Freaks & Geeks

With the huge explosion of all things Judd Apatow nowadays, I felt it was only right for me to try and check out his original television show, Freaks & Geeks.
The show was on NBC during the 1999-2000 television schedule, but unfortunately due to low viewership was canceled after only 12 episodes had aired. The show, however, did complete filming 18 episodes which are now available on DVD.

I have only watched three episodes so far, but I am pretty entertained.

The show is more of a dramedy, which is hard to believe coming from a guy like Apatow - but then again if you think 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up all had underlying messages, despite the outrageous comedy factor.

Anyway, Freaks & Geeks is about Lindsay Weir (Linda Cardellini) and her brother Sam (John Francis Daley).

From the pilot, we learn that Lindsay is starting to rebel after the death of her grandmother, whom she was really close. She was formally a mathlete, straight-A student, and best friends with Millie Kentner (Sarah Hagan), a very relgious girl.

She sort of veers from that path of life into trying to fit in with the "Freaks". These are the kids who would rather skip class, smoke and could care less about high school. The main "Freak" is Dan Desario (James Franco), whom it is obvious Lindsay has a bit of a thing for. He is followed by his two friends, Nick Andopolis (Jason Segel) and Ken Miller (Seth Rogen). A fourth "Freak", Kim Kelly (Busy Phillips), is Dan's on-and-off girlfriend, and gives Lindsay a bit of a hard time.

On the other side of things, Sam is a freshman in high school who is considered a "Geek". He hangs around with his two best friends, Neal Schweiber (Samm Levine) and Bill Haverchuck (Martin Starr). They are in between trying to figure out what is cool and not - and also trying to not get beaten up by Alan White (Chauncey Leopardi).

It's sort of amazing to see the amount of people getting their start in this show. Linda Cardellini now plays Sam Taggart on ER. James Franco has shot up the A-list movie star, especially with the role as Harry Osborne in Spiderman. Jason Segel, despite being part of the new Apatow Universe, is now a star on How I Met Your Mother. Seth Rogen is the king of the Apatow Universe now, and is bringing Martin Starr along with him in smaller roles. John Francis Daley now plays Dr. Lance Sweets on Bones. Samm Levine, however, is due to star in the new Quentin Tarantino movie.

Though I am only three episodes in, I am upset I didn't watch this show from the start. It's just another show that never truly got a chance in this day and age of neilson ratings. A lot of great shows have been canceled due to bad ratings, which usually comes from bad marketing.

Give this show a look if you happen to like the Apatow movies or any of the above people.

I am hoping to check out Apatow's second television try in Undeclared when I am finished. Another show that probably didn't get it's fair shake.

Alphabet Meme

I have been tagged by Nick at R2D2, who was tagged by Fletch at Blog Cabins.

This was actually much harder than I anticipated, as I had a difficult time coming up with really anything for 'Q', so I ended up selecting the one movie I know I have seen. There were also a few other letters that gave me some problems as well, but it was fun nonetheless.

Below is the rules that Fletch made up when he started this Meme with my selection to follow.

The Rules

1. Pick one film (your favorite film) to represent each letter of the alphabet.

2. The letter "A" and the word "The" do not count as the beginning of a film's title, unless the film is simply titled A or The, and I don't know of any films with those titles.

3. Return of the Jedi belongs under "R," not "S" as in Star Wars Episode IV: Return of the Jedi. This rule applies to all films in the original Star Wars trilogy; all that followed start with "S." Similarly, Raiders of the Lost Ark belongs under "R," not "I" as in Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. In other words, movies are stuck with the titles their owners gave them at the time of their theatrical release. Conversely, all films in the LOTR series belong under "L" and all films in the Chronicles of Narnia series belong under "C," as that's what those filmmakers called their films from the start. Use your better judgement to apply the above rule to any series/films not mentioned.

4. Films that start with a number are filed under the first letter of their number's word. 12 Monkeys would be filed under "T."

5. Link back to Blog Cabins in your post so that I can eventually type "alphabet meme" into Google and come up #1, then make a post where I declare that I am the King of Google.

6. If you're selected, you have to then select 5 more people.

Kano's Selections

Accepted

Back to the Future

Clue

Dazed & Confused

E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial

Flight of the Navigator

Galaxy Quest

Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle

Incredibles, The

Jurassic Park

Knocked Up

Life As A House

Miracle

Newsies

Office Space

Princess Bride

Quick & The Dead

Replacements

Star Wars

Toy Story

Unbreakable

Varsity Blues

Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory

X-Men

Young Frankenstein

Zodiac

I am officially tagging:

Aimee at The Refutation Process

Danielle at My Little Monkey

and my wife at Kano's Kogitation II (if she wants)

Top 10: Television Theme Songs

I got to thinking the other day - there aren't too many television theme songs nowadays with actual words.

