Shark Bytes

Jumped when you realized Louden Wainwright III as Steven's dad just wasn't going to go away. PLEASE - hanging out with your son during his freshman year of college borders on child abuse and it totally killed the comedy.

Another great show dumped way too soon.It was smart in a way few sitcoms are these days.Interesting that Judd Apatow was the creative mind behind this, since he has moved on to smart movies like "40 yo Virgin", which was wild and nasty but had a huge heart.That was this show.Seth Rogen was a riot here.

Undeclared, like its sister show, Freaks and Geeks, never had a chance to jump the shark. However, whereas Freaks and Geeks was amusing and nostalgic at best, I found Undeclared to be a wonderfully raucous, indelibly witty, and consistently creative little comedy. I commend Judd Apatow and his talented staff of writers for getting rid of all the fat Freaks and Geeks had - the whiny monologues, the overwhelming nostalgia for the period, and the sugar-coated sweetness within each character. The writers and cast of Undeclared created flawed but believable characters who experienced the realistic troubles of moving away to college. Although it flounders in its earlier episodes, it really hits it's stride with the arrival of Eric, hilariously played by the gifted but underrated actor Jason Segel. His performance alone is worth buying and watching the complete series - his psychotic, pathetic wretch of a boyfriend is comic genius. Of the main cast, Jay Baruchel is the show's true find - his wholesome vulnerability and twitchy nervousness shape him as a younger, cuter Woody Allen. He's got a long career ahead of him. Charlie Hunnam's proves he's not just good-looking with his puckish performance as Lloyd, and the increasingly popular Seth Rogen has a masterful deadpan and flair for a comeback that allows him to steal entire scenes with one line. Monica Keena and Carla Gallo take slightly longer to gain their footing (this is after all, a boy's club, and like in most of Apatow's productions, the female characters are underwritten.) But Keena's brilliant comedic talents come out in three fabulous storylines (Rachael gets fat, Rachael gets a new roommate, Rachael gets wasted at the bar.) And every once in a while Gallo reveals something about Lizzie in a way in which we the viewer have to reassess everything that's gone before ("We were all something else in high school. I was a slut.") The onlyl weak link for me is Timm Sharp's annoying, unfunny Marshall, and an excruciatingly painful turn from Loudon Wainwright as the father. These characters are desperately and dreadfully one-note, and one can often sense the tension in the actors' performances. That being said, it never should have been yanked, and never had a full chance to jump. I would have watched a second season.

This show jumped when it wasn't even half as good as "Freaks and Geeks" a.k.a. from day one.

This show (like its last Apatow incarnation "Freaks and Geeks") has not jumped the shark, but rather got bumped by network execs. Although both of these shows have a lot in common, they're both have some differences. F&G is a dramedy with high schools students that aren't in the highest social ladder, Undeclared is a full on comedy with its main character as he tries to break out of his nerdy image in high school and starts fresh in the college life. Undeclared (like F&G) was one of the shows that they tried duplicating it but it just won't be as good as the first time. When will they learn?

I can't believe all the negative comments on here, because they mostly center on the level of sex and drinking, and how "unrealistic" that is for some kids in college. Hello!? Did you guys live in dorms? I was a super-nerd in college, (I'm talking a Neal from F&G nerd), but I got laid every once in a while and drunk myself stupid AT LEAST twice a week. Those things were never the focus in Undeclared, anyways. They were the backdrop that you watched the characters play out their lives on. And I'm sorry, but sex and drinking (and every other vice that you can partake in now that Mom and Dad aren't watching) is the backdrop of college life. Perhaps a little less grounded in reality than F&G, but at least as amusing and touching. It never jumped; and like F&G and Futurama, there's a part of me that's glad it never got the chance.

Never jumped- great show! Don't understand why it was cancelled, anybody that experienced the true "college life" should be able to identify with at least one of the characters or some aspect of the show. I miss that show!

This was one of two new shows on FOX's 2001 grid that featured alumni from the show PMK (Popular Mechanics For Kids). While Elisha Cuthbert and 24 is still going strong in its third season, the same couldn't be said of her old PMK co-host Jay Baruchel. The latter starred in the witty and hilarious Undeclared, which was a refreshingly accurate take on the highs and lows of university life. The cast was perfect and the show never had a dull moment. Both 24 and Undeclared were on the ax numerous times in its first season due to low ratings. Yet, Fox held out for 24, but never gave Undeclared a chance by moving its timeslot. It's a shame, cuz the show held a lot of promise.

