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April1st

23 Comments

PMC 38: Freaks and Geeks

Posted in: Podcast

Freaks and Geeks cast Samm Levine, Sarah Hagan, Natasha Melnick and Steve Bannos

Cole, Vanessa and four terrific cast members from the beloved series “Freaks & Geeks”—Samm Levine (Neil Schweiber), Sarah Hagan (Millie Kentner), Natasha Melnick (Cindy Sanders), and Steve Bannos (Mr. Kowchevski) talk American Idol, fireplace wasps, tailoring emergencies, Jennifer Hudson’s Oscar, the Black Swanstroversy, The Missing Bus episode, James Franco’s insane behavior, sideshow freaks vs. math geeks, Icebreakers Sours, the Fifth Element and Naima, inter-show softball, Dirk Nowitzki’s similarity to the Norseman’s Head, and Vanessa’s attraction to Perry Mason and Norm MacDonald.

Leave your answer to the firsts question (your first celebrity crush) on the comments section of the episode for a chance to win a Freaks and Geeks Scripts Book Vol. 1 signed by all of our guests!

 

Cole Stratton and Vanessa Ragland with Samm Levine, Steve Bannos, Sarah Hagan, and Natasha Melnick

23 Comments

  • Comment by Shawn Colton — April 2, 2011 @ 12:40 am

    My first celebrity crush was Lindsay Wagner followed by Lynda Carter.

  • Comment by Jonathan Figueroa — April 2, 2011 @ 10:57 am

    My first celebrity crush was Avril Lavigne.

  • Comment by Caroline — April 2, 2011 @ 11:25 am

    My first celebrity crush was Seth Green.

  • Comment by Frank Pulaski — April 2, 2011 @ 12:37 pm

    My first celebrity crush was Alyssa Milano during “Who’s the Boss”.
    I loved Freaks and Geeks and loved this episode. Thank You! I first watched Freaks on ABC Family in 2001, not knowing that it was already canceled and that it only ran for one season, so when I realized this, I was sad 🙁 One of my favorite TV shows of all times, thanks again for the podcast!

  • Comment by Bryan_ — April 2, 2011 @ 1:20 pm

    My first celebrity crush was Amanda Bynes from All That. I’m younger than her so it’s not weird. This was an awesome show!

  • Comment by Henrik — April 2, 2011 @ 1:50 pm

    My first celebrity crush was the female host of a show called Popular Mechanics for Kids, a relatively unknown lady known as Elisha Cuthbert. Also, for some Apatow tie-in, Jay Baruchel was the other host on PMK, who of course played Steve in Undeclared. Fantastic episode as usual amigos!

  • Comment by Brendan — April 2, 2011 @ 2:15 pm

    Great show. I can never forgive Cindy Sanders for not finding The Jerk funny.

    I’m a little younger than most of the people on the show but my first crushes were collectively The Spice Girls. Ginger > Posh > Baby > Scary > Sporty. Yup.

  • Comment by Lauren — April 3, 2011 @ 10:37 am

    Elijah Wood in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn/The Good Son. Oh yes. I watched The Good Son at a sleepover (clearly a terrific movie for a bunch of 11 year old girls to watch), and it solidified my love. I remember writing him a fan letter, and being devastated when I never received a reply. When Fellowship of the Ring came out, my mom, as a joke, got me a Frodo action figure. (I MIGHT still have it…)

  • Comment by Lauren — April 3, 2011 @ 11:41 am

    First celebrity crush: Lou Diamond Phillips (when he was in La Bamba)!

  • Comment by Grant — April 3, 2011 @ 12:16 pm

    Genna Davis circa League of Their Own (it’s because of her I have a thing for red heads)

  • Comment by Brett D. — April 3, 2011 @ 12:52 pm

    Amazing Show. As far as I can remember my first celebrity crush was Jessica Alba from Idle Hands.

  • Comment by brian — April 3, 2011 @ 12:53 pm

    My first celebrity crush was Marcia Brady when I watched the Brady Bunch in syndication as a child.

    Of course, I didn’t realize at the time that although she may have appeared 16 on my TV screen, she was in her late 20’s in actuality.

  • Comment by Ben — April 3, 2011 @ 9:14 pm

    I grew up without a television and in a family of eight children, so movie outings were scarce and media wasn’t plentiful. Perhaps that does or doesn’t excuse the fact that, as a young teen, my first celebrity crush was Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, after seeing her in The Abyss and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves in quick succession. I was always disappointed in Maid Marion’s transformation from uber-competent swordstress at her introduction, to hapless, candle-waving victim at the end, but it didn’t stop the smart, resourceful version of her from sparking my inner fires.

  • Comment by FRANK — April 3, 2011 @ 11:27 pm

    Punky Brewster, in 1st grade, after confessing my love for her to a classmate, he told me Punky was his cousin, and he would arrange for her to come pick me up in her limo that night and I waited for hours….never to be picked up by my love….in my heart, I’m still hoping she’ll come for me….

