TTH 5/4/26

Freaks and Geeks Rewatch - I’m With the Band

Freaks and Geeks wasn’t compared to Lost very often, but the 2 shows shared a crucial structural similarity. In both shows episodes would focus on a specific character. F&G used this as an opportunity to place the character under a microscope and attempt to determine why they are the way they are. The last 2 weeks the show did this with Kim and Daniel. Episode 6 looked at Nick.

But first, this week’s B-plot examined another rite of passage for freshmen boys - gym class. The geeks were preparing for the Presidential Fitness Test. The writers avoided making the obvious joke about the rope climb; instead Bill mastered that part of the challenge, although once he had climbed all the way up he was in somewhat of a panic. How can he get back down?

Coach Fredricks told his class that due to new school rules the boys were required to shower after gym class. This freaked Sam out. He was already self conscious over his delayed puberty - in the Rashida Jones episode a couple of weeks ago she mocked him over not having developed armpit hair yet - so he was not eager to strip down in front of other people. He convinces Neal and Bill to join him in solidarity and refuse to shower. They think they can put one over on Coach by sticking their heads under the bathroom faucets in the hope that their wet hair would be enough to fool him, but he saw right through that. That was still enough of a delay; the bell rang, so Sam had to get to his next class.

Sam’s parents were no help; Jean meant well but her telling her son that he has a beautiful body was not what he wanted to hear. By day 2 Neal and Bill caved. They had to walk the gauntlet as the bigger kids snapped towels at them on their way to the shower, but shower they did. For some reason I found it very funny that Neal used a beach towel with the Virginia Is For Lovers logo on it. And in this week’s edition of I Feel Seen, as the boys were sitting around wondering if girls would ever find them attractive, they began to envision their ideal woman. They soon realize that they are perfectly describing Bailey from WKRP.

Sam finally decides he is going to take a shower after all. Unfortunately, Alan the bully had other ideas. He pushes Sam out of the locker room and locks the door behind him. As Sam pounds on the door demanding to be let back in, Alan reopens the door only to yank Sam’s towel off. Yep, it’s poor Sam’s worst nightmare. The thought of getting naked in front of his male classmates was bad enough, but in front of the whole school?

Sam remembers he had an extra pair of shorts in his locker, so he runs in that direction. (No worries, a blue dot was inserted on screen to cover up the naughty parts.) He slammed on the brakes when he saw his crush Cindy at her locker. She can’t see him like this! This meant he had to take an even more circuitous route, adding to his humiliation. The next day Sam is commiserating with Neal and Bill, and Alan rides up on his bike to taunt Sam further. That’s when a car full of cheerleaders, which included Cindy, drove by and applauded Sam for daring to streak in the school hallway. Just for one moment, Sam was a hero. Alan rode away, feeling despondent over the fact that his prank had backfired.

The A-plot was all Nick, beginning with the cold open. As he sits at his drum kit he carefully puts on a pair of headphones, places a Rush 8-track into the tape deck, and throws a block of dry ice into a fog machine as he plays along with The Spirit Of Radio. We learn that the school is going to conduct a Battle Of the Bands contest. Nick is certain that his band will win, and he invites Lindsay to watch them rehearse. It’s obvious that he takes things much more seriously than the rest of the band does. They play a version of Sunshine Of Your Love, Daniel plays guitar with all of the enthusiasm that James Franco used when he hosted the Oscars. He was a dynamo compared to lead singer Ken (welcome back Seth Rogen, where have you been the last 2 episodes?) who gave literally zero effort.

We also meet Nick’s father (Kevin Tighe!) a military officer who has little interest in indulging his son. Tighe doesn’t play the character with the malevolence that he often uses in his roles, but it is clear that he is not someone you want to f*** with. He is already angry that Nick was playing music past the 5PM deadline that he had imposed, and he also reminds Nick about their agreement. If he doesn’t get his grades up, then upon graduation he will have to follow his brothers into the service.

This ups the ante; playing in a band is just something to pass the time for Daniel and Ken. For Nick pursuing his dream is literally the only thing that can keep him from a hopeless future. He puts up a happy facade, but his reality is gloomy. His deep love of music - and weed - is the only thing that keeps him going. He needs this, but he doesn’t quite understand that his friends don’t share the same passion until Lindsay inadvertently stirs the pot.

Not only does she suggest band names that Daniel and Ken quickly shut down, but she also offers what she believes are helpful suggestions to make the band sound better. This feels too much like homework, and the pushback is so severe that the band breaks up. Later on Ken accuses Lindsay of being the Yoko Ono of the group.

