The Sex Lives of College Girls

The Sex Lives of College Girls
Genre	Comedy drama Teen drama Sex comedy
Created by	Mindy Kaling & Justin Noble
Starring	Pauline Chalamet Amrit Kaur Reneé Rapp Alyah Chanelle Scott Gavin Leatherwood Christopher Meyer Ilia Isorelýs Paulino Renika Williams Lauren "Lolo" Spencer Midori Francis Mekki Leeper Mitchell Slaggert
Music by	Joseph Stephens
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	20
Production
Executive producers	Mindy Kaling Justin Noble Howard Klein Charlie Grandy Matt Warburton David Gordon Green Jessica Kumai Scott
Producers	Bonnie Muñoz Caroline Goldfarb Rheeqrheeq Chainey
Cinematography	Rick Page Chuck Ozeas David Miller
Editors	Mat Greenleaf Kyla Plewes Iris Hershner Giselle Murillo
Camera setup	Single-camera
Running time	22–51 minutes
Production companies	Kaling International, Inc. 3 Arts Entertainment Warner Bros. Television
Release
Original network	HBO Max
Picture format	HDTV 1080p
Audio format	Dolby Digital 5.1
Original release	November 18, 2021 (2021-11-18) – present (present)

The Sex Lives of College Girls is an American teen comedy-drama streaming television series created by Mindy Kaling and Justin Noble that premiered on HBO Max on November 18, 2021. In December 2021, the series was renewed for a second season, which premiered on November 17, 2022. In December 2022, the series was renewed for a third season.

Premise

The series follows the lives of four 18-year-old freshmen roommates at the fictional Essex College in Vermont, covering their sexually active lifestyle as they deal with the struggles and hardships of college and adulthood.

Cast and characters

Main

• Pauline Chalamet as Kimberly, a freshman who is a working student who comes from Gilbert, Arizona, a small town that is predominantly white, and comes from a poor family
• Amrit Kaur as Bela, an Indian-American student from Nutley, New Jersey, who wants to become a comedy writer and is sex-positive
• Reneé Rapp as Leighton, an affluent legacy student from New York City who is a lesbian and trying to live up to her mother's high expectations
• Alyah Chanelle Scott as Whitney, a star soccer player from Seattle who is having an affair with her assistant soccer coach and is the daughter of a U.S. senator
• Gavin Leatherwood as Nico (season 1), Leighton's older brother and Kimberly's love interest
• Christopher Meyer as Canaan, Kimberly's co-worker
• Ilia Isorelýs Paulino as Lila, Kimberly's co-worker
• Renika Williams as Willow, one of Whitney's teammates
• Lauren "Lolo" Spencer as Jocelyn, a student at Essex
• Midori Francis as Alicia (season 1; guest season 2), Leighton's love interest
• Mekki Leeper as Eric (season 2; recurring season 1), a writer for The Catullan
• Mitchell Slaggert as Jackson (season 2), a new student from Kansas who bonds with Kimberly

Recurring

• Rob Huebel as Henry, Leighton and Nico's father
• Gillian Vigman as Mimi, Leighton and Nico's mother
• Nicole Sullivan as Carol, Kimberly's mother
• James Morosini as Dalton (season 1), Whitney's assistant soccer coach
• Kavi Ramachandran Ladnier as Reena (season 1), Bela's mother
• Stephen Guarino as Roger, the Sips manager
• Jillian Armenante as Coach Woods (season 1), Whitney's head soccer coach
• Conor Donnally as Ryan (season 1), a writer for The Catullan
• Sierra Katow as Evangeline, a writer for The Catullan
• Maya Rose as Jena, Whitney's antagonistic teammate who later becomes her friend
• Sherri Shepherd as Evette, Whitney's mother and a U.S. senator from Washington
• Betti as Travis, a student who lives in the dorm
• Cheyenne Perez as Jo, a writer for The Catullan
• Scott Lipman as Frude, the residence director of the dorm
• Isabella Roland as Carla, a fellow writer for The Catullan
• Amanda Ripley as Ginger
• Vico Ortiz as Tova
• Gedde Watanabe as Professor Harpin, Bela and Whitney's biochemistry teacher
• Donielle Nash as Jayla, a friend of Whitney's
• Aketra Sevillian as Zoe (season 2), an employee at Sips
• Charlie Hall as Andrew (season 2), Bela and Whitney's biochemistry classmate
• Gracie Dzienny as Tatum (season 2), Leighton's new love interest

