Best in TV

[MartyFunkhouser]

So I'm about 2/3 of the way through Freaks and Geeks and loving it, though I will admit it took me a while to get into it. I think my problem was that it was billed as a top-notch comedy, and I was expecting something that was just over-the-top funny. A TV critic I like ranked it the best comedy of the decade over Arrested Development, and having seen AD and thinking it's pretty much the funniest show ever, I though Freaks and Geeks would be more in that outrageously hysterical vein, which it is not.

Of course there are moments that are painfully funny, but it succeeds as much with its heart as it does with its humor. Every episode has moments that are just incredibly touching and tender, but without feeling forced or contrived. When I pieced together the fact that it was more a coming-of-age tale than outright comedy, I really started loving it. This is from the episode I just watched:

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Awesome!

I'm now about 2/3 the way through the show. Just a fantastic TV show. You are right it isn't a straight up comedy and for pure comedy it cannot touch a show like Arrested Development, Get a Life the Office (UK), or Curb. That isn't to say there aren't just absolutely hilarious moments. The baseball scene were the geeks finally get their chance is absolutely hilarious. In fact, I loved that whole subplot with them prank calling the coach and the baseball games. I was laughing with all of those scenes.

It really is a great dramatic show with solid comedic elements mixed into it.

[Pheidippides]

You turned me onto Veronica Mars. I really liked the first two seasons. I may get my man card revoked for this but I thought Gilmore Girls should have been on this list. The dialogue on that show is sharp and witty. Alexis Bleidel and Lauren Graham nail their parts. I also have a huge celebrity crush on Lauren Graham. She's my number 1 seed.

I just started watching Veronica Mars on Neflix - how did I miss that show!? Only about 2/3rds of the way through S1, but it's awesome. Kristen Bell has some acting chops to go with those sizzling looks (yes, I know she's playing a teen in the show, but she as a person is older, so I'm allowed my lustful glances).

[Green Lantern]

I just started watching Veronica Mars on Neflix - how did I miss that show!? Only about 2/3rds of the way through S1, but it's awesome. Kristen Bell has some acting chops to go with those sizzling looks (yes, I know she's playing a teen in the show, but she as a person is older, so I'm allowed my lustful glances).

Great show. And once you're done it's fun to watch creator Rob Thomas' later show PARTY DOWN where he squeezes in appearances from just about everyone who was on VERONICA MARS.

[BoylenOver]

Veronica Mars is my most favorite show. The second and third seasons aren't as good as the first, but I still love them.

[statman]

I'd always ignored VM, but Netflix kept putting it on the top of my "Recommended For You" list. I started watching it on Saturday, and finished Season 1 last night. The first couple episodes were pretty 90201-ish, but by the end of season one, I was in.

Clever writing. Great plot twists. Great character development. Great avoidance of being sappy and completely predictable when they could have been. I liked it a whole lot...

[Parrot Head]

My wife and I are now 2/3 of the way through our annual summer tradition of watching all 3 seasons of Arrested Development. We've done that for about 3 years now and it just doesn't get old. In the past 10 days or so we've enjoyed such classics as Motherboy XXX, Girls with Low Self-Esteem and Gob and Franklin. Brilliant stuff.

[RobinFinderson]

I'd always ignored VM, but Netflix kept putting it on the top of my "Recommended For You" list. I started watching it on Saturday, and finished Season 1 last night. The first couple episodes were pretty 90201-ish, but by the end of season one, I was in.

Clever writing. Great plot twists. Great character development. Great avoidance of being sappy and completely predictable when they could have been. I liked it a whole lot...

I really liked the first season of Veronica Mars as well. It is kind of a shame (and I don't remember the details), but I think I remember the show jumping the shark pretty bad in season 3.

[MarkGrace]

Who wants a banger in the mouth? Oh, I forgot, in the state you call it a sausage in the mouth! Actually, we just call it a sausage.

[Green Lantern]

I really liked the first season of Veronica Mars as well. It is kind of a shame (and I don't remember the details), but I think I remember the show jumping the shark pretty bad in season 3.

Rest easy. It didn't.

[Green Lantern]

Who wants a banger in the mouth? Oh, I forgot, in the state you call it a sausage in the mouth! Actually, we just call it a sausage.

Oh Mrs. Featherbottom, you are incorrigible.

[Donuthole]

Bump.

Mrs. D and I are about 6 episodes in with Freaks and Geeks, and we're loving it. IFC has been airing the episodes, so I've been saving them up on the DVR, and just this weekend we sat down and watched a bunch. Funny stuff, but definitely not the type of funny I was expecting. And I'm not gonna lie; I have a crush on the younger Linda Cardellini. Aside from Scooby Doo, I can't recall seeing her in anything else.

[falafel]

Bump.

Mrs. D and I are about 6 episodes in with Freaks and Geeks, and we're loving it. IFC has been airing the episodes, so I've been saving them up on the DVR, and just this weekend we sat down and watched a bunch. Funny stuff, but definitely not the type of funny I was expecting. And I'm not gonna lie; I have a crush on the younger Linda Cardellini. Aside from Scooby Doo, I can't recall seeing her in anything else.

Apparently she was on ER for 6 seasons.

[Donuthole]

Apparently she was on ER for 6 seasons.

That would explain why I've never seen her.

[Green Lantern]

That would explain why I've never seen her.

Exactly. She also had a nice turn in the movie Brokeback Mountain.

[SteelBlue]

I hadn't seen an episode of Freaks and Geeks since the year it aired until IFC started showing the episodes. Really hard to believe that it got canceled before the first season even ended. The time frame for the show is around 1980 according to the pilot. I have to say that they absolutely nail that era as far as dress and grooming. I sometimes feel like I actually knew these kids in school it's so familiar. Another thing they really nail is P.E. from that era. It's like they actually came to my junior high (I was still a youngster in the early 80's) to do their research. The forced showers, the rope climbs and public humiliation that accompanied them for the kids who couldn't do it, and especially dodgeball with the jocks laying waste to the weak and the PE teacher laughing. I can't think of another show that nails that time period so well. Fast Times at Ridgemont High to some extent I suppose.


Side note: Is one of the geeks now Courtney Cox's son on Cougartown? I'm trying to figure out where else I've seen him. Also please don't think that I watch cougartown with any regularity.