Dork Adore » TV

Sherlock: The Hounds Of Baskerville – Dork Review

Nick Bryan — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 08:27:10 +0000

The second episode of new Sherlock! This time, The Hound Of The Baskervilles gets the treatment, as Moffat and Gatiss pound through Conan Doyle’s most famous stories. There’s also a guest shot from Russell Tovey, who has now shown up in almost every famous geek show of our time, not to mention BBC3’s excellent Him & Her.

So this episode comes with a pedigree, but how did it perform in the dog show?

The Horror Of The Baskervilles

After last week’s London-based run through the Sherlock scenery, we got a change of pace. Our heroes decamp to the country to search for a mythical hellhound, whilst Russell Tovey’s character steadily breaks down around them. And it’s a slowdown from the usual Sherlock headrush of images.

In fact, there’s a sense of horror shot through here, both during the scenes set in the woods and the military facility segments. Writer Mark Gatiss is a renowned horror fan, scripting the unsettling Night Terrors episode of Doctor Who, not to mention his documentary on the subject, and it made him a good choice for this Hound.

I especially liked Bluebell the rabbit, who not only provided a funny callback, but also primed us for the possibility that genetically engineered animals are real, so… maybe there is a monstrous super-dog on the loose? Well pitched. But poor little bunny.

The Mind Palace Of Being Human

Since the whole show pivots around the Holmes/Watson relationship, it’s fortunate that this episode allows some interesting interactions between them. The possibility of real monsters not only unsettles the viewer, but the great detective too, and I enjoyed the resultant tension.

Russell Tovey brings his normal charm to his part, which helps make the character sympathetic despite a descent into mania. I was disappointed that he was largely absent in the second half, but I guess his name isn’t in the title. Also saddening that the Hound itself didn’t turn out to be Tovey’s character transformed into a werewolf.

Even though the eventual truth wasn’t as outlandish as hinted by Bluebell or Being Human, there were borderline-scifi moments that sat oddly next to other episodes. The “mind palace” scene pushed Sherlock further into alien robot territory than I really like.

Nonetheless, a good middle story, much better than last year’s slightly disappointing The Blind Banker. And next week, the final confrontation with Moriarty, worryingly penned by the writer of that episode, but nonetheless, after a strong series, I’m looking forward to seeing how they end it. Even if it feels like it’s all over far too soon.

Check this episode out on iPlayer, and let us know how you’re finding the second series of Sherlock. Are you excited for the finale?

More Sherlock on Dork Adore | Sherlock: The Great Game – Dork Review

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Undercover on the trail of liquor smugglers: the Boardwalk Empire Season 2 launch

Dork Adore — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 10:54:30 +0000

Lena Weber writes… Last week I received a subpoena from the State of New Jersey.

I was told in no uncertain terms I had to take part in an important undercover operation to bust a gang of liquor smugglers which required me to dress in original Twenties gear, drink gin, watch the first episode of Boardwalk Empire Season 2 and have fun.

It was a hard decision but I decided to comply, which is how last night I found myself at a secret North London location where I was whisked off into a boudoir full of vintage to be dressed up – sorry, disguised – in a beautiful, heavily beaded mint green Twenties gown. Once my hair and make-up had been done in period style, I was deemed ready to infiltrate the suspects in a candle-lit bar.

Inside the Speakeasy

The party was already in full swing with girls in feather headdresses tapping away to music played on a gramophone, while men with slicked-back hair and checked Tweed suits sat together – surely to plot breaking the Prohibition law.

I decided to have some gin cocktails, you know, as to not raise any suspicion, while listening to a wonderful band play the Charleston followed by a very sultry fan dance by showgirl Sophia St Villier.

How terribly immoral!

Inside the dressing room

We were then ushered to another room decked out as a cinema where we got to watch the brand new first episode of Boardwalk Empire Season 2.

It was a fascinating viewing – with more pace and thrills-per-second than the first season. The new story lines draw you in with a perfect mixture of suspense and humour, and topics that are still relevant today (racism, women’s position in society, marital infidelity) – not to mention the incredible costumes.

It’ll be interesting to see if they can keep up the pace of the new season — the last series got criticised for becoming a little more “bored walk” than boardwalk. But with some great actors on board, including Steve “Nucky Thompson” Buschemi and Michael Kenneth Williams (Omar in The Wire, Chalky White in this), as well as some serious production and writing chops (writer Terence Winter worked on the Sopranos and Martin Scorsese directed the pilot), there are worse ways to spend your Saturday evening TV sessions.