Episodes

Series overview

Season	Episodes		Originally aired
			First aired	Last aired
1	10		November 18, 2021 (2021-11-18)	December 9, 2021 (2021-12-09)
2	10		November 17, 2022 (2022-11-17)	December 15, 2022 (2022-12-15)

Season 1 (2021)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date	Prod. code
1	1	"Welcome to Essex"	David Gordon Green	Mindy Kaling & Justin Noble	November 18, 2021 (2021-11-18)	T40.10301
Kimberly, Bela, Whitney and Leighton arrive at Essex College and become roommates. However, each has a hard time: Kimberly gets dumped by her boyfriend Max the morning after the two make love. Bela wants to join The Catullan, an exclusive comedy group, and is brushed off by Eric, one of the main co-editors, who tells her that there might not be any female spots available this year. Bela gives handjobs to six editors at a party the club is hosting, getting her accepted as a candidate but also in trouble with Evangeline, who happens to be the girlfriend of one of the editors. Whitney joins the all-female soccer team, but Jena and other teammates behave hostile towards her, believing that she only got here as a senator's daughter, while secretly having an affair with her assistant coach Dalton, before finding out in disappointment that he is married. Leighton, whose two best friends have asked not to be paired up with her due to her self-centered attitude and initially wary of the trio, is forced to give them a chance after being encouraged by her older brother, Nico, whom Kimberly instantly becomes attracted to. Leighton hooks up with a random woman, revealing that she is a closeted lesbian. Whitney takes an interest in Canaan, Kimberly's co-worker at Sips, and they hook up.
2	2	"Naked Party"	Zoe Cassavetes	Ali Liebegott & Caroline Goldfarb	November 18, 2021 (2021-11-18)	T40.10302
Kimberly's first day of class goes sour as she doesn't know how to properly speak French. Whitney confronts Dalton for not telling her about his marriage. Willow informs Whitney that Jena uninvited her to a party for the soccer team. After witnessing Jena and her boyfriend arguing, she confides in Whitney that he broke up with her as he couldn't handle her team's schedule. Whitney comforts her and they become friends. Bela and Kimberly go to a naked party where Bela once again runs into Evangeline, who reveals that she had campaigned in favor of her submission, despite her immoral actions to get accepted. Leighton abruptly leaves Chloe, her hookup, when she deduces that she is an Essex student and hasn't come out yet, leading her to go on a night-long bender and receives a call from Chloe, who still tries to convince her otherwise, but she ignores her and furiously throws a tequila bottle at a statue of the college's founder, getting chased off by campus security because of it.
3	3	"Le Tuteur"	Zoe Cassavetes	Rupinder Gill	November 25, 2021 (2021-11-25)	T40.10303
Leighton unsuccessfully attempts to bribe President Lacey, who assigns her 100 hours of community service at the Essex women's center as punishment, which she reluctantly accepts, but finds herself clashing with Alicia, the volunteers' overseer. Bela tries to seek dating attractive boys with abs. After hitting it off with one and having sex, however, Bela realizes that he only likes her because she's funny, but still sees him for sex. She also gets accused for a stinking fridge, which she denies, but when Kimberly reveals that all of the food was smelling horridly as she cleans it up herself, Bela quickly remembers that she had forgotten to plug it back. Nico and Kimberly bond as he tutors her in French. Whitney pressures Dalton into divorcing his wife, promising to do so while they are in the woods for a movie night and giving her evidence of a message to ease her up. However, Dalton chickens out at the last minute, with Whitney in the dark about this, confident that their relationship will work out.
4	4	"Kappa"	Kabir Akhtar	Charlie Grandy & Beth Appel	November 25, 2021 (2021-11-25)	T40.10304
Leighton gets paired up with Cory, Nico's friend, when she uses him as a beard to hide her sexuality. Bela meets alumnus Danny Marawitz, hoping that he accepts to be her mentor. However, after Danny makes a sexist joke about Bela, she angrily tells him what she really thinks about him, resulting in Danny storming out of the event and calling off a donation check meant for The Catullan. Another alumni, who overheard the entire exchange and spent years despising Danny for making jokes about him being gay, thanks Bela for what she did and offers to match half of his donation for the magazine, much to Bela's delight. Whitney travels with the soccer team for the tournament and settle in at a hotel. Willow finds out about the affair through a shirtless picture of Dalton, but Whitney, knowing this would cost Dalton's job and her mother's reputation as senator, makes her promise not to tell anyone. Kimberly sees a comment Nico posted on her dress' photo.
5	5	"That Comment Tho"	Rachel Raimist	Matt Warburton & Sheridan Watson	November 25, 2021 (2021-11-25)	T40.10305
Kimberly shows the comment to Bela and Whitney but Nico deletes it, confusing her. Whitney takes it upon herself to end the discrimination against female athletes by taking a look at the boys' locker room, but she gets caught by Hayden, one of the teammates. Coach Woods benches Whitney for two games as punishment. Leighton invites the girls from the women's center to Nico's frat party and agree to give it a try despite their opinions of frat houses. Bela crashes a Catullan soiree she wasn't invited to where she meets Ryan, Eric's colleague, who is on good terms with her. However, Bela leaves early after Ryan shows her a porn video he describes as "funny". During the party, Whitney bumps into Hayden and they do a treadmill race challenge that she wins. Leighton stops Alicia from beating up a guy that insulted her; Alicia, thinking that she is straight, calls Leighton out over the injustice, until Leighton proves her wrong by kissing her. As Nico walks Kimberly home, he tells her that he deleted the comment to make sure that no one would get the wrong idea about them. Dalton breaks up with Whitney, who in response throws a rock at his car as he drives off.
