Old School TV

Being a grad student immediately turned me into a night owl. So much so that I find it nearly impossible to fall asleep before 2 am these days, regardless of whether or not I actually have studying to do. Consequently, I've been using the restless wee hours of the night to catch up on one of the best shows of all time, "Freaks and Geeks." The show is set in the 80s in a middle class suburban high school and it focuses on Sam Weir (a geek) and his older sister Lindsay (who hangs out with the alternative hippie kids--a "freak") and how they navigate high school, their parents, and their friends. It is absolutely brilliant, hilarious, and awesome. Not to mention, it launched the careers of a ridiculous number of actors and actresses including James Franco, Seth Rogan, Linda Cardellini, and Jason Segel. The only problem is it was cancelled after the one and only season that it aired, in 1999. How does it happen that "A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila" and "The Surreal Life" (both about D-list has beens) manage to stay on TV for multiple seasons, but a creative, realistic, and hysterical portrayal of teenage America by some of the country's best young actors gets canned after one year? Sometimes I hate you, TV decision-makers.