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TV shows set at college

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  • TV shows set at college

    Over dinner tonight, Little Miss Firefly recapped a conversation her friends had over lunch, in which they remarked upon the fact that no American TV shows ever seem to take college as their setting. Some shows do eventually get their characters to college (Buffy, for example, or the OC), but none seem to start there. She and her gang wondered if this was actually true, or just seemed so because they had a limited, expat-kid knowledge of TV. So they turned to me, because I've largely wasted my life and thus must know more about TV than they do. And now, fellow life-wasters, I turn to you.

    Thinking about it, they seem to be right. I do a recall a mercifully short-lived attempt to do Animal House as a sitcom (maybe called Delta House?). And there was the glorious TV version of The Paper Chase, but that was an egghead show that didn't last and, anyway, it was law school, not college. Other than that, I've got nuthin'. High school, by contrast, seems have functioned as a TV setting from nearly the beginning of TV (Our Miss Brooks, Dobie Gillis) through Room 222, Welcome Back Kotter, Square Pegs, Boston Public and now The Wire. But not college.

    So why is this? From a structural point-of-view, college would seem an ideal setting for a tv show: a self-contained community in which divergent social types play off each other and lessons are learned. On top of that, it would address a prime marketing demographic and afford all sorts of opportunities for product placement. So where are the college shows?

    And is this a uniquely American problem? The UK's The Young Ones featured four uni students, but didn't really use the school as a setting. I can't think of any other UK shows that fit the bill.

    Discuss!
    "I have as much authority as the pope. I just don't have as many people who believe it." — George Carlin

  • #2
    Undeclared was a brilliant, but short-lived, comedy set at college that aired several years ago on Fox. It was developed by Judd Apatow after Freaks and Geeks was cancelled, and featured a young Seth Rogan.
    "My nation is the world, and my religion is to do good." --Thomas Paine
    "The subject of onanism is inexhaustable." --Sigmund Freud

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    • #3
      Interesting; never saw it (obviously). Others?
      "I have as much authority as the pope. I just don't have as many people who believe it." — George Carlin

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      • #4
        Can't think of any, but Undeclared is available on DVD. Highly recommended.
        "My nation is the world, and my religion is to do good." --Thomas Paine
        "The subject of onanism is inexhaustable." --Sigmund Freud

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        • #5
          Yeah, it is slim pickings for TV, but college gets more than it's fair share of attention on the big screen.

          It shames me to admit I know this, but Felicity was set in a college setting for it four years.
          "The DPRK is still in a state of war with the U.S. It's called a black out." - Che explaining why orbital nightime pictures of NK show few lights. Seriously.

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          • #6
            Greek is a new show (that just ended its first 12-episode season) that takes place at college. It airs on Family channel, but I've no idea why (common themes: drinking, sex, partying)
            "The issue is there are still many people out there that use religion as a crutch for bigotry and hate. Like Ben."
            Ben Kenobi: "That means I'm doing something right. "

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            • #7
              There was also the Cosby Show spinoff A Different World, and Saved by the Bell: The College Years. *shudders*
              "The French caused the war [Persian Gulf war, 1991]" - Ned
              "you people who bash Bush have no appreciation for one of the great presidents in our history." - Ned
              "I wish I had gay sex in the boy scouts" - Dissident

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              • #8
                I was also going to mention Saved by the Bell. Apparently the actor who played Screech has had an interesting adult life, starring in porn films and trying to scam the public etc.

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                • #9
                  Apparently the actor who played Screech has had a pathetic adult life, starring in porn films and trying to scam the public etc.
                  FIXED.
                  "The DPRK is still in a state of war with the U.S. It's called a black out." - Che explaining why orbital nightime pictures of NK show few lights. Seriously.

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                  • #10
                    IMHO, the problem is that most TV writers and producers never went to college and so nothing about it.

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Guynemer
                      Undeclared was a brilliant, but short-lived, comedy set at college that aired several years ago on Fox. It was developed by Judd Apatow after Freaks and Geeks was cancelled, and featured a young Seth Rogan.
                      Ah, I was going to mention Undeclared .
                      “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
                      - John 13:34-35 (NRSV)

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Zkribbler
                        IMHO, the problem is that most TV writers and producers never went to college and so nothing about it.
                        On the other hand, there may be SOOOO many movies about college and the partying scene at college that TV writers and producers don't necessarily think a TV show on it would succeed as well.
                        “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
                        - John 13:34-35 (NRSV)

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                        • #13
                          anyone remember class of 96?

                          how pathetic is that, that I can remember an old 1 season fox show.

                          get out of my brain!

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                          • #14
                            We have had A Very Peculiar Practice set in a University health centre, then quite a lengthy part of Brideshead Revisited is set in Oxford and it is also the backdrop to the excellent detective series Morse.

                            Can't think of any other.

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                            • #15
                              There was Mrs. G Goes to College back in the 60's about a widow whose children have grown up and moved out. She goes back to college to get her degree. I think it co-starred Doug McClure. It didn't last a season.

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