Welcome back to The Clubhouse! We hope you all had a great weekend and got to catch up on your favorite pop culture offerings.

If you didn’t, or your looking for something new, this month’s More Hype, Please is focusing on the FX comedy, English Teacher, which definitely deserves your attention if you’re not already watching.

And we wanna hear from YOU! Is there media you think is being woefully ignored by the mainstream masses despite being brilliant, and you have no idea why? Tell us all about it here, or write to us at tmsclubhouse@gmail.com!

MORE HYPE, PLEASE! — English Teacher

by Teresa Jusino

Like many shows that could be in the “More hype, please!” category, the new FX comedy, English Teacher, has gotten great reviews, including one from TMS’ Rachel Leishman. Yet, as of now, there’s been no confirmation either way as to whether or not the show will be getting a second season. We really hope that it does!

English Teacher tells the story of Evan Marquez (played by the show’s writer/creator, Brian Jordan Alvarez), an English teacher in a high school in Austin, Texas who also happens to be an out, gay man.

The show manages to have the sweetness of another super-popular show set in a school, ABC’s Abbott Elementary. But since English Teacher is an FX show, it gets to go a little harder than a broadcast network show would be able to as far as the language it uses, and the way it addresses certain topics. It strikes a perfect balance between sweetness and snark, illuminating the social justice issues Gen Z is currently facing in a smart, nuanced way while also being laugh-out-loud funny.

Here’s a couple of other reasons you should be mainlining season 1 of English Teacher:

BRIAN JORDAN ALVAREZ

While English Teacher creator and star, Brian Jordan Alvarez, has performed in TV and streaming projects like the 2010s reboot of Will & Grace, Jane the Virgin, and the "Zero Feet Away" episode of the Netflix anthology series, Social Distance, he’s also well known for his comedy on the internet, having become popular through his collabs with CollegeHumor and his viral social media videos.

Like his character Evan, he is also a gay Latino, bringing both experiences to his storytelling on English Teacher. Having a show actually created by and starring a queer Latino is so rare and so important. Even better? Alvarez’s writing is actually hilarious and incisive.

From the pilot episode, viewers will see both of his identities come into play. First, with a parent filing a complaint against the school, because Evan has the audacity to kiss his long-term boyfriend in front of his students. Second, when Evan’s Latino heritage comes up in a conversation with students, one student is skeptical that he’s Latino, and when another student says, “He’s Colombian,” the first student responds with, “That’s not Hispanic. Hispanic is, like, Mexican.” Oh, Texas.

Speaking of…

TEXAS AS A CHARACTER

While English Teacher takes place in Austin, TX, and Austin is generally known to be a progressive pocket in an otherwise conservative state, schools everywhere are regulated by their states, meaning that the conservative attitudes and ideas about things like sexuality, gender, and race seep through regardless.

It would be easy to paint Evan as the lone voice of progressive thought and the rest of the faculty and his students as a bunch of ignorant hayseeds, but English Teacher doesn’t do that. Instead, it grapples with the conservative attitudes while also allowing the show’s characters to be fully fleshed-out people.

One of the best relationships on the show is the one between Evan and the school’s gym teacher, Markie (played by Sean Patton). Markie definitely has questionable political views and a lot of work to do as far as understanding microaggressions, but he is also someone who considers Evan a friend and does the best he can do to support Evan and be better for his students around topics like sexuality and gender. What’s great about this relationship is that the two characters genuinely respect each other, in spite of their differences and frequent disagreements. Evan spends as much time learning life lessons from Markie as he does correcting whatever stupid thing Markie says without thinking.

No character on this show is perfect, not even Evan, and English Teacher does a great job of illuminating the nuances of how social justice issues play out in the American South honestly and with respect.

A FUNNY, YET RESPECTFUL PORTRAYAL OF GEN Z

It would also be easy for a Millennial creator to portray Gen Z in a snarky, superficial way for laughs, but while English Teacher definitely finds the humor in Evan’s interactions with his students, the show also portrays the students with compassion and understanding.

The above clip finds Evan talking to students in his book club about protesting in favor of stricter gun safety at their school. At first, the students don’t seem particularly moved. As the scene goes on, however, and Evan presses them further, we hear that this is a generation beaten down by an entire childhood filled with gun safety drills and school shootings on the news nearly every day. They’re “used to it” and don’t know anything else, so they appear jaded at first. However, this doesn’t mean that they’re totally fine with what’s happening around them. They just genuinely feel like there’s nothing they can do, which is hugely sad (and not just a little bit relatable).

English Teacher is a hilarious, yet honest and compassionate depiction of the relationship between generations.

PROGRESSIVES HAVE WORK TO DO, TOO.

While we here at TMS do our best to support progressive causes and are generally liberal in our views, we also know that those of us who consider ourselves “progressive” or “left” don’t always get it right. We could have marginalized identities we speak up for while consciously or unconsciously marginalizing others. We might carefully examine the language we use in one context while being dismissive about changing our behavior in others.

English Teacher does a great job of navigating all of that. We’re all, of course, rooting for Evan, but the show doesn’t shy away from the moments where Evan himself has something to learn. It also portrays his moments of discomfort with his own identities, which is really refreshing to watch. Evan doesn’t exist simply to be the gay Latino who brings everybody to the “right side.” He, too, is figuring out how to be a better person in the world, and his journey is fascinating to watch.

If you’re not watching English Teacher, there’s no better time than now! Especially if you want to encourage networks and streamers to continue telling funny, incisive, and inclusive stories like this. Season 1 is available on Hulu!

ICYMI

Here are some recent posts over at TMS that you shouldn’t miss:

INTERVIEW SPOTLIGHT

Have you seen these interviews? Make sure you’re caught up with the convos TMS is having with the folks behind our favorite stories!

TMS talks with Tony Hale about his work on Anna Kendrick’s film, Woman of the Hour!

And here are some other chats that aren’t to be missed:

Thoughts? Ideas? Reply here, or write to us at tmsclubhouse@gmail.com to tell us how we’re doing and what you’d like to see!