Undeclared

infobox television
show_name = Undeclared


caption = The Cast of Undeclared
format = Comedy drama, sitcom
runtime = 22 Minutes
creator = Judd Apatow
starring = Jay Baruchel
Charlie Hunnam
Timm Sharp
Seth Rogen
Carla Gallo
Monica Keena
Christina Payano
Loudon Wainwright
country = USA
network = FOX
first_aired = September 25, 2001
last_aired = March 12, 2002
num_episodes = 17, 2 unaired (list of episodes)
imdb_id = 0273028

"Undeclared" is an American television series that aired on Fox during the 2001–2002 TV season. The half-hour comedy-drama/sitcom was Judd Apatow's follow-up to the TV cult classic "Freaks and Geeks", which also lasted for one season. "Undeclared" centered on a group of college freshmen at the fictitious University of North Eastern California. Unlike "Freaks", it was set in the current time of the early 2000s 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 an undergraduate who has not yet decided, or "declared", a specific major of study they wish to take.

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. 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." [ [http://www.thefalcononline.com/story/5070 The Falcon Newspaper - TV dramas explore college years ] ]

Media outlets such as "Entertainment Weekly" gave the show generally glowing reviews. Despite a cult following, Fox canceled the show in March 2002 after poor ratings. Viewership waned after a promising premiere, most likely due to Fox airing the remaining episodes out of order and constantly moving the show across its scheduling grid.Fact|date=September 2008 In total, 15 episodes were shown on Fox, while two unaired episodes were included in the DVD set released in the United States on August 16, 2005.

Characters

Main characters

Recurring characters

* 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".
* Perry Madison (Jarrett Grode), bland, sarcastic dorm-mate who can DJ and free-style rap (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 her. Eric works as the manager of a copy shop. (7 episodes)
* Adam (Leroy Adams), student who lives on the gang's floor (5 episodes)
* Trent (Jim Brooks), student who lives on the gang's floor (4 episodes)
* Lucien (Kevin O. Rankin), nerdy RA on the gang's floor who has an obsession with Hillary the RA (3 episodes)
* Hillary (Amy Poehler), another RA who hits on Lloyd; and at one point, dates Hal (3 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 appearances)
* Kelly (Busy Phillips), an attractive tour guide on campus who Ron develops a crush on and later begins dating (2 appearances)
* Susuki (Joanne Cho), Tina's roommate, whose constant violin practice annoys Tina (2 appearances)

Guests and cameos

* Tom Welling (as Tom, "Pilot")
* Simon Helberg (as Jack, "Pilot")
* Mike White (as Pet Store Employee, "Eric Visits")
* Jordan Black (as Card Guy, "Addicts")
* Will Ferrell (as Dave, "Addicts")
* Allen Covert (as himself, "The Assistant")
* Jonathan Loughran (as himself, "The Assistant")
* Adam Sandler (as himself, "The Assistant")
* Felicia Day (as Sheila, "God Visits")
* Sarah Hagan (as Jordanna, "Eric Visits Again")
* Samm Levine (as Books, "Rush and Pledge"/"Hell Week")
* Natasha Melnick (as Jenni, "Rush and Pledge"/"Hell Week")
* Fred Willard (as Professor Duggan, "So You Have a Boyfriend")
* Ted Nugent (as himself, "Full Bluntal Nugety")
* Mary Kay Place (as Mrs. Lindquist, "Parent's Weekend")
* Martin Starr (as Theo, "The Perfect Date")
* Ben Stiller (as Rex, "Eric's POV")
* Jenna Fischer (as Sorority Girl, "Pilot", "Prototype," and Betty, "Sick in the Head")
* Kimberly Stewart (as Amanda - Lloyd's sister "Parent's Weekend")
* Youki Kudoh (as Kikuki, "Hal and Hilary")

Episodes

Episode order

On the DVD, the episodes were ordered by production number. However, according to Judd Apatow, this was a mistake. [http://www.undeclaredonline.com/dvd/insert.html] The preferred order to watching the series (with the story in chronological order) is as follows:

* 1. Prototype
* 2a. Oh, So You Have a Boyfriend
* 2b. Full Bluntal Nugety
* 3. Eric Visits
* 4. Jobs, Jobs, Jobs
* 5. Sick in the Head
* 6. The Assistant
* 7. Addicts
* 8. God Visits
* 9. Parents' 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

In the order found default on the DVD, pressing "Play All" would be incorrect.

DVD releases

The complete series of "Undeclared" was released by Shout! Factory, including one unaired episode and the script for an unfilmed episode.

Trivia

* The show was given the production name "Slammin' 40s".Fact|date=April 2008

* The DVD box set contains one episode, "God Visits", that was produced but never aired on American television.

* The DVD also contains the script to an unproduced episode, "Lloyd's Rampage", 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 70's Show" co-creator Mark Brazill. [ [http://www.harpers.org/DontHaveACowMan.html "Don't have a cow, man" by Judd Apatow and Mark Brazill (Harper's Magazine) ] ]

* Creator Apatow also served as an executive producer, director, and writer for the series "Freaks and Geeks". Many "Freaks and Geeks" alumni have appeared on "Undeclared", including regular Seth Rogen, Jason Segel, Busy Phillips, Samm Levine, Sarah Hagan, Martin Starr and Natasha Melnick. "Freaks and Geeks" creator Paul Feig directed several episodes of "Undeclared". Also, in the episode "Hell Week", a fraternity trashes the main characters' room; one of the phrases spray-painted on the walls is "Greeks Not Freaks".

* 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 entitled "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.

* Charlie Hunnam's then-wife Katharine Towne appeared in the episode "Sick in the Head" as Lloyd's girlfriend, Rebecca.

* Seth Rogen wrote one episode of "Undeclared" ("Sick in the Head") and co-wrote four others. [http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/articles/content/a5644/index-6.html]

* Famous directors that have directed "Undeclared" episodes include Jon Favreau ("Swingers", "Made", "Iron Man") Paul Feig ("Freaks and Geeks"), Jake Kasdan ("Walk Hard", "Orange County"), Nicholas Stoller ("Forgetting Sarah Marshall"), John Hamburg ("I Love You, Man", "Along Came Polly"), and Broken Lizard's Jay Chandrasekhar.

* Included on the DVD, episode 2B ("Full Bluntal Nugety") is a director's cut of episode 2 ("Oh, So You Have a Boyfriend") as it aired. Some scenes were deleted and others were re-filmed in order to trim time off the length of the episode. This was explained in the literature that came with the DVD.Ted Nugent guest-starred, but his scenes were cut.

* The bar that the girls go into in the episode "The Day After" is Jacks in Pittsburgh on the South Side.

* Lloyd and Stephen's room has a Tenacious D poster on the door. Kyle Gass, one half of the parody rock duo, guests on the show as Eugene.

* In the show Eric (played by Jason Segel) is said to be eight years older than Lizzy (played by Carla Gallo) when in reality Gallo is 5 years older than Segel. Segal and Gallo reunited in "Forgetting Sarah Marshall", which Segel wrote and starred in. Gallo had a cameo as one of his post-breakup dates.

*During the filming of "Undeclared", Seth Rogan showed Judd Apatow the script for the film "Superbad", and they had a table read with the cast. Seth Rogan read for Seth (played by Jonah Hill), Jason Segel read for Evan (Played by Michael Cera), and Martin Starr read for Fogell (played by Christopher Mintz-Plasse).Fact|date=September 2008

International

References

External links

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* [http://www.detnews.com/2001/entertainment/0109/26/b01-302171.htm/ detnews.com]