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Undeclared

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Undeclared
GenreSitcom
Created byJudd Apatow
StarringJay Baruchel
Carla Gallo
Charlie Hunnam
Monica Keena
Seth Rogen
Timm Sharp
Loudon Wainwright
Theme music composerThe Dandy Warhols
Opening theme"Solid"
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes17
Production
Executive producerJudd Apatow
Camera setupSingle-camera
Running time22 minutes
Production companiesApatow Productions
DreamWorks Television
Original release
NetworkFox
ReleaseSeptember 25, 2001 (2001-09-25) –
March 12, 2002 (2002-03-12)

Undeclared is an American sitcom created by Judd Apatow, which aired on Fox during the 2001–02 season. The show has developed a cult following, and in 2012, Entertainment Weekly listed it at #16 in the "25 Best Cult TV Shows from the Past 25 Years".[1]

Premise

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The half-hour comedy was Judd Apatow's follow-up to an earlier television series he worked on, Freaks and Geeks, which also lasted for one season. Undeclared centers on a group of college freshmen at the fictional University of Northeastern California. Unlike Freaks and Geeks, it is set contemporaneously (early 2000s) rather than the early 1980s.

Characters

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Main

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Name Actor Major Description
Steven Karp Jay Baruchel Undeclared A celibate geek in high school, Steven 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 highly enthusiastic, somewhat neurotic floor mate and eventual girlfriend. She initially dated Eric (Jason Segel) but she dumped him after she'd slept 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, Lloyd is protective of him and 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 suite mates. He frequently emphasizes his "Britishness" and mannered temperament, however, Lloyd is also the most aggressive of the group, and 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.
Ron Garner Seth Rogen Business Steven's wise-cracking, glasses-wearing, beer-guzzling, chubby Canadian suite-mate who comes to UNEC 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 suite-mate who came to UNEC 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. He has a big crush on Rachel, but never has the courage to ask her on a date.
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.
Tina Ellroy Christina Payano Unknown Lizzie and Rachel's suite-mate introduced mid-season. Moves into the vacated room in Lizzie and Rachel's suite during the unaired episode "God Visits".

Recurring

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  • 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 whom 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 student on campus who temporarily 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), 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

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Numerous actors from Freaks and Geeks appeared on Undeclared portraying new characters, including Rogen, Segel, Levine, Starr, Phillips, and Melnick, among several others.[3]

Broadcast

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Episodes

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When first shown on network television, many episodes were aired out of order, much to Apatow's dismay. When originally released on DVD, the episodes were presented in their production order, which was a mistake according to Apatow.[4] 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.

