Freaks and Geeks - Homecoming
Freaks And Geeks is set in 1980, but as a teen myself some two decades later during its run, the show—and in particular, Lindsay’s (Linda Cardellini) outlook—really captured what high school felt like. (There was a point when, like Lindsay, I too would have only attended the Homecoming dance under duress and probably would’ve worn a green army jacket.) But there’s a sweetness going on in the Homecoming-set final moments of Freaks And Geeks’ pilot that I’d love to witness, as Sam (John Francis Daley) adorably and nervously asks Cindy (Natasha Melnick) to dance, thinking Styx’s “Come Sail Away” is a slow song the whole way through. (Styx happened to play my father’s prom in the ’70s, so I’m probably unpacking some extra emotional baggage watching the scene unfold.) It isn’t, but the rocking out bit of that very long number proves the perfect euphoric note to end on, with Lindsay, not at all nervously but just as adorably, asking Eli (Ben Foster—yes, the Ben Foster), who’s still nursing the arm she inadvertently broke, to dance as well. [Tim Lowery]