‘Off Campus’ — Prime Video’s new hockey romance — is steeped in WB-era nostalgia. Fans can’t get enough of it.

Listen, I know my way around a college-set romantic drama.

In fact, I’d consider myself a connoisseur of the genre and all of its equally fulfilling relatives: coming-of-age dramas, comedies and romance dramedies that are set in big cities, port cities and small towns and specifically take place in the late 1990s and early 2000s. It’s a very niche flavor of television I so frequently and unapologetically devour that I have to regularly remind myself to broaden my horizons and watch something from this decade.

So when I came across my latest TV binge, it was as if I had found a show that satiates my need for heartfelt ‘90s- and aughts-era storytelling while still being entirely modern.

Enter: Off Campus.

Created by Louisa Levy and adapted from author Elle Kennedy’s book series of the same name, Off Campus follows aspiring composer Hannah Wells (Ella Bright) and NHL-bound hockey player Garrett Graham (Belmont Cameli), as they fake a romantic relationship born out of a deal to help each other get what they want: Hannah wants her crush, Justin (Josh Heuston) — an artistic, Matty Healy-type — to notice her, and Graham needs Hannah to help him pass his philosophy class so he can continue to captain Briar University’s hockey team. Of course, it isn’t long before their fake feelings give way to real ones.

The series, which was renewed for a second season ahead of its May 13 premiere, has catapulted to No. 1 worldwide among Prime Video’s TV shows. It’s also effectively infiltrated every fiber of my social media algorithm — from X to TikTok to Instagram to Threads, where fans can’t seem to get enough of Hannah and Garrett, and the rest of the show’s charming ensemble.

After endless hours of scrolling, I have unearthed an assertion within the Off Campus fandom: The show is actually quite nostalgic. How, you might ask? Well, there are a few examples. Let me break them down for you.

‘Garrett Graham is for the Nathan Scott girlies’

A quick scroll through Threads and it’ll become abundantly clear: Off Campus fans believe the show would’ve thrived on the WB. In case you forgot: The WB, short for Warner Bros., was a broadcast television network that catered to teens and young adults with its iconic slate of ‘90s- and aughts-era dramas, including Dawson’s Creek, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Smallville, Charmed… I could go on.

As one Threads user put it, “Show me a millennial woman who watched WB dramas as a teenager and I will show you someone who dropped everything the second Off Campus hit Prime.”

A good amount of Off Campus fans are likening Garrett Graham and Hannah Wells to a modern-day Nathan Scott (James Lafferty) and Haley James Scott (Bethany Joy Lenz) from One Tree Hill. The parallel they’re drawing isn’t totally unfounded either: There’s the popular, hunky athlete who swears off commitment, only to meet a bookish tutor girl-slash-secretly talented singer-songwriter, who makes him change his selfish, emotionally unavailable ways. I mean, that is literally Naley. Plus, there’s the fact that both Garrett and Nathan have strained relationships with their toxic fathers.

“The Off Campus marketing should’ve just said for the girlies who owned every One Tree Hill boxed season DVD and then got back into reading as an adult,” one Threads user wrote, while another boldly declared, “This might get hate but Off Campus has One Tree Hill potential in my opinion.”

The similarities aren’t limited to One Tree Hill. Fans have also compared John Logan (Antonio Cipriano) to Jess Mariano (Milo Ventimiglia) from Gilmore Girls: Both are broody, sassy and have degrees in “yearnalism.”

A charming ensemble cast

Bring back ensembles! Among the most nostalgic aspects of the series is the fact that it features an ensemble cast with loads of chemistry, similar to One Tree Hill, Felicity, The O.C. and Gossip Girl, to name a few.

Friendship is as much of a priority as romance on Off Campus. The series celebrates the joy of having a group of friends — Hannah, Garrett, Allie (Mika Abdalla), Dean (Stephen Thomas Kalyn), John (Cipriano), Tucker (Jalen Thomas Brooks), and others — who genuinely enjoy being together. Whether it’s prepping for Thanksgiving dinner, singing karaoke at Malone’s, participating in Drunk Shakespeare or dropping everything to attend Wellsy’s pop showcase, the Off Campus gang literally shows up for one another time and again. It’s friendship at its most wholesome and aspirational, and it’s because of this dynamic that fans believe the show could easily sustain a 20-plus episode-per-season model.

“The one thing about Off Campus that really sticks out to me as a romance adaptation is the clear respect for the ensemble cast,” a fan on Threads wrote. “These characters are a family, and the showrunners understanding the importance of that fact on top of the love stories is huge. It’s what we’ve been missing on TV for a long time now, and knowing that the group will expand without us losing the core characters is the most excellent choice.”

Nods to beloved romantic comedies

There is nothing I love more than thoughtful homages to classic romantic comedies — and Off Campus does exactly that. The show had us rom-com girlies kicking our feet and giggling during a handful of scenes that felt plucked out of our favorite ‘90s flicks.

Um … who could forget when Hannah made her grand entrance à la Lainey Boggs (Rachel Leigh Cook) in She’s All That, walking down the staircase in her puck bunny outfit — which costume designer Charlene Akuamoah said was a nod to Elle Woods’s look in Legally Blonde — causing Garrett’s jaw to basically drop to the floor? Or when she channeled her inner Patrick Verona (Heath Ledger in 10 Things I Hate About You) and boldly serenaded Garrett at the ice rink?!

Not to mention the two (!!) nods to John Hughes’s Sixteen Candles: First, when Allie and Dean are playing chess on the table, and the scene is lit and framed in a way that totally resembles when Sam Baker (Molly Ringwald) blows out the candles on her birthday cake. And again, when Garrett is seen leaning on his car in a swoony Jake Ryan (Michael Schoeffling) way, as he waits for Hannah to come outside. Ugh. I have no notes.