At midnight Pacific last night, Netflix released all eight episodes of “Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp,” the prequel series to 2001's cult comedy favorite “Wet Hot American Summer.”
I laughed a lot at “First Day of Camp,” even if the length of it made the results more hit-or-miss than the movie was. And as a continuity nerd, I enjoyed watching David Wain and Michael Showalter figure out ways to either set up developments from the film (like the start of Ben and McKinley's relationship) or work around facts stated in the movie. And when I went back to rewatch the film after to check on how it all fit, I discovered even more winks from show to movie than I had previously thought were there. (UPDATE: And then you guys pointed out another fun one.)
Below – and the SPOILER WARNING is on high for the rest of this, so don't read until you've had a chance to watch “First Day of Summer” all the way through – are some of my favorite ways the show worked with, or around, what was said in the film.