Freaks and Geeks was one of those great shows that was canceled well before its time. After running just a single season, NBC broke our hearts by canceling the show – and teen high school comedy-dramas were never the same again. You might not be familiar with Freaks and Geeks, but you’ll definitely be familiar with some of the stars who made their names not long after appearing in it.
Seth Rogen, Jason Segel, James Franco, and Busy Philipps are just some of the actors in the show who have gone on to have highly successful careers. Furthermore, Judd Apatow worked on the show as a writer and producer. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and we are confident that anyone looking back will understand how great this show really was. Here are some awesome things you always wanted to know about Freaks and Geeks but never did.
The crew had to make the set look drab
The show is meant to be set in Detroit, but was, of course, filmed on set in California. So, the crew had to be very careful not to make the scenes look too polished and sleek. In order to achieve this, and make the sets look more drab and realistic, the crew avoided shooting outdoors. They also used lights with a lot of green and grey tint in order to make sure they achieved the right tones and colors. We love this authenticity and feel it works incredibly well with the makeup of the show.
Most of the budget was spent on songs!
Incredibly, the majority of the show’s modest budget actually went on the music that was used. Over the 18 episodes, there were more than 120 songs used, including the opening theme song. This was necessary for the cultural fabric of the show, but it didn’t come cheap. Indeed, the costs involved actually resulted in a delayed DVD release, and, when Fox picked up the show for reruns, they dropped most of the music to save costs.
Judd Apatow almost didn’t work on the show
Freaks and Geeks helped launch the careers of several cast members, as well as being an early job for writer-director Judd Apatow. You know him best these days as the writer and director of movies like Knocked Up and The 40-Year-Old Virgin. But, back in the late 1990s, Apatow was a writer, producer, and director on the show. He almost never made it onto the show though, and only took a job on Freaks and Geeks because Fox passed on his pilot Sick in the Head.
Its creator was originally an actor
Paul Feig, the creator of the show, is also well-known to audiences as the director of Bridesmaids, as well as the Ghostbusters remake. However, you might not be aware that Feig actually began his career as an actor. Indeed, he had roles in the Dirty Dancing TV show and played biology teacher Mr. Pool in Sabrina the Teenage Witch. He has also made uncredited cameos in some of the movies he’s made.
Freaks and Geeks continues to be a seminal TV show and one that has influenced a great deal of actors and writers. The show was highly underrated upon its initial release, and this might be one of the reasons why it was canceled, but we look back now and find that the show is one of the best and most influential ever. These are some of the cool things you probably never knew about Freaks and Geeks.