Boardwalk Empire, Sky Atlantic HD (Saturdays 9pm, Wednesdays 10pm, Sundays 11.20pm)

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Being Human: Series 3, Episode 8 – Dork Review

Toby Knowles — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 21:45:22 +0000

I’ll admit that I failed to watch last week’s episode of Being Human. Life, and my recent addiction to BBC4′s The Killing, took precedence. Big mistake. Tuning in on Sunday evening I was caught in a traffic jam of surprises: Mitchell was in the clink, Nina was as good as dead and Herrick was back in his yellow tabard, protecting and serving as if no time had passed since his sinister days in the Avon and Somerset Constabulary.

What on earth was going on? In order to make sense of this, I had no option but to postpone my bedtime and watch both episodes back to back, a double bill which resulted in my Year 8 class being greeted this morning by an even more befuddled music teacher than usual, blearily struggling to remember the words to Hava Nagila.

The Final Act

Now that we’re all up to speed, I should probably pick over the events of The Wolf-Shaped Bullet. In more or less chronological order: Herrick broke Mitchell out of jail; Nina quickly recovered and Annie disappeared into purgatory, summoned by a singing cadaver. It would have been bad form to relocate Being Human to Wales without somebody spontaneously breaking into song.

From there she watched helplessly as George and Mitchell were imprisoned by Herrick inside the familiar ‘dogfighting’ cage, making its third appearance this series. You would have thought that werewolves might have learnt to carry wire cutters around with them by now.

In an Anakin Skywalker-like rite of passage to the dark side, Mitchell was then instructed to kill George, except that this time, instead of using light sabres, they were using a blunt chair leg. Perhaps supernaturals should carry some kind of whittling tool as well. However, in the nick of time they were sprung by Tom, McNair’s son, who upon realising that he was only a minor character, suddenly vanished.

More happened: Mitchell murdered Herrick, Annie discovered that the ‘wolf-shaped bullet’ was a load of bunk, a chap called Wyndham backlogged the civil courts with employment tribunals by sacking the entire South Wales police force, and George, inevitably, did the decent thing and impaled Mitchell on a much sharper looking stick, but not before sobbing, ‘I’m doing this because I love you!’

Typical of George to act bravely in such a feeble manner.

Epilogue

Although boasting some compelling stand offs, this season finale delivered few bombshells, and little tension – the miserable Mitchell’s tortured number has been up for a considerable length of time.

Furthermore, throughout the series, whilst Mitchell has been furiously composing his own epitaph, it’s been patently obvious that nothing untoward would happen to our other three protagonists, much as the producers wanted us to fear for their safety. Annie, for starters, is already dead; Nina is pregnant and unlikely to be killed off (post Ronnie Branning, the BBC will be staying off infant death for a while), and George has been sidelined so efficiently in recent weeks that nobody would notice that he wasn’t there.

However, signs of life were evident in George’s parting shot to the creepy Wyndham – ‘I think you’ve got quite a fight on your hands.’ he admonished. Let’s hope he keeps his word.

More Being Human on Dork Adore | Being Human: Series 3, Episode 5 – Dork Review

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Being Human: Series 3, Episode 5 – Dork Review

Toby Knowles — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 12:11:36 +0000

Over the past year there have been some excellent new comedy series on the BBC. First there was the gentle Rev, then Alan Davies’ boisterous Whites, and more recently, Episodes. I’m just on iPlayer, flicking through them now.

What’s this programme at the top of the comedy listings, positioned just above Cool Runnings? Yes, Being Human, it’s called. That’s bound to be funny – look, they’re even pulling wacky, contorted faces in the picture! (see above).

Must be some improvisational thing. Maybe that new one with Hugh Dennis.

My friend Olly clicked on to Being Human — The Longest Day through iPlayer Comedy the other day, in search of a bit of a post work pick-me up. “It was distressing.” he told me.

Frankly, I sympathise. It would be like stumbling across Snog Marry Avoid? while looking for a wildlife documentary. This was by far the most harrowing instalment of the houseshare horror since it started back in 2008.

From Here To Insanity

The story to The Longest Day focused on a revived, deranged Herrick – a very bad man, and furthermore a vampire – who had appeared without warning in the psychiatric ward of Barry hospital.

