TTH 6/22/26

Freaks and Geeks Rewatch - Chokin’ and Tokin’

This episode, which was the last one that NBC aired during its initial run before burning off the remainder on basic cable, might not have been the best one, but it did contain the widest range of emotions. As Stefon might say, it has everything. We finally meet Bill’s mother, we experience the joys of Linda Cardellini playing stoned, a previously one-dimensional antagonist explains why he is the way he is, Maureen returns, Millie once again demonstrates how good of a person she is underneath her sanctimony, and we are introduced to another teacher portrayed by a soon to be familiar face. That’s a lot to unpack, so let’s get to it.

The Lindsay/Nick dynamic is still weird. It appears that they are once again dating, or at the very least circling around each other. She admonishes him for constantly being stoned, but he explains that he needs to indulge as much as he can before report cards come in and he would face discipline over his poor grades. It’s at this point where his usual pot connection tells him that his stash is empty. Nick now has no choice but to clear his head until the supply chain is once again active.

The geeks are seen in a social studies class in which Bill has an obvious crush on the teacher (Leslie Mann!) They bond when she sneezes in class, explaining that her allergies are bothering her. Bill goes on to list his allergies, including a deadly peanut allergy. When the class laughs at him, he mentions that all of his classmates have a medical condition of some type, such as Neal’s psoriasis. Sam and Neal were not happy that Bill dragged them into the conversation, in fact they bail on the science fiction convention they were all planning on attending this weekend, stating that instead they were going to go to a cheerleading competition where they could watch Maureen and Vicki. (Interesting. The last time we saw Vicki she was pummeling Neal after the mascot fiasco. Now they seem to be on friendly terms?)

Nick with a clear head is getting himself together without weed; while shooting hoops with Lindsay she reminds him that he used to be a good basketball player. Nick doesn’t feel like himself; he begs Daniel to share some of his supply, which Daniel refuses to do. Daniel has been on an existential downturn; he decides he should simply dispose of the pot he has in his locker. Ken tries to convince him that this is a waste and that Daniel should give it to him instead. As they are bickering while Daniel is holding a big bag of weed in his hands, Mr. Rosso catches them, confiscates the contraband, and tells them he wants to see them in his office. Nothing too consequential happens, it is more of a Scared Straight moment as Rosso introduced Daniel and Ken to a burned out former student as a warning of what their futures might look like if they don’t get their acts together.

Alan is certain that Bill is overdramatizing his afflictions, so to prove that he is a liar he takes advantage of a moment when Bill steps away from his cafeteria table and sneaks a couple of peanuts into his sandwich. It only takes one bite until he is wheeled out on a hospital gurney, after which the scene shifts to the hospital, where all anyone can do is wait to hear word while doctors work to save Bill’s life. Maureen and Vicki race to the hospital to offer support to Sam and Neal. As they receive warm hugs, Sam and Neal give each other an “is this actually happening?” look.

By this juncture of the series we have known little about Bill’s home life other than that his mother is a MILF and his father is so far removed from the picture that Bill goes months at a time without seeing or hearing from him. Jean attempts to comfort Bill’s mom (Claudia Christian) but Mrs. Haverchuck feels guilty, believing that the fact she partied so much during her pregnancy made her responsible for his medical issues. Jean points out that every parent makes mistakes; she had once dropped Sam on his head when he was only 4 months old.

Nick finally hits paydirt; his supplier has a new stash. He warns Nick that this is a particularly potent blend and that he should be careful. Lindsay is livid; after an argument he says that he can go without if he wanted to and as proof he gives his new bag of weed to Lindsay for safekeeping. Back at the Weir house Lindsay stares at the bag with curiosity. After a funny montage in which she makes several poor attempts at rolling a joint, Harold returns home to find a clearly baked Lindsay. (She must have done a great job of odor control.) He reminds her that she has a babysitting job, which puts her in a state of panic. How can she care for a child in her condition?

At the hospital, Alan enters accompanied by his angry father, where he confesses to pulling the prank and apologizes for not grasping the seriousness of Bill’s allergies. Mrs. Haverchuck wasn’t having it; the severity of Bill’s condition was still very much up in the air. Alan sneaks into the hospital room when everyone else is distracted. He begs a comatose Bill not to die, and then brings up a story of when the geeks had snubbed him back in 4th grade. It seems that he loves the same nerdy stuff that they do, but they did not include him when they were shooting model rockets. This turned out to be his super villain origin story; his response was to mercilessly torment them years later.

