There was this show I remembered watching one night in the spring of 1996 while stuck in bed with a cold while preparing for a long, sleepless night. Back then I watched anything on tv that had a teacher subplot, so this show was right up my alley. Unfortunately, I only caught one episode of it ever, and that was it, I guess I forgot to watch the other few episodes that remained. I just remembered it starred a blonde woman that looked like Mary Kay Letourneau and most of the show took place in the teacher’s lounge, and opening credits ended with the door slamming in the teachers lounge. (ok, I think I made that last part up? Because I’m not finding it on YouTube)
I don’t know what prompted me to google it this Summer. Weekend pandemic boredom, I guess.
Turns out the show was named The Faculty and it starred Mrs. Keaton, Meredith Baxter. Also, turns out it didn’t get good reviews from the get go:
“Faculty” lounge: If the new ABC sitcom “The Faculty” (7:30 p.m. Wednesday, WLS-Ch. 7) were one of the students at the junior high where it’s set, it would be held back a year for failure to produce original work. Meredith Baxter plays a can’t-quit-smoking vice principal who’s battling burnout, budget cuts and, although she doesn’t seem to realize it, the fact that hanging out with the same three teachers all the time is an ineffective way to run a school.
There’s some nice supporting work here from Peter Michael Goetz as a principal with a child’s capacity for distraction and Peter Mackenzie as a straight-arrow history teacher, but over the three preview episodes ABC sent out, Baxter fails to establish herself as an actor who can carry the comedic football. 1
The only episode I found on YouTube was the pilot.
I thought the uptight secretary was Mimi Kennedy from Mom at first. Nope, Nancy Lenehan. Why would the secretary be mad that the vice principal was two seconds late? Not her business.
So a kid spraypainted on the school building “Mr. Edwards likes to ___ sheep”. Why was sheep screwing a … meme? in the mid to late 90s?
This dude’s too preachy, hate him. I think he’s supposed to be the dim witted principal?
Oh! I know why I remembered a door slamming:
The title card for the show doesn’t even come up until 2 minutes into the show.
It is amusing to hear the voice of Patti Mayonnaise, Constance Shulman, say, “It must be horrible to come to work and see your name publicly associated with disgusting sexual behavior. I mean, what you do with farm animals is your business.” She also keeps Meredith’s cigarettes.
Math teacher Amanda is dressed about 2 years outdated. She’s annoying too.
A camera pans out too far.
“Don’t make me take your little phone away, Clark.”
Oh my god, the most cliché thing happens between Meredith and the boy who spraypainted the school, Zach. If she makes the basket, Zach has to make an apology, if she misses, he’s carted off to the school for bad kids. Of course, she misses, and of course:
“You said if you missed, I could leave!”
“I lied!”
Here’s what else was on that night.
So wait, annoying teacher is going out with Zach right now? lol, no, Zach is her new “project”.
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1. Critic, Steve Johnson, Tribune Television. “THE FORMULA.” chicagotribune.com. Accessed August 4, 2020. https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1996-03-13-9603130217-story.html.
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