Freaks and Geeks.

One of my favorite series is Freaks and Geeks. It wasn't very popular at the time and only ran for one season, but over time it became a cult classic. It also launched the careers of actors such as Seth Rogen, Jason Segel, and James Franco.

It is a comedy-drama set in a Michigan high school in 1980. It follows two siblings, Lindsay and Sam Weir, and portrays the awkwardness of growing up with great honesty and humor—the desire to belong, falling in love, disappointing your parents, feeling like an outsider, and trying to figure out who you are.

The series was produced by Judd Apatow, who fought hard to prevent its cancellation because he felt it captured a genuine truth about the teenage experience.

During a meeting with NBC executives when the show was at risk of being cancelled, he was told the characters needed fewer failures and more wins. Apatow refused, because for them, failure was the story itself.

The goal was to show how teenagers face failure and difficult experiences, and how they manage to get through them with the support of friends and family.

And that is precisely what makes the series feel so real.

Many teen shows were built around clear-cut victories: the nerd gets the girl, the outsider becomes popular, or the underdog team wins the game.

But life doesn’t always work that way.

Sometimes you finally go out with the person you’ve been obsessed with for so long, only to discover you don’t actually like them that much. Or you audition for the band you’ve always dreamed of playing in, and realize you aren’t quite the musician you thought you were.

Life is full of failures. Victory lies in having people to help us get through them. A difficult experience can, over time—and with your people by your side—turn into a story you tell, one you can even laugh about.

That’s what Freaks and Geeks is all about.

The show doesn’t tell you, “Don’t worry, everything will turn out fine.” It tells you, “Sometimes, things won’t turn out fine.” But you’ll have your people, you’ll laugh, and you’ll make it through.

Paul Feig, the show’s creator, wrote Freaks and Geeks based on many of his own high school experiences. He couldn’t find a show that reflected what that time had been like for him, so he decided to write one that did.

It wasn’t about showing grand victories, but rather real ones: having your people with you during the tough times, getting through them together, and keeping your sense of humor along the way.

So, if we don’t have as many victories as we’d like, let’s remember that victory might not always lie in things turning out the way we want, but in having someone to go through them with—and, one day, being able to turn them into a good story.

With all my love and Jai Guru Deva,

Isa