Remember back in the day, television shows like Cheers, Charles In Charge, Happy Days, etc.? You could instantly think of that show thanks to its theme song. Now it's true that classical theme songs do the same thing, but where is the fun in that.

So, I have compiled a top 10 list of theme songs with lyrics. I have tried to stay as modern as possible, so some older shows didn't make the cut. And of course, this is my list, so I obviously had to be watching these shows at some point.

Anyway, the first on this list is an honorable mention - because of the shows I am watching right now it's theme song is one of the few that truly matches to show perfectly - and as it's not that old I didn't think it warranted a spot in the actual Top 10 list - so I gave it an honorable mention.

Honorable Mention - The Big Bang Theory


10) Family Guy


9) That 70's Show


8) Baywatch


7) CSI Franchise




6) The Drew Carey Show


5) Dawson's Creek


4) Saved By the Bell


3) The Fresh Prince of Bel Air


2) Scrubs


1) Friends

There you have it. That's my list.

I have also been tagged by Nick at Random Ramblings of a Demented Doorknob to do an Alphabet Meme started by Fletch at Blog Cabins - I will try to have that for you tomorrow.

Quick Rant: ABC

If you remember, awhile ago I praised ABC for picking up one of my all-time favorite television shows, Scrubs, off of the scrap heap that NBC tossed it upon.

Well, as much as I appreciated that (and the awesome promo I saw a few days ago for the new season) ABC has now given me a reason to be upset with them.

Today, Brooke Smith who plays Dr. Erica Hahn on Grey's Anatomy was let go from the show. The only explanation was that ABC was no longer thrilled with having a lesbian storyline on the show, and Smith's character was abruptly removed to remove the storyline.

Also, Grey's Anatomy is introducing a new character on the show in the coming weeks played by Mary McDonnell, who was supposed to be a bisexual - is now no longer one.

This comes on the heals of Rebecca Romijn's departure from Ugly Betty because her character was a transgendered. Now I do not watch this particular show - but I read about it.

Are we returning to the dark ages?

I thought we had come so far in today's standards where homosexuals are now even getting married - but it isn't ok to have a relationship that is homosexual on television?

What is ABC going to do next? Write Matthew Rhys' Kevin walker on Brothers & Sisters into a straight man? What will happen to his husband, Scotty? One day Kevin will walk into his apartment to his wife Sophie - and nothing will ever be explained.

This is pretty sad, and as much as I am not really into the guy-on-guy kissing that happens each week on Brothers & Sisters I am happy that it's there.

I am not gay, nor do I think anyone in my family is gay. But, I am a supporter of equal rights. And from what I had seen happening on ABC, I believed that they were fully supporting it as well.

Hell, Isaiah Washington was fired due to his ignorance on homosexuality and fellow c0-star T.R. Knight. Does anyone remember this? ABC?

I was never a true fan of Hahn's character, but at least this season she was somewhat interesting. And with both her and Callie experimenting and freaking out about this undisovered journey they were about to go on - it made for good television.

ABC just totally screwed up. And I hope someone calls them on it.

Catching Up

It's no secret - I am addicted to television.

So, it should come as no surprise that when I leave for an extended period of time, my DVR is working overtime.

I had mentioned this before - but upon our return we missed a pair of our would-be recorded shows as the DVR became too full.

It also should be said, that despite my wife and I enjoying numerous shows together, that my collection of shows that I must watch is on a much higher scale.

So, over the past week I have tried desperately to put a major dent into my recorded television shows. Keep in mind that while I am watching - the DVR keeps recording.

But, I am happy to say that around 5 or 6 p.m. on Saturday that I have indeed caught up on each and every television show that I watch all by my lonesome. There are still a handful remaining that my wife and I watch together, but I think they should also be tackled within the next few days.

I did, however, luck out that a few of my favorite shows were curbed last week thanks to the World Series - so I didn't have to watch those as well.

All-in-all a pretty daunting task that took some free time to accomplish - and thankfully this weekend we had some free time.

That being said, I wasn't able to totally jump into Guitar Hero: World Tour the way I wanted to - I am still wanting to read the booklet that comes with the game. It is pretty in depth, and I know there is a lot more inside the game than I have actually done. I am just looking forward to an all-out jam with a four-person band. Hopefully we can do that soon.