Amazon Prime Video
Paramount+High school mathlete Lindsay Weir rebels and begins hanging out with a crowd of burnouts (the "freaks"), while her brother Sam Weir navigates a different part of the social universe with his nerdy friends (the "geeks").
Narrative Setup. A great pilot establishes the world, tone, and characters, planting seeds for future conflicts and story arcs. The 'Freaks and Geeks' pilot is structured efficiently. It uses an hour-long format to introduce its dual protagonist structure: Lindsay Weir (played by Linda Cardellini) and her younger brother Sam Weir (played by John Francis Daley).
In prime time’s world of wish fulfillment, Freaks and Geeks was the opposite: 18 episodes that nailed the sad, hilarious unfairness of teen life. The cult following for its single, 1999 season—still growing, on Netflix—would herald a new school of comedy led by executive producer Judd Apatow. He, creator Paul Feig, and cast members including Seth Rogen, Jason Segel, and James Franco tell Robert Lloyd what made the show both great and doomed.
