The Sex Lives of College Girls

The Sex Lives of College Girls
Genre	Comedy-drama Teen drama Sex comedy
Created by	Mindy Kaling & Justin Noble
Starring	Pauline Chalamet Amrit Kaur Reneé Rapp Alyah Chanelle Scott Gavin Leatherwood Chris Meyer Ilia Isorelýs Paulino Renika Williams Lolo Spencer Midori Francis
Music by	Joseph Stephens
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	10
Production
Executive producers	Mindy Kaling Justin Noble Howard Klein Charlie Grandy Matt Warburton David Gordon Green
Producer	Bonnie Muñoz
Cinematography	Rick Page Chuck Ozeas
Editors	Mat Greenleaf Kyla Plewes
Camera setup	Single-camera
Running time	24–51 minutes
Production companies	Kaling International, Inc. 3 Arts Entertainment Warner Bros. Television
Distributor	Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution WarnerMedia Direct
Release
Original network	HBO Max
Original release	November 18, 2021 (2021-11-18) – present (present)

The Sex Lives of College Girls is an American teen comedy-drama streaming television series created by Mindy Kaling and Justin Noble that premiered on HBO Max on November 18, 2021.^[1] In December 2021, the series was renewed for a second season.^[2]

Premise[]

The series follows the lives of four 18-year-old freshmen roommates at the fictional Essex College in Vermont, covering their sexually active lifestyle as they deal with different struggles and hardship that college brings.

Cast and characters[]

Main[]

• Pauline Chalamet as Kimberly, a new work-study student who comes from Gilbert, Arizona, a small town that is predominantly white
• Amrit Kaur as Bela, an Indian-American student from Nutley, New Jersey, who wants to become a comedy writer and is sex-positive
• Reneé Rapp as Leighton, an affluent legacy student from New York City who is a closeted lesbian
• Alyah Chanelle Scott as Whitney, a star soccer player from Seattle who is having an affair with her assistant soccer coach and is the daughter of a U.S. senator
• Gavin Leatherwood as Nico, Leighton's older brother and Kimberly's love interest
• Chris Meyer as Canaan, Kimberly's coworker
• Ilia Isorelýs Paulino as Lila, Kimberly's coworker
• Renika Williams as Willow, one of Whitney's teammates
• Lolo Spencer as Jocelyn
• Midori Francis as Alicia, Leighton's love interest

Recurring[]

• Rob Huebel as Henry, Leighton and Nico's father
• Nicole Sullivan as Carol, Kimberly's mother
• James Morosini as Dalton, Whitney's assistant soccer coach
• Kavi Ramachandran Ladnier as Reena, Bela's mother
• Stephen Guarino as the Sips manager
• Jillian Armenante as Coach Woods, Whitney's head soccer coach
• Mekki Leeper as Eric, a writer for The Catullan
• Conor Donnally as Ryan, a writer for The Catullan
• Sierra Katow as Evangeline, a writer for The Catullan
• Maya Rose as Jena, Whitney's antagonistic teammate
• Sherri Shepherd as Evette, Whitney's mother and a U.S. senator from Washington
• Betti as Travis
• Isabella Roland as Carla
• Amanda Ripley as Ginger
• Vico Ortiz as Tova

Episodes[]

Series Overview[]

Season 1 (2021)[]

Season 2[]

In December 2021, the show was renewed for a second season.^[4]

Production[]

Development[]

The series was first announced at the HBO Max presentation in October 2019, under the working title College Girls. It was given a straight-to-series order of 13 half-hour episodes with Mindy Kaling announced to create, write and executive produce the series under her overall deal with Warner Bros. Television.^[1] In May 2020, the series was confirmed to be launching in 2021, under the new title The Sex Lives of College Girls.^[5] In October 2020, it was announced that the first episode would be co-written by Kaling and Never Have I Ever's Justin Noble, with Noble joining the series as executive producer.^[6] On December 7, 2021, HBO Max renewed the series for a second season.^[2]

Casting[]

On October 14, 2020, the lead cast, made up of Pauline Chalamet, Amrit Kaur, Reneé Rapp and Alyah Chanelle Scott, was announced.^[6] Dylan Sprouse joined the main cast in December 2020,^[7] but was replaced by Gavin Leatherwood on March 12, 2021, who was cast alongside Midori Francis, Chris Meyer, Ilia Isorelýs Paulino, Lolo Spencer, and Renika Williams in starring roles.^[8] On May 19, 2021, Sherri Shepherd, Maya Rose, Rob Huebel, Nicole Sullivan, Conor Donnally, Sierra Katow, Mekki Leeper, and James Morosini joined the cast in recurring capacities.^[9] On August 16, 2021, Izzy Roland, Kavi Ladnier, Stephen Guarino, Matt Maloy, Donielle Nash, and Najee Muhammad joined the cast in recurring capacities.^[10]

Filming[]

The series began filming on November 20, 2020, in Los Angeles.^[11] Filming also took place at Vassar College in mid-2021.^[12] On June 19, 2021, recurring cast member Sherri Shepherd posted a behind-the-scenes video of her character in costume and revealed that the series was scheduled to premiere in late 2021.^[13]

Release[]

The Sex Lives of College Girls premiered on November 18, 2021, with the first two episodes available immediately, followed by three new episodes on November 25 and December 2, and the final two episodes of the first season on December 9.^[14]

Reception[]

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 96% approval rating with an average rating of 7.5/10, based on 25 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "While The Sex Lives of College Girls doesn't rewrite the syllabus for Anthropology 101, it succeeds gracefully as a warm-hearted romp on campus."^[15] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 72 out of 100 based on 17 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[16]

Saloni Gajjar of The A.V. Club gave the series a B+ and wrote, "The way the show tackles how teens cope with sudden freedom is both funny and truthful."^[17] Angie Han of The Hollywood Reporter, said that it is "nothing novel or fancy [but] warm and gooey enough to satisfy."^[18]

References[]