Undergrads

Undergrads
The title card featuring the silhouettes of the four main characters (left to right: Rocko, Nitz, Gimpy and Cal)
Created byPete Williams
Developed byPete Williams
Josh A. Cagan
Directed byJerry Popowich
Voices of
Opening theme"The Click" by Good Charlotte from their self titled album
ComposersJono Grant
Chris Ross
Countries of originUnited States
Canada
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes13
Production
Executive producers
  • Neil Court
  • Steven DeNure
  • Abby Terkuhle
ProducersDavid McGrath
Beth Stevenson
EditorMartin Jefferson
Running time22 minutes
Production companies
Original release
NetworkMTV (US)
The Detour on Teletoon (Canada)
ReleaseApril 22 (2001-04-22) –
August 12, 2001 (2001-08-12)

Undergrads (stylized as underGRADS) is an American-Canadian adult animated sitcom centered on the lives of four college undergraduate freshmen. The show was originally broadcast for 13 episodes on MTV from April 22 to August 12, 2001, and was also shown on The Detour on Teletoon in Canada, and Trouble in the United Kingdom.

History

The show was created by Pete Williams, who dropped out of New York University at the age of 19 during his sophomore year to work on the show in 1997 after winning an MTV animation contest by creating an animated short called The Click. Williams performs most of the voices on the show. The series was produced by David McGrath and directed by Jerry Popowich.

Cancellation

The series was cancelled after just one season due to low ratings and according to Pete Williams the show left the prime time slot by the third episode and practically stopped airing on MTV by the sixth episode and ended without any warning. Unbeknownst to Williams his show had a much better following in Canada when it aired on Teletoon at Night. Williams only realized that his series was over after his MTV employee keycard suddenly stopped working forcing him to file for unemployment benefits and move back in with his parents. After his show was canceled, Pete Williams and his brother earned a living selling spec scripts for animated series’ to various networks that never got green-lit.

Unsuccessful revival and Undergrads: The Movie

After an unsuccessful revival attempt in 2004 by the Canadian based studio Decode Entertainment which was to air on Teletoon due to MTV still holding the rights to the show at the time sabotaging the attempt, Williams 14 years later in June 2018 after a long legal dispute announced that he had managed to secure the rights from MTV and formally announced a Kickstarter campaign for funding a feature-length series finale called Undergrads: The Movie. As of August 2023 after the film is currently in development by Brain Power Studio with a budget of $150,000 which was raised in February 2019 after the successful Kickstarter campaign, and was set for a 2023 release but it has since been delayed indefinitely due to personal issues with Pete Williams.

The film, Undergrads: The Movie, is in development from Brain Power Studio, with a budget of $150,000 (acquired following a successful Kickstarter campaign).

Overview

Characters in the show represent a dramatic portrayal of stereotypical college types; including the stable, sarcastic everyman (Nitz); the boisterous, alcoholic "frat boy" (Rocko); the handsome dimwitted "ladies' man" (Cal); the reclusive nerd (Gimpy), the rebellious punk girl (Jessie); the "ditz" (Kimmy); the resident advisor (The Duggler). Typical situations depicted in the show but in an overly dramatic and comedic manner include student loans, abysmal cafeteria food, questioning of identity, fraternity rivalries, odd traditions, unpleasant tyrannical RAs, money problems, peer pressure, and the "freshman 15". Despite the series taking place in college there are almost no episodes that depict the characters attending class; the one exception is Rocko's ROTC class in the episode, "Financial Aid".

The exact location of the series is never revealed to the audience and is up for interpretation. In the episode “Drunks” the protagonists use fake New York State drivers licenses to buy alcohol as creator Pete Williams briefly attended a university in New York before creating the show which could imply that the series takes place in Upstate New York as there are many college towns in that region. However in the beginning of the series one of the protagonists disguises his friend as a California Highway Patrol officer.

