MovieChat Forums > Freaks and Geeks (1999) Discussion > Geek Gets *spoilers*

Geek Gets spoilers

posted 9 years ago by lenlarga
8 replies | jump to latest

Geek Gets Cheerleader- How realistic was this storyline in everyone's opinion?

I can only speak of my own high school experience- a real pretty, popular high school cheerleader might be friends with a geek, they might hang out with a geek, they might even kiss the geek in a drunken stupor, but I never ran across the case where one of the popular cheerleaders would openly date a geek and let everyone in the school know it.

What I saw that was much more common was for a geek to get a crush on one of the pretty popular girls, make friends with said girl, then later realize said girl was 'out of their league', and go on to date someone 'in their league'.

Of course, after high school, things gradually change and like Neil's brother, I saw plenty of geeks or former geeks get the 'beautiful girl' after high school, where the peer pressure of the various social groups is no longer as much of a factor.

So Sam getting Cindy to like him didn't ring true to me. One other aspect of the story rang very true though- the part of the story where the person you think you desire turns out to have nothing in common with you and you quickly lose your attraction for them, as you realize it takes more than good looks to make someone a good girlfriend or boyfriend.

Although I have to admit, I didn't like the way they turned Cindy from the "Nice Girl" to the "Shallow, Mean (and I guess Needy) Girl" over the course of just one episode. I guess it's true we didn't really get to know Cindy very well in the previous episodes, but I thought they changed her personality too suddenly and abruptly. Then again, that may be because they had to wrap the storylines up because they knew the show was canceled.

Disclaimer: I still have yet to see the final episode, so there may be more light shed on the Sam-Cindy relationship, but I get the feeling that storyline ended with the penultimate episode.

[–] Ch_Kings 9 years ago

Well, personally i think it's nice that even "realistic" tv-shows like F&G have a touch of unrealistic bits in them. I do however find it odd with the cheerleaders in that show. In one of the episodes they talk about Cindy being out of their league, but Maureen and that Cheerleader boss was within their league. They also came running to the hospital in that peanut episode. What a sudden turn of even, did not make sense. Maureen is probably the hottest cheerleader, and the blond one is their leader. Within one episode they where acting like that? Nah..

The more realistic "unrealistic" part would have been having one of the populare cheerleader falling in love with one of the geeks and being really insecure about it. Maybe trying to hide it, be really mean in school and apologize it when they're alone, and then repeat it when their back at school again. That would have been some nice love drama to spike the show up a bit.

Anyways, i don't know how realistic shows and movies portray high school in USA though. In my country school was never split up like that in social groups. Maybe because we dont have school teams and cheerleaders. But mostly everyone hang out with everyone.

[–] wooody 9 years ago

Whenever I talk about F&G i mention that it is comprised of 17 1/2 perfect mini-movies. This episode is the 1/2... In addition, I will never forget when Jump The Shark was still a thing. Someone posted that this episode was the one that performed the leap! I won't go that far however seeing the two cheerleaders throw themselves at Sam and Neal was a tad hokey.

Still the best series of all time!

[–] Ch_Kings 9 years ago

Well, i've just finished all 18 episodes now, and i can see why you like it. I personally loved the last episode where Daniel played D&D with the "geeks". I find that kind off realistic anyways. Daniel doesnt seem like he care about what people think about him, and it doesnt seem like he would let "social groups" define who he wants to hang out with anyways.

What i find a bit odd however (might be some slip up in the writing), is that during this show alot of the geeks have become accepted by the jocks and cheerleaders. Sam dated Cindy, and even Todd (maybe the most populare jock?) even stated that he likes Sam. All three of them went to a "make out" party with jocks and cheerleaders, where Bill made out with the leader. But suddently in the next episode they are being threated bad by the jocks again. Would atleast think those three would have earned enough acceptance to avvoid these scenarios, no?

Anyways, i really liked the show, and it's sad that it got cancelled. I do however still think that they could have done alot too make this show even greater.

[–] Zenkai76 9 years ago

I'm a geek and I dated a cheerleader, Real life is not like what you see in the movies.

-People sure do get angry if you don't like the same things they do

[–] wooody 9 years ago

Congrats to you!

[–] dksmith1977 8 years ago

If I remember the audio commentaries they originally planned to have all the geeks break out of their "geeky" roles, but over the course of several seasons. When it became obvious that they would only have one season, the writers decided to just go ahead and explore those ideas.

[–] TwistHer 8 years ago

In The Little Things episode after Sam broke up with Cindy, she says Sam was supposed to be a nice guy and that's why she was going out with him in the first place.

They were friends or at least acquaintances before and when Cindy broke up with Todd (who was after "only one thing") Sam was there consoling her, so maybe it was kinda easy way to go... And Cindy never seemed to be ashamed to be buddies with the "geeky" Sam.

[–] Cloudburst2000 8 years ago

I know a girl who was home coming queen at her school...prom queen too. In high school, she dated and eventually married an overweight boy with bright red hair. They had been best friends since they were toddlers and she didn't care that he wasn't popular.