It’s time to get this countdown started in fine fashion: college slacker fashion from the guy that brought us The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up.

Undeclared
(Fox: September 25, 2001-March 12, 2002; 17 episodes)
Starring: Jay Baruchel, Carla Gallo, Charlie Hunnam, Monica Keena, Seth Rogen, Timm Sharp, Loudon Wainwright

At seventeen episodes, I’m fairly certain this is the shortest tenured show of the forty-five I’m putting on the list. Undeclared seems to be the classic cult TV show story: strong premise, with a unique show runner and a young cast that the network has no idea what to do with. In the end, Fox decided that enough was enough and canceled the series after fifteen episodes aired (the final two produced being available on the Complete Series box set).

Undeclared was Judd Apatow’s follow to Freaks and Geeks, which also only lasted a year back during the 1999-2000 season. It centers around a group of college freshmen living in a dorm and trying to find themselves in perhaps the final four years of true freedom and youth. Steven Karp (Baruchel) is an undeclared major, hoping to shed his high school geeky image. He immediately takes strides towards this by losing his virginity with floor mate Lizzie (Gallo), who is on the outs with older boyfriend Eric (Jason Segel). Steven tries to make a relationship with Lizzie but she wants nothing to do with him romantically. Steven’s other big plot was the constant presence of his father Hal (Wainwright), who was going through a mid-life crisis after his divorce.

The rest of the narrative follows the other floor mates as they navigate classes, social gatherings and personal relationships. Steven’s British roommate Lloyd (Hunnam) is a heart throb but his advice is chaotic at best. Lizzie’s roommate Rachel (Keena) initially feels homesick but quickly embraces the partying lifestyle and becomes a cohort in all of the schemes. Ron (Rogen) and Marshall (Sharpp) provide one liners and observations to the rest of the group.

To me, Undeclared serves as a great reminder of how carefree the first year of college can be. I miss those days, and though Apatow romanticizes the lifestyle (at least in the dorms) a little bit, he obviously wrote from personal experience. He painted characters that you knew right away. You were one of these characters or knew one very well.

It’s a shame that Fox didn’t really know what to do with this series because it had plenty of legs in it. Maybe Apatow would have better luck these days after his film success. Or maybe audiences would’ve embraced the series better on a cable network. We’ll never truly know what the future could’ve held for Undeclared, which has turned into a cult classic along the lines of Freaks and Geeks. What is certain that perhaps no other TV sitcom has been that real about spending your first year away from home (I mean, Saved by the Bell: The College Years had Bob Golic as an RA).