Freaks and Geeks, Undeclared and Firefly

Three of the best TV shows ever cancelled and for that very reason I will not be doing an episode by episode review of each series. Basically these three shows are the reason I decided to write this blog and the reason I’m going back over years of dead programming. Any blog or entertainment piece written about TV shows cancelled before their time includes an excerpt on at least one of these three, how amazing they were and how the studios fucked up by not giving them their fair shake. They each have a devoted cult following, so much about them has already been said so there isn’t much left. Buuuut it would be a disservice not to at least mention them and discuss a bit. So in chronological order according to original airdate:

Freaks and Geeks

Original Run: September 25, 1999 – July 8, 2000 NBC
Number of Episodes Produced: 18
Number of Episodes Aired: 12
Was It Awesome: As awesome as its cast was awkward and angsty.

Set during 1980-81, in fictional Chippewa, MI, a suburb of Detroit (back when white people lived anywhere near the Motor City) and centered around two siblings, Lindsay and Sam Weir (played by Linda Cardellini and John Francis Daley) , their cliques of friends (“freaks” and “geeks” respectively) and to some degree, their parents. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freaks_and_Geeks
Created by Paul Feig and produced by current Hollywood King Midas Judd Apatow, Freaks and Geeks enjoyed a brief run on NBC where absofuckinglutely no one watched it until word of mouth got around and by that time it was too late. The show was originally cancelled after 12 episodes. The few people who were actually watching the show caused a (tiny) uproar, which led to the studio airing 3 more episodes, which were still poorly viewed. So of course the show was shelved yet again with the final 3 episodes only being shown when the show aired in syndication on the Fox Family Network.

Undeclared

Original Run: September 25, 2001 – March 12, 2002 FOX
Number of Episodes Produces: 17
Number of Episodes Aired: 15
Was It Awesome: As awesome as zero parental supervision, cheap booze and girls with loose morals.

Created by Judd Apatow shortly on the heals of Freaks and Geeks cancellation, Undeclared centers on Steven Karp (Jay Baruchel) as he begins his matriculation at fictional UNEC University. Steven shares a suit with Lloyd Haythe (Charlie Hunnam) a British ladies man who often kicks Steven out so he can bone, Ron Garner (Seth Rogen) an import from Canada with a dry sense of humor and a love of the movie You’ve Got Mail, and Marshal Nesbit (Timm Sharp) of Sioux Falls, IO who’s passion is to be a musician but his parents have forced him to major in business. Living across the hall from the boys are Lizzie Exley (Carla Gallo) and Rachel Lindquist (Monica Keena). The on again off again romantic relationship between Steven and Lizzie provided much of driving force of the show especially the inclusion of Lizzie’s long-distance ex-boyfriend Eric (Jason Segel).
A brief note on both Apatow shows: Part of what made both of these shows so well loved by critics and fans alike were their often heartbreakingly realistic depictions of life during high school and college years. Aaaaaaand for that very reason I think it tuned a lot of people out. People don’t watch TV shows to be reminded of those times we tried desperately to fit in with the cools kids only to have it revealed we were secretly a former Mathlete or how scary the first few nights of college were and that you had to force yourself not to cry. People want to escape and these shows, while at times hilarious were not escape.
Stray observations:
*Ep 1 of Undeclared - Steven having a bit of a cry in his room after his parents leave hit a little too close to home for me. The first day of my freshman year when I was left alone in my room I had a moment of pure terror where I thought I’d made the worst decision of my entire life……then my roommate showed up and we got plastered so crisis averted.
*Judd seems to love using the same cast over and over again. Watching anything the man touches is like seeing someone else’s reunion acted out. Hilariously of course.
*Jarrett Grode needs to get some Judd love. I thought he was hilarious as the completely deadpan Perry, the DJing freestyle white rapper on Undeclared.

Firefly

Original Run: September 20, 2002 – December 20, 2002 FOX
Number of Episodes Produced: 14
Number of Episodes Aired: 11 on FOX the rest in syndication on Sci Fi
Was It Awesome: Umm yeah….a whole fuck ton of awesome.

And this is where I nerdgasm. I love the creator of the show, Joss Whedon. I was a huge fan of both of his previous shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off Angel. So when it was announced he was creating a new show about space cowboys I got super excited and then did what just about everyone else in America did…..I didn’t watch it. Not one time did I watch this show during its original run and I have to admit I don’t feel bad about it. The show was given a shitty time slot on Friday nights so few people were home to see it while those who did were subject to FOX’s brilliant decision to air it painfully out of order. The intended first episode was deemed too dull by the network and wasn’t aired until 11 weeks later. A pilot was hastily reshot with the action ramped up but the plot and characters not at their best (to be fair any episode of Firefly is miles better then most shows on TV).
Whedon’s original idea of the show stemmed from his desire to see a post-Civil War type story told from the perspective of the losers rather then its winners which in and of itself is a hard sell. In crafting his tale he did however have the good graces to remove the whole wanting to keep people as slaves aspect of the Civil War far away from this sci-fi romanticization. What Whedon chose to focus on was how those people who had passionately fought for a losing cause, a cause they felt deeply for, could transition back into a world that was no longer their own.
Firefly followed the exploits of the crew of the Serenity a “Firefly-Class” spacecraft captained by former soldier and general malcontent Mal Reynolds (Nathan Fillion). See what I did there??? Mal and Malcontent…..yeah ok fuck you too. The show was essentially a sci-fi / western pastiche with more of its themes focusing on western and less the sci-fi.

Stray Observations:
*FOX is the fucking Devil when it comes to TV shows. They are quicker to pull the trigger on a TV then a drunk Texan. I shit you not most of the shows I end up reviewing here will end up being FOX shows.
*Much like Apatow, Whedon tends to recycle a lot of his actors. Almost immediately follow Firefly’s cancellation, Nate Fillion went on to do a story arch on the last season of Buffy while Adam Baldwin and and Gina Torres both did stints on Angel. Apparently if you’re going to be an actor on a cancelled show it pays to be associated with one of these dudes.
*Firefly’s cult standing is a bit staggering. It includes comic books, role playing games and even spawned a movie.
*I can’t believe I barely mentioned the movie. Um…it’s the shit. See it if you haven’t already.

In The Beginning

As many an American child I watched entirely too much television growing up. And as I grew into adulthood this pattern continued. To this day I still watch waaaaay too much TV and let’s be honest, most of it is crap. But if reality TV has taught us nothing it is that it’s not the quality of a TV show that matters to the studios, no no no. It’s the number of assholes who will plop themselves down in front of the television week in and week out and tune in for those 30 minutes to an hour. That’s what’s really important.All too often a small but devoted group of people will fall in love with a show only to have it cancelled after just one season or just a few episodes. Or plain and simple, they fucking suck. They were just terrible and needed to go. But what happens to these shows? Do they dry up like a raisin in the sun? Does one man devote his time and effort into finding them on the internet, watch them and then review them for your pleasure? Or maybe they just sag like a heavy load? Um…yeah its that second one.So here’s the deal. I’ll be reviewing shows that lasted no longer then one season. I’ll watch (sometimes in spite of my better judgment) every episode available and write up my unbiased (there will be bias) reviews. Perhaps I’ll unlock some gems time forgot. Maybe I’ll find actors early roles before they were stars. Or maybe, just maybe, I’ll watch so much shitty television that I won’t every want to watch TV again….lets find out.