Les années campus

After watching Freaks and Geeks and falling deeply in love with it I had to fill the void it had left so I did some research and found out about "Undeclared". As I said in my "Freaks and Geeks" review, I worship at the altar of Rogen and Apatow, they are writers and filmmakers whom I look up every single time I think or discuss film and story, to whom I relate almost everything I see, they inspire me in many different ways, they often move me on an emotional level and, best of all, they are truly and constantly hilarious and always get a laugh out of me.

"Undeclared" is a show created by Judd Apatow in 2001 starring Jay Baruchel, Seth Rogen, a very young Charlie Hunnam, Monica Keena, Carla Gallo, Timm Sharp, Loudon Wainwright amongst a slew of guest actor including Jason Segel, Adam Sandler, Will Ferrel and Amy Poehler just to name a few. We follow the main cast, who are freshmen dorm-mates, in their lives in collage through 17 22-minutes-long episodes which each offer a new and different adventure for the characters whilst still maintaing an arch through the whole series.

Once again Apatow and his usual team of writers and directors deliver excellent content which as always starts from and honest and poignant place and develops from there comedy that is both hilarious and touching. These people feel real and well rounded, they all have a complex dynamic in them and you get behind each and everyone of them, understanding their strengths and weaknesses, their struggles, their joys and all in between whilst at the same time laughing really hard at what goes on in their lives without ever feeling as if we are poking fun at these people.

I have written so extensively in the past about why these writers work is so brilliant, I feel like I have exhausted the words to explain it. Their tone is so endearing without ever being melodramatic and their comedy is always genuine and edgy rarely ever being on the nose. As I always say: we laugh with these people, not at them. It seems banal, but looking at all the garbage comedy that we have to endure every year it bears repeating and it is even more important because I feel like we should champion these little gems that got a little lost in the mix.

This show is unfortunately slave of its 22-minute format, it could easily be a 1 hour show for me, so there is not that deep or insightful of a character development you can get into, yet what they manage to do with the time they have is surprising. Look it would be so easy for a show like this, as we see with so many others, to fall into stereotypical characters and story beats, clichéd resolutions and boring developments, with the people represented being turned into one dimensional beings. But the writers are better than this, they give everyone, even the smallest characters, a three dimensional dynamic and thrust them into situations that ring true and develop in ways that are there to say something interesting. Some of the same themes from "Freaks and Geeks" are back and explored in new ways whilst new themes emerge: sexual behavior, finding a place in the world, figuring out affection and love and most of all social dynamics are all explored. From them emerges naturally comedy to the point where it so ingrained in the narrative and organic to the flow of the dialogue you don't even think of it. This is how comedy works and how to do it right.

The cast is brilliantly in place and all deliver personal characterizations with excellent comedic timing that is fundamental in keeping the tone coherent. Jay Baruchel excels at being so likable without ever loosing the vulnerability his character bears. Charlie Hunnam is surprisingly funny, Seth Rogen is really inspired casting in the role of the grumpy guy, Timm Sharp needs only to appear on screen for the laughs to starts flowing and both Gallo and Keena strike a perfect balance between humanity and comedy.

As I said before the show is slave of its time format and it is unfortunately what brings it down many times. There are a couple of episodes in the middle that don't really add up to anything special because they don't get to explore the story beats they are putting forward. Moreover, there is just so much left unexplored it sometimes gets really frustrating, at times there is a really fascinating development going on and the show has to move on to the next beat in order to arrive at a conclusion in each episode and so the story isn't given enough time to breathe.

Still, the overall arch of themes and comedy is too good and contagious to be overcome by these problems and we end up with another great piece of storytelling and laughter by Apatow. I suggest checking this out, it takes a very short time to binge watch and it can be enjoyed by everyone.

The Fox network which usually is patient with their shows bailed out on this very funny series. It was a realistic view of college life from many perspectives. It was brought to you by the same people involved with Freaks and Geeks. A show I never got around to watching but was also critically acclaimed and lamented when cancelled. The cast was very likable and I am sure we will be seeing them elsewhere. If FX or some other outlet decides to start showing these episodes do yourself a favor and watch and enjoy. Will Ferrell's cameo is superb.

