A&E documentary delves into Freaks and Geeks' impact

Paste Magazine

Freaks and Geeks: The Documentary, premiering tonight, "is an object lesson in the serendipitous nature of artistic innovation," says Matt Brennan, adding: "At a fundamental level, Freaks and Geeks: The Documentary is not the story of the best high school show ever made. It’s the story of how the best high school show ever made, at the time of its airing, was the lowest-rated program on NBC, continually hounded by cancelation fears, time slot swaps, and network notes until it was finally killed off to capitalize on the vogue for Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?-style game shows. It is, as (Judd) Apatow says in the film of the series itself, 'about failing and how you survive failure and about how your friends support you in difficult times.'"