This show never jumped the shark. Although I do have a few issues with the previous post. First of all, what college did you go to? Pansie University? I know plenty of colleges where you could get away with having parties in the dorms, it's not all that far out of the norm trust me. And to compare it to a band selling out on it's looks, PLEASE. Undeclared was one of the best comedies FOX has churned out in a while, and only failed because like a lot of other stuff FOX has tried, it's simply too unique and the humor just went over the heads of the general public (oh listen to me, now I sound pretentious like the last guy!)

Undeclared seemed like it couldn't lose. It got the 8:30 slot after That 70's Show, a proven hit. It got hyped hard by Fox before it came on and it got universal good reviews, with Maxim saying it was the best new comedy of the season and a certain hit. This show was a Freaks and Geeks dumbed down and with better looking actors. It reminded me of when a really great band with a lot of artistic integrity plays up their looks and writes music toward getting radio play rather than filling an artistic agenda. All that said, I enjoyed this show a lot, when I saw the commercials, I really looked forward to starting my first year of college! The show definitely was no Freaks and Geeks, but it had the same vibe and came pretty close. Some of the episodes were too contrived, like when Marshall and the japanese girl talked thru computer translators and when Steven kept helping Lizzie and David stay together. Despite that, it hit pretty close to the college experience, except it exaggerated the debauchery. That episode with the party in the dorms would've never happened, no RA would let a floor have a huge party with alcohol and underage drinkers in plain sight. I'm definitely sorry to see this show gone, it sunk like a rock when FOX stopped promoting it. FOX's attempt to create an unsinkable super show failed once again.

This show never jumped the shark! It was another ingenious show from the man behind Freaks and Geeks.

This show was always funny. The adam sandler show was lame but the show still had plenty of life left in it.

I always hear of network executives say their cautious about canceling new shows without giving them time to grow because they are afraid of getting rid of what could have been "the next Seinfeld" (a show like many hits that started small and exploded). Well, FOX, I can honestly tell you that Undeclared WAS the next Seinfeld and you cancelled it before it developed an audience. Way to go, guys. I think this wonderfully funny show about 6 college freshman sitting around getting into little Seinfeldian adventures lost an audience on 3 conflicting fronts. First, you've got FOX that doesn't know how to market a smart show to a teenage audience- so they fill the ads with a bunch of sex jokes turning off the smart teen Judd Apatow audience. Then you've got the show itself being smart and turning off the American Pie audience the commercials drew in. But, as much as I hate to say it, I think the biggest problem was with Apatow himself. He made a huge mistake having Steve and Lindsey "do it" in the first episode, it turned off his Freaks and Geeks fans and eventually killed the show. However, those of us that did stick around watched as the actors synergized into a truly wonderful comedic team. We saw the situations getting more imaginative and the dialogue getting sharper. The two part Frats episode with Samm Levine was a classic, as was any one with Jason Seigel (the finale was hilarious), the truth-or-dare game, the anti-sex rec room episode and Steven battling his RA/potential stepmother. But it was the little moments that won me over. Like when Rachael and her suitemate blasted each other out with their awful taste in music, when Martin Starr showed up rambling about Freddy Got Fingered or Lloyd and Steven's Fight Club parody. Don't listen to those who tuned out. This show was an absolute gem. Rock on, Apatow!

A show jumps the shark when, while it was good, it is just going to get worse. A show must first be good before it can jump; it must go uphill before it can go downhill. Undeclared never got that chance. It stunk from the beginning. Why? Because the whole stupid show was just "American Pie" the TV show. The whole thing was about these college kids drinking, partying, and having sex. The fact that they were in college was practically an afterthought; we've gotta do this stupid teenage sex-romp SOMEWHERE, let's use a college. After the greatness of Freaks and Geeks, I expected better from Judd Apatow, and I was sorely disappointed. In an interview with The Onion, Apatow said something like how he disliked the way Fox was advertising Undeclared and that it made it look like a sex-romp where the characters spent most of their time in their underwear and that this was an inaccurate portrayal of his latest creation. Funny how on target the Fox advertising was.

FOX deserves the rest of its lineup (minus the Simpsons of course) for cancelling this show!