“The end” no longer has meaning because it does not mean what it used to.

TV shows nowadays are prequels to movies. And here is one thing that “Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp” the new outrageous prequel to the hilarious 2001 cult classic movie, has what its predecessor didn’t — anticipation.

The original “Wet Hot American Summer” came with a loaded cast, many of whom went on to become even more famous than they already were.

One of the gateway jokes for this prequel is that everyone (in real life) is much older. In the Netflix series, they’re acting out as the younger versions of the characters that they had portrayed in the original movie. It was even a stretch back then that they were playing teenagers.

In fact, this “old teenager” gag was part of the original’s charm as well. In a way it follows the pattern of “Grown Ups.” But here, the joke isn’t as much of a joke as you’d think.

Noticeably older, sure, but not hilariously so. Except when Chris Pine’s character gets on top of the roof, acts like he’s a rock star and started singing “Higher and Higher” that broke up the camp fight that was over nothing. But other than that, the only time it feels like a goof is whenever Michael Showalter shows up as Coop, as he’s really the one who’s, let’s say, a much different shape than he used to be.

The only downside to the “First Day of Camp,” is that the first two episodes spend a lot of time focusing on the young camper named Kevin, who is played by David Bloom, and his crush on his fellow camper Amy, played by Hailey Sole. His love life does not need to take over two full episodes.

The storyline continues on throughout the series, but in a much more manageable fashion. I get that Kevin is meant to be sort of going through what Coop went through in the movie, but Coop’s also having girl troubles of his own. So the plot gets a bit crowded.

To watch this you definitely need to be a fan of the original WHAS movie to enjoy everything First Day of Camp has to offer. The entire thing’s a love letter to itself and it’s great to see everyone back along with new faces. This was a project none of us ever entertained as an option.

For fans of WHAS, the funny comes fast and often and the callbacks and Easter eggs only deepen the experience. Since it is basically just a collection of loosely connected stories smushed together, there is no reason for this to be episodic rather than just a four hour movie. The movie was the movie, and the Netflix series is just a series.