Lindsay recruits Millie to help her out on the babysitting gig. Millie quickly figures out why, asking Lindsay “are you on the pot?” Lindsay denies this, but Millie is not as sheltered as she appears to be. “I know what a high person looks like. I went to a Seals & Crofts concert last year.” After they successfully put the little tyke to bed following a game of hide & seek which puts Lindsay into a panic, they share a warm moment when Millie pops a Mac Davis 8-track tape into the stereo. Lindsay reminisces over how close their friendship used to be. Millie sadly states that when Lindsay comes down from her high she will have largely forgotten about the evening and that their relationship will revert back to the co-dependency which they currently share. Lindsay denies this, saying that they will be best friends forever, but Millie is too wise to believe this.

Meanwhile, Bill is gonna be OK. Alan visits him to offer another apology, this time with his usual bluster. Bill informs him that he heard everything Alan had said while he was unconscious and invites him to attend the science fiction convention. (Bill’s coma was enough to repair the temporary rift with Sam and Neal. They assured him that there was no place they would rather be than with him at the convention.) Alan angrily says that there was no way he was going to spend a Saturday with those losers, but Bill knows better. He tells them that they will be leaving from Sam’s house in the morning and that he should be there if he wants to join them.

The episode ends with the geeks all costumed up and ready to go. Sam is dressed as Luke Skywalker, Bill as the Tom Baker iteration of Doctor Who, and Neal as Yoda. Gordon is not in costume yet, he says that he will change in the car so that he won’t look stupid by parading around all day in a costume. Alan approaches on his bicycle; as he sees the scene from a distance he tells himself that he just can’t do it and pedals away before anyone sees him.

One final note - in this week’s look at pop culture of the time there is a scene in which the Weirs are eating ice cream while watching TV together. They settle on watching Charlie’s Angels. Harold asks Sam who his favorite character is, and he replies by saying Bosley, because he’s funny. This horrifies Harold. Bosley may be funny, but he’s no Kate Jackson.

Looking At Some Numbers

We have reached the portion of this project which contains the most revered number in Mets history along with a number which has been retired league wide. Without further ado here is the next set of winners in the search to determine the greatest Met to wear each number.

40 - The most consequential Met to wear #40 is Calvin Schiraldi, but he made his impact whilst pitching for the Red Sox. The real winner is one of the most fun players in recent franchise history, Big Sexy himself, Bartolo Colón. His historic home run should have been the precise moment when MLB instituted the universal DH. What pitcher at bat could possibly top that? Not much to choose from in determining a runner-up. I’ll go with Pat Zachry. He at least once made the All-Star Game. No need to discuss the circumstances which brought him to Shea in the first place.

41 - Fine, Zachry was part of the return in the Tom Seaver trade. Seaver is unequivocally the greatest Met of them all, there’s a good reason why his nickname was The Franchise. He was the first Mets player to have his number retired, and the first man to enter the Hall Of Fame as a Met. It’s nearly impossible to imagine anyone ever surpassing his legacy. Only 5 men wore 41 before he did, none of whom made any sort of impact, so in Seaver’s honor I will leave the runner-up spot vacant.

42 - Only 10 players wore #42 before the number was retired league wide to honor Jackie Robinson. With all due respect to the quintessential backup catcher, Ron Hodges, this choice comes down to relief pitchers from each of the team’s 2 World Series rosters. Roger McDowell pitched heroically in the 1986 playoff run, which is enough to place him above runner-up Ron Taylor. For the record, Mo Vaughn was the final Met to wear 42, he was among the players who was grandfathered into being allowed to continue to wear 42.

43 - R.A. Dickey’s brief run as one of the most dominant pitchers in the game was as enjoyable as it was unexpected. Knuckleball pitchers are always a treat to watch, the fact that the velocity on his knuckler was considerably higher than the standard knuckleball speed made it even better. He is also a fascinating guy; much more well-read than the typical professional athlete, and he once made an ascent of Mt. Kilimanjaro as part of a charitable event. That is enough to give him the nod ahead of another one of the 1969 heroes, Jim McAndrew.

The Loss Of A GOAT

Because there is so much subjectivity involved in analyzing creative arts, it is extremely rare when a single individual is almost universally praised as the greatest ever in their particular craft. James Burrows, who died on Friday, was one such person. Considered to be the master of directing multi-camera sitcoms, his résumé is staggering in both its depth and quality.

Unlike movies, television directors are seldom as well known. In TV, the spotlight shines much more brightly on show runners than it does for directors. Burrows was an exception, his fingerprints are all over many of TV history’s most acclaimed sitcoms, and seeing his name in the credits was a sure sign that this show was in good hands. The secret to great comedy is timing, and Burrows was a master at setting the proper pace. As for his body of work, wow. He began his career directing a handful of episodes for the likes of The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Bob Newhart Show among others, but he cemented his legacy towards the end of the 1970’s.