6	6	"Parents Weekend"	Meredith Dawson	Mindy Kaling & Justin Noble	December 2, 2021 (2021-12-02)	T40.10306
The girls' parents arrive at Essex college for the Parents' Weekend and they head out to have dinner together. However, the entire meeting proves to be awkward as secrets start to pop up and egos clash with one another. Bela is caught by her parents lying about taking neuroscience courses in order to become a doctor and are disappointed when she tells them that she wants to be a comedy writer. Whitney still refuses to approach her mother and misses her father, who does not show up. Kimberly panics about her mother being unable to pay for the dinner due to their poor background and insists that Leighton pay for it, but the ruse is discovered. After the dinner, Whitney thanks her mother for defending her father, but she acknowledges that Leighton's parents were right about him and that at some point she will have to break the pedestal she puts him on. Despite their anger at being lied to, Bela's mother is understanding of her daughter's passion and promises that they will support her as long as she focuses more on her studies. Carol tells Kimberly not to be ashamed of who she is. Nico and Kimberly kiss.
7	7	"I Think I'm a Sex Addict"	Lila Neugebauer	Rupinder Gill & Vanessa Baden Kelly	December 2, 2021 (2021-12-02)	T40.10307
Kimberly starts seeing Nico regularly for sex, keeping their affair a secret from Leighton, but also causing her to skip her Econ classes and show up late for work. With her grades slipping, Lila, Kimberly's other co-worker, advises her to ask professor Bennett for an extra credit; she does, but when he leaves her to do a difficult assignment, Kimberly is once again tempted by Nico, this time having sex in Bennett's office until they are caught, resulting in Kimberly losing her extra credit. Nico offers Kimberly a ton old exams his frat house has been keeping to help her pass. Leighton finds out about Whitney's affair with Dalton, becoming her second secret-keeper, and gives her love advice as she starts reconnecting with Canaan. Ryan once again makes sexual advances towards Bela, who oficially becomes a member of the Catullan. Leighton starts getting along with the women's center group while making official her relationship with Alicia. Someone named Maya calls Leighton, whom she addresses as Nico's girlfriend.
8	8	"The Surprise Party"	Maggie Carey	Charlie Grandy & Kristen Zublin	December 2, 2021 (2021-12-02)	T40.10308
Leighton hosts a surprise party for Nico's 21'st birthday and invites Maya, which upsets Kimberly when she finds out. Whitney shoots a winning goal that gets her team to the NCAA tournament, but her future is on the line as Coach Woods informs her that Dalton has been sleeping with a teammate. After initially taking a low profile, she decides to come clean to Coach Woods, who doesn't rat her out, but at the cost of her and Dalton losing their jobs. Bela and Carla, another fellow Catullan writer, get paired up to write a piece on their first day. Carla confides in Bela that Ryan has been sexually inappropriate towards her, but, despite being on the same situation, she brushes it off out of fear. After Carla resigns from The Catullan and Bela's piece wins, she realizes her mistake and tells Leighton. She calls Alicia for help, assuring Bela and Carla that she's on their side.
9	9	"Cheating"	Kabir Akhtar	Caroline Goldfarb & Beth Appel	December 9, 2021 (2021-12-09)	T40.10309
Kimberly ponders on whether to cheat her Econ exam. Despite Canaan warning her against it, she does cheat, using her urinary tract infection as an excuse, but is eventually caught by professor Bennett. Leighton threatens to tell Maya about Nico's infidelity unless he apologizes to Kimberly. Bela reports Ryan's sexual assault on her and Carla to Evangeline and Eric; while Evangeline believes her, Eric callously criticizes her. Nevertheless, Eric later apologizes for his previous behavior, promising to settle the matter himself. Whitney takes full responsibility for Dalton and Woods' firings, but her team is supporting and understanding. Leighton and Alicia go to an escapade together. However, Leighton's refusal to come out of the closet results in Alicia breaking up with her. Finding out that Nico never talked to Kimberly, Leighton tells Maya that Nico cheated on her, but does not name her.
10	10	"The Truth"	Liza Johnson	Justin Noble & Rupinder Gill	December 9, 2021 (2021-12-09)	T40.10310
Maya has broken up with Nico, whom Leighton berates for causing this misfortune to himself. Kimberly faces a potential expulsion from Essex for violating the honor code. She steals the old tests from Theta and is caught by Nico, who instead allows her to turn them in to the Honor Board to further help her case. Eric kicks Ryan out of The Catullan for what he did to Bela and Carla, but Bela, Evangeline and Jo, having had enough of its toxic rape culture and when a rift forms because of it, decide to quit and start their own magazine. Senator Chase visits Whitney to make sure that the girl who was with Dalton is fine. Whitney uses Willow as a scapegoat and her mother easily falls for it. Despite this, Whitney does tell the truth to her mother, who blames herself for being so strict to her that Whitney thought she had to hide things from her and the two reconcile. Depressed over Alicia, Leighton finally comes out to Kimberly, who supports her. While they are having lunch together, Kimberly receives an e-mail from the board, announcing that she is not expelled, but her scholarship was revoked for her actions, so she will have to pay her tuitions if she is to stay.

