DreamWorks TelevisionFreaks and Geeks, the little show that launched so many careers and is revered by countless, is 15 years old today. The 18-episode NBC series premiered on September 25, 1999.
Hailing from Paul Feig, the man who would later give us Bridesmaids, the show starred Linda Cardellini, James Franco, Seth Rogen, Busy Philipps, Martin Starr, Samm Levine, John Francis Daley, Jason Segel, Becky Ann Baker and Joe Flaherty. Yes, Freaks and Geeks gave us the first tastes of all your favorite movie stars. The show launched a bevy of careers and even paved the way for…Veronica Mars.
VMars creator Rob Thomas cites the series—and its subsequent cancellation—as a large-driving force in how his cult-hit series came to be.
"That show just wipes me out. There are many things about that particular show," Thomas told E! News. "For one thing, I was exactly that age. I think the show opens in 1979 and the younger kids are freshman in high school in 1979 and so that is my time. All the music in that show was right on for me."
Fifteen years after the show premiered, Thomas can still cite specific moments, including characters having conversations about the song "Is She Really Going Out With Him" and Franco's Daniel playing Dungeons and Dragons with Sam and the "geeks," that really spoke to him. "If you want to see me weep, just play the finale of that show. There are such beautiful moments in that," he said. "There's the moment where Lindsay goes off on the Grateful Dead tour and gets out of her car—it will wipe me out…"
Thomas said he always wanted to write a teen show, feeling like Freaks and Geeks would be perfect for his strengths. "The thing about…the cancellation of that show is I felt like it was the death of small story television," he said. "When I wrote the Veronica Mars pilot, it was sort of a response to the cancellation to Freaks and Geeks. I felt if that show can't make it then no show doing small stories, slice of life…these stories where the characters grow by inches without sort of a big hook line, like a big logline that will pull you into the show. If that can't make it, I better do something else. And so, with Veronica Mars, I thought, 'I'll go with teenage private eye and try to sneak a heartbreaking teen show underneath,' like a Trojan Horse. I was thinking I'd just be able to go in there and say, "These are really interesting kids. You'll love them." ‘Cause that had not worked even when done so beautifully.
Nowadays when we think about cult-hit TV shows, like Veronica Mars, revivals come to mind, specifically reunions of the original cast. The Comeback is returning with new episodes, NBC is bringing back Heroes, Community is getting another life on Yahoo…could Freaks and Geeks be next?
"I don't know. I think it's better left in its precious time capsule. It was a really wonderful precious moment in our lives and it's 18 episodes that I think we are all really proud of. And they live on forever," Cardellini told E!'s Marc Malkin. "Back in the day things didn't live on forever. The idea that it's on DVD and people can see it over and over again and new generations can see it, I'm really excited about it. And I'll always be so proud and privileged to be a part of that."