Freaks and Geeks and Euphoria offer stark generational looks at high school life

Freaks and Geeks aired for one season on NBC in 1999. It was a nostalgic look at the life of high schoolers in 1980. There is nothing nostalgic about the stark take on modern-day teenagers in Max's Euphoria. The 40-year difference in timeline settings is unsettling at best and frightening at its worst.

Freaks and Geeks had 18 episodes and there are 19 (so far) of Euphoria. It doesn't seem like there were nearly enough episodes of the former, and it feels like a mental overload of the latter.

The tone of these two shows is completely different. Freaks and Geeks is supposed to be nostalgic, but it does offer realism of the time. Euphoria often seems to shock audiences intentionally, but still with a significant degree of modern realism. What is real in the contemporary world would not have seemed remotely possible to the earlier generation of teens. What was real in the past now seems quaint and innocent, but there is little innocence in today's world.

Generational differences between Freaks and Geeks and Euphoria

It is a fact that the differences in life in high school in 1980 were widely different than they are now. In 1980, there were no cell phones, no computers, no internet, and no social media. There weren't cameras in every facet of one's life to record mistakes made. People learned the news of the days in the evenings from their local networks, of which there were three.

Today, teens have never lived in a private world. They begin using computers and phones at an early age and are seldom separated from instantaneous news on the internet for very long. Prevalent social media use has made a generation of children unsocial. Conversations take place in texts and chat rooms. People often meet online before in person. There is a disconnection from the normal social interactions that helped develop those who grew up in the eighties.

The world in 1980 was a huge place. Today's world is tiny. Looking at life in 1980, one can see a degree of innocence that doesn't exist in the world now. The modern generation of kids have lived their whole lives with the fear that someone may show up at their school that day and starting shooting people. That did not exist in 1980.

Some things existed in high school in both worlds. Sex and drugs existed on Freaks and Geeks, though they were merely hinted at on the show. Family dysfunction exists. Teens rebelled against their parents and teachers. While Freaks and Geeks idealizes the time period, it also doesn't shy away from topics like sex, drugs, cheating, and parental indescreation.

On Euphoria, drugs, sex, and nudity seem a way of life. It's often public via the internet. For some teens, it all seems natural. For others, it is forced upon them, and they must adjust. Some can't handle their world. Medication for teens is rampant, legal and otherwise.

In 1980, the most common medication someone might take was aspirin. The drugs were marijuana, amphetamines, and maybe some acid (LSD). Now, who knows? Marijuana, ecstasy, fentanyl, and who knows what else. And that doesn't include the legal medications for depression, ADHD, bipolar, asthma, and any number of other disorders. Those things existed in 1980 but were seldom diagnosed or treated in teenagers. They probably weren't as rampant as today.

In Freaks and Geeks, adults served as more positive role models. Parents and teachers were allowed to discipline kids when necessary. Even if parents couldn't track their children as they can now, the parents usually knew who their teens were hanging out with. They may not have known exactly what they were doing, but they knew who it was with.

The Wier family was undoubtedly an idealized version of a 1980 family. The dad was a gruff, but kind-hearted blue-collar man, and the mom was a proud housewife who ran the household and made sure meals were on the table at an appointed time. Some of the adults and parents in the show were realistic - abusive, hard-nosed, tough rule-setters. They aren't present in the lives of their children except in an almost diffident way. Cal Jacobs is a downright evil parent in an evil world, warping his son as time passes.

The problems and topics portrayed in Freaks and Geeks are realistic for the time. I know this because, like the character Sam Wier, I entered high school at 14 in 1980. The issues that beset teens in that time seem tame compared to what teens go through today. Our society has not been kind to our youngest generation. The world our children must now navigate is much darker, much more challenging, and more dangerous, mentally and physically than the world was in 1980.

Freaks and Geeks is a joy to watch. While it does idealize some things, it also shows how things were in 1980. Euphoria is frightening to watch. It's almost painful to imagine teens going through what they must go through now. You feel like you can't look away, and the characters draw you into their world of pain and anguish. The most significant difference between the two worlds is the loss of innocence from 1980 to 2020. That innocence just doesn't exist in today's teens, and it is sad and almost overwhelming.

Freaks and Geeks is a show that almost anyone can enjoy. Euphoria is not for everyone. Both have value in how they portray specific periods, but one is a show you can watch with your kids, and one is a show you hope your children never see, and that is exaggerated. Don't be sure that it is.