2000–2002

For this period, it’s unusual to see Vassar as a character point for a white-glove, prudish, debutante. A deleted scene on the DVD, the movie follows a young investment banker who also murders people for fun after dark.

Comedy about a reunion of two friends who were groupies together when they were younger.

This short-lived television variety show features a recurring character—the sassy Cafeteria Lady.

Woody Allen wrote one of the best Vassar jokes in his essay “The Whore of Mensa; this 2001 feature makes a similar riff on the idea of Vassar as a place for smart women.

It’s hard to remember Stephen Colbert back when he was playing characters other than “Stephen Colbert” but he appears in a bit from an old Daily Show episode as a Vassar professor.

Yet another cop show, this one set in DC, yet another Vassar girl tangled in a web of crime.

Justin Long hires an escort to be his prom date in this sweet family show.

An anime series a girl who returns to the hometown of her deceased mother, to find an abandoned school stuffed full of ghosts who used to haunt the school and the town. Our heroine’s not a Vassar student but it sounds like she wants to be; a character point for a determined, ambitious young woman.

Vassar showed up three times in this popular show about a young mom raising a teenager in an idyllic New England town.

Unusual and interesting movie about some quirky young New Yorkers.

This is an excellent drama about a young man involved with an older woman; her violent ex-husband beats, and later kills him. This scene comes after the beating; his parents worry over the situation and seem to imply he’s a Vassar student. A character point of no particular moment, save that he’s sensitive and intelligent.

Hugh Jackman plays a wealthy New York playboy from the 1870s who has traveled through time to present-day Manhattan where he meets and falls in love with Meg Ryan.

On Oct. 29, 2002, David Letterman did a Top Ten list about jailed publicist Lizzie Grubman which included a punchline about Vassar; it then became a running gag through the week.

There must have been some grads among the writers of this long-running NY-based show. Here’s a bunch of quick shots of the Vassar grads who have populated the L & O world…victims, friends, witnesses, and people of interest to the investigators.

Early aughts laughtrack-free sitcon on life in the big city for a single woman, starring Sarah Paulson.

A top early aughts sitcom, and a curious instance where the writers could really have chosen any college, but opted for Vassar.

In this light comedy, Benjamin Bratt is trying to impress Sandra Bullock with his sexual prowess and his very young Vassar-student girlfriend. Bullock is a smart, tough FBI agent with no feminine side (at this point in the movie). It’s an unusual choice to make Vassar a character point for a ditz.

All these police procedural shows seem to bring in a Vassar character at some point. Our Vassar character is writing an article for an art magazine and has some information about the disappearance of the dealer who is the subject of her article.

An original movie for Lifetime, Jenna Elfman is on trial in this scene for stalking her married boyfriend.

A popular teen drama about five children orphaned when their parents are killed. In this scene late in the run, the youngest member of the family struggles with whether to sleep with her boyfriend; she’s also preoccupied about college options.

A wildly popular and critically acclaimed show about the mafia in suburban New Jersey.

This slight baseball romantic comedy has a fairly basic rich-girl/poor-boy dynamic between a rich Vassar girl and her summer boyfriend.

This scene was shot at Vassar—according to the Quarterly, they filmed in Rockefeller and New England, but this little bit is all that made it into the movie.

This was an MTV late-night soap opera with plotlines around sex. Cassidy is a spoiled prom queen who wants to go to Vassar to stay with Max, who seems to have already been accepted. She is the villain of the arc, ultimately; a mean girl who tries to play a power game with Max and ends up losing.

Virtually unknown WWII TV movie with a great cast, focusing on the so-called American Schindler.