Promo 96

Youth ensemble drama about first year students at the fictional Havenhurst College, located in the Northeast (Though filmed entirely on location at the University of Toronto)

David came from blue collar roots and was the first in his family to attend college; Jessica was wealthy; Antonio was from the ghetto; Whitney was a rich preppy; Robin was a redhead bombshell; Patty was an aspiring actress; and Stroke was a money-grubbing nerd.

This show came on just after I graduated college. I watched it religiously; it was real, the writing, acting and shooting were tight, it was the thinking person's answer to 902whatever. Class of '96 took me back to my college days in an amazing way, every episode. Also had a great soundtrack and terrific opening theme (...you and I have so much more to learn). You might also remember the show that followed it -- The Heights (spawned famous song -- "How do you talk to an angel"). Also a pretty good vehicle that didn't get its due credit. I'd love to get these shows on dvd; alas, who knows where they are now?

I'd forgotten about this show, but was recently reminded when I saw one of the actresses (Kari Wuhrer) in another show recently. I liked it a lot (though I had been out of college for many years!) and was very upset when it was canceled. The cast was really excellent, and the writing was true to life. I guess this is the show that started the "Jason Gedrick curse," which I totally don't understand! I was also a fan of EZ Streets and Boomtown, later vehicles of his which were also were canceled despite their excellence. Megan Ward was another standout cast member of Class of '96 who went on to roles in some high-profile series -- and also was in the ill-fated Boomtown.

This series followed 7 students at a ficticious Ivy League university, it came on as a mid-season replacement and was gone by that May due to low ratings and most likely the fact that the cast of 90210 went to college that fall and two dramatic series with similar plots and characters on the same network would have caused confusion. Was not a bad show, just was not given much of a chance to develop.