''The Sex Lives of College Girls'' is an American teen

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

streaming television Streaming television is the digital distribution of television content, such as TV shows, as streaming media delivered over the Internet. Streaming television stands in contrast to dedicated terrestrial television delivered by over-the-air a ...

series created by

Mindy Kaling Vera Mindy Chokalingam (born June 24, 1979),Additional archive on June 25, 2015. known professionally as Mindy Kaling (), is an American actress, comedian, screenwriter and producer. She first gained recognition starring as Kelly Kapoor in the N ...

and Justin Noble that premiered on

HBO Max HBO Max is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in the United States on May 27, 2020, the service is built around the libraries of HBO, Warner Bros., Cartoon Ne ...

on November 18, 2021. In December 2021, the series was renewed for a second season which premiered on November 17, 2022. In December 2022, the series was renewed for a third season.

Premise

The series follows the lives of four 18-year-old

freshmen A freshman, fresher, first year, or frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. Ara ...

roommates at the fictional Essex College in

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provin ...

, covering their sexually active lifestyle as they deal with the struggles and hardships of college and adulthood.

Cast and characters

Main

Pauline Chalamet Pauline Hope Chalamet (born January 25, 1992) is a French and American actress, writer and director. She made her feature film debut in Judd Apatow's comedy ''The King of Staten Island''. Chalamet stars in the HBO Max original comedy ''The Sex L ...

as Kimberly, a freshman who is a working student who comes from

Gilbert, Arizona Gilbert is a town in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, located southeast of Phoenix within the city's metropolitan area. Incorporated on July 6, 1920, Gilbert was once known as the "Hay Shipping Capital of the World". It is the fifth-lar ...

, a small town that is predominantly white, and comes from a poor family *

Amrit Kaur Dame Rajkumari Bibiji Amrit Kaur (''née'' Ahluwalia) DStJ (2 February 1887 – 6 February 1964) was an Indian activist and politician. Following her long-lasting association with the Indian independence movement, she was appointed the first ...

as Bela, an Indian-American student from

Nutley, New Jersey Nutley is a township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 30,143. What is now Nutley was originally incorporated as Franklin Township by an act of the New Jersey Legisla ...

, who wants to become a comedy writer and is sex-positive *

Reneé Rapp Reneé J. Rapp is an American actress and singer. After she won the 2018 Jimmy Award for Best Performance by an Actress, she took over the role of Regina George in the Broadway musical '' Mean Girls''. She then went on to play Leighton in the ...

as Leighton, an affluent legacy student from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

who is a lesbian and trying to live up to her mother's high expectations * Alyah Chanelle Scott as Whitney, a star soccer player from

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region o ...

who is having an affair with her assistant soccer coach and is the daughter of a U.S. senator * Gavin Leatherwood as Nico (season 1), Leighton's older brother and Kimberly's love interest * Christopher Meyer as Canaan, Kimberly's co-worker * Ilia Isorelýs Paulino as Lila, Kimberly's co-worker * Renika Williams as Willow, one of Whitney's teammates * Lauren "Lolo" Spencer as Jocelyn, a student at Essex *

Midori Francis Midori Iwama (born April 16, 1994), known professionally as Midori Francis, is an American actress. She began her career in theatre, earning NYIT, Obie, and Drama Desk Awards. She received a Daytime Emmy nomination for her role as Lily in the Ne ...

as Alicia (season 1; guest season 2), Leighton's love interest * Mekki Leeper as Eric (season 2; recurring season 1), a writer for ''The Catullan'' * Mitchell Slaggert as Jackson (season 2), a new student from Kansas who bonds with Kimberly

Recurring

Rob Huebel Robert Anderson Huebel (born June 4, 1969) is an American actor, comedian and writer best known for his sketch comedy work on the MTV series ''Human Giant'' and for his role of Dr. Owen Maestro on the Adult Swim series '' Childrens Hospital''. He ...

as Henry, Leighton and Nico's father *

Gillian Vigman Gillian Vigman (born January 28, 1972) is an American actress, comedian, and screenwriter. She has played Jack Box's Wife in many Jack in the Box commercials, and is a recurring cast member of the sketch comedy series ''MADtv''. Vigman also sta ...

as Mimi, Leighton and Nico's mother *

Nicole Sullivan Nicole Sullivan (born April 21, 1970) is an American actress and comedian best known for her six seasons (1995–2001) on the sketch comedy series '' MADtv''. She also played Holly Shumpert in five seasons (2001–2005, 2007) of the CBS sitcom ...

