‘English Teacher’ makes the grade with a sweet, funny look at high school educators
4 months, 1 week ago

‘English Teacher’ makes the grade with a sweet, funny look at high school educators

LA Times  

There have been shows about teachers in every era of television, going back to “Our Miss Brooks” and not even including all the many series about teenagers in which teachers have played small or larger parts. Enrico Colantoni plays Grant Moretti, the high school principal, in “English Teacher.” Evan’s ex-boyfriend Malcolm, with whom he still ends up in bed, was formerly a colleague, while new teacher Harry is a fresh romantic possibility, in Evan’s mind anyway — though one that fills him with farcical dread, as he’s been forbidden to date co-workers after kissing Malcolm in front of an student. Preparing for the traditional powderpuff game, in which cheerleaders play football and football players dress as cheerleaders, the players come to Evan for advice; he enlists the help of a college friend who works as a drag queen, whom he introduces as the star of a “long-running show in Austin called ‘Woman of La Mancha.’” And when some of Markie’s students begin to ask about the term “nonbinary,” he asks Evan to explain it to them, as a “very special gay guest.” Markie: “Hey, Froot Loops!” Evan: “You can’t call me ‘Froot Loops,’ Markie.” “It’s just the name of a cereal, buddy.” “Then why didn’t you say Cheerios?” “’Cause there ain’t nothing gay about Cheerios.” Evan, left, and Markie have an adversarial relationship in the series. When Evan announces they’ll be studying “Love in the Time of Cholera,” a student named Kayla pipes up. Kayla: “It’s actually super triggering for me to be reading a book about a disease right now with everything I’m going through?” Evan: “What are you going through, Kayla?” Kayla: “Recently I was successfully diagnosed with something called asymptomatic Tourette’s.” Evan: “Someone actually diagnosed you?” Chelsea, Kayla’s friend: “It’s disrespectful to ask that.” Kayla, to Chelsea: “You can’t blame people for making really huge mistakes when they haven’t learned the etiquette.” To Evan: “It’s only self-diagnosable.” I don’t have much to offer in the way of critical analysis, or picked nits.

History of this topic

Multifaceted Brian Jordan Alvarez decided to focus on acting. Then came ‘English Teacher’
1 month, 2 weeks ago
English Teacher: TV’s funniest new show dives straight into the culture wars.
3 months, 3 weeks ago
When ‘English Teacher’ wanted to tackle jocks in drag, Stephanie Koenig said, ‘Pick me, coach’
4 months, 1 week ago
"English Teacher" instructs by not mocking Gen Z, but our collective struggle to communicate
4 months, 1 week ago

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