10 Reasons Why Right Now Is the Perfect Time to Watch ‘Undeclared’

By Nadia Chaudhury | Lists | September 9, 2014 |

By Nadia Chaudhury | Lists | September 9, 2014 |

Sons of Anarchy’s final season begins tonight, and in real life, school is back in session. That makes right now the perfect time to relive your college years by going back to Fox’s Undeclared, the one-season classic from 2001-2002 that helped launch the career of many big-name actors and actresses, including…

1. Charlie Hunnam’s Lloyd Haythe
Minus his SoA facial hair, babyfaced Lloyd was everyone’s unrequited crush. That accent. That body. Yes.

2. Team Rachel vs. Team Lizzie
While both girls are equally lovely and neurotic, Rachel is the correct choice. Her hippie idealism and full self-embrace made her funnier and just more enjoyable than Lizzie.

3. Dolphins
One of the best moments on the show is when Rachel tries to heal friend Marshall with herbal medicine. None of it works, of course, but Marshall pretends it does because he can’t tell the girl of his dreams, “No, I’m dying, I really need a doctor.” In his herbal-induced dazed state, Marshall says to Rachel, “You’re smart and pretty, like a dolphin.” It’s made even better when he later thanks her in dolphin.

4. Eric as the grown-up Nick Andopolis
We all fell in love with Jason Segel’s Nick Andopolis on Freaks and Geeks, with his puppy dog awkwardness, earnestness, and attempts at grand gestures (*holds up a lighter for “Lady L”*). Undeclared shows us where Nick might have ended up after high school in the form of Eric, the slightly creepy, yet well-intentioned college dropout who’s still in love with Lizzie, for whom he makes a whole lotta creepy photo face pillows.

5. Roommate Music-Off
Say the words “how bizarre,” and immediately you feel the cool breeze of driving around in your convertible, right? Tina, Rachel and Lizzie’s third roommate, loves that OMC song so much that she blasts it over and over and over again while studying. That drives Rachel crazy, and forces her to take things into her own hands by playing her own music out loud. This leads to an all-out music battle, with a playlist of early-2000s hits that have aged horribly but still sound great. Never underestimate Enrique Iglesias’s ability to bring the world together.

6. ALL the guest stars
Amy Poehler, Adam Sandler, Will Ferrell, Jenna Fischer, Felicia Day, Martin Starr, Ben Stiller…

7. And ALL the directors and writers
Even more impressive than the on-screen talent on the show is the behind-the-scenes team Judd Apatow hired. The directors included Paul Feig (Bridesmaids, Freaks and Geeks), Greg Mottola (Arrested Development, The Comeback), Jake Kasdan (Walk Hard, Ben and Kate, New Girl), John Hamburg (I Love You Man), and Jon Favreau, while Nicholas Stoller (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Neighbors), Kristopher Brown (Beavis and Butt-Head, Brent Forrester (The Simpsons, Mr. Show), and even Seth Rogen all penned episodes.

8. The Sexiled Club
Like a summer camp for sexiled roommates, the unlucky ones who got kicked out of their rooms gather in the recreation room to get away from their frisky dormmates. They sleep on the floor and sofas, watch TV, and take trust falls. But they get their sexy time in the sun, too, when D’Angelo’s sweaty “Untitled (How Does It Feel)” music video comes on that the club turns into an all-out makeout party.

9. Dad hanging out in college
With shows based in college, it gets tricky involving the parents in anything more than a “send me more money, I miss home” capacity. But from the get-go, Steven’s father Hal (played by the always-welcome Loudon Wainwright III) is fully involved. He’s just a man, trying to find himself, just like his son.