C has got me hooked to Freaks and Geeks, rather belatedly. We swapped "cancelled American TV series DVDs": she has my Firefly set and I have her Freaks and Geeks. Seems like a pretty fair deal.

I spent the first episode trying to work out why Lindsey seemed so familiar until I realised that she's Sam from ER. I also spent the first episode noticing that Millie showed up in Sunnydale a few years later to became a Slayer.

After that I got more settled in and watched with mildly alarmed fascination and a certain bundle of wry amusement. Yes, it's set in 1980 and therefore the freaks are bad metal heads - oh, and it's American - but the rest is totally nailed. Not just the big stuff like the inevitable angst about who said what about whom and whether the cute guy fancies you but the tiny details like the hangouts etc. (I hung out under the stairs at not one but two colleges). We didn't have the freaks or geeks tags - I suspect goths and nerds would be the closest in Brit slang of the time - but that strange borderland where you're the smart kid who starts slouching, smoking and lurking was certainly there.

Anyone who's heard me knows I get annoyed by John Hughes's teen films because the freaks end up conforming. Everyone knows Andie should have ended up with Ducky and don't even get me started on Ally Sheedy... I'm up to the end of episode 7 of Freaks and Geeks so far and the main character has moved further into Freakland whilst her brother rises out of Geekland. I love it.