Freaks and Geeks is one of the few TeeVee shows with a predominately child and adolescent that ever had much appeal to me. Part of the appeal was that the program was masterfully written and directed, and another part is that the acting was really very good. It ran only for one season, 1999 through 2000, and even then not all of the 18 taped episodes were aired. It was an NBC show and was the precursor for later, more successful shows like That ’70s Show.
Even though it aired in 1999 and 2000, it was set in 1980 in a made up suburb of Detroit. The production team did a really good job with getting the period right, in particular the cars that were often used as unifying devices in several episodes. I have to tell you a personal reason that I immediately liked the show. As a really big admirer of SCTV, the fact that Joe Flaherty was cast as the father of the protagonist made me watch faithfully.