  • Comment by Thomas — April 4, 2011 @ 1:01 am

    My first celebrity crush that I remember was Carly Pope, who played Sam on Popular, because of her dark hair and expressive face, as well as the fact she was Canadian. I also probably projected Sam’s intelligence, independence and stubbornness onto Carly, which made her even more attractive.

    Thanks to F&G alum for taking the time to do the podcast and for a great episode.

  • Comment by Michael S. — April 4, 2011 @ 9:05 am

    My first celebrity crush came around 1994. I was 13 years old. It’s a tossup between Sandra Bullock and Demi Moore.

    After seeing Speed, Demolition Man, and The Net, I grasped this sort of sweet, girl-next-door vibe from Sandra Bullock. This wore off by 1997 or so.

    Demi Moore has that dark black hair and raspy voice, and those features still drive me wild to this day. When I found out about Striptease, I made it my mission to see that movie. This was of course problematic because the movie was rated R and I was only 15 at the time it came out. The solution was to buy a ticket for another movie and then sneak in to Striptease.

    The first time I tried this, I said I was going to see The Cable Guy. Somehow, my mother forced me into taking my little brother. The original plan was shot, and I had to see The Cable Guy.

    I had to try again another day, this time claiming to see The Nutty Professor (the Eddie Murphy version of course). I was a heavy kid back then, so when I announced my intentions to see the movie, my brother said “You’re not going to figure out the secret formula, Mike!”

    But I guess Sandra Bullock was my first real celebrity crush, but Demi Moore is my most pervasive, enduring to this day.

  • Comment by Mattamatics — April 4, 2011 @ 10:02 am

    First celebrity crush: Jennifer Love Huge- I mean Hewitt.

    Current celebrity crushes: Tom Hardy, Zooey Deschanel, Vanessa Ragland

    Great as usual… I only wish I lived on the correct coast to have been there.

  • Comment by craig — April 4, 2011 @ 1:38 pm

    my first celebrity crush was kerri green. the goonies was my favorite movie when i was little and then i saw it when i was older and…well, i realized how hot she was. i still thought stef was a boy, though.

  • Comment by NL — April 4, 2011 @ 4:14 pm

    This question was harder to answer than I originally thought it would be!

    I think my first crush was Cary Elwes, because we watched Princess Bride a gazillion times in my house.

    When I was quite a bit older, I was hugely devoted to David Duchovny. I totally could have written the “David Duchovny, Why Won’t You Love Me?” song.

    Around that same time/age, I also had a crush on Paul Sereno, who is a paleontologist. In 1995/96/97, he was in the news a lot, for discovering a ton of dinosaurs. He was even in People Magazine’s 50 Most Beautiful one year. In 1997, my parents and I were traveling to WI, with a stop over in Chicago, where Sereno was a professor. I contacted him about maybe meeting him (I had such chutzpah as a 14 year old!) He wrote back, and invited me to call him when it got closer to trip time. My mom called him for me, and I got to talk to him on the phone, and oh my god, I cried and cried and cried, and he cracked corny jokes to make me stop. Sadly, I did not get to actually meet him. But that letter and phone call sure meant a lot.

  • Comment by Jackson — April 4, 2011 @ 7:04 pm

    My first celebrity crush was Ariel from the little mermaid….don’t judge me.

  • Comment by Sifive — April 9, 2011 @ 5:20 pm

    This doesn’t really apply directly to this episode, but all of them in general. I have no association with this shirt store, but I can’t help but thinking of Vanessa’s questions on the show when I look at this shirt.

    http://bit.ly/11xgJW

    The correct answer… Yes, this is awesome. And so is the show. Keep it up.

  • Comment by Joel — April 10, 2011 @ 12:45 am

    My first celebrity crush was Madeline Kahn. She’s also the first celebrity whose death seriously bummed me out. I even wrote a screenplay for her to star in (opposite, uh, Ted Danson, who was supposedly my mom’s friend’s cousin and would therefore be almost guaranteed to finance and star in a comedy called ‘Sparky Plug: Private Detective Ex-Extraordinaire’, to be written and directed by a bookish 11 year-old who would often sit in his room and feel his first stirrings of manhood while watching the Lili von Stupp scene from ‘Blazing Saddles’ over and over again until the tracking broke).

    P.S. If I could indulge in a little bit of special pleading: the autographed script book would be a welcome home present for my friend Cate, who started the online petition that led to Freaks & Geeks getting a dvd release, and is getting back soon from spending 3 months gutting fishes for 70 hours/week on a boat in Alaska.

  • Comment by doggans — April 12, 2011 @ 4:12 pm

    Can’t remember my VERY first celebrity crush, but early TV crushes included Diane Chambers, Carmen Sandiego, and Natasha Fatale. I got over my cartoon bad girl phase, but I’m still attracted to neurotic intellectuals.

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