At the time of writing, four episodes of this have aired. The fifth is likely to be airing in about an hour of this posting. It’s likely to presume that it’s halfway through its run…so is the Skins-meets-No Heroes-meets-something else actually any good? Let’s have a butcher’s at the first four episodes which feature a group of young people during community service end up getting strange powers…

On the strength of the first four episodes…not really. It’s not that good. It’s not awful, and there’s some stuff that could work but generally it feels like half a show that doesn’t quite know what it wants to be. E.g. it wants to be Skins in that it wants to have character-centric episodes yet be a mystery at the same time. It wants to be some adverse kind of British Heroes where there’s people with abilities that you probably won’t get in the world of Hiro Nakamura and Peter Petrelli. But there’s a weak ongoing story involving killing someone and hiding the bodies that really doesn’t go with the central idea of the show. Ish.

Kelly. The telepathic Chav.

There’s a mysterious storm that gives five (well four, the fifth doesn’t seem to have one) people mysterious powers. There’s a slut who has the power to make every man who touches her get into lust with her (groan). There’s a telepathic Chav (which sounds good on paper and still has potential but seems a bit iffy at the moment). A strange creepy stalkerish guy who can become video when no-one’s watching him and a hot prospect in athletics who got caught with cocaine once can jump a few seconds back in time at THE. CONVIENENT. MOMENT.  There’s also an annoying knob (Nathan) who doesn’t have a power but ends up being the funniest character who is trying to find his power.

The second episode goes into the Skins character-centric mode, but whilst Skins made this formula apparent and focused on its best character this doesn’t get it quite right. It’s funny and reveals a lot about the Knob Nathan but it doesn’t feel right. The third episode attempts to be an Alisha (slut) episode which ends up being overrun by the over-arching story of them killing their social worker. It’s uneven, it doesn’t like it knows how to pace itself and there’s one other thing…

The whole powers-concept seems quite lacking in other areas. They don’t seem to be that focused on the plot or used that much and when they are…they just seem secondary in places. The powers aren’t that useful anyway…it just feels like half an idea that hasn’t been figured out properly. The evidence of this is clearly shown in the fourth episode which has Curtis go back to when he was caught with the drugs and is a bit of a ‘flashback’ episode. Now it’s a normal functional character-accepting-powers episode, but it has the biggest plot-hole in that future Curtis should not have been able to go back in time. But hey, when the consequence is an ex-girlfriend is not an ex…you can see where the writers want to aim things.

The teaser for episode five looks like it’ll be interesting – but there does need to be an extra shot in the arm for this show. Seriously.

I know! You know! That I’m not telling the truth…
I know! You know! That you don’t have any proof.

And thus possibly one of the biggest undiscovered gems of theme tunes begin…as well as a hidden gem of a television programme. Psych is the brain child of Steve Franks, and consists of maverick genius Shawn Spencer who has an amazing ability to notice small details and intense powers of deduction. However, his constant tip-offs make him a suspect and it leads to him pretending to be a psychic. He drags his life-time friend Gus into the scam and ends up creating a private detective agency as a fake psychic.

James Roday stars as Shawn Spencer

It’s a genuinely entertaining lightweight show that isn’t bogged down by dark melodramatic backstories that explain the main character’s eccentricities (ala Monk) but is just completely fun and enjoyable. It’s one of the few shows on TV that could actually boast that it’s being completely feel-good tv. It’s full of excellent dialogue that’s performed excellently be it’s main cast. James Roday is brilliant as the slack-yet-gifted Shawn who revels in the chance to make a scene or just ‘let loose’. Dule Hill is great as the more serious, tight-lipped Gus as they solve cases of murder, kidnap and other strange cases. In fact the bromance between Gus and Shawn is incredibly entertaining. They’re loyal, but bicker like brothers and it’s just dynamite to watch on screen.

They’re supported by a great supporting cast, Timothy Omundson plays a great straight comic foil in the form of Lassiter, and Maggie Lawson is stunning as Juliet O’hara – the objective of Shawn’s affections. Corbin Bernsen rounds things off as Shawn’s dad – and it’s usually flashbacks of him and a much younger Shawn that kick off themes or plot points in episodes. You get a sense of the kind of dad Henry was, and why Shawn is the way he is – and the relationship between the two of them is just as watchable as the Shawn/Gus rapport.

So what of the actual stories? They’re all self-contained one-offs, with no over-arching stories running. They’re quite entertaining with some funny and weird ideas getting the characters in situations that milk for the comedic effect. From a comic convention in which Shawn manages to convince George Takei that he and Gus are his assistants to alleged alien abductions that end up in a speed dating conspiracy. There’s always a comic slant on everything and it never takes itself too seriously.

For that, Psych needs to be applauded.

And with this, I need to leave you with the following words: READ IT!

