UT Reality TV!
By Byron LaMasters
A friend of a friend of mine was one of the people filmed for this show. I remember, because I has having a party / get together at my apartment, and my friend asked if her friend, and a cameraman could come, because she was part of this TV show. I'll probably be watching the series this fall on Showtime. The Houston Chronicle has the story:
They go to bars. They party hearty. They have sex. Oh, they also go to class -- at the University of Texas.
They are 15 young people who agreed to have their lives documented on camera, from move-in day to final exams of school year 2002-2003, for a Showtime series called Freshman Diaries. The 10-episode reality show, produced by R.J. Cutler, will premiere Aug. 31 on Showtime.
Parents, man your checkbooks. You're about to get a taste of just what your kids are up to when you live here and they live there -- on your dime, in most cases. Actually, I've seen only a few clips of the show, and they were relatively tame -- for 18- and 19-year-olds still trying to find themselves, that is.
Like Neil McGurk of Plano. He's certain he's into guys, but finds himself uncomfortably attracted to a, gulp, girl in one of the clips shown here at the Television Critics Association's summer press tour.
Then there's Joshua McGinnis from Tarkington, near Cleveland (that's Texas, not Ohio). What will the future hold when he learns he's about to become an unwed father?
Neil, Josh and the other freshmen were familiar with Cutler's American High series, which documented the lives of some Illinois high-schoolers. They enthusiastically agreed to participate. Camera crews followed them around, and they became video diarists on their own. Each was given a camera and learned how to make videos of themselves as they coped with class, sex, roommates and UT's humongous campus.
Posted by Byron LaMasters at July 11, 2003 01:48 PM
| TrackBack
American High totally rocked. So there may be some hope for this series.
Of course, we all wanna watch so we can see Byron in full party mode in that one scene. ;-)
BTW, bisexuals from Plano?! What would Congressman Sam Johnson say?
Hello, stumbled upon this site. I was actually one of the participants filmed during the year (and the one living in the Quad, Littlefield to be exact). I'm actually the one from Plano. Neil is actually from Irving... :) Glad you guys have an interest in the show. American High was a really great show, but please don't make comparisons, cuz Senior Year in high school is so different from Freshman Year in college! RJ, the creator of both shows, is a great guy and hopefully he's as proud of Freshman Diaries as he is of American High. I sincerely hope you guys like it as well! And hopefully we'll make UT proud as well! Hook Em! :)
