Home TV News ‘Freaks and Geeks’ Boxset Comes To All4 This Friday

‘Freaks and Geeks’ Boxset Comes To All4 This Friday

by Dave Elliott

‘Freaks and Geeks’ Boxset Comes To All4 This Friday (copyright Paramount Pictures)

All4 is inviting you to get your freak… and geek… on, as they announced the entire run of beloved cult US comedy/drama ‘Freaks and Geeks’ lands this Friday (15th November 2019) on the streaming service.

‘Freaks and Geeks’ is described as the universal experience of teenhood as lived by the freaks and geeks in a Michigan high school, circa 1980. The story follows brother and sister Lindsay and Sam Weir during the 80/81 class of William McKinley High School in Chippewa, Michigan. Lindsay’s friends are the titular “freaks” whilst little brother Sam’s friends are the “geeks”. The show looks at the everyday fears, humiliations and triumphs of adolescent’s past, present and futures.

The series had a cast and crew which a US network would kill for today. Behind the camera, the series was created by Paul Feig (‘Bridesmaids’, ‘Arrested Development’, ‘The Office US’) and exec produced by Emmy-winner Judd Apatow (‘Crashing’, ‘The 40-Year-Old Virgin’, ‘Knocked Up’).

On-screen you had a lead cast including Linda Cardellini (‘ER’, ‘Dead to Me’), John Francis Daley (‘Bones’), Seth Rogen (‘Knocked Up’, ‘Pineapple Express’), James Franco (‘127 Hours’, ‘Spiderman’ trilogy) and Busy Phillips (‘Dawson’s Creek’, Cougar Town’). Not to mention the guest stars which included Matt Czuchry (‘Gilmore Girls’, ‘The Resident’), Jason Schwartzman (‘Bored to Death’, ‘Saving Mr. Banks’), Shia LaBeouf (‘Transformers’ movies), Rashida Jones (‘The Office US’, ‘The Social Network’) and Alexandra Breckenridge (‘American Horror Story’).

The original series ran on NBC back in 1999. Although 18 episodes were made, only 12 were aired before the network decided to cancel the show. Despite this, the series grew a cult following and launched the careers of many of its stars. The remain episodes were eventually aired after a fan campaign to the network.

The show was one of those that was clearly ahead of its time but mistreated by the network, with erratic timeslots, and being placed up against other ratings juggernauts such as ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire’. Even with the series run being cut short, it went on to get three Emmy nominations and two Television Critics Association nominations, along with appearing in Time magazine’s “100 Greatest Shows of All Time” list, and frequently showing up in lists of series that were “cancelled too soon”.  Vanity Fair called it “One of the most beautiful and ambitious television series ever made”.

If you’ve never seen ‘Freaks and Geeks’, or just want to rewatch it, now you can, when the entire run lands on All4, Friday, 15th November 2019.

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