Perhaps I’ve become a bit jaded as I’ve gotten older, but as much as I do still enjoy more feel-good comedies like ABC’s still excellent Abbott Elementary (which is crushing it once more this season, if you haven’t taken the time to dive back into it), I’ve been more drawn to some of the darker comedic offerings out there. One such series, which is snarky but pretty great at making sure every character on the series is fair game for comedic mishaps, is FX on Hulu’s bitingly funny English Teacher.
Think of it as the polar opposite to Abbott. Where those teachers are desperately trying to impact the lives of their students despite the financial hardships of public inner-city education in America, English Teacher is, well, not focused on that. Sure, it deals with the hardships of inner-city public education (the series is set in Austin, Texas). But these teachers are, well, mostly disillusioned Millennials desperately trying to teach their students something while being hamstrung by a host of external and internal impediments. There’s the fact that these Gen Zers are more concerned with their technological footprint than reading some old book full of triggers. And the parents who are so overly invested in their high schoolers’ lives and education that they complain about every little slight (and some pretty major issues – these teachers make mistakes). And of course there’s the lack of funding for the district, and the low pay for the teachers, which makes the whole job seem rather dreary. And, well the teachers have their own personal problems that they might let influence their work lives more than they should. But at least the teachers have a supportive principal. And each other.
Our central character is Evan Marquez (series creator Brian Jordan Alvarez who is so good in the role), an openly gay high school English teacher who starts the school year walking on eggshells after a parent complained that her son witnessed him kissing his ex-boyfriend the previous year. Sure, he probably shouldn’t have been making out with his boyfriend at school (and his ex was also a teacher at the high school at the time), but is that really a fireable offense? He’s backed up in his indignation by his best friend, and fellow teacher, Gwen (Stephanie Koenig, who is the perfect blend of vapid and genuinely caring), as well as gym teacher Markie (Sean Patton, who is consistently hilarious). And then there’s his put-upon boss, Grant Moretti (the great Enrico Colantoni, who has mastered the exasperated sigh), who really just wishes his teachers would just accept that the parents have a shocking amount of pull and too much time on their hands and call it a day.
Yeah, there’s no sunny Janine here. Everyone is pretty tired and really just wants to make it through the school year without sinking into a depression or losing their job thanks to some new strange scandal. But watching how seemingly minor things – in one episode, the annual powder puff football game is canceled because there are complaints (from a group you might not expect) about the boys on the football team dressing up in drag as cheerleaders – snowball into major issues only to be resolved in smart, pointed comedic fashion allows this series to elevate itself into a truly special comedy (in the case of the cheerleaders, Evan brings in a drag queen friend of his to help the boys be more authentic and understand the history of drag so it’s not a joke at the expense of queer culture – although there’s a hilarious ending to both the use of his friend and the story itself).
So, if you’re looking for a school comedy with a bit of bite – and some genuinely flawed, but still mostly good, characters – English Teacher will scratch that itch. This isn’t a family comedy, but the more adult approach to storytelling is engaging and the episodes are smartly crafted and funny. It’s also intriguing to see Millennials (of which I am one – albeit on the elder side of the scale) go toe-to-toe with the Gen-Z sensibility and find themselves completely out of their depths (yes, we’re officially “old” now and don’t understand the younger generation). The push and pull between authority and youth is a tried and true building block of storytelling, and here, it’s fun to watch a cohort who thinks they have all the answers totally flummoxed to find that they, in fact, don’t. And, at a cool half hour, the episodes fly on by. You’ll find yourself wanting more – which is the best problem to have in today’s overwhelming TV landscape.
English Teacher is currently streaming on Hulu. All eight episodes of its first season are available.