Season 2 (2022)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date	Prod. code
11	1	"Winter Is Coming"	Daniella Eisman	Caroline Goldfarb	November 17, 2022 (2022-11-17)	T40.10401
Kimberly, Bela, Leighton and Whitney arrive back at Essex shortly after the Thanksgiving break. Kimberly, trying to compensate her lost scholarship, requests a loan at the loan office with Leighton's help, but since she hasn't told her parents about the scholarship, she turns it down after she is told that they need to co-sign. Bela has a rough start at her new female magazine as she is unimpressed with the applicants' dull submissions; she turns to Eric for advice, and he tells her to look for people who are funny like her. Whitney feels dejected when she is unable to find any common interest aside from soccer and overhears Canaan, who she is now dating, saying how it's the only thing she has in her life. They later attend a frat party at Omega Pi, where Bela asks Lila to join her magazine and she accepts. Kimberly meets Jackson, a climate change refugee from Kansas, and they exchange phone numbers. The four are subsequently kicked out of the party when some disgruntled Theta members, who have banned them from attending their parties ever again, tip the frat house off about their whistleblower roles in light of the expulsion of Nico and other Theta seniors over the stolen exams. Leighton comes out to Bela and Whitney, encouraging her to text a girl she met last night. Bela thanks Eric for his advice and they kiss.
12	2	"Frat Problems"	Daniella Eisman	Rupinder Gill	November 17, 2022 (2022-11-17)	T40.10402
13	3	"The Short King"	Lila Neugebauer	Sarah Tapscott	November 24, 2022 (2022-11-24)	T40.10403
14	4	"Will You Be My Girlfriend?"	Lila Neugebauer	Rheeqrheeq Chainey	November 24, 2022 (2022-11-24)	T40.10404
15	5	"Taking Shots"	Thembi Banks	Justin Noble & Sheridan Watson	December 1, 2022 (2022-12-01)	T40.10405
16	6	"Doppelbanger"	David Stassen	Mindy Kaling	December 1, 2022 (2022-12-01)	T40.10406
17	7	"The Essex College Food Workers Strike"	Tazbah Chavez	Beth Appel	December 8, 2022 (2022-12-08)	T40.10407
18	8	"Pre-Frosh Weekend"	Tazbah Chavez	Sarah Tapscott & Modupe Thompson	December 8, 2022 (2022-12-08)	T40.10408
19	9	"Sex & Basketball"	Rupinder Gill	Rupinder Gill & Caroline Goldfarb	December 15, 2022 (2022-12-15)	T40.10409
20	10	"The Rooming Lottery"	Justin Noble	Justin Noble & Beth Appel	December 15, 2022 (2022-12-15)	T40.10410