She finds a solution, however. She hands Nick a notice she found about a local band seeking to hire a new drummer. It’s not just any band, they have regional fame. Nick once saw them open up for Jethro Tull! When he shows up for the audition, he is immediately thrown off his game when he sees that the drum kit provided is much smaller than his usual set. He tells them that he usually plays on a 29 piece kit, which impresses the band. He offers to play Sunshine Of Your Love, but the lead singer says that he hates that song, choosing to go with Crossroads instead.

Nick doesn’t exactly bomb in the audition, but neither does he impress. Simply put, Nick is a good enough drummer to mess around with friends, but not good enough for anything beyond that. Lindsay can tell from the reactions of both the band’s sound mixer and groupie how it is going. When the band cuts the audition short one of the members mocks Nick by telling him that if he works hard enough maybe one day he can get that 30th piece for his drum kit.

Nick is of course devastated, as he realizes that he is fated to go into the military. I’m sure most teenage boys have had the I Wanna Be a Rock Star fantasy at some point, but not many have had the dashing of their dream be as big of a slap to the face as Nick’s was. I can tell you my own; I tried to be a guitar player when I was a teen. I’m double jointed, so I have dexterous fingers. Theoretically that should have made me a good guitarist if not for the fact that I could never overcome the mental block of constantly needing to look at my fingers to make sure I was playing the proper chords. That tends to slow down one’s playing. I still have my guitar, but I can’t remember the last time I actually tried playing it. On a side note, one of the few songs which I did manage to master was Sunshine Of Your Love. Come on Daniel, you could have done a better job. That’s not a difficult riff to play.

As Lindsay was consoling Nick she gave him a big kiss, which she quickly realized was a mistake. He is into her much more intensely than she is into him, but now she may have gotten herself too deep into a potential relationship with Nick. After a reconciliation with Daniel and Ken - it was like most fights between best friends, it was all water under the bridge after 24 hours - the episode ended where it started, Nick in his basement playing drums. Except this time he’s not alone. Lindsay is sitting there, and Nick has given her the responsibility of adding the dry ice to the machine. How can she get out of this without hurting Nick’s feelings? Stay tuned.

Looking At Some Numbers

Because this Mets season has been too depressing to discuss, I’ll instead look back at happier times, inspired by an article that I had read last summer. The All-Star Game was held in Atlanta, and in the game program for that event a writer listed the greatest Brave to wear each uniform number. So why not try the same exercise with the Mets? I’ll go with my initial instinct in most cases, and the choices will be based solely by what each individual accomplished while wearing a Mets uniform. For example, the team retired #24 for Willie Mays, but let’s be honest about that. As a Met, he was Willie Mays, not WILLIE MAYS. Let’s begin:

0 - Rey Ordóñez wore a few different numbers as a Met, beginning with 0. He wore #10 longer, but I can justify awarding him here, being that he won his first Gold Glove as #0. Besides, few players wear uniform numbers this low, so there are not many options to choose from. Runner-up: Adam Ottavino

00 - Tony Clark is the only Met to go with the double zero, so it is him by default.

1 - Mookie Wilson is arguably the most beloved player in franchise history, and that was even the case before he stepped to the plate in Game 6. He played the game with such a sense of joy; he was a fan favorite from the moment he made his major league debut. Runner-up: Jeff McNeil

2 - A cursed number? Among those that have worn #2 are some of the most legendary names from the team’s inept early days: Elio Chacón, Marv Throneberry, & Jim Piersall. Arguably the most infamous trade acquisition in team history, Jim Fregosi, wore #2. Also #2: famous victim of the yips Mackey Sasser, and Larry Bowa, whom I’ll bet many of you don’t even remember that he was a Met ever so briefly. So that I can celebrate the ‘62 Mets I will give it to Marvelous Marv. Runner-up: I don’t know, Justin Turner?

3 - This number is much easier, it’s gotta be Bud Harrelson. As the starting shortstop for the 1969 Miracles and the third base coach for the 1986 team, he is the only man to have been in uniform for both World Series winning Mets teams. His fight with Pete Rose in the 1973 NLCS is a central story in Mets lore. And not for nothing, but he was one of the first 2 players inducted into the team Hall Of Fame. Runner-up: Curtis Granderson

4 - Rusty Staub was the player who joined Harrelson as the first players whom the franchise honored with team HOF plaques. Rusty wore #10 when he came back to the team a decade later as a premiere pinch hitter, but he made his bigger mark as a run producer while wearing #4. He’s another prime candidate for the title of Most Beloved Met. 4 seems to have attracted itself to all-time fan favorites. Among the other #4’s are Ron Swoboda, Wilmer Flores, and Lenny Dykstra. Dykstra’s toxicity makes me want to steer clear of him, so because of that the Runner-up is Robin Ventura.

