Judd Apatow says turning down MTV's 'Freaks and Geeks' Season 2 offer 'wasn't a hard call'

Part of Freaks and Geeks' charming staying power is the fact that it only ran for one 18-episode season at the turn of the century before NBC canceled it.

In late June, Judd Apatow revealed to Collider that MTV had offered to pick Freaks and Geeks up for a second season but "at a much lower budget." Apatow, who served as executive producer alongside creator Paul Feig, expanded on why they passed on the opportunity in a new interview with Entertainment Weekly.

"It wasn't a hard call because it was significantly less than what we were shooting it for," the 53-year-old filmmaker told writer Derek Lawrence. "And we had agreed that we were never going to do anything that might ruin the show. The idea of having it return in some substandard way was too scary. We were always aware that what was happening was a little bit of a creative miracle."

"We didn't really even understand why things were falling into place so well, but we were also aware that if we made any wrong moves, it would all crumble," he continued. "So that's why we have never done more episodes and why we didn't want to continue back to that, especially after we saw the final episode, which Paul wrote and directed; it was clear that he had captured something very unique and special. And if we did anything else, it would probably be way worse than what he just accomplished."

The cult classic was set at William McKinley High School in 1980. Siblings Lindsay Weir (Linda Cardellini) and Sam Weir (John Francis Daley) represented opposite ends of the social spectrum—freaks and geeks, duh—and the series thrived off Lindsay and Sam's conflicting friend groups. 

Alongside Cardellini and Daley, the main cast included James Franco, Samm Levine, Busy Philipps, Seth Rogen, Martin Starr and Jason Segel. In other words, Freaks and Geeks served as the starting line for what have become A-list careers. (Ken Miller is Rogen's first-ever acting credit.)

Apatow is responsible for an overwhelming number of zeitgeist comedies in the early 2000s, teaming up again with Rogen for the likes of The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005), Knocked Up (2007) and Pineapple Express (2008). But Freaks and Geeks will always hold a particularly special place in Apatow's heart.

"I think that everybody tried to write and perform and direct from their heart," Apatow said in his EW interview, later adding: "A lot of what the show is about is that life is hard and things don't always work out, but you'll get through it with the love of your friends and your family, and that is very meaningful to people. So I'll always be proud of it. And it's everybody's origin story!"

Friends and Geeks is available to stream on Hulu.