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!
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!
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