as Carol, Kimberly's mother *

James Morosini James Morosini (born July 5, 1990) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is best known for writing, directing, and starring in ''I Love My Dad'', which Morosini based on his own experiences. Morosini is also known for his roles in ''The Sex Live ...

as Dalton (season 1), Whitney's assistant soccer coach * Kavi Ramachandran Ladnier as Reena (season 1), Bela's mother * Stephen Guarino as Roger, the Sips manager *

Jillian Armenante Jillian Armenante is an American television and film actress, known for playing the role of Donna Kozlowski on the TV show ''Judging Amy''. Life and career Armenante was born in Paterson, New Jersey, and grew up in Wyckoff, New Jersey. Her fe ...

as Coach Woods (season 1), Whitney's head soccer coach * Conor Donnally as Ryan (season 1), a writer for ''The Catullan'' *

Sierra Katow Sierra Lynn Katow is an American stand-up comedian, actress, writer and podcaster. Early life Sierra Lynn Katow was born to Vincent and Corinne Katow at the Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, California and is a fourth-generation American ...

as Evangeline, a writer for ''The Catullan'' * Maya Rose as Jena, Whitney's antagonistic teammate who later becomes her friend *

Sherri Shepherd Sherri Shepherd (born April 22, 1967) is an American actress, comedian, author, broadcaster, and television personality. She currently hosts the daily syndicated daytime talk show, '' Sherri''. From 2007 to 2014, Shepherd was a co-host of the da ...

as Evette, Whitney's mother and a U.S. senator from

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

* Betti as Travis, a student who lives in the dorm * Cheyenne Perez as Jo, a writer for ''The Catullan'' * Scott Lipman as Frude, the residence director of the dorm * Isabella Roland as Carla, a fellow writer for ''The Catullan'' * Amanda Ripley as Ginger *

Vico Ortiz Vico Ortiz (born October 10, 1991) is a Puerto Rican actor, drag king and activist. They are best known for their role as Jim in the HBO Max television series ''Our Flag Means Death''. Early life and education Vico Ortiz was born on October 10 ...

as Tova *

Gedde Watanabe Gary "Gedde" Watanabe (born June 26, 1955) is an American actor and comedian. He is perhaps best known for voicing the character of Ling in the 1998 animated film '' Mulan'' and its 2004 sequel '' Mulan II'', as well as playing Long Duk Dong in t ...

as Professor Harpin, Bela and Whitney's biochemistry teacher * Donielle Nash as Jayla, a friend of Whitney's * Aketra Sevillian as Zoe (season 2), an employee at Sips * Charlie Hall as Andrew (season 2), Bela and Whitney's biochemistry classmate * Gracie Dzienny as Tatum (season 2), Leighton's new love interest

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1 (2021)

Season 2 (2022)

Production

Development

The series was first announced at the HBO Max presentation in October 2019, under the

working title A working title, which may be abbreviated and styled in trade publications after a putative title as (wt), also called a production title or a tentative title, is the temporary title of a product or project used during its development, usually ...

''College Girls''. It was given a straight-to-series order of 13 half-hour episodes with

announced to create, write and executive produce the series under her overall deal with

Warner Bros. Television Warner Bros. Television Studios (operating under the name Warner Bros. Television; formerly known as Warner Bros. Television Division) is an American television production and distribution studio of the Warner Bros. Television Group division of ...

. In May 2020, the series was confirmed to be launching in 2021, under the new title ''The Sex Lives of College Girls''. In October 2020, it was announced that the first episode would be co-written by Kaling and ''

Never Have I Ever "Never have I ever", also known as "I've never..." or "ten fingers", is a drinking game in which players take turns asking other players about things they have not done. Other players who have done this thing respond by taking a drink. A vers ...

''s Justin Noble, with Noble joining the series as executive producer. On December 7, 2021, HBO Max renewed the series for a second season. On December 14, 2022, HBO Max renewed the series for a third season.

Casting

On October 14, 2020, the lead cast, made up of

and Alyah Chanelle Scott, was announced.

Dylan Sprouse Dylan Thomas Sprouse (born August 4, 1992) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Zack Martin on the Disney Channel series ''The Suite Life of Zack & Cody'' and its spin-off, ''The Suite Life on Deck'', where he starred along ...

joined the main cast in December 2020, but was replaced by Gavin Leatherwood on March 12, 2021, who was cast alongside

, Chris Meyer, Ilia Isorelýs Paulino, Lolo Spencer, and Renika Williams in starring roles. On May 19, 2021,

, Maya Rose,

, Conor Donnally, Sierra Katow, Mekki Leeper, and James Morosini joined the cast in recurring capacities. On August 16, 2021, Izzy Roland, Kavi Ladnier, Stephen Guarino, Matt Maloy, Donielle Nash, and Najee Muhammad joined the cast in recurring capacities. On June 3, 2022, Mitchell Slaggert was cast as a new series regular for the second season. On August 15, 2022, Charlie Hall joined the cast in an undisclosed capacity for the second season.