You see a TV show set in High School, and you’ll be forgiven to think that its core audience is people who are actually in high school. But what if the show is set in the early eighties, twenty years before the current generation? Could it actually be possible for a show to actually be aimed towards adults?

Well, with Freaks and Geeks, there might just be one. Its core focus is the struggles and life of the outcasts of social society in the early eighties with kids who actually feel like High School students. Now it might be a locality thing (since I’m from Ol’ Blighty) but there’s a certain limit of shows about teenagers with rich parents doing several things at once in which the latest new show ends up coming across as completely unoriginal. This is what happened with 90210 – where it feels like The OC and Gossip Girl has done it all before. Even the original Beverley Hills predated it. My So-Called Life apparently is slightly more realistic but I’ve yet to watch that yet. Freaks and Geeks seems to paint a more realistic picture of high school that I’ve only really seen briefly in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Veronica Mars before you deduct the genre quota of those shows. What’s interesting is that this was the 1999-2000 season before 90210 and its ilk, but running the same time as Dawson’s Creek and Popular. Though the former was a huge showcase of contrived bad acting and melodramatic unrealism the latter was a tongue-in-cheek jab at teen shows; watching this now after the modern wave just feels like a breath of fresh air.

There are no rich parents, no major dance or events the kids have to organise, no flights of fancy or anything of that ilk, it’s just kids and problems. There are no strong serialised stories that run through the series, mainly weak characters living through weekly A and B stories which focus on the brother/sister team of Lindsey and Sam Weir. Lindsey (Linda Cardellini, ER and Scooby Doo) is a 17-year old girl former Mathlete who decides to hang around with ‘freaks’ Daniel (James Franco, Spider-Man and Pineapple Express), Kim (Busy Phillips) and Nick (Jason Siegel, How I Met Your Mother). While 14-year old Sam (John Francis Daley, Waiting and Bones) has to deal with bullies and being picked last for sports with his friends Neil (Sam Levinne) and Bill Havershuck (Martin Starr). Other characters include the Weir parents and some teachers who do try and steal the screen time, and would succeed if it wasn’t for younger cast.

The two main characters end up central for the two plots that are linked thematically in each episode and sometimes converge, but never fully follow on to the next episode except for some occasions. The episodes don’t have any major messages or morals that run at the end, and there is a (thankful) lack of overblown melodrama and maturity in the story telling which further acts as evidence that it’s not fully aimed towards teenagers. But amongst all the realistic and down-to-earth characters that litter the show, it just feels easier to relate to what’s going on instead of ridiculous high-lifers.

In terms of episodes, there are no real stand-outs because they all stand out. There are no real clunkers of ideas (mainly because there are only eighteen episodes) and episodes all feel strong and relate to the characters. The geeks usually steal the episodes though, with some highlights being Sam and co’s struggles against showering after gym and being picked last for baseball. There’s usually always something brilliant in every episode.

No. The real stand out here which brings out the iconic status the show has is the characters. Sam has been noted in some American magazine as being the idea TV son, but the stand-out for the geeks is Bill. The lanky stereotypical geek is immediately lovable, gets sympathy instantly and as the series unfolds and you start to get to know him and it’s just easy to get involved with the characters. The episode where he finds his gym teacher is dating his mother is probably the highlight, managing to get a tragic yet funny character to life even more. Of the freaks Daniel’s rebel-without-a-path strikes out, mainly because you can tell that James Franco is just having fun with what he gets to do at times. Where it’s manipulating adults, attempting to be a rocker; his character is another iconic image you won’t get to shake.

By the time you get to the end of series – you realise that you’ve gotten to know these characters, and then it hits you that there’s nothing left. With many shows you get a tinge of sadness – but with characters as fleshed out and likable as this – you are suddenly losing several friends. Maybe the show is regarded the way it is over the pond because of its short run and the show never got a chance to get stale. But you can’t help but wonder to see how Lindsey and Sam and their friends would develop, and how they would finish high school. Then again, would the show have lost something if the freaks graduated and got jobs while Lindsey went to college? We would never know…

It’s fun to see some actors and actresses that have moved on to other things nearly nine/ten years ago though. Shia Labeouf appears as a mascot, Ben Stiller a secret service agent, Lizzy Caplan as a disco dancer, Samaire Armstrong as a Grateful Dead fan, Privileged’s Joanna Garcia as a cheerleader as well as the main cast. Daley is now in Bones; Cardellini in ER, Seth Rogan goes from being Seth Rogan to being Seth Rogan later on and Jason Siegel in How I Met Your Mother.

It hasn’t got a Region 2 release (yet) but it’s something that should be experienced. If you ever get the chance to watch this, do it. You’ll not be disappointed.

Also posted on: ArticlesBase.com – Why You Need To Watch “Freaks and Geeks”