5 - This is another easy one; it is Captain America himself, David Wright. The team retired the number last year, and it is a most deserving honor. Before injuries brought his career to a screeching halt, he was well on his way to becoming one of the elite players of his era. Runner-up: John Olerud

6 - This has been a fairly uninspiring number; few Mets who have worn #6 have been on the team for more than a year, some of those that did were famous flops such as Carlos Baerga or famous flashes in the pan such as Mike Vail or Timo Pérez. World Series connections merit bonus points, so my choice is Wally Backman. For similar reasons the Runner-up is Al Weis.

More to come.

Alex Zanardi

Former racing champion Alex Zanardi died over the weekend. Racing is a sport in which the competitors experience drastic highs & lows; Zanardi’s extremes were among the most dramatic. A native of Italy, in many ways he exemplified the life of a la dolce vita type; his ebullient personality consistently made him one of the biggest fan favorites on the grid.

He competed in both Formula 1 and in IndyCar. His timing was off; he signed a deal to race in the old CART circuit just as open wheel racing in America split into 2 separate circuits; the CART drivers did not compete at Indianapolis. As a result, his success practically took place in a vacuum. He won Rookie of the Year in CART as well as 2 season titles, but he never raced in the Indy 500. In the early aughts the Chip Ganassi Racing team which he drove for had switched over to the Indy Racing League, which would have allowed him to run in the 500, but before that happened he suffered the most horrifying racing injury I have ever seen.

One of the few sporting events which was not postponed in the days after 9/11 was a CART race which was scheduled to take place in Germany. In that race, Zanardi lost control of his car as he was exiting the pits and was T-boned at full speed by another driver. I will not share a clip of that crash - the clip embedded above is one which shows what might be his finest racing moment - suffice it to say that if you see it you would think it unimaginable that a human being could have possibly survived that. As it was, he lost both of his legs. The only reason he wasn’t killed was that the race track was located only a short helicopter ride away from one of the premiere trauma centers in all of Europe.

His positive attitude aided him in his recovery immensely. A couple of years after the accident he drove a specially designed car, and ceremonially “completed” the race by driving the 17 laps that he had fallen short of racing in 2001. He switched over to hand cycling and became one of the world’s premiere Para Olympians and a frequent participant in marathons and triathlons all while maintaining the most positive attitude one could have.

He suffered significant injuries in a cycling accident in 2020; including fairly severe brain damage. He largely spent his final years recuperating in private. Zanardi was 59; he made the most of every single one of those 59 years.

50 Years Ago - Austin City Limits

Austin City Limits initially premiered as a one-off, pledge drive special on PBS in 1975. The weekly series began the following year, and it’s still on to this day, making it the longest running music series in television history. A large part of the reason why it has lasted so long is that the format is simple and has never really changed. There are either one or two acts per episode, and after a brief voiceover intro from the host the show just lets them take the stage and do their thing with the briefest of interview segments included.

It’s fitting that Willie Nelson was the act in that first special. Not only is he likely the single musician who is most closely associated with Texas, but if the calculation on ACL’s IMDB page is accurate, he is tied with Lyle Lovett for the act who has appeared most often. For the record, the artists in the first episode as a weekly series were Asleep At the Wheel & Bob Wills’ Original Texas Playboys. Those are 2 country music traditionalists, but that only hints at the breadth of artists who have taken the stage.

Austin is a college town, so it stands to reason that the show’s lineup has leaned towards artists who are somewhat adventurous. Many acts who fall under the Americana umbrella, many alternative bands whose sound easily traces back to roots music. Blues and R&B acts often appear as well. Some of the artists who appear most frequently in recent years are acts such as Spoon, Kasey Musgraves, Chris Stapleton, and Gary Clark Jr.

In 2014 an Austin City Limits Hall Of Fame was established, and the annual special which honors each year’s inductees is one of the highlights of any season. It’s no surprise that Willie Nelson was among those honored in the first class; the honor roll over the years includes many of the finest names in American music: Stevie Ray Vaughan and Townes Van Zandt, B.B. King and Rosanne Cash, The Neville Brothers and Los Lobos, Buddy Guy and Lucinda Williams, Wilco and John Prine. My Morning Jacket is the most recent honoree.

ACL just completed season #51. Because it airs on PBS there must be at least a bit of trepidation surrounding its future due to reduced funding for public television. I don’t think there is much reason to worry; the show has an affluent audience base so I suspect it does well during pledge season. Anyone who wants a good sampling of the history of American music would be well served by dipping into the archives of this show.

Closing Laughs

Time to put a bow on this package for another day. Thanks as always for tuning in, you guys rock! Have a most outstanding day, and I will see you all again on Wednesday.