Filming

The series began filming on November 20, 2020, in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

. Filming also took place at

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely foll ...

in mid-2021. On June 19, 2021, recurring cast member Sherri Shepherd posted a behind-the-scenes video of her character in costume and revealed that the series was scheduled to premiere in late 2021. Filming for the second season began in late April 2022, some of which took place on the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattl ...

campus.

Release

''The Sex Lives of College Girls'' premiered on November 18, 2021, with the first two episodes available immediately, followed by three new episodes on November 25 and December 2, and the final two episodes of the first season on December 9 on

. The second season was released on November 17, 2022, with two episodes available immediately and two more episodes available weekly on Thursdays until the season finale on December 15. From July 5, 2022, it is available on the

RTÉ Player RTÉ Player is an on demand video service provided by Irish public media broadcaster RTÉ. The service provides live and recorded RTÉ television programmes, and content exclusive to the player as well as content from other international broad ...

in the Republic of Ireland with some episodes airing on

RTÉ2 RTÉ2 is an Television in the Republic of Ireland, Irish free-to-air television channel operated by public service broadcaster RTÉ. It was launched in 1978 as the Republic of Ireland's second television channel. History In the 1970s, the Iri ...

. The whole first season is available in the United Kingdom on

ITVX ITVX (formerly ITV Hub) is a British online video-on-demand service operated by ITV. The service offers predominantly features content from ITV1, as well as ITV Digital channels and some licensed content. The service was known as ITV Player fr ...

. In Belgium the show can be watched via Streamz.

Reception

Critical response

For the first season, the

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reported a 97% approval rating with an average rating of 7.6/10, based on 30 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "While ''The Sex Lives of College Girls'' doesn't rewrite the syllabus for Anthropology 101, it succeeds gracefully as a warm-hearted romp on campus."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 72 out of 100 based on 17 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Saloni Gajjar of ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

'' gave the first season a B+ and wrote, "The way the show tackles how teens cope with sudden freedom is both funny and truthful." Angie Han of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly larg ...

'', said that it is "nothing novel or fancy utwarm and gooey enough to satisfy." On Rotten Tomatoes, the second season holds an approval rating of 92% with an average rating of 5.5/10, based on 12 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus states, "Bawdy and sweet as ever, ''The Sex Lives of College Girls'' continues to excel as a refreshing twist on youthful indiscretions." On Metacritic, it has received a score of 79 out of 100, based on 6 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Accolades

''The Sex Lives of College Girls'' was nominated for the Outstanding New TV Series category for the

33rd GLAAD Media Awards The 33rd GLAAD Media Awards is a 2022 annual presentation of the GLAAD Media Awards, presented by GLAAD honoring the 2021 media season. It was held on April 2, 2022 in Los Angeles and was later held on May 6, 2022 in New York City. The awards ho ...

in 2022. For its casting department (Elizabeth Barnes and Jennifer Euston), the series was nominated for an

Artios Award for Outstanding Achievement in Comedy Pilot Casting The Artios Award for Outstanding Achievement in Comedy Pilot Casting is an award handed out annually by the Casting Society of America. It was introduced at the Art Directors Guilds' twelfth annual honors, in 1996 (honoring work from the previous ...

. The series is set to be awarded the "Seal of Female Empowerment in Entertainment" (SOFEE) by the Women's Committee of the

Critics Choice Association The Critics Choice Association (CCA), formerly the Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA), is an association of television, radio and online critics. Their membership includes critics who review film and television. Founded in 1995, it is the ...

, for its outstanding work in " lluminatingthe female experience and perspective through authentically told female-driven stories."

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sex Lives of College Girls, The 2020s American college television series 2020s American comedy-drama television series 2020s American LGBT-related comedy television series 2020s American LGBT-related drama television series 2020s American sex comedy television series 2020s American teen drama television series 2021 American television series debuts English-language television shows HBO Max original programming Television series about teenagers Television series by 3 Arts Entertainment Television series by Warner Bros. Television Studios Television series created by Mindy Kaling Television shows filmed in Los Angeles Television shows set in Vermont