Dead Dogs and Gym Teachers is the fourteenth episode of the Freaks and Geeks TV series. It was written by Judd Apatow and Bob Nickman and directed by Judd Apatow. The episode first aired on October 10, 2000.
Summary[]
Lindsay tries to convince her father to let her join her friends at a Who concert. Kim and Lindsay both accidentally run over Millie's dog, while Kim drives her parents' car there. Lindsay wants to tell Millie the truth, but Kim does not. Nick teaches himself to play guitar, and he writes a love ballad for Lindsay.
Meanwhile, Bill Haverchuck has issues with his gym coach from school dating his mother.
Plot[]
Opening on the Weirs having dinner, Lindsay asks her parents, if she can attend a concert by "The Who" with Kim Kelly, but her father is apprehensive of allowing her to go without having first hear their songs. Lindsay says she's sure it will be fine, making her father says he'll also listen to it backwards.
There is a quick scene of the geeks at gym class. Bill, hobbling back slowly from the other side of the court, is wide open, once the ball is recovered by someone on his team (Alan, the boy who put peanuts in his sandwich in the last episode, but is trying to treat him better), calls out to Bill to throw the ball all the way down court. Bill barely recovers the ball, tries to do a layup, but with an undisciplined form throws the ball up and hits the bottom of the basketball hoop. Bill shouts, "I told you not to throw it to me".
Bill's mother reveals that she has a new boyfriend that she wants to introduce to Bill. Bill is appalled to find out it's his gym teacher.
When Kim is driving Lindsay away from her house at dusk, they hear a thump against the car, but Kim dismisses it as just having been a squirrel and drives on.
Lindsay and Kim both see Millie the next day, who looks like she has been crying, so they inquire what's wrong and Millie says that someone has run over her dog, Goliath. Millie is bothered that the driver didn't even stop. They console her, and after she leaves, Lindsay tells Kim the bump they heard against the car must have been the dog, Goliath. Lindsay wants to tell Millie, but Kim is against it, saying the knowledge won't help and they will get in deep trouble.
Lindsay's parents are shown holding an album by "The Who" and begin listening to a song that has the lyrics of "mama has a squeezebox on her chest". While Lindsay's mother believes the innuendo is innocent, and that it refers to an accordion, Lindsay's father is convinced the songs references are sexual innuendo.
Bill's mother and Bill's coach both hatch a plan to take Bill to Go Cart City, for Bill to bond with his coach, but things don't go well when a race on the go carts ends in Bill being run off the track by Bill's coach.
In the Pilot episode, Lindsay revealed that she was having an existential crisis, because when Lindsay's grandmother was dying, Lindsay asked her "what do you see?" and the grandmother replied "nothing". Millie reveals that she now also is having an existential crisis confronting the death of her pet dog, Goliath, and she now understand why Lindsay was drawn to the Freaks, because Lindsay was exploring, and now Millie is spending time with Kim, also exploring.
Lindsay comes upon the Freaks, who have gathered at a bus getting ready to go to "The Who" concert. Millie's mother drives up and tries to get Millie to come with her, but she yells that she wants to try some new things and will be going to the concert.
Millie is just about to drink her first beer, at 15 years old, when Kim yells that she ran over Millie's dog Goliath. Millie, shocked by this, runs off, Lindsay runs off after her and then end up hanging out in Lindsay's bedroom, where Lindsay shows a picture of Lindsay, Millie, and Goliath from when they were much younger. Millie recalls it as the time that Goliath stole all the steaks from the grill at a picnic, and Millie's dad was very mad.
Bill's gym teacher tries to make amends with Bill in the back seat of his car, saying that he loves Bill's mother, and he doesn't want to mess things up with her. Later, when Bill's gym teacher is watching a basketball game at Bill's house, Bill's gym teacher tries to be friendly by offering to let Bill change the channel. Bill changes the channel to watch Dallas, and trying to be friendly, explains the characters to Bill's gym teacher.
Trivia/Goofs[]
- This episode was scheduled to air March 27, 2000 on NBC, but the show was canceled. Its first broadcast was October 10, 2000 on the Fox Family Channel.
- The Dallas episode that Bill and Ben are watching is entitled The Gathering Storm and aired on March 27, 1981. Unless this is a repeat (something the show rarely did), this episode is set in that date.
- The episode is set on March 27, 1981, and was scheduled to air on March 27, 2000.
- Stripes wasn't released until June 1981. That means Bill and Ben both couldn't be discussing about the movie during the 1980-1981 school year.
- In this episode, Millie says she's 15; however, in a previous episode, "Beers and Weirs", she offers someone who thinks they are drunk a ride home, which would mean she had to be at least 16. It's highly unlikely that Millie would drive without a license.
- Bill is pictured with a tub of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, which was not sold until 1986.
- Nick tells Daniel and Ken that he saw "The Who" live in Indianapolis two weeks ago. This is impossible, because "The Who" never toured the United States in 1981, and it was never played in Indianapolis until 1982.
- Millie is seen wearing a T-shirt, depicting the cover of The Who's 1994 box set, 30 years of Maximum R & B, while the episode takes place in March 1981.
- When Lindsay is talking at Goliath's funeral, she mentions that her mother would come over wearing fur boots and Goliath would hump her feet. She then goes on to mentioned that Goliath was spayed. This term is gender specific to female pets; Lindsay needed to use the term 'neutered' (although spayed and neutered are frequently interchanged and mixed up with one another).
- "The Who" only toured Europe in 1981.
Cast[]
Further to the regular cast members appearing in all the episodes, the present episode also has the following recurring cast and guest stars:
| Recurring roles | Guest stars |
|---|---|
|
Opening Credits:
Ending Credits:
|
Opening Credits:
Ending Credits:
|
Episode Soundtrack[]
| Song title | Artist | Album | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| "I'm Free" | The Who | Tommy | 1969 |
| "I'm One" | The Who | Quadrophenia | 1973 |
| "Boris the Spider" | The Who | A Quick One | 1966 |
| "Love, Reign o'er Me" | The Who | Quadrophenia | 1973 |
| "Squeeze Box" | The Who | The Who by Numbers | 1975 |
| "Going Mobile" | The Who | Who's Next | 1971 |
| "Drowned" | The Who | Quadrophenia | 1973 |
| "Michael Row the Boat Ashore" | Jason Segel, James Franco, and Seth Rogen | ||
| "Lady L" | Jason Segel | ||
| "Summer Breeze" | Seals and Crofts | Summer Breeze |
External links[]
- Dead Dogs and Gym Teachers at the IMDb
- Dead Dogs and Gym Teachers at www.tv.com
| Episodes |
|---|
| 1: Pilot - 2: Beers and Weirs - 3: Tricks and Treats - 4: Kim Kelly Is My Friend - 5: Tests and Breasts - 6: I'm with the Band - 7: Carded and Discarded - 8: Girlfriends and Boyfriends - 9: We've Got Spirit - 10: The Diary - 11: Looks and Books - 12: The Garage Door - 13: Chokin' and Tokin' - 14: Dead Dogs and Gym Teachers - 15: Noshing and Moshing - 16: Smooching and Mooching - 17: The Little Things - 18: Discos and Dragons |