Undeclared

Undeclared
Genre	Sitcom
Created by	Judd Apatow
Starring	Jay Baruchel Carla Gallo Charlie Hunnam Monica Keena Christina Payano Seth Rogen Timm Sharp Loudon Wainwright
Opening theme	"Solid" by The Dandy Warhols
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	17 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Judd Apatow
Running time	22 minutes
Production company(s)	Apatow Productions DreamWorks Television
Broadcast
Original channel	Fox
Picture format	480i 4:3 (SDTV)
Audio format	Stereo
Original run	September 25, 2001 (2001-09-25) – March 12, 2002 (2002-03-12)

Undeclared is an American sitcom that aired on Fox during the 2001–02 season.

Premise

The half-hour comedy was Judd Apatow's follow-up to his earlier television series Freaks and Geeks, which also lasted for one season. Undeclared centered on a group of college freshmen at the fictional University of Northeastern California (campus exteriors were actually shot at USC and UCLA). Unlike Freaks, it was set contemporaneously (early 2000s) rather than the 1980s. It gave a humorous look at the highs and lows of college life, from young adult relationships to the dreaded freshman fifteen. It takes its name from the status of undergraduates who have not yet decided, or "declared," a specific major of study.

Reception

College is "the reward for surviving high school. Most people have great fun stories from college and nightmare stories from high school," Judd Apatow told the Los Angeles Times in 2006. He also speculated on why college shows find it hard to gain a foothold on network schedules: "One reason for the death of college shows is that it's difficult to be honest about campus life on network or basic cable. It's hard to portray truthfully. The truth is, kids are high, drunk and having sex. No matter what you do, you're fudging it."

Media outlets such as Entertainment Weekly gave the show generally positive reviews, though the general audience did not seem to share the same opinion of the show, as Fox canceled the show in March 2002 after poor ratings. In total, 16 episodes were shown on Fox, while one unaired episode was included in the DVD set released in Region 1 on August 16, 2005.

Characters

Main characters

Name	Actor	Major	Description
Steven Karp	Jay Baruchel	Undeclared	Steven was a celibate geek in high school. He has a particular affinity for The Matrix and The X-Files. He grew up only ten minutes away from the UNEC campus. In college, Steven is fairly popular among the students, but he is still somewhat nerdy.
Lizzie Exley	Carla Gallo	Psychology	Steven's neurotic, highly enthusiastic floor mate and eventual girlfriend. Used to date Eric (Jason Segel) but broke up with him after he found out that she had a one-night stand with Steven during their first day at UNEC.
Lloyd Haythe	Charlie Hunnam	Theater	Steven's English roommate. He often makes Steven leave their room so that he can have sex. Despite constantly picking on Steven, he's also very protective of his roommate and usually tries to look out for his best interests. Due to his popularity with women, Lloyd often serves as an adviser in romantic affairs to all his suitemates. Despite often playing up his Britishness and "manners", Lloyd is often the most aggressive of the group, and very quick to anger.
Rachel Lindquist	Monica Keena	Undeclared	Lizzie's roommate. Is initially nervous at the prospect of living away from her family, but eventually breaks free of her anxiety and embraces a party girl mentality.
Tina Ellroy	Christina Payano	Unknown	Lizzie and Rachel's suitemate introduced mid-season. Moves into the vacated room in Lizzie and Rachel's suite during the unaired episode "God Visits".
Ron Garner	Seth Rogen	Business	Steven's wise-cracking, glasses-wearing, beer-guzzling, chubby Canadian suitemate who comes to U.N.E.C. from Vancouver. With his dry sense of humor, Ron is the brains of the group. Briefly dates Kelly (Busy Philipps), a campus tour guide.
Marshall Nesbitt	Timm Sharp	Music	Steven's suitemate who came to U.N.E.C. from Sioux City, Iowa. His parents still believe that he is a business major, although he switched courses at the last minute. Despite his less-than-stellar work ethic, he is Mr. Burundi's (Gerry Bednob) favorite worker at the cafeteria. Has a crush on Rachel.
Hal Karp	Loudon Wainwright III	(N/A)	Steven's father, who experiences a mid-life crisis after being divorced by Steven's mother. Hal sometimes spends time socially with the gang, which often results in Steven's embarrassment.

Recurring characters

• Perry Madison (Jarrett Grode), bland, sarcastic dorm-mate who can DJ and free-style rap. (12 episodes)
• Eric (Jason Segel), Lizzie's obsessive ex-boyfriend who she breaks up with after sleeping with Steven. Eric had been dating Lizzie since she was in high school, and he is several years older than she is. Eric works as the manager of a copy shop. (7 episodes)
• Adam (Leroy Adams), student who lives on the gang's floor. (8 episodes)
• P.B. (P.B. Smiley), student who lives on the gang's floor. (6 episodes)
• Trent (Jim Brooks), student who lives on the gang's floor. (4 episodes)
• Lucien (Kevin Rankin), nerdy RA on the gang's floor who has an obsession with Hillary the RA. (4 episodes)
• Hillary (Amy Poehler), the head RA who hits on Lloyd; and at one point, dates Hal. (2 episodes)
• Luke (Kevin Hart), a religious African-American student on campus who converts Steven to Christianity. (3 episodes)
• Greg (David Krumholtz), Eric's close friend and co-worker at the copy shop. (2 episodes)
• Eugene (Kyle Gass), Eric's other close friend and co-worker at the copy shop. (2 episodes)
• Mr. Burundi (Gerry Bednob), Indian boss at the school cafeteria where Steven and Marshall work. (2 episodes)
• Kelly (Busy Philipps), an attractive tour guide on campus who Ron develops a crush on and later begins dating. (2 episodes)
• Susuki (Joanne Cho), Tina's roommate, whose constant violin practice annoys Tina. (2 episodes)

