TBS looks to the ’80s for Glory Daze


Freshman year of college is a very memorable time in most people’s lives. It is a time when young people decide what kind of adults they want to be in whole new surroundings around brand-new people.

TBS’ upcoming comedy series, Glory Daze, tries to revive that atmosphere, only for those who went to college in the ’80s. The show follows the lives of four college freshmen at the fictional Hayes University and their experience pledging a fraternity.

The pilot episode follows the students as they move into their dorms and embark on what they hope will be the four most memorable years of their lives.

Within the first episode viewers can recognize experiences that most college students can relate to — awkward roommates, insane professors and an overwhelming amount of temptation.

In each character featured in the pilot episode, you will probably see a little bit of someone you have met in college.

The pilot episode allows viewers to take in the different personalities of the show’s lead actors. Joel, (Kelly Blatz, Aaron Stone) is the show’s main character and soon finds himself falling for his dream girl on his first day of class. Because of his fear of having a boring social life and in pursuit his dream girl, he decides to join a fraternity.

Eli, (Matt Bush, Adventureland) is a virgin desperately hoping to change his image in college.

Jason (Drew Seeley, Campus Confidential) is a stone-cold conservative coming to college with his high school sweetheart; both hope to join the most prestigious fraternity and sorority at the university, respectively. But as soon as the couple gets to campus, they realize that they both want different things out of college.

Rounding out the cast is Brian (Hartley Sawyer, Killian), who plays baseball for the university but is desperate to fill his father’s shoes in the sport.

Together, the guys decide to rush fraternity houses, but they struggle to find one they like. As they continue to tour fraternities, they are drawn to the Omega Sigma fraternity and their insane partying.

Eli is introduced to the Oracle, a “super-senior” stoner, who lives in the basement of the fraternity. The Oracle tells Eli all about Steve Byerson, a man the fraternity recognizes as a legend; and in his inebriated state, Eli takes it upon himself to get Byerson the recognition he deserves from the university.

After one crazy night of partying at the house and eventually being arrested for their actions following the party, the guys receive bids to pledge the fraternity. Soon after, they see how quickly — and how painfully — things turn from the fun of rush parties to the challenge of pledging a fraternity.

Unfortunately, the show’s ’80s setting — its main gimmick — does not add much to the pilot except for a few Ronald Reagan references. Although the students do dress differently than what you would see in a lecture hall at USC today, that is about as far as the 80s setting goes in the pilot.

Hopefully the era’s influence will be featured more prominently throughout the season.

Because of the show’s college theme, it does have the problem that its content does not delve into any unchartered territories. The pilot never really strays far from the stereotypes, especially when it comes to fraternity life.

The entire pilot episode gives the viewer a sense that we’ve seen this all before. The writing struggles to escape from cliché, mostly because college life has been done too many times in television and film to really make things both funny and unique. The show’s pilot episode will certainly remind many viewers of films such as Animal House and television series such as Undeclared.

The series is lead by a very young cast with a few familiar faces scattered around. The most familiar face is probably that of Tim Meadows (plays professor Haines), who you will probably recognize from his roles in Mean Girls and Saturday Night Live.

Although it is easy to see the potential in the show’s leads, it is still obvious that many of the actors lack experience in comedic delivery. Some of the jokes come off stale and many of the serious scenes come off unconvincing. Also, many of the show’s comedic attempts were so over the top that they lost their humor.

Despite the flat jokes, the pilot still had enough laugh-out-loud moments to bring hope for what the rest of the season has to offer.

Glory Daze premiered on TBS on Nov. 16.