Twin "Geeks"

This has already been a strange year for cancelled and would-be cancelled TV shows. First you had the Fox network zonking Fox-produced "Harsh Realm" after three episodes, only to return with a cable offer from Fox-owned FX — much to the public displeasure of Fox-made-my-career producer Chris Carter. Recent days have seen the rescue of "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch" from an almost-certain demise, what with ABC ready to shut down its "TGIF" franchise.

And then there's the oh-so-unquiet exit of "Freaks and Geeks," a show that never drew much of a crowd but has managed to get quite a bit of attention since its cancellation last month by NBC. It started when the network pulled the plug the night before one of its stars, Linda Cardellini, was to appear on David Letterman's show, ostensibly to promote "Freaks and Geeks." Cardellini went on "Late Show" anyway and recounted getting the fateful phone call the night before. Then an Internet journalist, Gist's Christine Champagne, launched a campaign to save the show. It's not unusual for a TV publication to toot the horn of worthy series, but Champagne is the first I can recall who went to the mat for a show after it was canned.

Now comes the most interesting twist in the "Freaks" cause celebre: The Museum of Television & Radio will air all 18 episodes of the show this month in New York and next month in Los Angeles, including six never-before-seen episodes. Executive producers Judd Apatow and Paul Feig, along with various cast members, will introduce the unseen episodes in person at the New York museum on April 30 and the Los Angeles museum on May 13. If you miss those dates, the episodes will be available in the viewing carrels for a few days afterwards.

All this while the company producing "Freaks and Geeks," DreamWorks, continues to shop the show around to potential buyers. In truth, if another network picks up the show, it will likely have a few tweaks for "Freaks and Geeks" that would confine this season's episodes to the dustbin of history. So showing the episodes now is not a bad decision, and could even generate a new wave of positive press for the show.

But a pickup by another network? Don't hold your breath. A year ago, an unnamed NBC executive was said to have remarked after screening "Freaks and Geeks" for the first time, "There goes 10 years of therapy down the drain." No kidding. In the eyes of some viewers "Freaks and Geeks" is an earnest, painfully funny look back at that time in every kid's life when he goes from being a child to being not quite an adult. The potent mix of hormones, curiosity and school create a social reaction — not unlike the volatile but harmless concoctions cooked up in 8th-grade chemistry class. But apparently a lot more viewers are like me: They already went through middle school once in life, and that was one time too many.

Gist's Champagne rounds up all the endangered series

Pick To Click: On the road again with Jay

Several years ago ABC news reporter Jay Schadler began hitchhiking across America and asking his rides to tell him their stories. Aided by a tiny camera that mounted on the windshield — and by countless people willing to bare their souls to such questions as "Do you have any regrets in life?" — Schadler's reports became a "20/20" highlight. Now they are a series on Bravo. Schadler spent two years creating "TaleLights" (10 p.m. Wednesdays, Bravo), an all-new compilation of reports from the road airing just before Errol Morris' intriguing "First Person" on Bravo.

Over the years dozens of local TV reporters across the country have tried to imitate Schadler's thumb-and-chat. But Schadler is the gold standard. He instinctively knows when to assent to his rides' opinions or challenge them. Tonight a trucker tries to show him the way of salvation with the reassuring words, "If you go to hell, it's not my fault," while another ride stuns Schadler by averring that the Bible forbids interracial marriage.

I asked Schadler in 1996 what kind of people pick him up. "People who have hitchhiked themselves," he said. "People who realize that they're not in control of life; life is more in control of them. They're never people in BMWs. When I see a pickup truck or old-model American car, my heart races. My odds are going up, I know it."

Visit the "Talelights" Web site

The daily digest ... for April 12, 2000: Some of you may have read the comments of Disney topper Michael Eisner a week ago regarding Internet piracy. More than a few people noted that had Eisner made the same comments regarding "VCR piracy," say, 25 years ago, and had that story been hauled out for public scrutiny today, it would've made for some awfully amusing reading. Now some joker has gone and done just that: Read this parody of Eisner's comments, circa 1973 (thanks Will Kreth for sending it) ... Speaking of the TV museum, Bravo announced Tuesday two new series including "The Museum of Television & Radio's Influences," the first regular program featuring classics from the MTVR vault. (Nick at Nite's TV Land has aired occasional specials in collaboration with MTVR.) Alan Alda hosts the series, which looks at previous works of prominent TV writers, directors, actors and comedians, including Tracey Ullman, David Chas, Tom Fontana, Tyne Daly and Marshall Herskovitz & Ed Zwick. Look for that starting Aug. 6 ...

Paul Newman sits down with David Letterman on the "Late Show" tonight, which happens to be Dave's 53rd birthday. Pearl Jam is the musical guest and by the way, are you noticing that Dave has music on his show these days whenever he pleases? ... Finally, I swear this is only for posterity: Here's the writeup of my winning the Maxwell Media Award that appeared in Tuesday's Kansas City Star. You wouldn't believe the trophy I got — it's massive and definitely distinctive. (Hint: it looks like I.M. Pei designed it. Another hint: several people have already advised me, "Don't leave that on a chair!").

Previously on TV Barn:
11 April: "Star Trek" protests
10 April: Zehme on Letterman
7 April: CBS's loaded sked; "Phantom Menace" on video
6 April: ReplayTV and TiVo
5 April: "Wonderland" protests; Fox hits new low
4 April: "Falcone" v. "Sopranos"; new sci-fi stars
3 April: iCraveTV; BET v. Univision
31 March: Video kiosks; Tavis Smiley; Peabody Awards; quit griping about Oscar

Coming up next ... subject to last-minute changes:
Thursday: Reader mail

On this date... in 1997, seeking to dig its Saturday night ratings out of the graveyard, ABC launches two new dramas which sadly are both dead on arrival: "Leaving L.A." (the wacky adventures of morgue workers) and an anthology featuring the adventures of a pearl-handled "Gun." On "Leaving L.A." (originally titled "Exit Elves"), stars Christopher Meloni and Melina Kanakaredes take on the "ex-file" of an obsessed roller-skating instructor, while perky lab technician (and future Oscar winner Hilary Swank) befriends a widower. On "Gun," our title character is bought at a pawn shop and used in an aborted convenience store robbery before falling into the hands of a "struggling actor," coincidentally played by the then-not-struggling Daniel Stern, who uses it to fend off the kidnapping of his son. -- Tom Heald

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