Geek love

We are a day late and a dollar short (OK, more like thousands of days late) , but after having just finished watching the first and only season of "Freaks and Geeks" on DVD, I have to give props to this truly amazing show. I watched the first few episodes when it originally aired, but I'm guessing my work schedule or somesuch got in the way.

The show captures the horrors, awkwardness and occasional joys of adolescence and constantly takes surprising, endearing turns. The cast is terrific; the music is great; the opening credits are fun to watch every single time.

It's hard to believe that such a quality show didn't make it past one season, especially considering how much crap is on TV. I didn't want the final episode to come and was sad when it did. I'm sure it was a thousand times worse for the people who were hooked when it was on TV.

Next up for us is "Undeclared," involving some of the same players. I watched more episodes of it when it was on TV but don't remember a lot about it.

Speaking of projects with surprising turns, I'm crossing my fingers for "Crash," my favorite movie of last year. The only other best-picture contenders I've seen are "Brokeback Mountain" and "Good Night, and Good Luck." I thought "Brokeback" was overrated; "Good Night" was well done and worthy of the Oscar attention but is no "Crash" in my book. Still want to see "Capote" and have little interest in "Munich" but can't imagine either of them would affect me like "Crash" did.

I would also love to see Matt Dillon win; he has such a great body of work, dating back to "Over the Edge" (1979) and the sentimental favorite "Little Darlings" (1980). He's also in 1995's "To Die For," one of my all-time faves, and is over the top in "There's Something About Mary" (1998).