The Bedford Diaries

The Bedford Diaries is a American television series that will begin its first season on The WB network in March 2006. It is a created by Tom Fontana and Julie Martin.

Plot

“The Bedford Diaries” explores the excitement and intensity of New York City college life through the eyes of six students with different backgrounds, experiences and ages, who are brought together in a provocative Human Behavior and Sexuality seminar. The seminar, which examines the human condition through sexuality, is taught by controversial Professor Jake Macklin, who will challenge and inspire his students as they question their assumptions about their own sexuality, life and identity. The themes include sexual responsibility, manipulation, the differences between love and sex, passion and abstinence.

The students’ innermost thoughts are told through video diaries they make to fulfill their weekly class assignments.

Among the students are Sarah Gregory, the Student Government President, poised and assured but vulnerable in love, and her younger brother, Owen Gregory, a freshman pre-med major, who plans to take advantage of all the fun college life has to offer. Natalie Dykstra, a lovely, out-going and emotional woman, has returned to campus after a suicide attempt. She now struggles with being stereotyped as “the jumper.” Natalie’s ex-boyfriend, Richard Thorne, a former Park Avenue bad boy who turned his life around after Natalie’s jump, is also a member of the class. He’s now clean, sober and works as the college newspaper’s editor, but he’s still tormented by old demons. Lee Hemingway is a scholarship student from Queens with ambitions to become an art historian. Ernest has a serious girlfriend, but he’s attracted to another scholarship student, Zoe Lopez. Zoe talks a fast and flirty game, but despite her brash veneer, she is still a virgin and struggles with her growing feelings for Lee.

The series also stars Tony Award-winner Audra McDonald as Professor Carla Bonatelle, a Political Science professor and head of the Ethics Committee, who regularly clashes with Professor Macklin, as well as with Harold Harper, the fatherly, compassionate and often beleaguered Dean of Students.

From HBO Independent Productions, Warner Bros. Television Production Inc. and The Levinson/Fontana Co. with executive producers Tom Fontana (“Oz,” “Homicide: Life On The Street”), Jim Finnerty (“The Jury,” “Oz”) and Julie Martin (“Homicide: Life on the Street”), along with executive producer Barry Levinson (“Rain Man,” “Diner”).

Outdoor scenes are filmed at Barnard College in New York City.