Best TV Shows About College: ‘Grown-Ish,’ ‘The Sex Lives of College Girls,’ ‘Boy Meets World’ and More

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Best TV Shows About College: ‘Grown-Ish,’ ‘The Sex Lives of College Girls,’ ‘Boy Meets World’ and More

Back to school! Felicity, Grown-ish, Greek and The Sex Lives of College Girls are just some of the television dramas that have captivated audiences — and brought major university nostalgia — over the years. Keri Russell’s Felicity Porter hooked viewers in on the series by the same name from 1998 to 2002. More than two decades since its premiere, fans are still debating over who she should have ended up with: Ben Covington (Scott Speedman) or Noel Crane (Scott Foley). Others, however, can’t stop talking about Felicity’s own path and how she managed to sum up what it’s like to find yourself in a whole new world and have no idea what you’re doing. “The beauty of the show, as always, this really simple idea that I feel is very relatable. This romantic idea … that a lot of times when you’re young of this chance to change your life completely,” Russell said in summer of 2018 while reuniting with her castmates at the ATX TV Festival in Austin, Texas. “Everyone can look back on that one moment: I wish I would have chosen him or taken that chance. That’s was the sweetness, beauty and the truth of the show. And that’s what we got to live out through Felicity. She did, she took the risks. She jumped. That was the strength and core story of the show.” In the years that followed, the college experience became more prevalent on TV with Greek highlighting fraternity and sorority life and Boy Meets World crossing over from high school to upper education. When Grown-ish first premiered in 2018, fans were able to watch as Black-ish character Zoey Johnson (Yara Shahidi) switched from being a teenager to an adult while dealing with sex, drugs and drama at college. [jwplayer LfhwE160-zhNYySv2] That vulnerability — and raw sense of finding one’s self — is a big part of HBO Max’s hit drama, The Sex Lives of College Girls. Mindy Kaling cocreated the show in 2021 with Justin Noble and has since gushed over how well season 1 came together. “In this first season … there’s obviously so much fun stuff that happens to them, but they are really a lot of trials that they have to go through, each of them. We wanted them to go through serious s—t and traumatizing s—t, and seeing how they deal with it,” the Office alum told Collider in November 2021. “By putting those characters through the ringer like that, it helped us have them depend on each other a little bit more.” Kimberley Finkle (Pauline Chalamet), Bela Malhotra (Amrit Kaur), Leighton Murray (Renee Rapp) and Whitney Chase (Alyah Chanelle Scott) portrayed the roommates at the center of the show, and they embodied the differences that college campuses bring together. “They’re randomly assigned roommates, and some of them say, ‘I don’t wanna be living with you,’” Kaling explained. “Life can be really hard on campuses for young women and we wanted to show all of that, and not just the fun, sexy part, but the parts that were a little uglier, to be honest.” Scroll down for the must-see college-centered TV series: [podcast_block]

Credit: Shutterstock (3)

Best TV Shows About College: ‘Grown-Ish,’ ‘The Sex Lives of College Girls,’ ‘Boy Meets World’ and More