Although familiar to our protagonists, Herrick was suffering from amnesia (a plot device so old it’s lost its own memory), and was visibly traumatised by the efforts of his old flame, Cara, to reinitiate him as a vampire. Whether conscious of his past or not, Herrick was still something of a meanie – ‘You’re nothing.’ he told Cara with a cold rationality, before cutting right to the bone with, ‘You look ugly when you cry’.

She subsequently forced a stake through her heart, hilariously. I think that may have been where Olly switched off.

It would be churlish to pick holes in the story of a a werewolf, vampire and ghost attempting to adopt a vicious, reincarnated, amnesiac vampire through social services. So I won’t do that. But there were clear contrivances by the writers to exaggerate the tension between the characters, thereby eliciting big, stagey performances from the leads, and sweary showdowns between Mitchell and just about every other cast member.

Even so, the performances were as assured as ever, especially Sinead Keenan as Nina.

The mood and look of The Longest Day were also impressively bleak, and the recasting of chief baddie from Herrick to Mitchell was skilfully handled. Spooks‘ Nicola Walker tried her best to raise a smile as Wendy the hapless social worker, but her material was creaky and her presence in the story, like Wendy herself, soon began to grate.

Battle of Barry

It’s unlikely that there will be many more laughs next week, judging by the trailer, which suggests that the producers will attempt to wring every last drop of tension out of Herrick’s arrival and Mitchell’s impending comeuppance.

This is a shame since, misfiled as it is, Being Human usually does comedy extremely well, finding humour in the most tragic and horrifying circumstances. Just don’t expect to see repeats of it on Dave.

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Mad Dogs and Let’s Dance for Comic Relief: What We’ve Been Watching

Anna Lowman — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 13:38:51 +0000

This being the era of the iPlayer, we’re not necessarily expected to watch series as they go out, even big glossy psychological dramas with insane casts, as is the case with Sky 1‘s Mad Dogs. So I’m not in the least bit ashamed to admit that I’m a week behind on this show (ok, I am a little) — and have my fingers ready poised by my ears lest I come across any pesky spoilers…

I have to say that, while going all fangirly over the strength of the cast — which brings Life On Mars dream team John Simm and Philip Glenister back together, plus the always-excellent Marc Warren — I had my ‘only the Beeb tends to make good drama’ blinkers on when it came to approaching Mad Dogs. But, while far from perfect, there’s a lot more to this drama than good actors phoning it in while on a jolly in a rather beautiful-looking Majorca.

Perhaps it was a case of the trailers giving the wrong impression, but I thought this was going to be a whole lot more laddy and lairy than it turned out to be. The four middle-aged gents visiting their old friend’s villa do go out for a big night on the town, but they can’t really be bothered with it any more and, in fact, this story of a boys’ holiday gone wrong had a genuine menace to it, thanks to a sedate pace (perhaps at times a little too sedate) and lingering, quiet direction.

And the script was surprisingly subtle.

There were some lovely, techy exchanges between the characters; such as Simm and Glenister (I like seeing them acting together again, what I can I say) bickering over whether it’s ok for an Englishman to use the deeply American phrase ‘take a cappuccino’, and old grievances slowly coming to the fore.

Nice performances and gorgeous to look at, this may have been a low-key start, but actually, that was Mad Dog‘s greatest asset.

Kane got us lookin’ so crazy right now

When the production team for this year’s Let’s Dance for Comic Relief sat down for the first time, you just know what was top of the agenda: which male comedian is going to dress as a woman, and how the hell are we going to top Robert Webb’s Flashdance and Rufus Hound as Cheryl Cole?

They answered the first question with the name Russell Kane, Edinburgh Comedy Award winner and all-round top bloke who slipped into a wig and fake boobs (and, one imagines, instantly bagged himself the trophy) as Beyonce in her fabulous Crazy In Love video. As for the second question, he was probably a little more tentative than Webb and Hound (and, the forgotten couple in all this, the genuinely joyous performance from Keith and Paddy) but he was still pretty ruddy marvellous.

The others were, and were always going to be, also-rans, but whoever came up with the idea of having Katie Price do I Want To Break Free deserves a medal (even if it was better in theory than in practice) and Ed Byrne put in a great turn as Billy Elliott, with Arlene Phillips guesting in the Julie Walters role.

Next week, hold onto your hats because Boosh and Buzzcocks star Noel Fielding is going to dance….

