I didn’t go into Overcompensating with many expectations. I had no idea who star and creator Benito Skinner was — as I know now, he’s a comedian and very popular on the socials under the guise of “Benny Drama.” For that matter, most of the cast was unknown to me, as they are also in the same social media/comedy circuit that is apparently out of my target demo.
Skinner’s eight-episode Prime Video series, which debuted in May, is loosely based on the actor’s personal life. It revolves around a former high school football star who goes to an elite college while struggling to come to terms with his sexuality, and uses Charli XCX (also a producer), Lady Gaga and Britney Spears as cultural touchpoints. I’m a 52-year-old straight male who last attended college in 1995. It didn’t quite seem like my thing.
I was wrong. Much like the British comedy Extraordinary (RIP), Overcompensating is a hilarious coming-of-age series that nods heavily to great teen comedies of the past, with just enough drama to keep the series grounded.
An Ode to “Extraordinary,” the Funniest Show on TV
Hulu’s little-known comedy lands somewhere between “Community” and “Fleabag,” but with superpowersThe show follows Benny (Skinner) during his freshman year at the fictional Yates University. He makes a friend and fake love interest in Carmen (Wally Baram) and holds a tenuous relationship with his older sister Grace and her dickish boyfriend Peter, who invites Benny into a secret, fraternity-style society called Flesh & Gold.
While the show starts with more of a focus on Benny’s hesitant exploratory steps toward coming out after years as a golden child, football star and alpha male in Idaho, all the characters here get an arc (and yes, all of them are “overcompensating” for something). Carmen is lonely and latches onto a series of bad hookups. Grace is a former emo girl who’s traded her friendships and interests for a relationship with Peter, who is both an asshole and someone struggling with depression.
While the pop culture references place this show more in the late-2010s milieu, there’s something here for a much broader audience. Do you like watching pretty people? Plenty of eye candy here. Do you like watching pretty people make terrible decisions? Ditto. The raunchiness here is on par with American Pie or Animal House, but updated with the norms of today (things like, you know, consent). You’ll also find a healthy dose of Mean Girls and Freaks and Geeks here, but more as a nod than an outright homage.
The cast, with mainly unknowns in the lead roles, shines. There are also a plethora of great supporting roles and cameos, including James Van Der Beek, Lukas Gage, Kyle MacLachlan and Megan Fox (as herself). And episode four, which takes place at a Charli XCX show on campus and features a pretty prominent appearance by the singer, is gross-out humor at its finest.
Is the show perfect? Well, no. The school feels like it has maybe 20 students. The series treats My Chemical Romance, a musical centerpiece of a Thanksgiving episode, as classic rock (admittedly, that just made me feel old). And it is guilty, though not to a Cobra Kai level, of using the tired trope of people walking in just as someone is saying or doing the exact thing they don’t want people to know or see. There are other ways to manufacture conflict, TV writers!
The series hasn’t been renewed for a second season yet. Given that we’re less than a month removed from the premiere, that isn’t necessarily a surprise. But as a viewer who was definitely not the target demo for the show, consider this my plea for more.
Skinner calls the series a “nostalgic world of Americana college hell,” as he told Variety, and that’s a pretty perfect description. And we’re only halfway through the freshman year. If anything, there’s a four-season arc waiting here…and maybe a deserved Emmy nom or two.
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