Greetings,
It has been a while since I've had any kind of schooling, which means that it has been a while since I've had any teachers. Well, that isn't completely true. There are the teachers from the world of fiction that still linger one way or another, and they tend to linger on the television. So, I decided to make a list of my favorite television educators. That almost seems like an oxymoron.
Believe it or not, I didn't really put any restrictions on myself for this one. They just had to be a main or recurring educational character on any TV series. That, of course, means no one time appearances or subs, if you will. So, we can't have Roger Rees as Vic Raccine on My So-Called Life or Betty White as Professor Bauer in Community, though, I am happy to give them Honorable Mentions here. Anywho, here we go.
#10. Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Okay, Giles was not a teacher, per se, but I did say I would include educators of all sort. And I happen to consider a librarian in a high school to be an educator. Besides, could I really not include Giles? He was my favorite character on the show, and, personally, I would have loved to have a handsome, British man working at my school. Yes, handsome. I had a crush on Giles. Get over it. That aside, I must say that I truly loved what an appreciation he had for books. Obviously, as a writer, I would love that. But it seemed to go beyond his just liking books because he was a librarian. He was a man who had a deep love of books, even expressing in one episode exactly why he thought they were so special, particularly compared to more modern ways to get information. He spoke so eloquently and correctly on the subject, and that is why I love him. Despite how I may feel about who created him.
#9. Miss Simpson from Saved By the Bell - Yes, I have complained about Saved By the Bell on this blog before. I think I did it quite recently, as a matter of fact. But I can't deny my past and the truth that I was a fan of this show in my youth. We saw many teachers come and go at Bayside, but my favorite was always Miss Simpson aka the teacher who could barely hear anything. Maybe it was because I was a kid, but I always was very amused by her. The way that, no matter what the kids said, we never knew what she was going to hear and how she was going to respond, was actually one of the funniest things on the show. And, to be honest, I still kind of find it funny now.
#8. Mr. Meyers from Beverly Hills, 90210 - Easily, this is one that many of you may not remember, save the hardcore fans of Beverly Hills, 90210. Mr. Meyers showed up in the third season, the Senior Year season, as the new AP English teacher and Journalism adviser. He certainly stirred things up a bit, whether he wanted to do so or not. He even let the kids call him by his first name, Gil. Yes, there was a good looking guy on TV named 'Gil' long before Grissom. I can't put my finger on exactly why I liked him so much, but I really did. Actually, the best way I can put it is that he was everything that Glee's Mr. Schuester should be but most certainly isn't. And that's another list altogether.
#7. Mr. Kotter from Welcome Back, Kotter - There are a lot of things I like about the decade before I entered the world. One of things is certainly shows like Welcome Back, Kotter. I think anytime anyone thinks of TV teachers, Mr. Kotter will definitely come to mind. And why shouldn't he? He was a blast, and he could always hold his own against his crazy students. And I'm not even just talking about Travolta.
#6. Miss Crabtree from The Little Rascals - As I've mentioned in the past, I am not a kid person. So I give major props to people who preside over them on a daily basis. People like Miss Crabtree, who had to teach The Little Rascals. Could not have been easy. First of all, she was replacing the much loved, Miss MacGillicuddy, who I am not %100 sure wasn't Lucy before she married Ricky. And second, she was teaching 'rascals', which was the watered down, 1930's label we out on kids who we knew were going to go to jail one day. I doff my hat to you, Miss Crabtree.
#5. Miss Othmar from Peanuts - Yeah, I bet you didn't know that Charlie Brown's "wah-wah" teacher had a name. Well, I didn't know that either until I started working on this list. If you want to talk about this in its simplest form, you can just say that, after all these years, Miss Othmar is still fun to listen to. She has been homaged a million times and with good reason. If you want to go a bit deeper (just a bit), it does pretty accurrately show what a lot of kids hear when their teachers talk. Or when any adult talks, for that matter. I always thought that was a clever way to present the teacher. Except this one time when, I swear, they had her talking normally. With words! I beg your pardon. I don't even remember where or when that happened, but it better never happen again. Like ever!
#4. Miss Beadle from Little House on the Prairie - Oh, Little House on the Prairie. You gave us so many fantastic characters. Too many to even mention. Good thing we are only talking teachers today, which means we're talking about Miss Beadle. I just Miss Beadle. She was so kind and gentle, and she really seemed to care about her students. Of course, if you crossed her, she was always quick to shell out some discipline. I'm sure she sent Willie Olsen to the corner as many times as Laura Ingalls ran off in the middle of the school day in tears over her trivial crisis du jour. Anyway, Miss Beadle was great, as was the actress who played her, Charlotte Stewart, who was also in Tremors. And this fact makes her even greater.
#3. Dr. Foster from A Different World - Time to move on to college now. So, I love this show, and quite a few fictional educators have appeared on it. But none were greater than Dr. Foster. And not just because he was the English professor, who regularly became dismayed at the misuse of the English language, often perpetrated by those around him. Actually, he did not appear on a ton of episodes. I mean, according to IMDB, which is never wrong, he only appeared in about four. Who cares though? I love this character and no doubt, it had much to do with the portrayal of it by the wonderful Roscoe Lee Browne. That man was an absolute delight.
#2. Miss Grant from Fame - I don't know if I've personally ever paid for anything in sweat, but if Miss Grant said that I had to do that, then I guess I would certainly be doing that. Now, if my only reason for putting her on this list was because I absolutely love Debbie Allen, that would be plenty. I mean, Debbie Allen is amazing, and she played this character perfectly. But I loved Miss Grant because she was a motivator. If she was hard on you, if she pushed you, if she banged that cane on the floor while giving you that fiery eye of hers, it was because she knew you could do it. I love that in a teacher, whether fictional or real.
#1. Mr. Feeny from Boy Meets World - I love a teacher who always does what is best for his or her students, despite how that might make the children view them at present time. Mr. Feeny was like that. He was tough a lot of the time, and he was pretty old school. And some of the students had issues with him. As they do. But things changed on that show as time went on and the kids got older. Speaking of which, something I loved about Mr. Feeny was the way he was almost a barometer for the maturity of the young people on that show, Cory, Shawn, Topanga and Eric. The older they got, the more they appreciated their teacher, the job he did, and the way he did it. Hind sight's 20/20 and all that. Yes, when they were very young they thought he was just another teacher giving them a hard time, but they soon came to see him as kind of a mentor, a friend and even a member of the family. This is what a good teacher does when he cares about his students. He gives them what they need as an educator no matter what, which leads to them realizing it was all for the best for what they needed to learn. They learn that he was someone who helped them go from being children to being adults. When it comes to the teachers of television, I'd say Mr. George Feeny did this best.
So there you have it. And let me say one more thing on a bit more of a serious note. Look, I know it is probably much easier to be a fictional educator on a TV show than it is to be one on real life. Therefore, may I use this opportunity to thank those who do an often thankless job. May God bless you and keep you safe.
Love and full moons,
Becky the Writer