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Being Human: Series 3, Episode 4 – Dork Review

Toby Knowles — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 20:57:02 +0000

Barging in with the force and velocity of a season finale, Episode 4, The Pack, was one of the most exhilarating Being Human episodes to date, rapidly weaving several plot lines and characters together, before spinning unsentimentally towards a tense and bloody climax.

An episode of this quality raises questions. Namely, why has such an engaging, sharply written drama never made the transition from BBC Three, home of Help! My Dog’s As Fat As Me and Hotter Than My Daughter, to terrestrial TV? And why has the third series been scheduled for Sunday evenings, a territory more closely associated with warm bath dramas like Cranford, Downton Abbey and the late Monarch of the Glen?

Back in the Saddle

After the transient characters of recent episodes, it was reassuring to see the return of two favourites from episode 1: Richard, the carpet selling swinger and McNair the vampire hunter. Richard was enlisted by a terrified Mitchell to protect him from McNair’s merciless vendetta, whilst expectant parents George and Nina sought counsel from McNair as an unlikely expert on the werewolf facts of life.

As McNair, Robson Green‘s quietly menacing performance was outstanding, and his civilised, gentlemanly streak provided an enjoyable contrast to his murderous instincts. After all, what kind of hardened vampire killer shoplifts Bonne Maman jam?

Clearly a man with a past, the only link to McNair’s murky history was Tom, who may or may not have been his biological son, and was the owner of the most anxious eyebrows seen on television. Tom, a walking campaign commercial against home-schooling, was a lost puppy, naïve to the ways of the world, women and fashion, having only ever known what McNair taught him. Yet Tom was happily oblivious, carving Polynesian-style figurines, fantasising about a mythical werewolf ‘pack’ and lusting dreamily after Nina.

Sweet Emotion

Meanwhile, a more requited, though no less complicated partnership was underway between ghost Annie and vampire Mitchell.

Although the pair concluded that, in light of Annie’s spectral presence, their love would have to be more emotional than physical, this was only reached after several coital false starts, during which Mitchell proved unambiguously that he was mean, surly, and sexually polarised between psychotic (nearly killing his surrogate lover) and a complete wet blanket (‘Can we just cuddle a little?’, he gulped at Annie.) I’m beginning to wonder what Annie sees in him.

What It Takes

Episode 4 gripped me right until its nail-biting, violent resolution.

In fact, it was so compelling that I even forgave the scriptwriters their running gag of including cult TV references in each episode. “Will you stop being so bloody Cranford about everything?”, an exasperated Annie fired at the gallant McNair, a joke that is surely first in line to be axed when translated to its American counterpart.

Who knows which TV dramas future episodes will mention? I’m holding out for Monarch of the Glen.

More Being Human on Dork Adore | Review – Being Human Series 3, Episode 3

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Being Human: Series 3, Episode 3 – Dork Review

Toby Knowles — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 16:30:39 +0000

Do you remember The Sixth Sense? I’ll never forget the indignity I suffered at the final dénouement, as it transpired, shockingly, that Bruce Willis had spent the entire film with a gunshot wound the size of a teacup in his lower back. I had been too engrossed (or dim) to spot the silent treatment he’d received from everybody he met, the fact that his wife had thrown out all her non-black clothes, and that even the Reader’s Digest had stopped sending him Prize Draw invitations.

Plainly put, he was dead, and neither Brucie nor I had known it.

Funny Face

But what if the dead just didn’t get it? This was the premise of Episode 3 of Being Human, which saw Annie the ghost collect another wandering soul, a ‘Type 4‘ (or ‘Zombie’ to the uninitiated) called Sasha. Sasha was a Welsh WAG, the belle of rugby league player, who enjoyed nothing more than a night out and a good fight at the end of it. Zombification (post car accident) had done her few favours; recent consequences included hideous disfigurement, torture and being impaled on her boyfriend’s Man of the Match trophy.

Still, Sasha didn’t understand that she was dead. At one point I wondered whether the writer was building up to some kind of social commentary. ‘Don’t be dead-ist!’, Annie chastised an unsympathetic Mitchell. Yet it soon emerged that conversely Sasha, as she came to terms with her death, could teach us a little something about living. ‘Seize the day!’ she quoted to Annie, as she eventually departed for the great beyond.

It’s nice to know that WAGS have a working knowledge of the Classics. She even extolled the virtues of having children to a pregnant Nina, who after a recent full moon fling with George had been anxiously weighing up whether to bring up a were-child.

Annie, Get Your Guy!

