Overcompensating is an American comedy drama television series created by Benito Skinner for Amazon Prime Video. Skinner stars as Benny, a former high-school jock and closeted college student navigating freshman year. The show is loosely based on Skinner's own college experience. The show premiered on May 15, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video.
Premise.
Benny, a former high school football star and valedictorian from Idaho, begins his freshman year of college at the fictional Yates University, where his sister Grace is a junior. He is closeted and masks his true identity by aping the machismo of his male peers, particularly that of Peter, Grace's jock boyfriend. On his first day on campus, Benny befriends Carmen, a freshman from New Jersey who was an outsider in high school. Together, Benny and Carmen navigate their first year of college, which includes new relationships, pledging the college's secret society, and figuring out their true selves. 
Production.
Development.
In November 2022, it was announced Amazon Prime Video had put the project in development, with Benito Skinner writing and executive producing alongside Jonah Hill under his Strong Baby banner, and A24 producing. In February 2024, the series was greenlit.
Casting.
Upon the initial announcement, Skinner was set to star. In July 2024, Wally Baram, Mary Beth Barone, Adam DiMarco and Rish Shah joined the cast in series regular capacity, while Holmes, Corteon Moore, Owen Thiele, and Nell Verlaque were set to recur. In September, Connie Britton, Kyle MacLachlan, Kaia Gerber, Julia Shiplett, Tommy Do, Alexandra Beaton, Claire Qute, Elias Azimi and Maddie Phillips joined the cast in undisclosed capacity. In October, Charli XCX and Tomaso Sanelli joined the cast in guest and recurring capacity, respectively.
Filming.
Principal photography began on July 8, 2024, and wrapped on October 16, 2024. The primary filming location was Toronto, with the University of Toronto standing in for the series' Yates University.
Reception.
Critical response.
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, "Overcompensating" has an approval rating of 95% based on 42 critics' reviews. The website's critical consensus states, "As ribald as any self-respecting campus comedy but with a disarmingly sweet core, "Overcompensating" has nothing to make up for as it proves creator-star Benito Skinner to be the real deal". Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 72 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.
Daniel Fienberg of "The Hollywood Reporter" wrote: "It's a confident and generally funny series-creating debut for well-regarded content creator Skinner, and the cast is packed with breakout performances from lesser-known co-stars, amusing turns from more familiar stars and cameos aplenty". Emma Kiely of "Collider" gave the series an eight of ten, writing: "A hilarious, warm, and honest show from one of comedy's most exciting voices".