Unproductive
is a webseries co-created in 2015 by Brian Dunphy and Stuart McClellan written and produced by the students of the television department at New York's Brooklyn College. The series follows the personal and professional lives of students of King's Metro College's television and radio department. Each season features a different cast and different storyline, with only a few characters returning between seasons.
The series received a Spin-Off titled All in Favor, the pilot publicly premiering in 2020. While still taking place at King's Metro College, this series shifts the focus to the Student Voices Committee, a council that votes on issues regarding students' rights and safety at the college. A second episode began filming in 2020 but was postponed indefinitely in light of the COVID-19 Pandemic shutting down Brooklyn College's campus.
Unproductive provides examples of:
- Animated Credits Opening: Season One's opening credit sequence features a simplistic animation of a television studio.
- Birthday Episode: "Party Downer" takes place on Bracha's birthday.
- Cloudcuckoolander:
- The Trio in Season One is a group of strange students with strange ideas like combining artsy horror with a sitcom.
- Season Four's Winona is very strange and spacey, and her radio show consists largely of things like chirping crickets, ASMR, and just screaming into the microphone.
- Cliffhanger: Season One ends right before the students begin their production, leaving us in the dark about whether it actually goes well or not.
- Couch Gag: The speech bubbles in Season One's Animated Credits Opening feature a quote from the episode to which the title sequence is attached.
- Creator Cameo: Brian Dunphy provides the voiceover for the Previously on… segment at the start of the Season Four premiere.
- Drowning My Sorrows: After having a falling out with her family once they hear that she's gay, Sam begins getting drunk regularly.
- Forced Out of the Closet: Bracha accidentally outs Sam as gay to her very wealthy, traditional family during a dinner. They don't take it well.
- Friend to Bugs: Winona carries boxes of crickets around and frequently speaks positively of bugs. Kelly finds this gross and derisively calls her "bug girl" a few times.
- Fun with Acronyms: Brayden claims that Mia's name stands for "Major Issues All over."
- Holiday Episode: Season One's "Breaking Ben" has everybody go to Bracha's house for Shabbat, though they're reluctant to give up their technology.
- I Want Grandkids: Alexis's mom is so pushy about Alexis and Alex having children, she handwrote a list of sex positions that make it easier to conceive.
- Iconic Item: Professor Parker's signature item is her thermos, to the point that her students speculate that it's the only thing she ever loved.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming:
- Season One's episode titles are all puns on popular television shows, complete with title cards parodying the visuals of that show.
- Season Two's episodes all have titles beginning with "Un-", such as "Unprofessional," "Unethical," and "Undercooked."
- In Vino Veritas: In "Party Downer," a heavily-drunk Sam reveals that the reason Cate broke up with Ben was so she could be a better writer, which was supposed to be a secret. She also blabs about Ben and Bracha's sexual tension.
- Jerkass Has a Point: As rude as Brayden usually is, he does have a point in calling out Colin's Slut-Shaming of Mia and claiming that Colin has no say over who Mia sleeps with... even though Brayden is the one who revealed that Mia slept with him to begin with. Colin does take this to heart and apologize later.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: In Season 3's "All Corners," Dylan responds to Emily's assertion that he not bring any weed brownies to lunch by saying he's not a "one dimensional character."
- Like an Old Married Couple: Married couple Alex and Alexis are on completely opposite political sides and frequently get into intense debates on their talk show. They quibble a lot offset as well. However, they do ultimately love each other, which is more evident in All in Favor after they've gotten a house of their own, started a family, and settled down.
- Loophole Abuse: In the Season 3 finale, Roxy gets around her suspension by appearing on Emily's new show, as her suspension prevents her from hosting a show, but not being a guest on a show, which Dylan happily points out when the school contacts him.
- Offscreen Breakup: Ben and Cate's breakup over the phone took place shortly before the pilot of Season One.
