Let’s face it. Stereotypes can be funny, and Fox’s new college sitcom Undeclared (Tuesday 8:30, FOX) is rife with them. Full of typical college stock characters, the show features the sweet-talking Brit, the nervous girl, the drunken guys down the hall, the spacey RA, and of course, the classic dork as the main character Steven. The entire first episode all takes place on the confusing first day of college. Unfortunately, the script mirrors this confusion, and it is hard to follow what is happening onscreen. People are meeting their roommates and unpacking one minute, then someone is wandering around campus with some flyers for a party, and then magically a large crowd appears in the dorm ready to dance. Just as the show becomes more engaging, the credits roll and you wonder what you were just watching for the last half hour.

The show deals briefly with the flurry of emotions that come from being on your own for the first time. One girl nervously blurts out, “kinda scary living away from home, huh?” to which her roommate replies excitedly, “isn’t it great?” The realization that parents are absent leads to many interesting situations, prompting the phrase “you know this is college” to become the excuse to do whatever anyone wants.

While the students are still settling in and adjusting to being on their own, the main character’s father returns to the dorm and burdens his son with the knowledge that his mother wants a divorce. Steven, already overwhelmed, is now more frazzled. The only potentially serious moment in the show is shattered when the girl down the hall stumbles into the room. The two quickly conclude that spending the night together will make everything OK.

The most interesting element to this show was the sudden flash of reality at the end. Steven may have found a girl for the night, but the strange look she gives him in the hall the next morning defines next-day guilt and awkwardness.

Undeclared relies mainly on stereotypes to get laughs. I do not know what it is like at other campuses, but I can certainly say that the real college students here have substance. It would be convenient to break everyone down into nice little categories, as Undeclared does, but it is not that simple here at Guilford.

Although this pilot episode was true to life in featuring the chaos of college, the next show needs to develop the characters, or people will lose interest. Situational humor can only go so far.