personal show for me and I wanted it to be personal for everybody else.
Paul Feig
It took a nationwide casting search to find the right actors. This was a first job (or better said a first good job) for a lot of them. And all of them have achieved success in the movie industry with acting, writing and directing (James Franco, Seth Rogen, Jason Segel). Actually instead of doing homework and studying for his GED tests, Seth Rogen used filming breaks to write Superbad.
The unmannered way of playing these kids gives the specific and quirky element of flair to Freaks and Geeks. My personal favorite (I cannot NOT mention him) is Bill, played by Martin Starr (Silicon Valley). With glasses thick as coke bottle bottom and awkward, uncoordinated gestures he melts my heart every time. Especially when showing his friends how to be a sexy dancer.
The style of the show is just spot on. Apatow and Feig insisted on a specific basic aesthetic. Most of the series budget was spent on music, which includes Van Halen, Kiss, The Who – to name a few.
You know those Sex Pistols? They spit on their audience… Yep, that’s what I want to do. Spend my hard-earned money to be spit on. Now that’s entertainment.
Mr. Weir [Lindsay’s father]
I guess the cultural battles of different generations remain a constant with all other wonderful occurrences – while being a teenager – such as first sexual experience, regular humiliation at high school and endless attempts to fit in. So which one is your team – the nerds or the burnouts?