Back to school! Felicity, Grown-ish, Greek and The Sex Lives of College Girls are just some of the television dramas that have captivated audiences — and brought major university nostalgia — over the years. Keri Russell’s Felicity Porter hooked viewers in on the series by the same name from 1998 to 2002. More than two decades since its premiere, fans are still debating over who she should have ended up with: Ben Covington (Scott Speedman) or Noel Crane (Scott Foley). Others, however, can’t stop talking about Felicity’s own path and how she managed to sum up what it’s like to find yourself in a whole new world and have no idea what you’re doing. “The beauty of the show, as always, this really simple idea that I feel is very relatable. This romantic idea … that a lot of times when you’re young of this chance to change your life completely,” Russell said in summer of 2018 while reuniting with her castmates at the ATX TV Festival in Austin, Texas. “Everyone can look back on that one moment: I wish I would have chosen him or taken that chance. That’s was the sweetness, beauty and the truth of the show. And that’s what we got to live out through Felicity. She did, she took the risks. She jumped. That was the strength and core story of the show.” In the years that followed, the college experience became more prevalent on TV with Greek highlighting fraternity and sorority life and Boy Meets World crossing over from high school to upper education. When Grown-ish first premiered in 2018, fans were able to watch as Black-ish character Zoey Johnson (Yara Shahidi) switched from being a teenager to an adult while dealing with sex, drugs and drama at college. [jwplayer LfhwE160-zhNYySv2] That vulnerability — and raw sense of finding one’s self — is a big part of HBO Max’s hit drama, The Sex Lives of College Girls. Mindy Kaling cocreated the show in 2021 with Justin Noble and has since gushed over how well season 1 came together. “In this first season … there’s obviously so much fun stuff that happens to them, but they are really a lot of trials that they have to go through, each of them. We wanted them to go through serious s—t and traumatizing s—t, and seeing how they deal with it,” the Office alum told Collider in November 2021. “By putting those characters through the ringer like that, it helped us have them depend on each other a little bit more.” Kimberley Finkle (Pauline Chalamet), Bela Malhotra (Amrit Kaur), Leighton Murray (Renee Rapp) and Whitney Chase (Alyah Chanelle Scott) portrayed the roommates at the center of the show, and they embodied the differences that college campuses bring together. “They’re randomly assigned roommates, and some of them say, ‘I don’t wanna be living with you,’” Kaling explained. “Life can be really hard on campuses for young women and we wanted to show all of that, and not just the fun, sexy part, but the parts that were a little uglier, to be honest.” Scroll down for the must-see college-centered TV series: [podcast_block]

Credit: YouTube

Greek

The ABC Family series embodied what it is like to rush a sorority or fraternity, following the lives of the Kappa Tau Gamma, Omega Chi Delta and Zeta Beta Zeta members throughout college. From 2007 to 2011, Scott Michael Foster, Spencer Grammer, Jake McDorman and Amber Stevens allowed viewers could escape to toga parties and rowdy pledge events and forget about the real world at the same time.

Credit: YouTube

Felicity

The WB drama is still one of the most beloved dramas centered on college life. Starring Russell as Felicity, the show ran from 1998 to 2002, and managed to make everyone who watched it feel seen. After Felicity follows her high school crush Ben (Speedman) to college, she must decide what she wants for her own life — and if Ben is the right one for her. Along the way, she falls for Noel (Foley) and realizes that her story is just as important as the men she loves.

Credit: Courtesy of HBO Max

The Sex Lives of College Girls

In 2021, fans met four 18-year-old Essex College roommates: Kimberley (Chalamet), Bela (Kaur), Leighton (Rapp) and Whitney (Chanelle Scott). The Kaling-helmed series showed college life from the perspective of women, all of whom are sexually active, trying to find out who they are and still keep up with school while learning more about love and heartbreak.

Credit: Freeform/Tiffany Roohani

Grown-ish

Following the success of Black-ish, Shahidi branched off on her own to lead the coming-of-age series on Freeform, which premiered in 2018. Throughout the series, Zoey (Shahidi) must make grown up decisions while spreading her wings and hitting roadblocks along the way. Luckily, she finds solace with her fellow students, some of which are Ana Torres (Francia Raisa), Aaron Jackson (Trevor Jackson) and sisters Jazz (Chloe Bailey) and Sky Forster (Halle Bailey).

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Boy Meets World

The Disney Channel series saw Cory Matthews (Ben Savage) through all of his schooling, including when he went off to college during season 6 and 7. When Cory left home, he did so with some of his best friends, Shawn Hunter (Ryder Strong) and girlfriend Topanga (Danielle Fishel). His brother, Eric Matthews (Will Friedle), and his off-campus roommate Jack (Matthew Lawrence) rounded out the series, and made it feel like a whole new show. New love interest Angela Moore (Trina McGee) and Rachel McGuire (Matilda Ward) added another level to the longtime comedy, which ended in 2000.

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Community

Community college got a facelift when the NBC comedy premiered in 2009 starring Joel McHale as Jeff Winger, the suspended lawyer who is forced to return school to move forward with his life. What Jeff doesn’t expect is the quirky characters that fill the halls of Greendale Community College, including Danny Pudi’s Abed Nadir and Donald Glover’s Troy Barnes. The comedy lasted six seasons, ending in 2015.

