After more
than a quarter of a century of critical viewing if I had to pick a contender
for the most consistent producer of quality TV I think that network would be
FX. HBO has had many dramas I found lacking and comedies I just didn’t find
funny; Netflix has so much content that the mediocre overwhelms the gems and
AMC lost what credibility it had when it embraced The Walking Dead. FX
has been not only one of the most consistent producers of great television but
the most versatile as well: occasionally relying on spin-offs and showrunners
but never making the same series twice. How is the same network could produce
the always explosive The Shield and Rescue Me and the slow boil Damages
and The Americans? The over the top humor of What We Do In the
Shadows and the nuanced Better Things? That’s true even with their
most constant showrunners: Ryan Murphy’s full volume camp that makes American
Horror Story unappetizing to me doesn’t seem to be the same showrunner when
he has taken on American Crime Story or Feud.
In July FX
made history when for the first time it lead all networks and services for most
Emmy nominations. This comes with a slight asterisk because of their
collaboration with Hulu but I’ve never seen any real difference between the
kind of shows they produce on Hulu then the ones I see on the franchise
network. It has a chance to make a history unheard of in the era of Peak TV:
become the first network to win the top prize in Drama, Comedy and Limited
Series. And given the creative arts Emmys over this weekend (which I’ll go over
before the big prize) they seem on the verge of leading all comers when it
comes to Emmys on Sunday. And unlike so many other cable networks and services
there is no sign that FX is going to experience a gap in quality any time soon.
Indeed this past Monday a new comedy premiered which gives all the signs of
being a contender for the awards that will make up much of the end of 2024.
The
English Teacher is
the brainchild of Brian Jordan Alvarez, who is both the star and the head
writer for the series. He has made in partnership with Stephanie Koenig who I’m
more familiar with over the past few years. She had minor roles on The
Flight Attendant and played Fran, Elizabeth’s colleague who becomes her
friend on Lessons in Chemistry last year. Alvarez is a relatively unknow
quantity to me, though that may have been my own fault. He had a critical role
on Epix’s critically acclaimed reimagining of Get Shorty, a recurring
role on the continuation of Will & Grace and has been present in
such hit films as M3GAN. He also wrote several films and previously the
TV series The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Grillo which he and Koenig
collaborated on. Now he and Koenig are working together on this comedy series
which has already earned comparisons to such classics as Parks & Rec and
Abbott Elementary. Having seen the first three episodes I can testify
that while it deserves comparisons to each, it is entirely – and delightfully –
its own animal.
Alvarez
plays Evan Marquez, the title character who works as a high school teacher in
Austin. Like Alvarez himself Marquez is gay and his sex life is a subject of
discussion – and for Texas a red flag. But that’s far from the biggest problem
Evan faces at high school.
As he
discussed with Gwen (Koenig) “the kids are worse than ever this year.” Gwen
agrees telling him as an opening line that they wanted her to teach both sides
of the Spanish Inquisition. I have to say some of the best moments on this show
are whenever we see inside Evan’s classroom or indeed the kids as a whole
because they demonstrate the worst aspects of everything I truly believe the
next generation is. To give one of the best examples the football coach (I’ll
get back to him, trust me) chases down Evan and asks him to discuss to his gym
class what non-binary is. Evan is offended that his friend went to him with
this and is reluctant to do so but goes along with it. Even before the lecture
begins he finds it hard to believe these kids don’t know what non-binary is but
still goes on to define it. Eventually they admit the truth – they do know what
non-binary is, they just wanted him to screw it up so they could film it and
put it online for the purpose of embarrassing him. Needless to say they put his
lecture online anyway.
Evan is
already in trouble with the faculty because the mother of a graduate has
targeted him for kissing his then-boyfriend in front of her son and she thinks
that this is the kind of behavior that should get him fired. Evan realizes very
quickly that the student was gay and his mother is blaming him for ‘turning her
son gay’. (This is Texas, remember.) Evan spends the entire episode being
forced to write an apology and expecting to be fired only to find at the end of
the episode the complaint was dropped.