- Order Versus Chaos: Austin and Roxy's dynamic in Season Three. Austin is cautious and enforces the rules of the station, planning to take a safe corporate job to support his new family, while Roxy is a brash, impulsive rebel who goes off script based on what she thinks is right, even if it entails physical violence.
- Plucky Comic Relief:
- Theo has a mild role in Season One's plot, holding a grudge against Cate due to the circumstances of her breakup with Ben, but largely serves to make quips and provide comic relief during otherwise serious episodes.
- Dylan's role in Seasons Three and Four is mostly to provide jokes, particularly those related to his munchies.
- Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title: Season 1 has TV-inspired episode titles like "Mad Ben," "Parker's Recreation," and "Don't Trust the B on Teleprompter 3."
- Prima Donna Director: Season Two's Brayden gets extremely angry and personally insults his crew for not catering to his very particular vision for their TV show.
- Pungeon Master: Half of Kelly's dialogue consists of food puns due to her love for cooking.
- Rape as Drama: The main plot of Season Three revolves around a star basketball player drugging and raping a girl at a party, and Roxy's efforts to get him penalized.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: In Episode 9 of Season One, Bracha chews out everybody in her team, especially Ben, for being codependent and wasting time when she just wants to learn about TV. Then Sam launches into an even harsher speech against Bracha for trying to act superior when she's just as selfish as the others.
- Reference Overdosed: Season One alone is full of references to film and TV shows, from the theme songs being based off then-modern TV shows to Cate and Ben's constant movie quotes to Parker's anecdotes about working in the television industry.
- Rejected Apology: In the Season One finale, Sam's parents apologize for acting homophobic towards her, but she's not ready to forgive them. However, Theo believes she will eventually because she's not the type to hold a grudge.
- Revolving Door Casting: Every season (barring Season Four, which features most of the cast from Season Three) features a new cast of characters, with only loose connections to previous seasons and a few exceptionsnote carrying over to other seasons. This is due to department restrictions at Brooklyn College that restrict most casting decisions to current students; once a student graduates, they usually aren't able to reprise their role.
- Shock Jock: Roxy's radio show gets quite filthy due to her penchant for sexual humor and swearing, resulting in frequent censor bleeping and tussles with the school board.
- Some of My Best Friends Are X: Michael responds to the rape accusations by explaining he has sisters and would never want to disrespect women. Roxy doesn't buy it.
- Soapbox Sadie: Juniper from Season Two is obsessed with activism, bugging people on the street to film a piece about gentrification.
- Speed Sex:
- In Season Two's "Uncomfortable," Alexis rants about how her mom won't leave them alone for five minutes to have sex, and Alex notes that sex doesn't take five minutes... except for that one time.
Alex It doesn't take five minutes to have sex, Alexis. [beat] Okay that was one time, and it was Shark Week, so...
Alexis: So what?
Alex: So, I wanted to finish quick so I could go back to watching sharks!- In Season Three, Roxy makes fun of Austin accidentally impregnating his girlfriend by pointing out that a lot can happen in three minutes.
- Stern Teacher: As a former producer, Professor Parker is quite harsh on her television students, chewing them out for being mere minutes late, and doesn't give them any sympathy for their personal drama. The students aren't sure if she actually loves anything. However, she seems actually concerned for the students' professional future.
- Surprise Pregnancy: In Season 3, Austin's main conflict is that he got his girlfriend pregnant on accident and he has to find a way to support her. It's implied that it was the only time they had sex, too.
- Taking Up the Mantle: After Roxy graduates at the end of Season Three, Emily takes over her radio show for Season Four, even wearing extra lipstick like Roxy does (though she uses her own shade).
- Teacher's Pet: Dave spends a lot of time talking to Professor Parker and effectively serves as her assistant, allowing Dave to see her softer side.
- Team Mom: Sam in Season One is the most supportive, caring, and generally well-put-together member of the crew. Theo tells her in Episode 10 that her own parents are shitty, but he sees her as his mom.
