25 Years Ago, Best Teen Comedy With 100% Tomatometer Was Cancelled for the Dumbest Reason

The best show about American high school kids in the 1980s was created by Judd Apatow and Paul Feig.

At the beginning of their careers, prominent figures of the comedy industry recorded the lives of teenagers as realistically as possible. At the same time, all this was filmed not without drama: a difficult age, and trials with alcohol and drugs.

The cast of the cult series included future comedy stars James Franco, Seth Rogen, Jason Segel, who, along with Apatow, would shape the landscape of new American comedy just a few years later.

Freaks and Geeks Is Still One of the Most Realistic Teen Shows

We are talking about Freaks and Geeks, of course. One of the main advantages of the series was its rejection of stereotypes – while teen movies of the time contained many cliches, Freaks and Geeks tried to avoid stereotypical images of athletes and losers.

The teenagers in the show are as simple as possible and therefore relatable, as if the actors weren't acting at all, but living on the set.

The first bully of the school, a devout Christian or a notorious guy – everyone can find a common language with each other. The series is one of the first to demonstrate not so much the absence of labels, but their insignificance and meaninglessness.

Freaks and Geeks Became a Truly Cult Series Over Time

Fans fell in love with Freaks and Geeks two decades ago and still love it, as evidenced by its Rotten Tomatoes score of 100% from critics and 96% from audiences.

There are many reasons why Freaks and Geeks continues to find new fans twenty years after its release, from its striking realism to the incredible chemistry between the members of the cast.

However, despite the incredible love of the fans, NBC only aired 12 of the 18 filmed episodes, after which the series was cancelled. Three more episodes aired in 2000, the remaining episodes were released on Fox Family, and the entire series was released only on DVD. How did this happen?

Freaks and Geeks Was a Victim of a Poorly Thought Out TV Schedule

Officially, Freaks and Geeks was canceled due to low ratings, but those low ratings were due to the way the TV schedule was put together.

After the first two episodes aired, Freaks and Geeks took a month-long hiatus to make room for the World Series, and then took two more hiatuses – for six weeks and two months. And when they did air, they competed with Who Wants to Be a Millionaire for the public's attention.

Unsurprisingly, the ratings for Freaks and Geeks were significantly lower than those of other NBC comedy shows of the same era, Friends and Frasier.

Freaks and Geeks was simply ahead of its time and out of place on TV in the late nineties. But now this nostalgic project is more relevant than ever: the atmosphere of the 80s, dozens of references to pop culture and many familiar faces. If you haven't seen this cult project yet, turn it on – a warm and heartfelt story is guaranteed.