Parents' Guide to

Resident Advisors

By Emily Ashby, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 15+

Collegiate comedy is full of clichés, drinking, and sex.

TV Hulu Comedy 2015
Resident Advisors Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this TV show.

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What's the Story?

College is a time of exploration and discovery, as is evidenced by the goings-on in the average college dorm. RESIDENT ADVISORS is a comedy series that follows those antics from the point of view of the RAs whose job it is to ensure the underclassmen adhere to the rules. But what happens when the RAs are the ones breaking them? For RA manager Olivia (Jamie Chung), keeping order and impressing her faculty advisor just got a lot harder thanks to the motley crew assigned to her dorm. Where raging hormones and newfound freedom meet, there are bound to be sparks -- and the occasional four-alarm fire.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: Not yet rated
Kids say: Not yet rated

Conjure up every cliché you've ever heard about dorm life, and you can pretty much guess the direction Resident Advisors takes at the get-go. If this comedy is to be believed, the college years are saturated in alcohol and accented by the occasional drug or two. Even more dominant is the seemingly requisite sexual experimentation, so rampant that RAs stock condoms by the case and decorate hall bulletin boards with cut-outs of smiling sperm wearing them as hats to advocate safe sex. For those who are safely in the midst of or beyond those admittedly crazy years, Resident Advisors is a laugh-out-loud comedy that also reminds us how TV often misrepresents the truth.

But the messages get more complex when you're talking about teens who don't have the life experience to separate fact from the show's exaggerated suggestions of college life. Unless you're there to set them straight, what they'll take away from watching is that rules and responsibility are mere speed bumps on the path to truly embracing the full collegiate experience, frequent "sexiling" (booting your roommate to the curb so you can have sex) and copious drinking included.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about role models in this show. Do any stand out as positive ones? Can a good role model make bad decisions and still teach some positive lessons?

  • Teens: In what ways does this show paint an inaccurate picture of college life? Could any of these characters succeed as students, given their extracurricular pursuits? What are your goals for college?

TV Details

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Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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