- Thanksgiving Episode: "Undercooked" in Season Two is about Mia and Colin spending Thanksgiving together.
- Title Drop: In a Season One episode, Professor Parker chews out Dave and his team for being so unproductive. This happens again in Episode 9 when Bracha calls her team out for being "codependent and unproductive."
- Token Religious Teammate:
- Bracha in Season Three is an Orthodox Jewish girl, with part of her plot exploring what it's like to venture out of her community. One episode has her bring her non-Jewish (and generally not very religious) friends to her house to celebrate the Shabbat.
- Emily is a devout Christian in in Season Three, and the only one who really takes religion seriously, to the point where the others have to censor their conversations around her. In Season Four, however, this trait of hers is downplayed.
- Took a Level in Badass: Emily went from a meek conservative Christian girl to hijacking Kelly's radio program and rallying the students to protest the ignorance of Michael McGreary's rape. She even gets her own show when Roxy leaves.
- Vomit Discretion Shot: Dave hears Sam throw up offscreen in "Party Downer."
- Your Mom: During a game of "Two Truths and a Lie" in Season Two's "Uncomfortable," Alex claims he's had sex with over a thousand women — "some might be your mothers."
All In Favor provides examples of:
- Artifact Title: The show was originally developed and advertised as a fifth season of Unproductive with "All in Favor" as the subtitle, despite having almost nothing to do with the production department. However, it was revamped into a straight Spin-Off and "Unproductive" dropped from the title.
- Ascended Extra: Aaron was a minor character in season four, only appearing in a few scenes in Jameson's class, and now serves as a main character and leader for the Student Voices Committee.
- Asian and Nerdy:
- Liam is played by a Chinese actor and is the council's resident tech geek.
- During Olivia's confession about cheating off a girl in her math class, she mentions she only did it because the girl was Asian and presumably good at math...then immediately realizes how racist that was of her. Cue Liam giving a disapproving look.
- Back to School: Matt dropped out of college when he was younger, so he's starting his freshman year at King's Metro at twenty-eight years old.
- Creator Cameo: Head writer Medina Skoro shows up as Jane, who the Student Voices Committee helps out in the final seconds of the pilot.
- Meaningful Name: Matt's last name is Fisher, and he's the Fish out of Water in the committee.
- Motor Mouth: Olivia tends to rant quickly about subjects, most noticeably during her rant about cheating in her math class.
- Mr. Exposition: As committee president, Aaron usually takes up the role of explaining things to and about the Student Voices Committee. In the cold open, he explains to Matt (and by proxy, the audience) how the SVC functions, then later explains the details of their cases. He's also responsible for explaining what happened to Emily, since he's her boyfriend and a text to her explains that she's studying in London.
- Political Overcorrectness: Thoroughly discussed. The main conflict is whether a professor should be fired for a gay joke she made ten years ago. Arguments are made for and against penalizing her, but the stance the show ultimately takes is that humans are too complex to boil down into "right" or "wrong" and somebody shouldn't be fired over an old mistake.
- Put on a Bus: Emily's not in this series despite her heavy focus in the last season because she transferred to a school in London.
- Relationship Upgrade: Aaron and Emily were classmates who only made a connection at the very end of Season Four, and between the time of that season and All in Favor, they've become a romantic couple.
- Soapbox Sadie: Billie always advocates for the rights of underprivileged groups, and takes the hardest stance against Professor Stone's homophobic tweet, believing there's no place for such jokes.
- String Theory: The SVC pastes all of Professor Stone's old problematic opinions onto a bulletin board, connecting them with string to aid their decision. By the end of the season, it all gets torn down, symbolizing how fruitless it was to dig up her past.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Billie has zero tolerance for bigotry and is willing to cut ties with anybody who poses a threat to the social welfare of their school, but it's out of genuine concern for her fellow students and society as a whole. She tells Matt she doesn't enjoy being so harsh, but simply wants to do what's right.
