Undergrads - Complete First Season

Rating:
Summary: One of the best shows on television
Review: "Undergrads" is one of the best television programs of the last ten years. Of course it will inevitably draw comparisons to "The Simpsons" and "The Critic" because of its wide array of pop culture references, but the real reason "Undergrads" resonates is in the details. Creator Pete Williams cleverly focuses on four characters who were best friends in high school and how this will affect their friendship once they enter college. Each of the characters are very different, but Williams and the shows other writers do an excellent job of showing the dynamics that keep their friendships together. The four characters are obviously types: Rocko is the lunkheaded frat-boy with the penchant for booze and porn; Gimpy is the shut-in computer nerd who always quotes "Star Wars"; Cal is the vapid ladies' man ; and Nitz is the likable, shy, insecure and stubborn guy. They are complemented by a stable of fantastic supporting characters: there is Jesse, the girl with the crush on Nitz; Kimmy, the girl Nitz has a crush on who is in every school club (a la Max in "Rushmore"); Brody, the Hollywood dreamer/insider ; The Duggler, the RA who nobody likes ; Monk, Gimpy's faithful sidekick ; and Kruger, the foul-mouthed cynic. Unlike "The Simpsons," which is trapped in an eternal present, "Undergrads" actually advances in a linear fashion. Details from the first episode "Party" show up in the penultimate episode "Risk" (in which they all play the board-game Risk), showing how all these details have been worked out by the creators, something that does not happen with this much skill in most animated comedy shows. In "Daria," for instance, characters and themes recur, but the sense of progressing time is always vague and slightly distorted. Not only is the show tightly written, many of the characters' traits are firmly exploited for some great humor. Gimpy's devotion to "Star Wars" necessitates an intense dislike of all things "Star Trek" related (notice how in the first episode Gimpy has a Captain Kirk blow-up punching doll?). The also exploits the flashback, dream and desire devices to new ridiculous heights and depths, as well as the newspaper headline device to humorously sum-up less vital plot points ("RA Crumples Up Newspaper in Disgust," etc.). People who have been to college, and especially those who lived in dorms will probably like this show more than others because it obviously exaggerates some aspects of college life. But that is part of the show's charm. The reason for the four-star review is that some of the earlier episodes are hampered by weak jokes and bad timing. But as the first season progresses, the humor picks up with lightning speed and intelligence. Highly recommended, and here's hoping for a second season ... just watch the final episode to see what I mean!

Rating:
Summary: One of the smartest, funniest shows on TV and a must own DVD
Review: "Undergrads" was one of the shows to come out during the glut of animation at the turn of the century and as quickly as it started it was over. It was a real shame, because had it not been lost in the shuffle it could have been remembered as one of the best cartoons ever.

It's hard to put what made "Undergrads" so special into words. The animation is adequate but nothing special. The quirky brand of observational comedy produces some truly funny moments, but the humor itself does not make the show. Instead, the decisive factor is its plethora of wonderful characters. College is filled with a diverse mixture of people, and by distilling them down into their archetypes creator Pete Williams has created a cast that represents nearly all of them. Anyone who ever went to college probably knew the pathetic porn loving jock, the nerd obsessed with fantasy worlds, "The Girl" who is a member of every club, charity, and activist group around, the self-described "Sarcastic cool girl who hangs out with dorks", and so on. The problems they face and the lessons they learn are the problems and lessons of every undergrad. It's because the characters and situations are so familiar that after only a couple episodes you will feel like your good friends and care about their zany adventures, because most likely some of them actually are actually your friends, and they are issues you yourself had to deal with.

The attitude is perfectly captured in the excellent theme song by Good Charlotte: "... The best years of our lives aren't as easy as they seem. To get the girl, to make the grade, it's all a show, it's all a game. And I would lose it if I played, but anyway... "

Of course, since it was cancelled it has been difficult to find convenient times to watch the reruns. At the time of this writing, it is only viewable in America weekly on Comedy Central at 1:30AM Sunday nights, hardly convenient for nearly anyone who has a job, and even many students. I'm ecstatic that this series is coming to DVD so that I'll be able to watch the episodes at my convenience again and again. I recommend this to anyone who ever has been, is going to, or ever will go to college. You won't be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: There's a good reason this show only lasted one season
Review: Don't be fooled by the other reviewers this show is not that great. The main character Nitz is someone that really irritates me, he has no personality and isn't funny, coincediantelly none of his friends are very funny either. I saw the premire of this show when it was on MTV, but stopped watching after the 2nd episode, recently Ive seen about 5 other episodes on Comedycentral and ahve concluded that unless the 5 or so episodes that are on the dvd are totally unlike the rest of the series this is definetely a waste of money, and buying the South Park or Family Guy dvd's would be a much much wiser descision. Just to get a sense of how this show isn't good the creator got it on the air because he won a contest, I'm serious, worst of all the shows theme song is buy Good Charlotte and the creatoor makes a bunch of references to them with the characters which he voice, I guess the person who made this is exactly the kind of person who I don't like and who are roining the entertainment industry. Again get the Family GUy or South Park DVD's instead, if you are corious about the show try renting at a place that carries DVDs of tv series, but I don't reccimend you do.

