The review as originally done March 1st, 2006.
I'm not sure if I was a freak or a geek at school - I think if you had to catgorize me, I guess I'd be closer to a freak (nowadays I guess I'm closer to a geek and nowadays I'm just proud to be who I am), this show set in a Michigan high school in 1980 as 18 (only 18!!!) episodes of perfection, well wrote, directed and cast (the young cast could actually pass for students- was Beverly Hills 90210 like that or even Dawson's Creek!)-
Linda Cardellini (now ER or not since that show ended in 2009) is plays the lead role of Lindsay - ex geek, wannabe freek, a wonderful anchor to the show - but list the rest of the cast: Martin Starr, Samm Levine, Seth Rogen (long before unlikely a-list beckoned) James Franco (Harry Osborne in the Spider-Man movies), John Francis Daley and Becky Anne Baker as well as frequent actors Natasha Melnick, Joanne Garcia, David Gruber, Steve Bannos, Sarah Hagan and Tom Wilson- are all remarkable, arguably there as never been a television cast so suited to their roles. I missed three names off then - because I believe there the performers that deserve extra recogniation: Joe Flaherty as Mr. Weir, so wonderful in anything he does (I have called this man god on more then one occasion) , Jason Segel - it's hard to explain just how good he is as Nick and possibly my favourite cast member: Busy Phillips as Kim Kelly, unbelievablely excellent in the bitchy, sometimes uncaring (often times caring) role that is so fully rounded.
The quality of writing is excellent including scripts from creator Paul Feig, Judd Apatow and Mike White. And such an excellent choice of music, The Grateful Dead's Ripple as been on in my house constantly. Stand outs episodes include the final episode, Kim Kelly is My Friend, Beers and Weirs and let's just say all the others.
The commentaries on this set are amazing (29 for 18 episodes) including cast members who went onto ER and Dawson's Creek (two big shows) shows how much love there is from the people who worked on this show (R1 only).
No comments:
Post a Comment