Characters

Main

Supporting

Recurring

Episodes

No.TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal release dateTeletoon air date Prod.
code
1"Party"Jerry PopowichJosh A. CaganApril 22, 2001 (2001-04-22)June 30, 2001101
After arriving at college Nitz realises after a week he hasn't done anything so tries to cram a weeks college experiences into a day in order to have something to talk to Kimmy about. Rocko who is making efforts to join the Alpha-Alpha fraternity who is not allowed to haze him decides to haze himself by doing all kinds of stupid things but makes a fool out of himself but still gets into the fraternity after the Alpha-Alpha members take pity on him.
2"Traditions"Jerry PopowichScott SonnebornApril 29, 2001 (2001-04-29)July 1, 2001102
Tradition Week at the colleges. State U's eXposed eXpo means that during the first snow fall of the winter all of the freshman have to streak through the college quad.
3"Virgins"Jerry PopowichNahnatchka KhanMay 6, 2001 (2001-05-06)September 8, 2001103
Nitz is a virgin but thinks that Kimmy wants to have sex with him when she invites him to the clinic where she works.
4"New Friends"Jerry PopowichAndy RheingoldMay 13, 2001 (2001-05-13)September 9, 2001104
Nitz's friends forget about his birthday so he decides to start hanging out with Jessie and her friends. At the same time at Tekerson Tech, Gimpy has lost command of his band of minions and must fight Number One for control.
5"Drunks"Jerry PopowichJosh A. CaganJune 8, 2001 (2001-06-08)September 16, 2001109
Nitz who is underage tries to get into a bar so he can talk to Kimmy. Rocko vows never to drink again after hallucinating a giant anthropomorphic whiskey bottle.
6"Roommates"Jerry PopowichJulie Rottenberg, Elisa Zuritsky, Josh A. Cagan & Andy RheingoldJune 15, 2001 (2001-06-15)September 23, 2001110
After Cal begins to make Nitz go crazy he starts sleeping in Jessie's room, whose roommate has gone for the week. Nitz suddenly realises that he's attracted to Jessie but then tries too hard to get her. Gimpy falls in love with a girl hacker.
7"Jerks"Jerry PopowichJosh A. CaganJune 22, 2001 (2001-06-22)September 30, 2001107
Gimpy, unable to further tolerate Rita's tyranny, enlists Cal to woo her into submission. But the plan works a little too well. Kimmy tells Nitz that she is moving to England so he offers her his travel clock even though he doesn't have one. Rocko drags Nitz around town all night and then destroys the travel clock that Gimpy found for Nitz.
8"Rivalries"Jerry PopowichBrad Sonneborn & Scott SonnebornJune 29, 2001 (2001-06-29)October 7, 2001112
Nitz and Gimpy enter a trivia competition but end up competing against each other in an inter-college competition.
9"Financial Aid"Jerry PopowichNahnatchka KhanJuly 6, 2001 (2001-07-06)October 14, 2001113
Nitz does not receive his financial aid check and so joins the local student action group. Rocko joins the local college ROTC.
10"Identity Crisis"Jerry PopowichJosh A. Cagan, Andy Rheingold & Pete WilliamsJuly 22, 2001 (2001-07-22)October 21, 2001105
After returning from winter break, nobody seems to remember Nitz so he locks himself in his room to create an identity. Rocko converts Cal into a version of Rocko.
11"Work Study"Jerry PopowichScott SonnebornJuly 29, 2001 (2001-07-29)October 28, 2001111
Nitz receives a credit card from his parents but goes over his limit so must get a job. He ends up working at the library while Rocko, Cal and Gimpy manage to get large amounts of money without trying.
12"Risk"Jerry PopowichAndy Rheingold & Pete WilliamsAugust 5, 2001 (2001-08-05)November 4, 2001106
Gimpy finds his Risk board and invites the rest of the clique around for a game. But Nitz has promised Kimmy that he would help at the Spring Fling carnival. Gimpy schemes so that Nitz cannot leave and Nitz's absence causes a fire.
13"Screw Week"Jerry PopowichJosh A. Cagan, Andy Rheingold & Pete WilliamsAugust 12, 2001 (2001-08-12)November 11, 2001108
During the final week of college, Nitz tries desperately to attract Kimmy. Jessie becomes more annoyed with Nitz for ignoring her obvious attraction to him.

Music

The theme song, "The Click", is written and performed by the band Good Charlotte, who appear in the episode Risk. Much of the music featured in Undergrads include songs from various indie rock bands and Canadian artists, such as Vibrolux, Alkaline Trio, Knacker, Sam Roberts, Reggie and the Full Effect, Sloan, The Planet Smashers, The Brodys, and The Rosenbergs, among others. The score of the show was composed and produced by Jono Grant. A list of bands and songs used in each episode can be found at the show's official website.

This style of music was also heavily featured in another Decode Entertainment series, Radio Free Roscoe, which had the same music directors as Undergrads.

The American broadcast used different songs by artists such as Linkin Park, Madonna, Kid Rock, Lenny Kravitz, and the Foo Fighters.

Notes

  1. ↑ As Decode/Click Productions

References

  1. ↑ Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 671. ISBN 978-1538103739.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Cohen, Ben (June 26, 2020). "'Undergrads' Bombed in the US. 20 Years Later, It's Making a Comeback, Thanks to Canada". Vice. Retrieved June 26, 2020.
  3. ↑ Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. p. 884. ISBN 978-1476665993.
  4. ↑ Williams, Pete [@UGPeteWilliams] (June 4, 2018). "Achievement unlocked! We've secured the film rights from MTV to produce an Undergrads movie. One step closer" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  5. ↑ Bereta, Jesse (February 11, 2019). "Nitz Returns in the First "UnderGRADS: The Movie" Update". Bubbleblabber. Retrieved February 11, 2019.
  6. ↑ Bereta, Jesse (April 1, 2020). "We Have An Update On The UnderGRADS Mobie". Bubbleblabber. Retrieved April 1, 2020.
  7. 1 2 "Pete Williams, creator of underGRADS". Thedetour.ca. Retrieved March 10, 2014.[permanent dead link]
  8. ↑ "Television Program Logs". Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (FTP). March 2, 2016.[dead ftp link] (To view documents see Help:FTP) Alt URL
  9. ↑ "The Vancouver Sun from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on June 29, 2001 · 85". Newspapers.com. June 29, 2001. Retrieved November 22, 2019.
  10. ↑ "Undergrads : Episode Song Lists". Undergrads.tv. Archived from the original on December 3, 2013. Retrieved March 10, 2014.