No.TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air dateProd.
code		U.S. viewers
(millions)
1"Prototype"Jake KasdanJudd ApatowSeptember 25, 2001 (2001-09-25)1019.00[5]
On Steven's first day at UNEC, he meets and has a one night stand with Lizzie, unaware that she has a boyfriend. Steven's father Hal shows up at the floor party and announces that he is getting a divorce.
2"Oh, So You Have a Boyfriend?"
"Full Bluntal Nugety"		Paul FeigKristofor BrownJanuary 8, 2002 (2002-01-08)1027.51[6]
Lizzie admits to Steven that she has a boyfriend, but that does not stop him from pursuing her. The head RA Hillary has a crush on Lloyd, but Ron does not think it is a good idea for Lloyd to hook up with her. Marshall inspires a boring History teacher to revamp his teaching style, with cringe-worthy results.
3"Eric Visits"John HamburgJudd Apatow & Rodney RothmanOctober 2, 2001 (2001-10-02)1038.94[7]
Lizzie's boyfriend visits her at UNEC. Steven convinces her to break up with Eric, but feels guilty and helps Eric win her back. Meanwhile, Ron brings up a whole keg of beer and urges his suitemates to help him finish it.
4"Jobs, Jobs, Jobs"Greg MottolaJoel MadisonJanuary 15, 2002 (2002-01-15)1046.30[8]
Steven is forced to get a job in the cafeteria to help pay his tuition until Hal finds "the right job".
5"Sick in the Head"Greg MottolaSeth RogenOctober 16, 2001 (2001-10-16)1058.49[9]
Marshall gets sick, and Rachel volunteers to take care of him. Lloyd tries to start a real relationship with a girl. Steven makes friends in the rec room.
6"The Assistant"Judd ApatowJudd Apatow & Seth Rogen & Nicholas StollerNovember 13, 2001 (2001-11-13)1067.77[10]
Adam Sandler holds a concert at UNEC, then hangs out at Steven's floor afterwards. Rachel hooks up with Adam's assistant, Loughran. Lloyd bonds with Hal, and Steven is not happy about it.
7"Addicts"Greg MottolaJennifer Konner & Alexandra RushfieldOctober 9, 2001 (2001-10-09)1088.56[11]
Ron and Lloyd invest in a stock that rises then quickly drops. Steven, Lizzie and Rachel pay a druggie to do their papers, but he fails to deliver.
8"God Visits"John HamburgRodney RothmanUnaired110N/A
A fellow student convinces Steven to accept the Lord, while a professor makes Lloyd believe that everything is meaningless.
9"Parents' Weekend"John HamburgRodney RothmanJanuary 22, 2002 (2002-01-22)1118.05[12]
Marshall is reluctant to let his parents know that he is not a business major. Ron gets propositioned by Lloyd's sister, Amanda. Rachel has to face the wrath of her control freak mother. Hal meets up with his estranged wife, Debra.
10"Eric Visits Again"Greg MottolaNicholas StollerNovember 20, 2001 (2001-11-20)1096.64[13]
Eric discovers that Lizzie cheated on him with Steven, and heads to UNEC to get his revenge. Lloyd helps Steven prepare for a fistfight.
11"Rush and Pledge"Jay ChandrasekharKristofor BrownDecember 11, 2001 (2001-12-11)1126.64[14]
Frustrated with the way his roommates have been treating him, Steven joins the Theta Delta Zeta fraternity. Meanwhile, Lizzie joins TDZ's Little Sisters.
12"Hell Week"Jay ChandrasekharJoel Madison & Seth RogenDecember 18, 2001 (2001-12-18)1137.50[15]
Steven is fed up with TDZ in more ways than one. He quits, but it is not without repercussions.
13"Truth or Dare"Greg MottolaStory by : Judd Apatow
Teleplay by : Seth Rogen		January 29, 2002 (2002-01-29)1076.09[16]
The boys play a scripted game of Truth or Dare to help their chances with the girls.
14"The Day After"Judd ApatowJudd Apatow & Seth RogenFebruary 12, 2002 (2002-02-12)1146.69[17]
Steven is unsure of where he stands with Lizzie, and Lloyd's ideas are not helping him any. They spend their Saturday apart, but come to a revelation.
15"The Perfect Date"Greg MottolaJudd Apatow & Brent ForresterFebruary 19, 2002 (2002-02-19)1157.61[18]
Steven plans the perfect date for Lizzie in order to show up Eric. Theo, Steven's friend from high school, shows up unexpectedly and ruins the day for Ron, Marshall and Lloyd.
16"Hal and Hillary"Jay ChandrasekharKristofor BrownMarch 5, 2002 (2002-03-05)1166.72[19]
On his way to see Steven, Hal meets and hooks up with the head RA Hillary. Ron and the gang see them getting it on, and Steven is bummed out. A jealous Lucien takes his anger out on Steven.
17"Eric's POV"Jon FavreauJudd Apatow & Nicholas StollerMarch 12, 2002 (2002-03-12)1176.52[20]
Eric heads to UNEC to try to win Lizzie back. The boys sit in and watch Girls Gone Wild, while the girls try to add highlights to make Lizzie's hair look pretty, but fail miserably.

Planned storylines

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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 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 Apatow and That '70s Show co-creator Mark Brazill.[21]

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, Segel and Cardellini were dating.

Syndication

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In June 2010, it was announced that the Independent Film Channel had acquired the rights to air both Undeclared and Freaks and Geeks.[22] Undeclared premiered on IFC on November 5, 2010.[23] Both Undeclared and Freaks and Geeks began rerunning on the TeenNick network on June 13, 2011.[24] Netflix also had Undeclared (in the past) and had the episodes in their original chronological order.