Apatow's followup to Freaks and Geeks was this Fox series, about college freshmen living dorm life. Watching this after F&G was probably a mistake, because it pales in comparison. Or at least it seems to at first. It's more sit-commy, and at only a half-hour, compared to the full hour of the earlier show, it doesn't seem to have the time to develop its characters. Over the first half of the episodes or so, I was thinking it was okay, but not too much over mediocre. But then I started to latch onto it, started to like its quirky sensibilities. It may be closer to a sit-com than F&G, but it's no Home Improvement or Full House. The show stars Jay Baruchel as Steven, a skinny, geeky kid who is attending a college so close to home his dad (Loudon Wainwright III) pops in to visit him frequently, much to his mortification. Lizzie (Carla Gallo) is the girl whom Steven falls for right off the bat, and who quickly submits to his advances to spite her obsessive, 25 year-old boyfriend, Eric (Jason Segel, who isn't a regular but pops up every couple of episodes). Lloyd (Charlie Hunnam) is Steven's British roommate who can bed pretty much any girl he sets his eyes on. Their neighbors are Ken (Seth Rogan) and Marshall (Timm Sharp), while Rachel (Monica Keena) rooms with Lizzie. Several famous guest stars pop up in the series, including Adam Sandler, Will Ferrell, Amy Poehler and Ben Stiller, all of whom are hilarious. A lot of the actors from F&G also appear, and it's a delight every time they do. Even though I did eventually like the show, I had problems with it. I really disliked the British kid, whom, for the longest time, I thought wasn't British but just feigning an accent. Turns out he really is British, but he's still mostly insufferable. The Rachel character was also pretty boring. Apatow's movies have been frequently criticized for lacking strong female characters, a criticism I do actually agree with. Freaks and Geeks, despite only having two major female characters, doesn't fall into that criticism, but Undeclared does. Lizzie and Rachel are mostly there just for sex, while the guys are usually involved in much more interesting situations. The show is pretty sex-obsessed. Of course, college freshmen are, too, at least the guys, and definitely some of the girls. But, I don't know, when I was lived in the dorm, the existence of sex was taken mostly on hearsay. The couple of people I did know who got laid in the dorms were either total jerks or ended up living out their time there very awkwardly avoiding the person or persons they slept with. I think the Fox factor was working here (F&G was on NBC, fwiw). The best episodes are the ones with Jason Segel, who is often accompanied by his co-workers from the copy shop, David Krumholtz and Kyle Gass. Segel was one of the best actors in F&G, and he's extremely hilarious here, especially the episode where he discovers that Lizzie slept with Steven.

The ad campaign Fox ran made this show seem like a TV version of 'American Pie." The truth is much better; in fact, this has the potential to be a truly great show. Produced by Judd Apatow, creator of the much-missed "Freaks and Geeks," Undeclared has many of the same elements that made F&G so loved.

Funny, painful and sweet at the same time, Undeclared will bring back memories of what young adulthood truly is like. Jay Baruchel plays freshman Steven Karp with just the right mixture of burgeoning self-confidence and massive insecurity. The opening scene, where he celebrates his newfound adulthood by tearing his X-Files poster in half, then immediately becoming overwhelmed by remorse, is a classic.

A premiere does not a show make, but this has a lot of promise. Especially for those of who continue to mourn F&G, Undeclared show offers something we haven't seen since the former show's demise: an intelligent, emotionally true portrait of youth.

A shame this show was canceled from FOX. But I guess they needed to make more room for crappy Reality shows and more room for new Sitcoms and cartoon shows that they will yet again cancel so it becomes a full circle (Futurama, and the godly Family Guy).

The show itself was smart, hilarious, and all characters were different, unique and everyone could relate to one of them. From the party/girlgrabbing Brit to the meek lead character played by fellow Canadian Jay, the Virgin, the Skank and we can't leave out the Moron and the Perv/Geek. This show took all the college stereotypes and played it out well. The storylines on each episode were original, quirky, and just plain funny. FOX if it wasn't for the Simpsons and American Idol, you'd be in the gutter.