This does not cite its references or sources. You can help Wikipedia by introducing appropriate citations. Undergrads is an animated television series centered around the lives of four college undergraduate freshmen. Originally broadcast on MTV during 2001, only thirteen episodes were created. It has developed a cult following on Comedy Central in the United States, Teletoon in Canada, and Trouble in the United Kingdom.

The show is a microcosm of college life, featuring elements that are typical (if not archetypal) of many students’ college experiences. Many characters in the show represent common college (and literary) character types; including the everyman (in Nitz), the "frat boy" (in Rocko), the ladies' man (in Cal), the nerd (in Gimpy), the tomboy (in Jessie), and the ditz (in Kimmy). Situations featured also tend to be typical of the college experience, through the good times and (unlike many representations of college life in entertainment) the bad times. These situations include student loans, bad cafeteria food, questioning of identity, fraternity rivalries, odd traditions, unpleasant RAs, money problems, peer pressure, and the freshman fifteen. Interestingly, almost no episodes show the characters in class, the one notable exception being Rocko's ROTC class in "Financial Aid."

The show was conceived by Pete Williams when he was 19 and had dropped out of college to create the series. He does most of the voices on the show.

Characters

Main Characters

Secondary characters

Other characters

::Brodie: A film student whom has quite the makings of a future film critic. He represents the type of college kid with a one-track mind and perpetual obsession. He talks about movies constantly, and is often spouting trivia and personal opinions on movies. He often talks about movie news as well, quite enthusiastically. He seems to consider himself destined for greatness, and as a result can be rather naive and egotistical. He often introduces himself as, "Hi everyone, I'm Rob Brody," when entering a room, even to people he knows or is friends with. He is also somewhat notable for starting the famous shout in the last episode.

Kruger: A succinct description of Kruger is he's a foul-mouthed homophobic smoker. Every other word and sentence spoken by Kruger is censored. He often disagrees with everyone, and seems quite the pessimist. A scathingly cynical, gothic homophobic chain smoker, he says just what's on his mind all the time in rather less than diplomatic ways. His favourite word to say is "BLEEP" and in the rivalries episode its mentioned that he's good at trivia, but doesn't help Nitz defeat Gimpy.

Dan: He has literally no speaking lines in the entire series. All he does is laugh at various things. He laughs at others' misfortunes, jokes, anything. All he really does is laugh. As such, there's not a whole lot to explore about him. It's a possibility that he could have mental problems or that he frequently indulges in marijuana, although it's far more likely just a gag.

There are many others in the troupe as well, although the characters above appear most often.

Location

The place Undergrads takes place in is never completely mentioned. It looks much like one's typical college town. However, it has been hinted in numerous episodes lightly that the show takes place somewhere in California. For example, in episode 1 Gimpy disguises Mump as a CHP or California Highway Patrol Officer for assorted hijinks in a parody of the classic television show CHiPs. It should be noted however, that Pete Williams, the show's creator, attended New York University and in episode five as the camera pans out an aerial shot of Lower Manhattan can be seen. Also, in the episode "Drunks", both Jessie and Nitz had fake New York State driver's licenses. The episode "Identity Crisis" takes place at the start of the second semester and shows bare trees and snow on the ground, conditions which are more likely to be found in New York City in January than in Southern California. Also, the song "Losing California" by the Canadian alternative band Sloan is played in the background while the group attend a bar in the episode "Drunks".

Episodes

Cancellation and possible syndication

Airing to extremely mixed reviews and failing to attract much of an audience Undergrads was regarded as both a critical and financial failure. As such, it was canceled before the second season could be produced. The series was originally set to continue, with Teletoon and Decode Entertainment producing as they did for the first season. However, at the last minute, MTV discontinued their funding, which halted production. The show was taken to Comedy Central to see if they would renew the show, but this attempt failed. Undergrads was placed in an extremely late Sunday night time slot.

While the show has a large number of detractors, its fans feel it is one of the few shows in general to show a realistic portrayal of Campus life with some exaggerations from the characters. Also, the last episode of Season one leaves on a cliffhanger that obviously was meant to lead to a second season. Pete Williams has stated that he would be very interested in reviving Undergrads, and Teletoon and Decode maintain that they too remain interested in continuing the series, but the funding has not presented itself. The show's originality and cult-status, as well as the relatively early (and some say unjust) cancellation have caused many to link it to the other MTV cartoon program Clone High, which, like Undergrads, aired to broadly positive review but was cut due largely to poor airtime management and resultant underexposure.

Recently, Adult Swim in Latin America has aired Undergrads. This has given many hope that Adult Swim will air the show in other countries as well within the near future. The hope is that this will give Undergrads much needed exposure to broader audiences, especially in the remaining part of North America.

In addition, Pete Williams, the shows creator still believes that there is indeed hope for the shows revival. In a blog post on January 27, 2006 he mentions that he wishes still to "to rally as much support for a SECOND SEASON as possible. Sure it's been almost 5 years since we wrapped production. Sure, everyone else involved with the show has moved on with their lives. But what can I say? I'm still not ready to put that final nail in the Undergrads coffin. I NEED to finish telling their story!"

Pete Williams has stated that Teletoon has put up half of the production cost for its second season. Pete urges fans to add 'undergrads' as a myspace friend to help continue and spread the news of a possible second season (see his blog for more details).

On June 5-9, 2006, nine of the thirteen episodes of "Undergrads" aired on MTV2 in the afternoon as part of their Sic'emAtion animation set.

As of Tuesday, July 18, 2006, Pete Williams has urged fans to bombard both the Cartoon Network and Comedy Central with emails to bring back Undergrads. Williams has also suggested the use of letters as the next contingency.

On Thursday, March 29, 2007, e-mails from Decode.tv were sent out urging fans to request more episodes. In April 2007, Teletoon conducted surveys discussing the possibility of resuming production of the show.

In October, 2007, Decode advised that by now, they are not doing a second season, but that the possibilities are not over yet.

Music in Undergrads

The theme song, "The Click", is written and performed by the band Good Charlotte who also appear in the Risk episode. Good Charlotte actually recorded two versions of this song, the first as a B side for the "Little Things" Single. The version heard on Undergrads is a remake, and has been added to the re-release of the Good Charlotte Album. The original version is much grittier and sounds like a club recording. Aside from Good Charlotte, Undergrads has songs from many other bands, few of which are repeated. The official site lists all of the bands and songs used in each episode. The song performed near the end of the final episode, Screw Week, is Overboard, by The Rosenbergs.

All 13 episodes were released as a DVD set on August 5 2003.

References

External links

• Undergrads Official Website Play games, watch clips and download Undergrads stuff!
• Undergrads Myspace Run by creator, Pete Williams. Check it out for ways to help save the show.
• UnderGRADS at Keyframe - the Animation Resource
• Undergrads on DVD at Amazon.com