Home media

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On August 16, 2005, Shout! Factory and DreamWorks Home Entertainment 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.[4]

Undeclared: The Complete Series
Set details Special features
  • Studio: Shout! Factory/DreamWorks Home Entertainment
  • 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

Reception

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Critical reception

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Undeclared received critical acclaim from television critics. On Metacritic, the series earned a score of 85 out of 100, based on 24 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[25] On Rotten Tomatoes, it has an approval rating of 93% with an average score of 8.18/10 based on reviews from 30 critics. The website's critical consensus reads, "Undeclared lives in the shadow of its Apatow-produced predecessor but still delivers an insightful and sweet year of self-discovery on campus."[26]

In 2020, Briana Kranich of Screen Rant named Undeclared as one of the 10 Most Underrated Shows Of the Noughties.[27]

Ratings

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The show averaged 7.3 million viewers and was #93 in the rankings during its only season.[28]

References

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  1. ^ "25 Best Cult TV Shows from the Past 25 Years." Entertainment Weekly. August 3, 2012, p. 41.
  2. ^ Rodrick, Stephen (May 27, 2007). "Judd Apatow - Motion Pictures - Knocked Up - 40-Year-Old Virgin". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 13, 2017. "I had this kid, Tom Welling, come in for 'Undeclared,' and he was great, but too good-looking. We put him in a small part in the first episode as a frat brother.
  3. ^ Kranich, Briana (March 4, 2020). "11 Actor Crossovers Between Freaks And Geeks And Undeclared". Screen Rant. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  4. ^ a b Scott Weinberg (June 27, 2005). "Undeclared - The Complete Series". DVD Talk. Retrieved July 6, 2010.
  5. ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (Sept. 24-30)". The Los Angeles Times. October 3, 2001. Retrieved October 26, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.Free access icon
  6. ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (Jan. 7-13)". The Los Angeles Times. January 16, 2002. Retrieved October 26, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.Free access icon
  7. ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (Oct. 1-7)". The Los Angeles Times. October 10, 2001. Retrieved October 26, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.Free access icon
  8. ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (Jan. 14-20)". The Los Angeles Times. January 25, 2002. Retrieved October 26, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.Free access icon
  9. ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (Oct. 15-21)". The Los Angeles Times. October 24, 2001. Retrieved October 26, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.Free access icon
  10. ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (Nov. 12-18)". The Los Angeles Times. November 21, 2001. Retrieved October 26, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.Free access icon
  11. ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (Oct. 8-14)". The Los Angeles Times. October 17, 2001. Retrieved October 26, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.Free access icon
  12. ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (Jan. 21-27)". The Los Angeles Times. January 30, 2002. Retrieved October 26, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.Free access icon
  13. ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (Nov. 19-25)". The Los Angeles Times. November 28, 2001. Retrieved October 26, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.Free access icon
  14. ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (Dec. 10-16)". The Los Angeles Times. December 19, 2001.
  15. ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (Dec. 17-23)". The Los Angeles Times. December 26, 2001.
  16. ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (Jan. 28-Feb. 3)". The Los Angeles Times. February 6, 2002. Retrieved October 26, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.Free access icon
  17. ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (Feb. 11-17)". The Los Angeles Times. February 22, 2002. Retrieved October 26, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.Free access icon
  18. ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (Feb. 18-24)". The Los Angeles Times. February 27, 2002. Retrieved October 26, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.Free access icon
  19. ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (March 4–10)". The Los Angeles Times. March 13, 2002. Retrieved October 26, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.Free access icon
  20. ^ "National Nielsen Viewership (March 11–17)". The Los Angeles Times. March 20, 2002. Retrieved October 26, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.Free access icon
  21. ^ "Don't have a cow, man". Harpers Magazine. March 2002. Retrieved October 11, 2009.
  22. ^ Natalie Abrams (June 30, 2010). "Freaks and Geeks, Undeclared Return to TV". TV Guide. Retrieved July 6, 2010.
  23. ^ "Undeclared - Series - On Air". IFC.com. Retrieved October 30, 2010.
  24. ^ "Freaks and Geeks & Undeclared - Coming Monday!". TeenNick. June 9, 2011. Retrieved June 15, 2011.
  25. ^ "Undeclared : Season 1". Metacritic. Retrieved January 19, 2015.
  26. ^ "Undeclared: Season 1". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
  27. ^ Kranich, Briana (March 6, 2020). "10 Underrated TV Shows Of The Noughties (2000-2009)". Screen Rant. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  28. ^ "How did your favorite show rate?". USA Today. May 28, 2002.
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