Freaks Star Bounces Back

In a town where even the worst role gets the response, "Hey, at least you're working," Freaks and Geeks star Linda Cardellini might add, "Hey, at least I'm canceled." It seems her show, despite its lackluster ratings and bet-you-can't-find-it-now scheduling, is helping her just the same.

"A lot of people who listen to the critics and a lot of people who have a chance to see a lot of television and all the things that are out there really respect our show," the actress told assembled reporters at the Television Critics Association press tour in Pasadena, CA. "I'd been working for a little bit of time before this and really hadn't been noticed. Suddenly now, people are taking notice and it's been really wonderful for my career."

More people will take notice now that, as TV Guide Online reported, Fox Family has picked up multiyear rights to the 18 Freaks episodes originally produced for NBC (three of which were never aired). Fox Family would love to produce new episodes, but that's a long shot, given the hefty price tag for such an effort. To hear executive producers Judd Apatow and Paul Feig tell it, though, if the story ends there, that'll do.

"We've always assumed that we would be a one-season show, just based on the way things were going [at NBC] and since there were no rats being eaten or anything like that," Apatow said. "So we designed the show like it was an 18-episode mini-series and we really feel like we have closure in the work and the way we told the stories. And now it's just, we want to get it out there so people can see it."

Would the two work with NBC again, given all the scheduling frustration? "If you refuse to work for anyone who is annoying in this business, you certainly won't work, so God bless them," Apatow quipped. "They could be annoying on one thing and great on the next thing. If our numbers [were] slightly higher, they may have been fine with it. You don't even really know who canceled you. It could be coming from some GE executive who was offended by a pot reference."