About the Guests

JOE FLAHERTY (Actor, "Harold Weir")

Joe Flaherty is currently the voice of doom as channeled through a surly goat who constantly predicts disaster for everyone at Patch of Heaven.

Flaherty was born in Pittsburgh in 1941. He spent four years serving with the Air Force before embarking on a career as a draftsman, but soon gravitated towards acting, a profession he had sampled as a teenager performing children’s theatre at the Pittsburgh Playhouse. He was eventually offered a position with Chicago’s legendary Improv troupe Second City, where Flaherty worked with comedy luminaries such as John Candy and Harold Ramis. In 1976, he joined the cast of the classic comedy sketch show SCTV, where he created a bevy of memorable characters including earnest newscaster Floyd Robertson, Monster Chiller Horror Theatre host Count Floyd, and unnecessarily wheelchair-bound station owner Guy Caballero.

Flaherty’s television credits include roles on HBO’s Really Weird Tales (1987), which he also co-wrote; The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley (1988); Maniac Mansion, playing inventor Fred Edison; Little Dracula (1991); and the critically acclaimed series Freaks and Geeks, in which he portrayed father and purveyor of scary morality tales Harold Weir.

He has appeared in dozens of films, including Tunnel Vision, 1941, Used Cars, Stripes, Going Berserk, Sesame Street Presents Follow That Bird, Club Paradise, Innerspace, Looking for Miracles, Back to the Future Part II, Stuart Saves His Family, Happy Gilmore, Dogmatic, The Wrong Guy, Detroit Rock City, and National Security.

SARAH HAGAN (Actor, "Millie Kentner")

Sarah Hagan is a professional actress who has appeared in numerous television shows and films. Living in Houston, Texas, at age 6, Sarah started musical theatre and instantly became obsessed with the thrill of performing. With a strong theatre background, Sarah decided to move to Los Angeles at 14 to pursue acting for television and film. She started her career with her role as “Millie Kentner” on Judd Apatow and Paul Feig’s cult series FREAKS AND GEEKS. Since then she has appeared on BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, BOSTON PUBLIC, GREY’S ANATOMY, 90210, and NCIS, to name a few. She was excited to play a supporting role in the Warner Bros. female comedy SPRING BREAKDOWN alongside Saturday Night Live cast members Amy Poehler and Rachel Dratch. Sarah can most recently be seen in the lead roles of the Sundance selected indie, JESS + MOSS, and the AFI selected indie THE MOST FUN I’VE EVER HAD WITH MY PANTS ON. Currently, she finished shooting the lead role in an indie psychological horror film called SUN CHOKE and is getting ready to shoot Season 2 of the comedy web-series BREAKING FAT. In addition to acting, Sarah received her BFA in studio arts and continues to make paintings and sculptures in her free time.

NATASHA MELNICK (Actor, "Cindy Sanders")

Natasha Melnick is probably most recognizable as Cindy Sanders from the cult classic Freaks and Geeks and for her role as Rainy Murphy on Boston Public. She has appeared in the films Go, Orange County, and The Hillside Strangler as well as several others, and recently starred in Everything or Nothing. Along with her many other television appearances, she is a recurring character on the hit Family Guy.

BOB NICKMAN (Supervising Producer, Writer)

Bob Nickman is primarily known for his writing and producing work numerous popular television series. His earlier credits include his work as a Co-Producer, Executive Story Editor, and Staff Writer on ROSEANNE, as a Co-Producer on ABC/Warner Brothers’ THE DREW CAREY SHOW, and as a Supervising Producer on FREAKS & GEEKS. Later, he would work on other TV shows as a Consulting Producer, on programs such as RITA ROCKS, and as an Executive Producer and Co-Executive Producer, on shows such as ABC/Touchstone’s ACCORDING TO JIM. Bob’s producing credits also include television series such as DANNY, MIND OF A MARRIED MAN, NORMAL, OHIO, and MAD ABOUT YOU, to name a few. In addition, Bob has worked as a writer on Pilots for FBC/Warner Brothers, Nickelodeon, NBC/Lionsgate, and ABC Family, among others.

STEPHEN LEA SHEPPARD (Actor, "Harris Trinsky")

Canadian three-time actor Stephen Lea Sheppard reluctantly attended an open casting call for Freaks and Geeks (1999) on a parental whim, and was judged so appropriate for the series' vibe that the part of "geek guru" Harris Trinsky was written for him. To get him across the border, the showrunners wrote a letter extolling his virtues and assuring US immigration that he was the only actor capable of playing the part, and then had it signed by most of Dreamworks' executive management, including Steven Spielberg. Presumably this letter still exists, in a drawer or folder somewhere.



Showrunner Judd Apatow then showed tapes of Lea's performance to Wes Anderson, netting Lea the role of Dudley Heinsenbergen in The Royal Tenenbaums (2001). Later, Lea was cast in a commercial for Nintendo's Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (2003).



He has not acted since. He now pays his rent working full-time in a boring office job, and spends his spare time writing and editing tabletop role-playing game texts, being flown out to attend various Freaks & Geeks reunion-type events, and writing three-paragraph autobiographies in third-person voice.

About the Moderator

NITIN GOVIL (Assistant Professor, USC) Nitin Govil is Assistant Professor of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California. Prior to joining USC, he was on the Media Studies faculty at the University of Virginia, the Communication faculty at the University of California, San Diego, and held a visiting appointment in the School of Arts and Aesthetics at Jawaharlal Nehru University. His research and teaching focuses on media globalization in historical and contemporary contexts. He is the co-author of Global Hollywood (2001) and Global Hollywood 2 (2005) and other work has been published in over twenty journals and anthologies. His writing has been translated into Chinese, Portuguese, Spanish, and Turkish. He is currently completing two books, a co-authored study of the Indian film industries and a book on Hollywood in India.

About the USC Freaks and Geeks Retrospective

Over the course of the Spring 2014 semester, the USC School of Cinematic Arts will host a complete series retrospective of the NBC cult comedy series, Freaks and Geeks, created by SCA Alumnus Paul Feig, and Executive Produced by SCA Alumnus Judd Apatow. Each week, episodes of the series will be followed by in-depth Q&As with key cast & crew from the production.

The complete series will be screened across 4 Sunday afternoons from January through April 2014, with the following order (start times & running times vary):

Sunday, January 26th, 2014: Episodes 1, 2, 3, 4

Sunday, February 23rd, 2014 at 2:00 PM: Episodes 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

Sunday, March 30th, 2014 at 2:00 PM: Episodes 10, 11, 12, 13, 14

Sunday, April 6th, 2014 at 3:00 PM: Episodes 15, 16, 17, 18