With “Underemployed,” MTV tries a new angle for an idea that didn’t quite catch on last year with “I Want My Pants Back.”

It follows the highs, lows,full tv series online, triumphs and humiliations of five friends who just finished college and aren’t sure what comes next,blu ray dvd rentals.

In many ways, it’s the same show as “Pants,” with different menial jobs.

But “Underemployed” also feels less subtle. While it tries to stay in the hip genre of new-school dramedy, it often tilts toward traditional soap and sitcom.

That won’t surprise anyone who has seen the promo picture in which Sophia (Michelle Ang) wears a pink doughnut on her head while working the counter at Donut Girl.

Ang moves slightly toward the front of the pack in the premiere as the plucky nerd, the one who openly announces the group’s goal of “world domination.”

When she’s not selling pink doughnuts, she’s an aspiring writer who reluctantly starts to realize her sheltered life hasn’t provided her with much to draw on.

The rest of the group, all of whom we like, includes Raviva (Inbar Lavi) and Lou (Jared Kusnitz), who ended their relationship when she took off for L.A. to become the next Shakira and he stayed around to blow off his father’s big amoral corporation and instead work on cleaning up the environment.

Lou’s best friend Miles (Diego Boneta) aims to become a model and Daphne (Sarah Habel) sets her sights on advertising.

In contrast to the blizzard of small dramas in “Pants,” the stories in “Underemployed” quickly become large and melodramatic.

Expect ill-advised romance, reluctant compromise and the lessons of growing up.

It’s a little more classic. It’s a little less hip.