It is impossible for me to rank the greatest sitcoms of all-time; there is too much of an apples to oranges comparison involved. If pressed, I would place The Simpsons & Seinfeld 1-2, and I could make the strong case for Taxi & Cheers at 3-4. Burrows directed the vast majority of Taxi episodes, including the one which contains its most legendary scene. He co-created Cheers, once again directing the overwhelming majority of episodes.

As if that wasn’t enough, he helmed a significant number of the early Frasier episodes, establishing the show’s look, as well as every single episode of Will & Grace, including its revival. He was highly in demand when it came to filming pilots, most famously Friends. If you wanted a guy to create a show’s aesthetic which would hopefully last for years to come, he would be the first guy to call. It’s no accident that weeks before his death an episode of The Comeback aired in which he appeared as himself, an episode in which Valerie Cherish recruited him to help salvage the new sitcom in which she starred. Burrows was 85 and he departs as one of the true giants in the American entertainment industry.

TV Of the 21st Century - Six Feet Under

There have been several TV series which had similar arcs as Six Feet Under. At its inception, it was thrilling and different, taking a unique approach to storytelling. It lost steam after a couple of years. The characters were so self-absorbed to the point of exhaustion. Once an end date for the series was determined, the producers knew exactly how much time was left to tell the story and the show regained its footing with a major creative resurgence in its final season. That culminated with an all-timer of a series finale, more specifically, an emotionally devastating final montage.

The series premiere wasted no time in establishing the central premise. Nathaniel Fisher (Richard Jenkins) the founder of the Fisher & Sons funeral home is killed only a few minutes into the show’s beginning when a bus crashes into his hearse. This happens just as oldest son Nate (Peter Krause) is returning home for the holidays; at the airport he shares a little afternoon delight with Brenda (Rachel Griffiths) a woman whom he had met on the plane and would become his partner. The other Fishers are matriarch Ruth (Frances Conroy,) middle son David (Michael C. Hall,) and teen daughter Claire (Lauren Ambrose.)

Nathaniel has bequeathed the business to his two sons, much to the chagrin of David, who had been a loyal employee while Nate had left town and felt he was entitled to sole ownership. Insert prodigal son parallels. A lot of the early episodes involved the Fisher family dealing with Nathaniel’s untimely death. Uptight Ruth was slowly learning to enjoy life as a series of male suitors tried to gain her affection. She would eventually wed a character portrayed by James Cromwell. Nate did some investigating into the secret side life that his father was leading, while he was also conversing with his dad’s ghost. Angsty Claire, who had little interest in joining the family business, explored her artistic side.

Meanwhile, resentful David was a (barely) closeted gay man. He routinely introduced his lover Keith (Matthew St. Patrick) as his “raquetball partner.” As he came out to his family one by one there were certainly tinges of “why did you wait so long to tell us something so obvious?” to their reactions. The cast also included Rico (Freddy Rodriguez) a mortician who Nathaniel had hired as a teen and was almost a surrogate son. A key component of his arc was his anger towards the Fisher sons as he realized they did not consider him a part of the family to the same extent that their father had.

The show’s signature framing device was that each episode would begin with a death scene. The nature of the death was most often closely connected to the central theme of the episode. Those scenes could sometimes be morbidly funny, sometimes indescribably tragic. (There was one involving a crib death which was too depressing for words.) Nothing topped the one which involved a truck filled with inflatable sex dolls which accidentally released its payload, leading an evangelical woman to believe she was witnessing the rapture, after which she walked into traffic.

There were many other recognizable names who appeared as recurring characters, such as Kathy Bates as Ruth’s sister, Jeremy Sisto as Brenda’s bipolar brother, Justine Machado as Rico’s wife, and Rainn Wilson as a young funeral home employee who became infatuated with Ruth, among others. The one huge drawback to the show is that the Fisher family could often be a little too irritating to wish to spend so much time with. As I said, the creative staff found a good way to tie things together well in the end. I won’t say much for fear of spoiling things, but there were few shows which ended more perfectly. As one of the regulars entered a new stage in life, a song from Sia accompanied a montage which showed how each character would ultimately die. For a show which always began with the depiction of a death, it was fitting that it would end with depictions of the fates of people we had grown to know over the years. And just like the tone of each episode intro could vary widely, so too did the tone surrounding the ends of the Fishers and their companions. They ranged from comical to poignant to terribly sad. Six Feet Under was not as consistently A-level as some of the other shows from the “It’s Not TV, It’s HBO” era were, but at its heights it was damn good.

Originally aired on: HBO

Currently streaming on: HBO Max

Closing Laughs

And that’s a wrap. Hope everyone had a great weekend. Why not keep the momentum going and have a great day today as well? Thanks for joining the club, and please be sure to hit the “like” and “share” buttons. We’ll talk again on Wednesday.