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Looks Like the "Undergrads" Movie Will Happen

MTV/Decode/Teletoon

It's the early 2000's, and we Undergrads fans still want a second season of the show - oh wait, it's 2018!

After 17 years of attempting to pitch and renew the short-lived but now cult classic 2001 MTV show Undergrads, Pete Williams, the show's creator, has now finally acquired the rights over his animated series from MTV...opening room for an Undergrads movie.

MTV/Decode/Teletoon

Williams shared the exciting news on June 3 at night on his personal Twitter account, saying:
Indeed, "Achievement unlocked!"

To get to this point for the show's creator to be able to acquire the rights to Undergrads proved to be a long, drawn out struggle and process - but totally worth it for a truly great, classic show, in my opinion.

 Undergrads originally premiered on MTV in April 2001 and ran until August 2001 when its last episode aired. The animated series followed four high-school best friends - Nitz, Rocko, Cal, and Gimpy - navigating being college freshmen at different colleges while still being able to be relatively close united, but still each character (and the character type they represented) exploring their own interests, goals, and unique college struggles including college relationships, financial aid, and Star Wars and Star Trek rivalries.

While the TV series offered a really unique take on the premise of the college experience, which was enhanced with great writing and developing well-rounded characters, the show was sadly ultimately cancelled by MTV after just one 13-episode season had aired on TV and before a second season could even be produced. The cancellation of the show at the time had been strongly linked to not acquiring enough of an audience and receiving mixed critical reviews (if only producers could see the future...)

But Williams refused to give up on Undergrads, its characters and the world he and the show's co-writers had created, and instead continued to be active in trying to revive the show and its characters in almost any medium possible for the next 17 years.

Throughout the following years, Williams tried to revive the series by trying to sell the second proposed season of the show to various networks including Comedy Central and Teletoon, but due to issues like lack of funding or finding a broadcaster to pick it up, networks eventually passed on the project.

Williams even tried to pitch a new series, We Got Issues, which would feature some of the characters from Undergrads, as well as voiced interest in creating some form of comic book or webisodes in place of a second season, but none of these ideas could be solidified while MTV still maintained rights over the 2001 animated series. All while these things were happening Williams continued to urge fans to share their interest in a revival of the series and to write to networks like Cartoon Network, even launching an official "Bring Back Undergrads" Facebook page to show networks that there was still an active and strong interest in the series.

And Williams' continuous long-term efforts paid off, as an Undergrads movie is expected to be soon in the works!

Although it isn't definite what Pete Williams and co-writers Andy Reingold and Josh A. Cagan will hope to develop and explore within the world of Nitz and his other undergrad friends in the expected upcoming Undergrads movie (and what exact format the world of Undergrads will take), Williams, Reingold, and Cagan appeared on the My So Called 8-Bit Life podcast and shared that they had already written a script for a potential Undergrads movie, and have expressed interest in potentially continuing where season one ended and trying to answer any questions surrounding events and relationships that unfolded (or didn't) during the first season.

More information as to what exactly is expected to be developed and explored in the potential Undergrads movie is expected to be released when an official Kickstarter campaign for the project is created.

Undergrads isn't the only now cult classic TV show to have been cancelled prematurely when it had incredible potential. Other now cult classic cartoons like Bill Oakley's and Josh Weinstein's Mission Hill and Clone High (created by Bill Lawrence, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller), which also aired around the early 2000's, sadly lasted only one season like Undergrads as they too weren't well-received during the time they were originally created and aired. But these now cult classic cartoons were well-written too and have the quality and potential for a revival, and Pete Williams' success at acquiring the film rights for his show and opening the path for a potential revival of his series gives hope about the potential revival of other celebrated cult classic shows, making Williams' accomplishment even more meaningful.

But enough about how I think Mission Hill and Clone High should be renewed (ahem), and let's get back to celebrating Pete Williams' much-deserved acquisition of the film rights for Undergrads from MTV, and being excited about the very strong possibility of an Undergrads movie being made in the near future, and what this victory for TV cult classics means.

It truly is never too late or impossible to be accomplished - unless Gimpy can't find a solution for it from his dorm room!

Update: As of September 20, Williams has confirmed via Twitter that progress in the development of the expected 'Undergrads' movie is still ongoing, and in fact some "familiar faces" from the TV show will help launch the Kickstarter campaign for the movie on Monday, September 24th. Guess who now has something to do on Monday?! :)

The 'Undergrads' movie Kickstarter campaign is here, if you'd like to support a good classic 2000's animated series.

Sincerely, a very excited Dora Goto who may or may not be singing "The Click" by Good Charlotte

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