Sniff. I keep telling myself it was an 18 hour mini series that was always meant to cover JUST a single year of high school.
Damn, that show was great. I can’t believe that is all I get. F&G made a good effort to wrap things up, but the fact that I don’t get to see the gang again is kind of sad.
Especially BILL!
One thing that stood out from everything else was the casting. That was the first time I ever wondered who was casting a TV show. Every choice, from the main cast to the extras and bit players was PERFECT.
Shame it didn’t go three more seasons. I would have liked to have seen the transition of Sam’s group into older students.
I really don’t think it could have gone beyond that.
Oh well. Soon I will watch all the episodes of Undeclared (due in August on DVD). I’ve seen half of them and look forward to the sadness of seeing it end as well.
Lets hope Judd Apatow makes a critically acclaimed, but low rated series about GRAD SCHOOL next and rips our hearts out after 18 episodes. 
Enjoyed both Undeclared and Freaks and Geeks, the latter a bit more.
I feel your sadness at the end of F&G. Wanted the story to continue as well.
When I returned from a study abroad in Argentina last summer, I had a week before I had to go back to work. I watched 3 episodes a day (1 DVD’s worth).
I agree that the casting was spectacular. I haven’t really seen anyone other than Busy Philips and Linda Cardilini in anything since then… unless you count Seth Rogen in Anchorman (where IMDB credits him as “Eager Cameraman”).
There were so many great Bill moments, especially
Getting drunk and watching Dallas when they switch the kegs
“You like patting boys’ butts! You’re a perv, and a loser.”
Well, James Franco also acquired those minor little credits to his name since… as Harry Osborn in “Spiderman” and “Spiderman 2”.
I don’t think I ever saw the wrap-up, but then I’m not sure that they ever aired ALL the episodes in my area. Maybe I’ll have to catch that DVD set some time. Great show!
The best Bill moment for me was:
When he is trying to convince Sam to tell Neil about seeing his father with another woman. He recalled the time he told them about trying to sneak out a fart in class and accidentally crapping his pants. Had to flush his underwear!
As for post-F&G careers, Rogen was also in Undeclared.
And the guy who played Daniel plays Harry Osborn in the Spiderman movies.
Only three episodes went unaired on NBC. But they were episodes that would have gone (sequentially) earlier in the year.
The last three episodes of the series aired in the summer after NBC had already cancelled the show. Hopefully, NBC did this to give a great show some finality.
It was probably tough to cancel.
I think the problem was the title. They should have just called it McKinley High or something tame.
I remember looking at Entertainment Weekly and thinking “Freaks and Geeks? That sounds stupid!”
I liked the title. If it was just called “McKinley High”, it never would have caught my attention in the first place, as “Freaks and Geeks” did.
As a fan of the show, I agree it was a perfect title. But I think a title like that really hurt the show’s ability to capture a broad audience.
Oh man I loved that show. It was simply brilliant. No preaching. No heart-to-heart with Dad at the end of the show going over the moral lesson just learned. Just an accurate representation of what high school is like. I pretty much hate everything on television but I loved F&G.
At least it didn’t go on for three more years with subsequent seasons filled with poorer and poorer writing, departing cast members, and the inevitable introduction of Lindsay and Sam’s adorable little cousin from the country in Season 5. I’m with watsonwil on this…I just think about it as a miniseries that was only meant to represent one year.
What do you think about the extras on the DVD? Is it worth the price?
I’m also a big fan of F&G, although I think it comes in a close second to My So Called Life in the pantheon of really excellent shows about high school. MSCL is 15% less whimsical and 5% better, I’d say.
Yep. Probably the biggest “love letter to the fans” DVD set of all time. At least for a TV show. Tons of extras, most prominently commentaries up the wazoo - 29 of them for 18 episodes, most of them quite good, featuring virtually every significant actor, parents of actors, fans, production staff, even network brass ( not to mention the constant presense of the creator and executive producer, both of whom are quite entertaining ).
I also just finished watching this show (go Netflix!). It was fantastic, and I agree with others that Bill was the most entertaining. I laughed aloud at his very last line.
“We always give my grandmother chocolates when we put her on the bus. We also pin her name and address to her sweater, since she gets lost.”
In the same scen “Mine didn’t cost anything.”