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One of many reality programs taped on a major American college campus, Freshman Diaries was lensed at the University of Texas at Austin. In true cinéma vérité fashion, a tiny band of documentary-makers followed a group of one dozen "frosh," from move-in day to the second-semester finals. Although the students were real (identified by first names only), they tended to fall into stock "characters" as the series progressed: The funny gay guy, the pampered daddy's girl, the former high-school jock, etc. Freshman Diaries made its August 31, 2003, bow on the Showtime cable network.