Meanwhile, Mitchell was busy fending off the advances of a psychotic fan-boy, and reflecting on the more amorous advances of his flatmate, Annie. The first dilemma was easily solved — Mitchell killed him. The latter ended more predictably with Mitchell, having initially expressed concern, mainly as to whether one could actually perform coitus with a ghost, soon engaged in a lengthy and passionate snog with the spectral Annie. Hopefully this put his fears aside. After all, vampires, for all their inner torment, can be quite uncomplicated creatures.

More Being Human on Dork Adore | Review – Being Human Series 3, Episode 2

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Human Planet and How TV Ruined Your Life: What We’ve Been Watching

Anna Lowman — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 20:35:56 +0000

It’s taken me a while to get around to mentioning the BBC’s latest flagship nature (anthropological?) documentary Human Planet, but it deserves its place in the revered WWBW archives. It’s fascinating, beautiful to look at, and the sort of programme that makes you think, ok, mankind can be thoughtless and violent and idiotic at times, but we can also be ruddy clever when we put our minds to it…

Animals can only survive in environments they’re physically adapted to (silly animals) but we use our nous to allow us to exist wherever we like, from Saharan deserts to the focus of this week’s episode, the Arctic.

What’s great about this series — and it’s something that happens increasingly rarely on television simply because there’s so much of it — is that every week you see things, people, ways of life of which you (or at least I) had literally no knowledge. That’s good telly right there.

This week we met fishermen in the Arctic who rely on their dogs to pull them around the tundra in search of the Greenland shark, a fish which swims so deep their line has to be 800 metres long; that’s twice the height of the Empire State Building, as we’re helpfully told by narrator John Hurt.

In Canada, the tide goes out so far that ‘mussel-hunters’ can actually crawl under the remaining sea-ice and harvest mussels straight from the seabed. Elsewhere, reindeer swim an incredble 2.5 km across a river that is barely above freezing to reach more fertile ground, the Inuit hunt narwhal from kayaks, and in Greenland we see a man catch little auks straight out of the sky with a net.

It’s brilliant stuff that has clearly been months, probably years in the making, and with episodes on the jungle, grasslands, mountains, rivers and cities still to come, there’s lots more for eager minds yet to discover.

TV that won’t ruin your life

You can see how How TV Ruined Your Life came about: “Screenwipe is great, but limiting it to recent telly is, well, a bit limiting, eh? Imagine the fun we could have if we expanded it to the entire history of TV! It’ll be like Screenwipe but *better*.” Well, it’s like Screenwipe but the same, really, but then that’s no bad thing.

Each week, the (pretty much deservedly) ubiquitous Charlie Brooker takes a particular theme and explores how TV has affected how we react to it, or messed it up for us. We started this week with Fear, which gave Charlie the chance to dive into the archives and show clips from those genuinely distressing ‘take care, try not to die’ public service programmes that used to grace our screens — and still do, to some extent. The most disturbing was one which tried to help us survive a nuclear explosion, and said that, good news, whitewashing the windows would keep you safe. For 18 seconds. After which your face would melt.

There was a bit of science in there too, with references to experiments which show that people who watch a lot of telly genuinely are more likely to be fearful of the big wide world, but in the end, this is an excuse for Charlie to sit in his oddly reconstructed flat and spit out those wonderful similes of his.

Arguably he’s doing rather better and more important stuff over on Channel 4 though — this week’s episode of 10 O’Clock Live was even better that the first. There are still niggles, but it’s moving in the right direction, and from a highly promising starting position.

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Primeval: Series 4, Episode 4 – Dork Review

Nick Bryan — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 20:15:01 +0000

Another week of ITV’s Primeval powers past, and you might be surprised to hear it has a dinosaur in it. Oh, and there’s shouting and shooting. Hannah from S Club 7 demonstrates some girl power. Does that help discern it from the others at all?

This one also features unrealistic computer hacking and a bit of teenage acting. Read on to find out whether it’s improved from a slightly disappointing start.

Skins Get Skinned

The main storyline of this episode involves a dinosaur “incursion” in a school. Which means it’s time for a popular TV sport: Awkwardly written teenagers, often played by people who clearly haven’t been teenagers for a while.

I’ve seen worse, but still, some of the teenager-writing here makes Skins look like Shakespeare. There’s a decent play for poignancy towards the end, but some of it really is cringe-worthy. And I know a teenager being chased by a fantasy monster automatically sheds most of their IQ points, but even so, they’re pretty stupid.

