PaleyFest 2011 Reunites the Casts of Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared

The good always seem to die young. Such is the case with the classic one season wonders, Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared, which were both unappreciated in their time (at least to the degree that would allow them to continue for another season) and were both executive produced by Judd Apatow. It’s no wonder he moved over into film. Considering the talent pools of both shows he had to draw from, it’s no wonder he brought many of them along to the big screen, including, most notably, Seth Rogen, Jason Segel, and Jay Baruchel. By watching either of these critically-acclaimed but ratings-deprived shows, there is no discernible reason why we never got to see more of the misadventures of Steven Karp or Lindsay and Sam Weir. Their ratings back then were something most new shows dream of nowadays. To figure it all out… where the shows came from, why they ended, and what could have happened had they continued… a reunion was certainly in order.

The Paley Center called together the casts and creators to the Saban Theater in Beverly Hills, where a sold out crowd was gathered to celebrate Apatow’s glorious television failures. And I mean that in a good way. I’ve been to a number of PaleyFest events, but I don’t think I’ve ever laughed as hard as I did for the Freaks and Geeks/Undeclared Reunion gathering. Sure, some of the cast members might have been a little tipsy, but it only broke down any inhibitions they might have had in opening up about their times on set. We heard the story of Samm Levine’s Shatner impression during his audition, Amy Poehler making out with Loudon Wainwright, Linda Cardellini breaking down in tears after seeing the pilot, who the network wouldn’t let play Steven Karp, James Franco flipping out and knocking over Busy Philipps, and tons more. The pictures and video below tell the story much better. I uploaded 26 different videos from the event. Check them out here.