A neat thing about "Freaks and Geeks" is that the writers seemed more
interested in conveying emotion than in writing clever dialog. When a
boy, evidently on a dare, asks Lindsay, "If I gave you a joint, would
you have sex with me?" there's no witty rejoinder or nerdy
articulateness. She simply replies, "What?" A quick shot of her facial
expression tells us all we need to know. She takes it on the chin, and
so do we.

Similarly, when Lindsay's parents surround her on the basement couch
and tell her how her father lost his virginity with a Korean
prostitute, she says, "Please stop!" Again, Linda Cardellini's
expressive face tells us what we need to know without a lot of wasted
words.

Some of this may be a function of the medium. TV writers operate under
strict time constraints and have to get their messages across
economically. But at times those constraints can contribute to good
dramatic writing.

Alex