Guests and cameos

• Jenna Fischer (as Sorority Girl, "Prototype" and Betty, "Sick in the Head")
• Simon Helberg (as Jack, "Prototype")
• Tom Welling (as Tom, "Prototype")
• Fred Willard (as Professor Duggan, "Oh, So You Have a Boyfriend?")
• Ted Nugent (as himself, "Full Bluntal Nugety")
• Mike White (as Pet Store Employee, "Eric Visits")
• Geoffrey Arend (as Jimmy, "Jobs, Jobs, Jobs")
• Allen Covert (as himself, "The Assistant")
• Jonathan Loughran (as himself, "The Assistant")
• Adam Sandler (as himself, "The Assistant")
• Greg Mottola (as Young Professor, "The Assistant")
• Jordan Black (as Card Guy, "Addicts")
• Will Ferrell (as Dave, "Addicts")
• Felicia Day (as Sheila, "God Visits")
• Mary Kay Place (as Mrs. Lindquist, "Parent's Weekend")
• Kimberly Stewart (as Amanda, "Parent's Weekend")
• Sarah Hagan (as Jordanna, "Eric Visits Again")
• Steve Bannos (as Dingleberry, "Rush and Pledge")
• Samm Levine (as Books, "Rush and Pledge"/"Hell Week")
• Natasha Melnick (as Jenni, "Rush and Pledge"/"Hell Week")
• Martin Starr (as Theo, "The Perfect Date")
• Youki Kudoh (as Kikuki, "Hal and Hilary")
• Ben Stiller (as Rex, "Eric's POV")

Broadcast

Episodes

Main article: List of Undeclared episodes

When first shown on network television, many episodes were aired out of order, much to Judd Apatow's dismay. When it was originally released on DVD, the episodes were presented in their production order, which was a mistake according to Apatow. However, newer versions of the DVD present the episodes in the correct chronological order, restoring all storylines and character developments. In addition, an alternate version of the second episode, titled "Full Bluntal Nugety" is included on the DVD release of the series.

Ratings

The show averaged 7.3 million viewers and was #93 in the rankings during its only season.

Planned storylines

The DVD contains the script to an unproduced episode, "Lloyd's Rampage" (written by Lewis Morton), which was written for the show's second season. It revolves around Lloyd getting into a fight with Kieran, the star student of his acting class, and deciding that he wants to experience real life. So, Steven and Lloyd go to a bar and end up in a fight with some working class men, which impresses Kieran when Lloyd tells him about it. A subplot in the episode revolves around Marshall getting extremely drunk and throwing up in a bar. When he is throwing up, Perry takes a picture and video, and makes T-shirts and posters and puts them around campus. Marshall is embarrassed at first, but he is glad when he finds out about all of the attention that he gets as "Puke Dude". Unfortunately for him, this doesn't last long when everyone forgets about him after another student defecates in his pants in the library. Perry's last name is revealed to be Madison in this episode. The role of Kieran was written for That '70s Show star Topher Grace, but he never appeared in the episode because of a dispute between Judd Apatow and That '70s Show co-creator Mark Brazill.

During a question-and-answer session, Judd Apatow stated that if the series had been picked up for a second season, there would have been an episode titled "Eric's Birthday" in which Lizzie and Steven would go to the birthday party mentioned in episode "Eric's POV". Linda Cardellini of Freaks and Geeks would have played his new girlfriend. In the episode, Eric would have had a cake with a picture of him and his new girlfriend printed on it. Lizzie would have been given the piece with Eric's new girlfriend's face. At the time Jason Segel was dating Linda Cardellini.

Syndication

In June 2010, it was announced that the Independent Film Channel had acquired the rights to air both Undeclared and Freaks and Geeks. Undeclared premiered on IFC on November 5, 2010. Both Undeclared and Freaks and Geeks began rerunning on the TeenNick network on June 13, 2011.

DVD release

Undeclared DVD cover art

On August 16, 2005, Shout! Factory released the complete series of Undeclared on DVD in Region 1. The four-disc boxed set contains all 17 episodes, including an unaired episode and a bonus director's cut.

According to Apatow, the producers were unable to get clearance for all the music in the series (not being able to use about 10 songs). Since the uncleared songs were considered to not play a significant role in the series, they were switched with a suitable substitute.

Undeclared: The Complete Series
Set details			Special features
Studio: Shout! Factory 17 episodes 1.33:1 aspect ratio English (Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround) Subtitles: None			A never-before-seen episode ("God Visits") Director's cut of the second episode featuring Ted Nugent ("Full Bluntal Nugety") 18 commentaries with directors, writers and the entire cast Deleted scenes, auditions, outtakes, rehearsals and extended takes Loudon Wainwright live concert footage Museum of Television & Radio Q&A 28-page booklet Script for unproduced episode
Release date
Region 1	August 16, 2005

Critical reception

In 2012, Entertainment Weekly listed the show at #16 in the "25 Best Cult TV Shows from the Past 25 Years," saying, "the half-hour comedy gets props for replacing clichés of campus life (nonstop partying) with more realistic concerns (the freshman 15). ... Few fans will forget Ben Stiller (as Segel's mulleted roommate) explaining what 'relationship' really stands for: 'Real Exciting Love Affair That Turns Into Ongoing Nightmare...[sic] Sobriety Hangs in Peril...[sic] something like that, I got it tattooed on my back.'"

External links

• Undeclared at the Internet Movie Database
• Undeclared at TV.com