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''Undeclared'' is an American sitcom created by Judd Apatow, which aired on
Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...
during the 2001–02 season. The show has developed a
cult following A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...
, and in 2012, '' Entertainment Weekly'' listed it at #16 in the "25 Best Cult TV Shows from the Past 25 Years".


Premise

The half-hour comedy was Judd Apatow's follow-up to an earlier television series he worked on, '' Freaks and Geeks'', which also lasted for one season. ''Undeclared'' centers on a group of college freshmen at the fictional University of Northeastern California. Unlike ''Freaks and Geeks'', it is set contemporaneously (early 2000s) rather than the early 1980s.


Characters


Main


Recurring

* Perry Madison (Jarrett Grode), bland, sarcastic dorm-mate who can DJ and free-style rap. (12 episodes) * Eric ( Jason Segel), Lizzie's obsessive ex-boyfriend whom 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 student on campus who temporarily 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 Gerry Bednob (born May 18, 1950) is a Trinidadian and Tobagonian-American-Canadian actor and comedian of Bengali Indo-Trinidadian descent. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in sociology from the University of Toronto, and worked as a high sch ...
), 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

Numerous actors from '' Freaks and Geeks'' appeared on ''Undeclared'' portraying new characters, including Rogen, Segel, Levine, Starr, Phillips, and Melnick, among several others.


Broadcast


Episodes

When first shown on network television, many episodes were aired out of order, much to Apatow's dismay. When originally released on DVD, the episodes were presented in their production order, which was a mistake according to Apatow. However, newer versions of the DVD present the episodes in the correct chronological order, restoring all storylines and character developments. In addition, an alternate version of the second episode, titled "Full Bluntal Nugety" is included on the DVD release of the series.


Planned storylines

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 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 defecates in 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 Apatow and ''That '70s Show'' co-creator
Mark Brazill Mark Brazill is a television creator. Conflict with Judd Apatow In late 2001, Judd Apatow sought to have Topher Grace of ''That '70s Show'' appear in an episode of his series ''Undeclared''. This initiated a string of heated emails between the tw ...
. 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 Linda Edna Cardellini (born June 25, 1975) is an American actress. In television, she is known for her leading roles in the teen drama ''Freaks and Geeks'' (1999–2000), the medical drama '' ER'' (2003–09), the drama thriller ''Bloodline'' (2 ...
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, Segel and Cardellini were dating.


Syndication

In June 2010, it was announced that the Independent Film Channel had acquired the rights to air both ''Undeclared'' and '' Freaks and Geeks''. ''Undeclared'' premiered on IFC on November 5, 2010. Both ''Undeclared'' and ''Freaks and Geeks'' began rerunning on the TeenNick network on June 13, 2011. Netflix also had ''Undeclared'' (in the past) and had the episodes in their original chronological order.


Home media

On August 16, 2005,
Shout! Factory Shout! Factory is an American home video and music company founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases include previously released feature films, classic and contemporary television series, animation, live music, and comedy ...
and
DreamWorks Home Entertainment DreamWorks Pictures (also known as DreamWorks SKG and formerly DreamWorks Studios, commonly referred to as DreamWorks) is an American film company and distribution label of Amblin Partners. It was originally founded on October 12, 1994 as a liv ...
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.


Reception


Critical reception

''Undeclared'' received critical acclaim from television critics. On Metacritic, the series earned a score of 85 out of 100, based on 24 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". On Rotten Tomatoes, it has an approval rating of 93% with an average score of 8.18/10 based on reviews from 30 critics. The website's critical consensus reads, "''Undeclared'' lives in the shadow of its Apatow-produced predecessor but still delivers an insightful and sweet year of self-discovery on campus." In 2020, Briana Kranich of ''
Screen Rant ''Screen Rant'' is an entertainment website that offers news in the fields of television, films, video games, and film theories. ''Screen Rant'' was launched by Vic Holtreman in 2003, and originally had its primary office in Ogden, Utah. ''Scr ...
'' named ''Undeclared'' as one of the ''10 Most Underrated Shows Of the Noughties''.


Ratings

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


References


External links

* {{Judd Apatow 2001 American television series debuts 2002 American television series endings 2000s American college television series 2000s American sex comedy television series 2000s American single-camera sitcoms 2000s American teen sitcoms Apatow Productions films English-language television shows Fox Broadcasting Company original programming Television series about teenagers Television series by DreamWorks Television Television shows set in California Television series created by Judd Apatow Television series set in the 2000s