And at the end of this storyline, the monsters are gunned down, with minor injuries to one main character. I think what annoys me about this show is that defeating the beastie by charging in and shooting it has very little resonance. Yes, Doctor Who sometimes has torturous made-up-scifi explanations of why the Doc must make sacrifices to win, but at least it forces him to feel something.

Travelling Subplot Theatre

To inject some positivity, some of their subplots are quite interesting. There’s the mysterious old man guiding new boy Matt, who is also harbouring a woman from the past. In fact, they seem to be giving him a big push. Fortunately, actor Ciaran McMenamin is quite likeable, although I don’t know if old-school fans are annoyed by him being favoured over existing characters.

Oh, and Hannah from S Club 7 (“Spearritt” is too hard to spell and I’m not sure her character has a name) gets angry about animal rights and decides to load a mammoth onto a lorry. There was a swelling violins scene with her and Jess (the secretary who can’t really act), I think I was meant to be rooting for her and animal rights. Instead, I was thinking about what a wide-eyed moron she was.

So, not a great Primeval this week. Once these subplots come to fruition, hopefully we’ll get some stories with a bit more complexity and meaning. Until then, I look forward to more random shooting and “dinosaurs have feelings too!” moans.

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Five reasons why Freaks And Geeks is the best One Season Wonder EVER

Stuart — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 15:22:45 +0000

Freaks and Geeks was a high school comedy-drama which you don’t want to describe as such, because it has so much more depth than that description suggests.

It was produced by Judd Apatow and, since it was so good, VER MAN cancelled it after one season after deciding it had achieved TV perfection. Either that or not enough people watched it.

Set in the early 80s in suburban Michigan, at the show’s centre were Lindsay Weir, played by Linda Cardellini, and her little brother Sam, played by John Francis Daley. While Sam hangs out with his dorkling pals (the “Geeks”), obsessing over Star Trek and Steve Martin, Lindsay attempts to deal with her decision to leave behind her Mathlete history and become accepted by the pot-smoking, class-skipping “Freaks”. Hilarity — and a fair amount of pain — ensues.

Like Firefly, My So-Called Life, and, er, Eldorado, Freaks and Geeks now exists in the Cancelled Too Soon By Idiot Executives hall of fame. Not only does it deserve its place, but – and I say this as an Angela Chase fan 4life – it deserves the number one spot.

HEREISWHY

1. The Opening Credits

Rare are the opening credit sequences that manage to make you laugh and teach you something about a show’s characters before it’s properly begun. Freaks And Geeks managed this by using the neat trick of having its credits double as a yearbook photo shoot, with each character having their turn in front of the camera.

Each character’s reaction to this dreadsome ritual tells you a little something about them. Bill Haverchuck‘s glare of loathing following his huge fake grin makes me laugh every darn time.

2. The Characters

Oh Lord, how do you pick a fave character on Freaks And Geeks? Bill Haverchuck seems to be the cult hero among the show’s hardcore fans, and it’s hard to argue with that. Let us be clear about this – Bill was the template for Napoleon Dynamite. Only, he was someone you wanted to hug rather than run the hell away from.

You know the kid at school who had the same awful glasses for years, walked around with his mouth hanging open, talked like his gums got in the way of his tongue? That’s Bill. He hates sports, loves Steve Martin and is allergic to peanuts.

Regarday this scene. I love how it starts as an apparently downbeat clip, before showing Bill taking utter pleasure in the very simplest things in life.

You just know he spent all day at school looking forward to his time in front of the box. And what nerdlinger hasn’t felt that way?

My second favourite character is Nick Andopolis. He’s a stoner with dreams of being a drummer, and has a massive crush on Lindsay. So obviously he writes a song for her. Unfortunately — or, perhaps, fortunately — he road tests it on his laconic friend Ken (played by Seth Rogen):

My third favourite character appears all too rarely. He is Harris, and he is a fan of Dungeons And Dragons. Not that you could tell from looking at him:

While these are my top three, the fact is that this was a show which such well-defined characters that they all deserved much more screen time.

3. The Cast

Freaks And Geeks was created by current Hollywood comedy capo Judd Apatow, and it’s also where several established actors first made their name.

Seth Rogen, James Franco and Jason Segel have all had proper big screen success, and Busy Phillips and Linda Cardellini carved out decent careers in ER/OC/Dawson’s Creeksville.