The source
of this was Markie Hillridge, the football coach who has been described as the
show’s Ron Swanson. It’s true Coach Hillridge is an outdoors type and the least
politically correct person on the faculty. He is often called out for his
behavior by Evan himself. But Hillridge is all incredibly loyal. He goes to see
the student’s mother and essentially blackmails her, telling her that if she
follows through with her complaint he will out his son. Evan is horrified by
this and in a lesser show we would judge him. Instead Evan calls him – and
in a way so many other leftists – on the
way they would rather have their principles rather than do what is necessary to
fight for them. Alvarez covers this by having the Coach use a football metaphor
that is lost on Evan but he does realize what has happened and is grateful.
There’s
also the fact that Hillridge has a situational awareness that Evan can’t pick
up on it. In the main story of last night’s episode Evan is teaching Love in
the Time of Cholera when one of his students Chelsea says he shouldn’t
teach this because Kayla has a disease and its triggering. Evan tries to deal
with this and asks Kayla what it is. (This follows so much back and forth in
which everything Evan does is the wrong thing in the eyes of the kids.) Kayla
finally tells Evan that she has ‘asymptomatic Tourette’s’ which according to
her is like Tourette’s but you don’t exhibit any symptoms. Evan immediately
senses this is crap but the atmosphere is so hostile he keeps it in. He then
goes to see Hillridge automatically expecting support; Hillridge actually
thinks it’s an actual disease but agrees to observe his next class.
Things
have accelerated quickly by the next day. Chelsea now tells Evan he can’t refer
to it as ‘asymptomatic Tourette’s’ because it’s offensive. Rather he should
call it KS. When Evan tries to ask what that stands for he’s told it is
offensive to ask and offensive not to ask. Finally he learns it stands for
‘Kayla’s Syndrome’. The look on Marquez’s face is hysterical as you can just
see he wants to say: “Why do I have to put up with this?” but is afraid of the
consequences. (Naturally no one has done the reading because they’ve all been
so worried about poor Kayla.) When the class is dismissed Evan asks Hillridge’s
what’s going on. And the coach relays in a hysterical fashion that all of this
is about the twisted relationship between Chelsea and Kayla and the power
dynamic between them. The punch line comes when Evan says: “You figured this
out in 20 minutes?” Hillridge scoffs: “I got in ten.”
This
actually speaks to Evan’s great flaw: for all of his willingness to help his
students he can be incredibly blind to the point of foolishness regarding so
much including himself. At the start of last night’s episode he sees Harry, the
new teacher who is also gay drop his towel and he gets a peek at him. Evan has
been forbidden from dating other teachers and he goes into a spiral that Harry
did this in order to seduce him and that they can’t spend any time together.
Naturally, they’re forced to start planning prom. Evan then has a dinner where
he doesn’t not want to do even the bare interaction, has an erotic dream while
he is driving to school the next day, and then panics by telling the principal
every detail of it despite his absolute unwillingness to hear it. On homecoming
he is alone with Harry and Evan goes on a rant about his seduction. When he
pauses Harry tells him he has a boyfriend. Evan pauses and goes on another rant
before leaving him alone. Much of the humor is based in Evan’s ability to be humiliated
for a laugh; he’s also very good at humiliated himself with no help.
The cast
is more than up to everything Alvarez writes for them but my favorite performer
so far is Enrico Colantoni as Principal Moretti. I have no basis for context
but I truly believe Moretti is what I think a bureaucrat in the modern school
system is like: forever put upon by every aspect of his job, the children, the
parents, the school board, the teachers. He is terrified of saying the wrong
thing and these days everything is the wrong thing. His nervous stammer and
lack of a spine are something I’ve never expected in twenty years of watching
Colantoni play Keith Mars and Elias on Person of Interest and he’s
hysterical in every scene he’s in. The best humor comes from him often in
subtle ways. After everything involving Evan in the pilot unfolds Evan asks him
if he wants to see his statement. Moretti reads its to himself, says ‘very
nice’ – and in one motion puts it in the shredder.
So much of
this show does remind me of parts of Abbott and Parks & Rec – at times it’s like watching the teachers at
Abbott having to teach students in Pawnee with all the frequent stupidity that
inhabited that neck of the world that Leslie Knope unconditionally loved. But
it has a style and good-heartedness that is all its own and it is a far more
polished product in its first three episodes than Parks was over its
first season and a half. It’s still rough around the edges but critics have
responded to it with the same love and wonder that both shows earned very
quickly. Hopefully FX will give it the chance it needs to become the kind of
cultural sensation the other two comedies were. Unlike so many of the students
at the school The English Teacher is set at, this one is more than
deserving of high grades.
My score:
4.5 stars.
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