Production

Development

The series was first announced at the HBO Max presentation in October 2019, under the working title College Girls. It was given a straight-to-series order of 13 half-hour episodes with Mindy Kaling announced to create, write and executive produce the series under her overall deal with Warner Bros. Television. In May 2020, the series was confirmed to be launching in 2021, under the new title The Sex Lives of College Girls. In October 2020, it was announced that the first episode would be co-written by Kaling and Never Have I Ever's Justin Noble, with Noble joining the series as executive producer. On December 7, 2021, HBO Max renewed the series for a second season. On December 14, 2022, HBO Max renewed the series for a third season.

Casting

On October 14, 2020, the lead cast, made up of Pauline Chalamet, Amrit Kaur, Reneé Rapp and Alyah Chanelle Scott, was announced. Dylan Sprouse joined the main cast in December 2020, but was replaced by Gavin Leatherwood on March 12, 2021, who was cast alongside Midori Francis, Chris Meyer, Ilia Isorelýs Paulino, Lolo Spencer, and Renika Williams in starring roles. On May 19, 2021, Sherri Shepherd, Maya Rose, Rob Huebel, Nicole Sullivan, Conor Donnally, Sierra Katow, Mekki Leeper, and James Morosini joined the cast in recurring capacities. On August 16, 2021, Izzy Roland, Kavi Ladnier, Stephen Guarino, Matt Maloy, Donielle Nash, and Najee Muhammad joined the cast in recurring capacities. On June 3, 2022, Mitchell Slaggert was cast as a new series regular for the second season. On August 15, 2022, Charlie Hall joined the cast in an undisclosed capacity for the second season.

Filming

The series began filming on November 20, 2020, in Los Angeles. Filming also took place at Vassar College in mid-2021. On June 19, 2021, recurring cast member Sherri Shepherd posted a behind-the-scenes video of her character in costume and revealed that the series was scheduled to premiere in late 2021. Filming for the second season began in late April 2022, some of which took place on the University of Washington's Seattle campus.

Release

The Sex Lives of College Girls premiered on November 18, 2021, with the first two episodes available immediately, followed by three new episodes on November 25 and December 2, and the final two episodes of the first season on December 9 on HBO Max. The second season was released on November 17, 2022, with two episodes available immediately and two more episodes available weekly on Thursdays until the season finale on December 15.

From July 5, 2022, it is available on the RTÉ Player in the Republic of Ireland with some episodes airing on RTÉ2. The two seasons are available in the United Kingdom on ITVX. In Belgium the show can be watched via Streamz.

Reception

Critical response

For the first season, the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 97% approval rating with an average rating of 7.6/10, based on 30 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "While The Sex Lives of College Girls doesn't rewrite the syllabus for Anthropology 101, it succeeds gracefully as a warm-hearted romp on campus." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 72 out of 100 based on 17 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Saloni Gajjar of The A.V. Club gave the first season a B+ and wrote, "The way the show tackles how teens cope with sudden freedom is both funny and truthful." Angie Han of The Hollywood Reporter, said that it is "nothing novel or fancy [but] warm and gooey enough to satisfy."

On Rotten Tomatoes, the second season holds an approval rating of 92% with an average rating of 5.5/10, based on 12 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus states, "Bawdy and sweet as ever, The Sex Lives of College Girls continues to excel as a refreshing twist on youthful indiscretions." On Metacritic, it has received a score of 79 out of 100, based on 6 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Accolades

The Sex Lives of College Girls was nominated for the Outstanding New TV Series category for the 33rd GLAAD Media Awards in 2022. For its casting department (Elizabeth Barnes and Jennifer Euston), the series was nominated for an Artios Award for Outstanding Achievement in Comedy Pilot Casting. The series is set to be awarded the "Seal of Female Empowerment in Entertainment" (SOFEE) by the Women's Committee of the Critics Choice Association, for its outstanding work in "[illuminating] the female experience and perspective through authentically told female-driven stories."

External links

• The Sex Lives of College Girls on HBO Max
• The Sex Lives of College Girls at IMDb