College is supposed to be the time in a person’s life when they start figuring out who they are and what they want out of life. But we’ve seen a number of shows that take place at college feature characters that still struggle to come out from under the pile of expectations their parents have for them. This is what Benito Skinner’s character is dealing with in his new comedy. OVERCOMPENSATING: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT? Opening Shot: A kid is watching a DVD of George Of The Jungle. He keeps watching a segment where Brendan Fraser has his shirt off. The rest of the guys who are sleeping over wonder why he’s doing that. He ends up turning on a Britney Spears video. The Gist: About a decade later, that same kid, Benny (Benito Skinner) wakes up on the day he moves to Yates University, having spent his high school years in Idaho doing all the usual things that happens as the quarterback of the football team, one the most popular kids, and the valedictorian. And he also stayed in the closet the whole time, except for a secret dalliance or two. Benny’s parents (Connie Britton, Kyle MacLachlan) drop him off at Yates, and also get to see Benny’s sister Grace (Mary Beth Barone) for the first time in awhile; they think she’s thriving with her BMOC boyfriend Peter (Adam DiMarco). Grace hates the fact that her little brother is at “my school,” but Benny is just following the path his parents laid out for him; Benny not making his own choices is something that also drive Grace nuts. In the meantime, Carmen (Wally Baram), who was an outsider at her high school in New Jersey, arrives and looks at the social media posts of her old boyfriend, who expressly said he wanted to “fuck other people” in college. She also meets her roommate, Hailee (Holmes), who loves wearing pink and brought a flat-packed IKEA vanity with her. Carmen and Benny meet at orientation, and she invites him to a “pre-game” party Hailee is throwing in her dorm room. Both of them are under pressure to get laid on the first day of college — one new classmate tells Benny that their social fate in college is “bleak” if sex doesn’t happen, and we cut to an improv troupe wearing “Yes, and…” shirts. Peter invites Benny to his frat for a late-night party, which Benny thinks is at 8 PM. When he brings Carmen along, John encourages Benny to close the deal that night. The two of them awkwardly try to do just that back at Benny’s room — after stealing a school golf cart — but they definitely click more as friends. Besides, Benny has his eyes on a new student named Miles (Rish Shah), even though he doesn’t want anyone to know about that. What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Created by its star, Benito Skinner, Overcompensating reads a lot like The Sex Lives Of College Girls. Our Take: Benny’s story in Overcompensating is similar to the storyline Reneé Rapp’s character had in the aforementioned Sex Lives Of College Girls; he has come to Yates with a particular life path picked out for him, including being straight, and he somehow has to figure out who he is at college and pick his own path. But in 2025, seeing comedy come from the misunderstandings of a person being closeted feels old-fashioned. At the very least, we’re going to get tired of watching Benny try to cover up his true self to everyone, including his sister, her frat bro boyfriend and — most of all — Carmen. The friendship between Benny and Carmen, along with how the rest of the characters in the ensemble change over the season, will be what we pay attention to. The easygoing chemistry between Skinner and Baram was the most enjoyable part of the first episode, and we hope that the friendship is what endures. The longer the show goes trying to get the two of them to smash, even though we all know who Benny really wants to be with, the more annoying it’s going to be. The best thing for the show will be for Benny to come out to Carmen quickly, then be each other’s wingpeople. Sex and Skin: In a flashback, Benny sits next to a topless high school girlfriend and purposely breaks his condom so he doesn’t have to have sex with her. During his session with Carmen, he goes to the bathroom to get himself going by thinking about Miles. And Grace proposes a threesome, thinking it’ll make sex with Peter “better,” which makes us wonder if Grace is overcompensating, as well. Parting Shot: Benny leaves the econ class that he was expected to take for his business major and follows Miles to a film studies class. Looks like he’s starting to do what he wants to do, even it’s only a little bit. Sleeper Star: Holmes is funny as the over-sexualized Hailee, though the voice she uses for the character might get grating after awhile.Most Pilot-y Line: At drop off, Benny’s dad sees students throwing a Frisbee around and calls out for them to throw it to him. One hits his head and another hits him in the groin. “Ow! Nutsack!” he says, rather obviously. Our Call: STREAM IT. Overcompensating‘s first episode has a few funny moments, but tries to hard in other spots. But the friendship between Benny and Carmen is worth following, as long as Benny starts making his way out of the closet quickly. Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.