Shame John Francis Daley hasn’t been in anything anyone actually watches (Bones, Boston Public), but I was delighted to see Martin Starr (Bill) playing an older, much more bitter kind of geek in the (er, recently cancelled) Party Down.

3. The Writing

A fine cast would mean nothing if the actors had nothing to work with.

I’ve already outlined my favourite characters on the show, but it’s worth saying that all of the main characters — from kids to teachers and parents — are brilliantly-conceived. Likewise, the plots used within the overall story arc are identifiable for their adherence to the kind of things everyone encounters when growing up. It’s a testament to the skill of the writing that, despite this universality, cliches are avoided.

Being too old for Halloween, becoming a laughing stock for breaking the unwritten rules of teenage fashion, bullies, drugs, the friends you grow out of, the friends who grow out of you, changing rooms, crushes… They’re all there, and they’re all handled with warmth, empathy and humour.

Witnessing Mr & Mrs Weir handle their little ‘uns growing up is heartbreaking at times, and shows how the writers acknowledge that it’s not just the teenagers who struggle to cope with the changes.

Take Momma Weir’s well-meaning attempt to reassure insecure Sam about taking showers at school:

4. The Pain

By the time Freaks and Geeks came along, teenage misery had already been well mined in films and TV. But it was the detail that the show used that gave it the extra pinch, so the viewer often crossed that line from feeling mildly concerned to developing a lump in the throat.

So Sam gets egged by a bunch of mean older kids on Halloween — one of them being his unwitting older sister Lindsay. When she finds out and tries to apologise to him as he stands in his egg-soaked cardboard robot costume, it’s hard to know which one of them feels more anguish. The same episode sees Lindsay ruin her Mum’s plans for some wholesome celebrations, and, again, Lindsay’s hurt at inflicting the pain is as acute as her Mum’s at being on the receiving end.

Even when apparently irredeemable bully Alan spikes Bill with a peanut — to which Bill is allergic — we learn that at the root of his meanness is a desire to be (oh yes) “accepted”. But wait! It’s done really well! Look!

5. The LOLZ

For all the pain in the show, there are more than enough laughs to balance things out. From slapstick and general buffoonery to one-liners and putdowns, virtually every character has comic moments that help you warm to them that little bit more.

Again I must turn to Bill Haverchuck here, whose lessons in sexy dancing I have followed to the letter for the last ten years:

Someone I’ve neglected to mention thus far is Mr Rosso, the school guidance counsellor. He has some priceless moments, not least when he tries to talk the freaks out of their bad behaviour through the medium of… Alice Cooper:

Basically I could go on and on all day about this, but essentially what I’m trying to say is that Freaks and Geeks is one of the rarest, most perfect TV treats ever and deserves to be watched by more people.

Maybe if enough people buy the Freaks and Geeks DVD boxset, with Apatow’s new clout we could even see an updated version of the show one day telling us where everyone ended up.

Of course, THIS MUST NEVER ACTUALLY HAPPEN.

Stuart Waterman is supreme overlord and editor of the web marvel that is My Chemical Toilet. The ultimate music magazine online. Read it, it will make you do LOLs. You can also follow My Chemical Toilet on Twitter.

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Sherlock: The Hounds Of Baskerville – Dork Review

The Horror Of The Baskervilles

The Mind Palace Of Being Human

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Undercover on the trail of liquor smugglers: the Boardwalk Empire Season 2 launch

Inside the Speakeasy

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Being Human: Series 3, Episode 8 – Dork Review

The Final Act

Epilogue

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Being Human: Series 3, Episode 5 – Dork Review

From Here To Insanity

Battle of Barry

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Mad Dogs and Let’s Dance for Comic Relief: What We’ve Been Watching

Kane got us lookin’ so crazy right now

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Being Human: Series 3, Episode 4 – Dork Review

Back in the Saddle

Sweet Emotion

What It Takes

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Being Human: Series 3, Episode 3 – Dork Review

Funny Face

Annie, Get Your Guy!

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Human Planet and How TV Ruined Your Life: What We’ve Been Watching

TV that won’t ruin your life

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Primeval: Series 4, Episode 4 – Dork Review

Skins Get Skinned

Travelling Subplot Theatre

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Five reasons why Freaks And Geeks is the best One Season Wonder EVER

HEREISWHY

1. The Opening Credits

2. The Characters

3. The Cast

3. The Writing

4. The Pain

5. The LOLZ

Of course, THIS MUST NEVER ACTUALLY HAPPEN.

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