Amazon Prime Video‘s hockey drama “Off Campus” is yet another popular addition to the streamer’s growing young adult lineup. Series like “The Summer I Turned Pretty” and “Sterling Point,” and films like the “My Fault” trilogy, have cemented Prime Video as the new home for teen content, and it shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon.
“Off Campus” follows Hannah Wells (Ella Bright) and Garrett Graham (Belmont Cameli), a music major and hockey player, respectively, who start fake dating to make Hannah’s crush jealous. The first season focuses on their love story, especially as Hannah tries her hand at a new music genre and Garrett deals with the pressure of being team captain and an impending professional contract.
With a second season of “Off Campus” coming in April 2027, there’s time to rewatch the first season over and over again. Or, you can check out some other great projects you’re sure to love. From other sports dramas, intense hockey series, and female-led coming-of-age stories, these shows are amazing to watch after “Off Campus.”
All American
Football takes center stage in “All American,” a series about high school football player Spencer James (Daniel Ezra) as he’s recruited by a more affluent high school. He grew up in South Los Angeles, but a school in Beverly Hills wants him, and he struggles to fit into both worlds. Like any high school drama, Spencer deals with relationship problems, competitive teammates, and his career, as he goes from a high school player to an NFL rookie.
While the story starts in high school in “All American,” Spencer and Garrett both deal with the stress of trying to build a professional sports career. Garrett’s comes from his father, a professional hockey player and his team, while Spencer’s comes from all sides, especially since his new high school is taking a chance on him with a scholarship. It’s an ideal watch for those who enjoyed the moments from Garrett’s perspective in the Amazon Prime Video project.
“All American” is the thing to watch after “Off Campus” if you want a long-running sports drama. It’s a large ensemble cast, so someone will connect with it, and it runs for over 100 episodes across eight seasons. There’s even a spin-off series, “All American: Homecoming,” following Simone (Geffri Maya), a student from Beverly Hills who heads to college in Atlanta with a renewed purpose to become a professional tennis player.
The Sex Lives of College Girls
HBO Max’s “The Sex Lives of College Girls” follows four freshman women as they experience the highs and lows of college. They’re put together as suitemates in the dorms, and each comes from an incredibly different walk of life. However, they lean on each other as they overcome dating woes, parental pressure, and find themselves. The show features their first three semesters at Essex College, a university in Vermont clearly meant to resemble an Ivy like Harvard.
Like “Off Campus,” “Sex Lives” is about women in college. Both projects feature strong female friendships, especially as they navigate ups and downs in their romantic lives and try to find their way in creative fields. In the Amazon Prime Video series, Allie (Mika Abdalla) works through her desire to become a professional actress with an unsupportive partner, while in “Sex Lives,” Bela (Amrit Kaur) aspires to work in comedy, though her parents want her to be a doctor.
Though the HBO Max show ended after three seasons, it has a cohesive end that emphasizes friendship and individuality. “Off Campus” fans will enjoy the themes, especially acceptance, and the commentary on sexism as Bela secures a role in the campus comedy magazine. And, for those who loved the Drunk Shakespeare play in “Off Campus,” there’s a phenomenal theater moment toward the end of Season 3.
Felicity
Take a chance and follow your crush to New York for college with “Felicity.” While the titular character, played by Keri Russell, is meant to take pre-med classes at Stanford, she changes her plans entirely after her high school crush signs her yearbook at graduation. What follows is a series that takes us through her college years as she makes new friends, documents her life on cassette tapes, and grows up.
“Felicity” is the show for those who loved watching Hannah discover herself. While Felicity initially goes to New York to follow a boy, she soon realizes she wants to make such a drastic move for herself and find who she is. Both young women move miles from home, putting themselves in new environments that require them to stretch their wings. And, there’s still a love triangle, though it’s a bit harder to decide who to root for in “Felicity.”
Hannah is the most obvious character comparison to Felicity, but there are also similarities with Allie. The theater major feels pressure from her long-time boyfriend to have a more “serious” career, much like how Felicity’s parents have high expectations for her. Both have to overcome that and focus on what’s important to them, even if it upsets their loved ones.
Heated Rivalry
“Heated Rivalry” tells the multi-year love story of Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie) and Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams), two professional hockey players who initially connect during the draft. Over the years, they have several sexual encounters, regularly text each other, and eventually fall in love. Because they were the first and second picks, respectively, in their draft year, there’s an intense media-driven rivalry between them, causing the pair to keep their initial situationship and eventual relationship a secret from their teammates and the press.
“Off Campus” and “Heated Rivalry” both focus on hockey, but they explore very different facets of the sport. The latter highlights the heteronormativity of the league, since there aren’t any outwardly queer players until Scott Hunter (François Arnaud) comes out. At the same time, the former focuses on the extremely physical and sometimes aggressive nature of the players in the heat of the game. However, both feature men who become more reflective because of their romantic relationships.
Like “Off Campus,” the Canadian show is based on a popular hockey romance book series, meaning that after you finish the first season of both, you can read the books while you wait for Season 2. If you loved Allie and Dean’s (Stephen Kalyn) Halloween party dance scene, you will go absolutely wild for the viral club scene between Shane and Ilya.
One Tree Hill
“One Tree Hill” follows Lucas (Chad Michael Murray) and Nathan (James Lafferty), two high school basketball teammates. They are rivals, and Lucas is initially poised to take Nathan’s starting position. Off the court, they share a romantic interest and continue to deal with family problems due to their shared biological father. Over time, they become friends, but it’s quite the journey to get there.
Like “All American,” “One Tree Hill” follows the characters from high school into college, though it focuses more on brotherhood, especially because the two are adversarial half-brothers. It’s similar to the conversations that take place between Garrett and John Logan (Antonio Cipriano), especially when it comes to the pressure to do well and secure a professional contract. The similarities continue to grow when it becomes clear that John Logan has a crush on Hannah, and has for some time.
The CW series is for the “Off Campus” enthusiasts who liked the dynamic between the main male characters. Both shows are great examples of how sports can either bring young men together or drive them apart, depending on how they let stress affect their personal relationships. With nearly 200 episodes, you can really see that play out in “One Tree Hill” in a way that isn’t possible with the modern eight-episode seasons.
