Greek (TV series)

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Greek
Genre	Teen drama
Created by	Patrick Sean Smith
Starring	Clark Duke Tiffany Dupont (14 —) Scott Michael Foster Spencer Grammer Paul James Jake McDorman Amber Stevens Dilshad Vadsaria Jacob Zachar
Opening theme	"Our Time Now"
Composer(s)	John Swihart
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	21 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Lloyd Segan Shawn Piller
Running time	43 mins approx.
Broadcast
Original channel	ABC Family
Original run	July 9, 2007 – Present
External links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Greek is an American teen comedy-drama television series which airs on the ABC Family network. The show follows students of Cyprus-Rhodes University who partake in the school's Greek system. It follows the life of mainly Casey Cartwright and her brother, Rusty Cartwright. Most of the characters belong to either the fictional fraternities Kappa Tau Gamma (ΚΤΓ) and Omega Chi Delta (ΩΧΔ), or the fictional sorority Zeta Beta Zeta (ΖΒΖ). Greek will return for its second season in the fall of 2008 with 12 new episodes.

Contents 1 Production 2 Cast and characters 3 Plot 4 Reception 5 Media 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Production

Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion.

In April 2007, ABC Family announced plans to begin airing Greek in July of that summer. The series premiered on July 9, 2007.^[1] Show creator Patrick Sean Smith began the show as a spec script of a show that he "really wanted to see," noticing a lack of shows in the format centering on college life. Citing "shows like Grey’s Anatomy and Ugly Betty" that "were pushing the envelope comedically in one-hour format," Smith saw the idea working for a younger set.^[2]

The first season was halted in September due to the Writers Guild of America strike and returned March 24. On May 1, 2008, ABC Family announced plans to renew Greek for a second season.^[3]

[edit] Cast and characters

Main article: List of Greek characters

• Casey Cartwright (Spencer Grammer) is the ambitious sister at Zeta Beta Zeta, poised to become the next president.

• Rusty "Spitter" Cartwright (Jacob Zachar) is a freshman in hopes of shedding his geeky image by pledging Kappa Tau Gamma.

• Evan Chambers (Jake McDorman) is a brother at the Omega Chi Delta fraternity, who was once in a relationship with Casey.

• Cappie (Scott Michael Foster) is the president of Kappa Tau Gamma, fitting in with the typical frat guy stereotype.

• Calvin Owens (Paul James) is a homosexual brother at Omega Chi Delta, who was accidentally outted by his good friend, Ashleigh.

• Dale Kettlewell (Clark Duke) is Rusty's straight-edged roommate, who starts his own group U-SAG (University Students Against Greeks).

• Ashleigh Howard (Amber Stevens) is the Social Chair of the Zeta Beta Zeta sorority, and Casey's best friend slash ditsy sidekick.

• Rebecca Logan (Dilshad Vadsaria) is a Zeta Beta Zeta pledge and sentator's daughter, who continuously challenges Casey's authority.

• Frannie Morgan (Tiffany Dupont) is Casey's Big Sister and the former ZBZ president, dethroned based on a horrific scandal.

[edit] Plot

See also: List of Greek episodes

The series follows a group of students in the Greek System at the fictional Cyprus-Rhodes University. Rusty Cartwright is a freshman at the Cyprus-Rhodes University and is in an effort to shed his geeky image. His older sister Casey sits comfortably as a Zeta Beta Zeta sorority sister, but goes beyond her wishes and decides to rush a fraternity. Rusty settles in Kappa Tau Gamma, an Animal House style fraternity known for its wild parties, over Omega Chi Delta, a more classic, good old boy fraternity.

As Season One progresses, Rusty comes into his own as a pledge and enjoys college and fraternity life. He begins a relationship with a member of Zeta Beta Zeta and deals with his religious and conservative roommate Dale (Clark Duke), who is vehemently against the Greek system. Meanwhile, Casey clashes with the new pledge Rebecca (Dilshad Vadsaria), the daughter of a senator, who eventually begins to date Casey's ex-boyfriend Cappie (Scott Michael Foster). To complicate matters, Cappie belongs to Rusty's new fraternity, while her current boyfriend Evan belongs to its rival Omega Chi Delta.

[edit] Reception

Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion.

Greek has been relatively well received by critics, receiving a score of 62 out of 100 from review aggregator Metacritic.^[4]. In a review released soon after the premiere of the show, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette called the show "light-hearted fun" and "authentic" while the New York Times claimed that Greek "captures the spirit of the hedge-fund age like nothing else."^[5][6] Other critics did not find the drama as authentic, with Elizabeth Fox of the Philadelphia Enquirer criticizing the show's predictability and lack of originality as another "teenage soap opera."^[7] Other reviews were middling, calling the writing of the show acceptable and praising the strength of the cast.^[8]

The show has been noted by LGBT activists for the character of Calvin (Paul James), a gay fraternity member who struggles with the stereotyping and homophobia that coming out of the closet entails. Critics have praised the character's "three dimensionality."^[2][9]

[edit] Media

In the United Kingdom, two behind the scenes web videos entitled "Greek Uncovered" have been released by BBC.^[10]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official Website
• Greek at MySpace
• Greek at the Internet Movie Database
• Greek at TV.com