Credit: Steve Dietl/FOX

Scream Queens

Luckily, most college experiences don’t include a killer preying on sorority girls, but Scream Queens is not your average drama. The Fox series, which ran from 2015 to 2016, combined Greek life stereotypes with the slasher genre for a captivating and at times comical look at university life. It pushed Emma Roberts’ career even further after she played mean girl Chanel, whose followers, Chanel #5 (Abigail Breslin) and Chanel #3 (Billie Lourd), find themselves at the mercy of a serial killer alongside wanabee Hester Ulrich (Lea Michele). Season 2, however, switched locations, bringing the ladies to a hospital that was equally as haunting.

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Undeclared

Judd Apatow’s follow-up to Freaks and Geeks flew under the radar from 2001 to 2003. While the comedy didn’t last long, it introduced fans to many up-and-coming actors, including Jay Barunchel and Charlie Hunnam. Jason Segal, Seth Rogen and Busy Philipps all appeared on the series, which followed college freshman Steve Karp (Barunchel), his girlfriend and dormmates as they navigated life away from home.

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Gilmore Girls

While Gilmore Girls began when Rory (Alexis Bledel) was in high school, her adventures at Yale during the later seasons showed a different side of her life. Whether it was dating the prominent Logan Huntzberger (Matt Czuchry) or trying to keep up with her course load, Rory’s time at the Ivy League school was very relatable — except for maybe her time galivanting with the Life and Death Brigade. The WB series wrapped in 2007 after seven seasons.

Credit: Adam Rose/Netflix

Dear White People

Netflix’s Dear White People shook up the traditional landscape of what it means to be a college-based series. After Samantha White (Logan Browning) arrives at a predominantly white Ivy League university, she must navigate forms of racial discrimination while making her voice heard on campus. She isn’t alone, however, with fellow Black students Tory Fairbanks (Brandon P Bell), Lionel Higgins (DeRon Horton) and Colandrea “Coco” Conners (Antoinette Robertson) all facing similar hardships. The hit show consisted of 40 episodes, running from 2017 to 2021.

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Coach

Craig T. Nelson won two Emmys for his role as football coach Hayden Fox. The series aired from 1989 to 1997 and gave fans insight into what life as coaching at a university really looks like — and just how all-encompassing it can be. The comedy also starred Jerry Van Dyke as the assistant coach.

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The Magicians

There was never a dull moment at Brakebills University for Magical Pedagogy as Quentin Coldwater (Jason Ralph) sets out to become a magician. Amid his course work, Quentin learns that the magical world he once thought was just a fairy tale was based on a real place — one which could be dangerous to everyone he knows and loves. The show ran from 2015 to 2020 and also starred Stella Maeve as Julia Wicker, Hale Appleman as Eliot Waugh, Arjun Gupta as William “Penny” Adiyodi, Summer Bishil as Margo Hansen and Olivia Taylor Dudley as Alice Quinn.

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All American: Homecoming

Following the success of All American, the CW set its sights on the world of college athletics with All: American Homecoming, which premiered in 2022. The series follows tennis hopeful Simone Hicks (GeffriMaya) and baseball standout Damon Sims (Peyton “Alex” Smith) as they try to make it at the elite university level.

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Blue Mountain State

The Spike series, which ran from 2010 to 2011, is about three freshmen who join Blue Mountain State’s football time and quickly learn that college is a whole different animal. The raunchy comedy, which starred Darin Brooks, Alan Ritchson, Omari Newton and Chris Romano, pokes fun at the wild antics that some students take part in on campus, while honing in on the harsh side of college athletics.

Credit: Enda Bowe

Normal People

The 2020 BBC miniseries became an instant hit as it shined a light on the complicated relationships that arise after high school and throughout college. Based on Sally Rooney’s novel by the same name, viewers were captivated by Marianne (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and Connell (Paul Mescal) as they weaved in and out of each other’s lives during their lives at Trinity College Dublin.

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How to Get Away With Murder

With so much death, viewers may forget that the ABC series was set in college. In fact, the Emmy-winning drama, which ran from 2014 to 2020, followed a group of law students and their professor, Annalise Keating (Viola Davis), as they tried to solve a twisted murder — all in the name of education.

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Sweet/Vicious

The MTV series, which only lasted one season from 2016 to 2017, showed the darker side of college that is rarely talked about. During the show, Jules (Eliza Bennett) and Ophelia (Taylor Dearden) make it their mission to bring justice to those on campus who’ve been abused or hurt while away at school.