Rating:
Summary: underGRADS is extremely under-rated
Review: Don't listen to the guy who was putting the show down, his claims were baseless and untrue - he's obviously seen very little of the show.

If you're into show like The Family Guy, The Simpson, The Critic, and Futurama, then you will no doubt love this show. Each of the four characters is a well developed exageration of each of the four personality classes that an undergraduate student may find him or herself in. The brilliance behind this idea is that it demonstrates the pros and cons of the campus life through the interaction of different class characters. The main character Nitz goes through many of the same experiences as real life undergraduates do and through all the humour, subtle messages are conveyed about how to deal with those experiences. This may restrict the humour to only those who know of such campus experiences, but generally the humour applies to everyone.

For any teenager or young adult, this show is a must see. Interlaced with current music hits and events, the show has an edge to it that has never been done in cartoons. But for an MTV production, that's not too surprising. I just hope there will be more of it in the future.

Rating:
Summary: The best animated series i've seen in years.
Review: don't listen to the one jerk below who claims this show isn't good.

This show is a damn fine piece of work. Everything about it just makes you remember your days in college, or agree with things because you are currently in college.

The characters' friendship mirrors that of the friendships we have. not always perfect, sometimes good, sometimes bad.

And when you see gimpy walking out of his dorm, for the last time (since there currently isn't a second season) while "Overboard" by the Rosenbergs is played in the background, it's almost enough to make you cry.

or at least remember that ending for the rest of your life.

Rating:
Summary: poor production values hurt shows
Review: Fans of Animation Beware! Undergrads suffers from poor production values. The biggest gripe being that the characters in the show are constantly being presented to you in a 3/4 angle wich never varies. No profiles, No Frontal, not even a 2/4. Just 3/4, 3/4, 3/4. I refuse to belive that the Animators/storyboarders/character desingers made this glaring ommision to be "Stylistic". To me it just seems as if they were being lazy.
Even the Power Puff Girls varie in angles.

Recommended only if you like their sence of Humor and are not irratated by the constant 3/4 angles.

Rating:
Summary: excellent show...
Review: From the first time i was introduced to Undergrads almost two years ago, to today, i still laugh at the same jokes hearing them for the 3rd or 4th time. this show is simply brilliant, and anyone who says otherwise is simply a chump.

Rating:
Summary: Undergrads - Complete First Season
Review: Funniest thing ever made. This TV show is the best

Rating:
Summary: The current best cult adult comedy on Comedy Central
Review: I like this show from the humerous and slapstick actions they do, and their story is very interesting and funny. As everybody knows, it revolves around 4 charecters, in which two are actually intersting, Rocko and Nitz, the rest like that male bimbo and the internet geek are just colourful charecters created to waste time, and rumor has it that the four charecters were created by Silent Bob charecter, Kevin Smith. I think this show is one of the more realistic tv shows to come out and the way they based it on a less popular charecter is what makes it illusive to watch. It may be aired on one show, but the DVD is out, so for those who haven't cable, buy this. One of the best cult comedies out there since Dilbert.

Rating:
Summary: Great series, some Minor quibbles....
Review: I made a half hearted attempt to record all of the episodes off of Teletoon (Canadian Cartoon Network) but never really completed the task. And now I don't have to because I just bought the complete first season on DVD. YAY!!

I LOVE this series even more so than my real life, probably because my real life pales in comparison in both entertainment value and humorous content, also, GIMPY IS MY HERO!!!

Now on to the quibbles: One, the special features are sparse. I was hoping for a wee bit more behind the scenes stuff like some interviews with cast and crew besides Pete (although Pete is most of the cast and his interview is quite entertaining). I would have also loved to have actually HEARD a few of the audio commentaries (a second ENG 2.0 stereo track does appear on some episodes, but all I hear is a duplicate of audio track 1).

Complaint number two is a strange thing that I've noticed when I play the discs on my Toshiba DVD player. At the end of every chapter (ie where there would normally be a commercial) the shows pause and the only way to bypass this is to press the FF button and then rewind to the beginning of the chapter. On the positive side, this only occurs on my DVD player, and is not an issue on the system in the living room, or on my computer. So, although this is an annoyance, it will not result in my returning the set for a replacement.

But even with all of that, I still highly recommend this DVD set. Show your support for Undergrads, GET MTV off there behinds and give us Season 2 or at least ONE MORE EPISODE to tie up all the loose ends!!!