Undeclared is an American sitcom that aired on Fox during the 2001–02 season.

Premise [link]

The half-hour comedy was Judd Apatow's follow-up to his earlier television series Freaks and Geeks, which also lasted for one season. Undeclared centered on a group of college freshmen at the fictional University of Northeastern California (campus exteriors were actually shot at USC and UCLA). Unlike Freaks, it was set in the current time of the early 2000s (decade) rather than the 1980s. It gave a humorous look at the highs and lows of college life, from young adult relationships to the dreaded freshman fifteen. It takes its name from the status of undergraduates who have not yet decided, or "declared," a specific major of study.

Critique [link]

College is "the reward for surviving high school. Most people have great fun stories from college and nightmare stories from high school," Judd Apatow told the Los Angeles Times in 2006.^[1] He also speculated on why college shows find it hard to gain a foothold on network schedules: "One reason for the death of college shows is that it's difficult to be honest about campus life on network or basic cable. It's hard to portray truthfully. The truth is, kids are high, drunk and having sex. No matter what you do, you're fudging it."^[2]

Media outlets such as Entertainment Weekly gave the show generally glowing reviews, though the general audience did not seem to share the same opinion of the show, as Fox canceled the show in March 2002 after poor ratings. In total, 16 episodes were shown on Fox, while one unaired episode was included in the DVD set released in Region 1 on August 16, 2005.

Characters [link]

Main characters [link]

Recurring characters [link]

• Perry Madison (Jarrett Grode), bland, sarcastic dorm-mate who can DJ and free-style rap. (12 episodes)
• Tina Ellroy (Christina Payano), Lizzie and Rachel's suitemate introduced mid-season. Moves into the vacated room in Lizzie and Rachel's suite during the unaired episode "God Visits". (11 episodes)
• Eric (Jason Segel), Lizzie's obsessive ex-boyfriend who 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 African-American student on campus who 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), Indian 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 [link]

Episodes [link]

Episode order [link]

When first shown on network television, many episodes were aired out of order, much to Judd Apatow's dismay. When it was originally released on DVD, the episodes were presented in their production order, which was a mistake according to Apatow.^[3] However, newer versions of the DVD present the episodes in the correct chronological order, restoring all storylines and character developments.

1. "Prototype"
2. "Oh, So You Have a Boyfriend?" / "Full Bluntal Nugety"
3. "Eric Visits"
4. "Jobs, Jobs, Jobs"
5. "Sick in the Head"
6. "The Assistant"
7. "Addicts"
8. "God Visits"
9. "Parent's Weekend"
10. "Eric Visits Again"
11. "Rush and Pledge"
12. "Hell Week"
13. "Truth or Dare"
14. "The Day After"
15. "The Perfect Date"
16. "Hal and Hillary"
17. "Eric's POV"

Ratings [link]

The show averaged 7.3 million viewers and was #93 in the rankings during its only season.^[4]

Planned storylines [link]

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 in the episode 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 shits 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 Judd Apatow and That '70s Show co-creator Mark Brazill.^[5]

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 Jason Segel was dating Linda Cardellini.

Syndication [link]

In June 2010, it was announced that the Independent Film Channel had acquired the rights to air both Undeclared and Freaks and Geeks.^[6] Undeclared premiered on IFC on November 5, 2010.^[7] Both Undeclared and Freaks and Geeks began rerunning on the TeenNick network on June 13, 2011.^[8]

DVD release [link]

On August 16, 2005, Shout! Factory 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.^[3]

References [link]

External links [link]

• Undeclared at the Internet Movie Database
• Undeclared at TV.com