I think Higgins said it best when he said...

[winterbadger]

Oh
My
God!

My friends Christy and Kevin loaned me their copy of Freaks and Geeks, and I am totally in love! It is AWE SOME.

All of these characters are so achingly true it hurts. These are not stereotypes of American high school life, they are the real thing. The geeks--these are me and all the people I hung out with in HS--so awkward, so vulnerable, so smart, so clueless. The bullies, the jocks, the freaks... it is bringing back a lot of memories (aided by the fact that a metric ton of my HS friends have started showing up on Facebook...complete with middle-aged spread, loss of hair, different names, teenage children of their own to wonder at...)

And the MUSIC. Oh. My. GOD! This is *so* all the stuff that I remember. I have watched other shows, from Buffy to Smallville to Veronica Mars, and picked up hints and clues to the sounds that have made other peoples' lives evolve and mature, but this is probably the first time I can recall watching a show where *every* track that filters into the background is an old (old, old...) friend that spring, complete in rhyme and stanza to my lips as soon as the opening chord begins. And it's all music that I almost certainly still have, in those off round, flat black things stored in cardboard sleeves on my shelf, but it's also music I've not listened to in decades. DE.CA.DES, people. When the final scene opens and Styx's "Come Sail Away" is playing, I started singing, and I could see the awful thing that was going to happen. And when it did, I started laughing and laughing and grabbed my air guitar and SANG! (Poor Phineas, like the cat on the icon, didn't know what hit him--one minute he was lying quietly on my lap, and the next he seemed to have been dropped into the middle of a rock band!)

You know, it's astonishing how *happy* this makes me. Frued would probably have a lot of wise things to say about The Familiar and The Lost that would explain why being reminded of somethign I wasn't that happy about at the time makes me want to sing and shout. I'm not quite as smart as he was, so I'm going to have a bit of cheese, put the kettle on, and watch some more. :-)

ETA: Oh, and Linda Cardellinni, who I always totally crushed in in ER, only brunette, which of course makes her even more more cool. (And, yes, she's playing a teenager, but it's my memories of my 16-year-old self that's lusting after her, so, really, it's OK. :-)

Comments

[rolypolypony.livejournal.com]

I adore that show. The time period isn't as relevant to me, but the people and emotions - yup, been there. I miss that show! I can't believe I don't have it on dvd!

[justjayj.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean, but I found I couldn't watch Freaks and Geeks because it was TOO real. I remember BEING Lindsey, and when I started screaming at the characters, I had to stop.

Yeah...issues. O_o

[winterbadger]

That's the way I feel about The Office--way too real for me! :-)

[justjayj.livejournal.com]

Agreed on The Office. *shudder* I watched the first ep of the British version, and the only thing I laughed at was "stapler in jell[o]." Otherwise? Cringefest.

[redactrice.livejournal.com]

Oh man, "Come Sail Away" was my theme song of 11th grade. Hearing Styx perform it live at the Cleveland Coloseum was one of the highlights of my year.

Thanks for the memory. :-)

[winterbadger]

The music for the show is really superb. Not only has pretty much every piece been instantly recognisable, but several times I've found myself exclaiming at how perfect a selection they had made for that part of the plot.