Inspired by the long-term Boston College-Boston University rivalry, BC students premiered the second episode of their online soap opera, “The BC,” Oct. 12.
The show mimics Fox’s “The OC,” but instead of Ryan Atwood, the rough kid from Chino, the show features a BU student who gets arrested for stealing cars and is then welcomed into BC by the Jesuit priests.
“We have characters loosely based on ‘The OC,'” BC senior and creator Joe Sabia said. “Everything else is pretty original, including plot and storylines that college kids around the country can relate to.”
“The BC” originally began as a one-minute trailer for the BC comedy group Asinine, which was a huge success, he said.
Sabia and co-creator Woody Tondorf, also a BC senior, immediately put together a “poor quality” first episode, leading to the eight-month development of the second episode, he said.
“We don’t exactly have film experience,” Sabia said. “But we’re learning. People are reacting well to the new episode. We had three premieres at BC where over 500 people showed up in total.”
BC students are not the only ones reacting. Sabia said he has also received positive feedback from BU students.
“I hope BU students can look at the overall idea of this show as being funny,” he said. “To say this show is just a giant low blow is a bit unfair. For me, it comes down to playful stereotypes.”
College of Arts and Sciences junior Kate Hackett, an actress on BUTV’s soap opera, “Bay State,” said she was taken aback by the concept of “The BC.”
“I’m surprised that a Jesuit university would stoop so low,” she said. “I don’t believe in knocking others down to make yourself feel better and neither BU nor ‘Bay State’ has done anything to provoke BC.”
One of the main stereotypes of the show is the physical appearance of BU students, who wear Champion sweatshirts and dog tags, while BC students wear Lacoste polo shirts. Many BU students, including College of Communication sophomore Meagan Greene, said this portrayal is completely inaccurate.
“Try BU kids wear Gucci,” she said. “A typical BU student wears jeans, high boots, long shirts, cropped jackets and huge sunglasses.”
Sabia said the show stereotypes BC students, as well as BU students.
“I can’t tell you how tired I am of hearing about ‘pearl girls’ and popped collars here at ‘Boozin’ College,'” he said. “We’re all stereotyped in one way, shape or form, but no one stereotype is worse than another.”
School of Management sophomore Alex Alben said BU students also stereotype the BC students.
“When I think of a typical BC student, I think of alligator sweater-over-their-button-down-shirt wearing, pompous Christians, with the girls wearing their bright, spring pastels and 500-dollar jeans,” he said.
The BU-BC rivalry is intrinsic to the plot of “The BC,” but Sabia said the goal of the show is to keep the rivalry alive, not to completely trash BU and they try to keep things mild.
“The main character is from BU,” he said, “but we don’t spend every line harping on it. We have enough material to emphasize this ‘different world’ mentality that he enters at BC. The fact is BU is an inner-city school while we are more of a campus school.”
According to Sabia, people are captivated by “The BC” and are demanding more from its creators. Some BU students, including CAS sophomore Catherine Imes, say they would like to check out the show.
“I’d like to check out the show to see what BC kids think of BU,” she said. “Plus, it could give us ideas to make fun of them.”
Sabia said “The BC” will continue growing and reaching different audiences.
“If anything, I hope this show can make us all sit back and laugh together while we put Boston in some sort of national spotlight,” he said. “Everyone around the country who sees us sees you, too – is there any such thing as bad press? Maybe not.”