"Studiare in jeans, c'est plus facil, studiare Dante con il compact disc..."
— The theme song of season 2
I Ragazzi della 3ª C (English: The Boys of the 3rd C'') note is an Italian series that aired from 1987 to 1989, focusing on a group of high school students during their senior year.
Very popular with the Italian audience of The '80s, the show is a Comedy Series, often based on Running Gags, and teen issues are treated in a light and humourous way. The main characters are: charismatic but Book Dumb leader Chicco, Lovable Jock Massimo, Fat Comic Relief Bruno, rich and blond Dude Magnet Sharon, alternative Emo Teen Benedetta, Beta Couple Daniele and Rossella, and two unpopular nerdy girls only known by their last names Elias and Tisini.
Despite the high school setting and all the archetypal characters of School Stories, this show actually predates Saved by the Bell by two years.
Has nothing to do with I Ragazzi Del Muretto, which was actually an Italian Teen Drama of the early '90s.
The show contains examples of:
- Artifact Title: The main characters graduate at the end of season 2, so in season 3 they are in college and no longer in 3ª C, their high school class.
- Badass Bookworm: Elias and Tisini are somewhere between this and Academic Alpha Bitch. Yes, they are stuck-up nerds, but both are outspoken, stand up for themselves when somebody insults them, and can outsmart even teachers, especially if the teachers are being unfair or ignorant. While they are not popular, they occasionally get respect from their classmates because of this.
- Butt-Monkey:
- Bruno, who lets everyone take advantage of him, due to his gullible Extreme Doormat personality.
- The two nerdy girls Elias and Tisini are often mocked for their physical appearance, especially by Chicco, though they usually insult him back.
- Catchphrase: Quite a few.
- The literature teacher: "Sacchi...3!" note
- Elias and Tisini: "You're such a moron, sweetie!"
- The Dividual: Elias and Tisini are seen as this by their classmate: both academic nerds, always together, they even wear the same clothes.
- Dumb, but Diligent: Bruno is gullible and naive, but hard-working and he always tries his best. Ironically, he takes his studies seriously but always gets horrible grades.
- Emo Teen: Benedetta embodies many traits of the emo/goth/alternative girl. She always wears black, likes to quote Asian literature and obscure horror movies, is a spiritualist, and is often wangsting about her hatred of modern society.
- Everyone Loves Blondes: The blond Sharon gets much attention from the boys, especially Chicco and Massimo. The other blond Rossella has her boyfriend Daniele and one guy from another class who are attracted to her.
- Fat Comic Relief: Bruno is the only overweight character, as well as the most unlucky and the butt of all the jokes. There are also several jokes about him being a Big Eater.
- Graduation for Everyone: Downplayed. While horrible students like Chicco Lazzaretti and Bruno Sacchi manage to pass the graduation exam, the only one who doesn't is ironically Academic Alpha Bitch Tisini due to an argument with the examiners. She still graduates before the end of the summer after filing an appeal.
- Held Back in School: Chicco is 24 years old and has repeated the senior year several times, but he just enjoys staying in high school. When he finally graduates at the end of season 2 (despite all his attempts to be held back again), he is so shocked that he needs his friends to comfort him.
- High-School Hustler: Chicco, who has no respect for the teachers, and is often pulling schemes with Massimo and/or Bruno as his sidekicks.
- Intelligence Equals Isolation: Elias and Tisini are the smartest students in the class as well as haughty teacher's pets, making them widely disliked by the other students. By contrast, Book Dumb slacker Chicco is the leader.
- Last-Name Basis: Elias and Tisini, as part of their The Friend Nobody Likes status, since all the other protagonists refer to each other by their first names. Meanwhile, the first names of Elias and Tisini are never revealed.
- No Name Given: We never learn the surname of the infamous Sadist Teacher of literature, despite him having a prominent role, especially in season 2.
- Only Sane Woman: All the main characters are comedic in some way, but Rossella is probably the only one who doesn't have any strange quirks, as her main role is being Closer to Earth than her immature boyfriend Daniele.
- Product Placement: One of the most infamous aspects of the show. Especially in the first two seasons, the protagonists are shamelessly mentioning many real-life brands, with Algida Cornetto (ice cream cone) being the most blatant one: people are shown eating it at least Once an Episode in the first season, the advertising slogan is mentioned in conversations between characters, Sharon is introduced eating one in the intro, and another scene in the intro has all the characters eating cornettos with huge "Algida" advertising posters behind them. This is downplayed in season 3, as the products are only shown, but almost never mentioned by name.
- Replaced the Theme Tune: The show changes the theme song every season. Season 1 has "Fire Lady", Season 2 has "Studiare in Jeans" (probably the most famous), Season 3 has an unknown song that was never released. "Fire Lady" is a disco ballad with English lyrics that have nothing to do with the show. Season 2 and Season 3 have much goofier openings, and both seasons have upbeat and humorous Italian songs with school-related lyrics.
- Put on a Bus to Hell: Benedetta's actress leaves the show in the third and last season, so it's stated in-universe that Benedetta moved to North Korea.
- Second Episode Introduction: Sharon doesn't appear in the unaired pilot.
