Joan Jett may not give a damn about her reputation but the cast of Freaks and Geeks better fully realize that of the short-lived cult series. And by and large, they do. Really, how can anyone deny the impact that the Paul Feig-created and Judd Apatow-produced dramedy had on the careers of Linda Cardellini, James Franco, Seth Rogen, Jason Segel, John Francis Daley, Samm Levine, Martin Starr, and Busy Phillipps? Yeah, it was that stacked of a cast before we even knew it.
One who continues to be reminded of just how impactful Freaks and Geeks was is Seth Rogen, who played “freak” stoner Ken. As he told Entertainment Tonight, “I still am good friends with a lot of the people that were on the show. People kept watching it — I meet teenagers all the time who come up to me and say they love the show.” You can count myself among this ever-growing legion of fans of the cult show, having caught it when it first aired in 1999. Unfortunately – but probably justly, lest Freaks and Geeks burn out – the show only lasted one season. (MTV actually tried picking up the show after its cancellation but Apatow turned down the offer over financial and creative reasons.)
Rogen – who would soon enough write a handful of episodes of spiritual follow-up Undeclared – also remembered an especially ironic tidbit about his time on Freaks and Geeks. “That is crazy. I was 16, 17 years old when we were making that show. I dropped out of high school to go pretend to be in high school.”
Considering we are in the era of rebooting for nostalgic reasons, it’s sort of surprising in a way that Freaks and Geeks hasn’t made the leap – then again, with so many projects for the cast within the Apatow Cinematic Universe, it’s like there already have been several. And if you want something akin to Freaks and Geeks in small screen form, I highly recommend the college-set Undeclared, which lasted one episode less than Freaks and Geeks.
Are you a fan of Freaks and Geeks? What about the show do you think makes it continue to be a cult favorite? Give us your thoughts in the comments section below!
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