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Undeclared

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Undeclared
File:Undeclared Cast.jpg
The Cast of Undeclared
Created byJudd Apatow
StarringJay Baruchel
Charlie Hunnam
Timm Sharp
Seth Rogen
Carla Gallo
Monica Keena
Christina Payano
Loudon Wainwright
Country of originUSA
No. of episodes17, 2 unaired (list of episodes)
Production
Running time22 Minutes
Original release
NetworkFOX
ReleaseSeptember 25, 2001 –
March 12, 2002

Undeclared is an American television series that aired on FOX during the 2001–2002 TV season. The half-hour comedy-drama/sitcom was Judd Apatow's follow-up to the TV cult classic Freaks and Geeks, which also lasted for one season. Undeclared centered on a group of college freshmen at the fictitious University of North Eastern California. Unlike Freaks, it was set in the current time of the 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 an undergraduate who has not yet decided, or "declared", a specific major of study they wish to take.

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 dearth 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."[1]

Media outlets such as Entertainment Weekly gave the show generally glowing reviews. Despite a cult following, FOX canceled the show in March 2002 after poor ratings. Viewership waned after a promising premiere, perhaps due to FOX airing the remaining episodes out of order and constantly moving the show across its scheduling grid. In total, 15 episodes were shown on FOX, while two unaired episodes were included in the DVD set released in the United States on August 16, 2005.

Characters

Main characters

Name Actor Major Description
Steven Karp Jay Baruchel Undeclared Was a celibate geek in high school who has a particular affinity for The Matrix and The X-Files. 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 British roommate, who often makes Steven leave their room so that he can have sex. Despite constantly picking on Steven, he's very protective of his roommate, and looks out for his best interests. Serves as an advisor in romantic affairs to all his suitemates.
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 ethics, he is Mr. Burundi's (Gerry Bednob) favorite worker at the cafeteria. Has a crush on Rachel.
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.
Hal Karp (aka the Halcaholic) Loudon Wainwright III (none) Steven's father, a recent divorcee who experiences a mid-life crisis and is a constant embarrassment to Steven.

Recurring characters

  • Tina Ellroy (Christina Payano), 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".
  • Perry Madison (Jarrett Grode), bland, sarcastic dorm-mate who can DJ and free-style rap (11 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 her. Eric works as the manager of a copy shop. (7 episodes)
  • Adam (Leroy Adams), student who lives on the gang's floor (5 episodes)
  • Trent (Jim Brooks), student who lives on the gang's floor (4 episodes)
  • Lucien (Kevin O. Rankin), nerdy RA on the gang's floor who has an obsession with Hillary the RA (3 episodes)
  • Hillary (Amy Poehler), another RA who hits on Lloyd; and at one point, dates Hal (3 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 appearances)
  • Kelly (Busy Phillips), an attractive tour guide on campus who Ron develops a crush on and later begins dating (2 appearances)
  • Susuki (Joanne Cho), Tina's roommate, whose constant violin practice annoys Tina (2 appearances)

Guests and cameos

Episodes

Main article: List of Undeclared episodes

Episode order

File:Undeclared DVD.jpg
Undeclared DVD Cover Art

On the DVD, the episodes were ordered by production number. However, according to Judd Apatow, this was a mistake.[1] The preferred order to watching the series (with the story in chronological order) is as follows:

In the order found default on the DVD, pressing "Play All" would be incorrect.

DVD releases

The complete series of Undeclared was released by Shout! Factory, including one unaired episode and the script for an unfilmed episode.

Trivia

  • The DVD box set contains one episode, "God Visits", that was produced but never aired on American television.
  • The DVD also contains the script to an unproduced episode, "Lloyd's Rampage", 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 shits 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 70's Show co-creator Mark Brazill.[2]
  • 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 entitled "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.
  • Seth Rogen wrote one episode of Undeclared ("Sick in the Head") and co-wrote four others.[3]
  • Included on the DVD, episode 2B ("Full Bluntal Nugety") is a director's cut of episode 2 ("Oh, So You Have a Boyfriend") as it aired. Some scenes were deleted and others were re-filmed in order to trim time off the length of the episode. This was explained in the literature that came with the DVD.[4] Ted Nugent guest-starred, but his scenes were cut.
  • Lloyd and Stephen's room has a Tenacious D poster on the door. Kyle Gass, one half of the parody rock duo, guests on the show as Eugene.
  • In the show Eric (played by Jason Segel) is said to be eight years older than Lizzy (played by Carla Gallo) when in reality Gallo is 5 years older than Segel.

International

Country Broadcasting TV Network(s)
 Germany Saturday at 13:35 ProSieben
 Netherlands Saturday and Sunday at 11:40 RTL 4

References

  1. ^ The Falcon Newspaper - TV dramas explore college years
  2. ^ "Don't have a cow, man" by Judd Apatow and Mark Brazill (Harper's Magazine)
  3. ^ http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/articles/content/a5644/index-6.html
  4. ^ http://www.undeclaredonline.com/dvd/images/book_3.jpg
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