Freaks and Geeks

Our Review

Eighteen episodes that launched a hundred careers and defined the high-school show: Paul Feig’s Michigan 1980 — the burnouts (the freaks) and the AV-club outcasts (the geeks) navigating the social geography of William McKinley High. The cast is absurd in retrospect: James Franco, Seth Rogen, Jason Segel, Busy Philipps, Linda Cardellini, John Francis Daley, Martin Starr — the Brat Pack of the Apatow era — all at the start, all already great.

It’s the rare show that takes teenagers seriously without flattering them: Lindsay Weir (Cardellini, luminous) — a mathlete drifting toward the burnouts after her grandmother’s death — gets the show’s best arc, while her little brother Sam’s geek triumvirate suffers the authentic indignities of freshman year. The Disco and Dragons finale — Lindsay joining Daniel in a D&D game instead of attending the academic summit — is one of TV’s perfect endings, aired as a burn-off after cancellation. Every teen show since owes it rent.

Verdict: Watch it. The geeks inherited the earth.