Producer David E. Kelly is brilliant man. First there was Picket Fences, then The Practice, Followed by Ally McBeal, and now Boston Public. Boston Public is absolutely the best show Fox has to offer this season. As a matter of fact I would even go to say that Boston Public is the best show Fox has ever turned out. Even through the brash, raw adult themes and violence it hits a cord. Everything that this show covers is true. Watching it is kind of scary. The truth is hard to face, and this my friends is the truth.
The Storyline…
The series follows the joys and mishaps of being a teacher in today’s society. It takes place at Winslow High a Boston Public school. So with out further ado I give you the faculty of Winslow High. The reason I give you the faculty is they kind of self explain the show.
Principal Steven Harper (Chi McBride, Gone is Sixty Seconds, The Kid, What’s Love Got to do With It, The John Larroquette Show) the Principal of Winslow, is a big man with patience and a big temper, as he shows in the episode in which he looses his temper at Malcolm White (Zachery Ty Bryant, Home Improvement, First Kid). He displays this by pushing Malcolm into a locker with all the force of a big man, after he finds out that Malcolm has been harassing another student. Even through this he shows that he truly cares about his students if only the superintendent Marsha Shinn (Debbie Morgan, She’s All That, The City) could see it this way but more about her later.
Vice Principal Scott Guber (Anthony Heald, 8mm, The Client, The Practice) is the typical vice principal. He is a bit of a dork and his last name doesn’t help much either. He truly likes his job even though it is apparent at times that he wishes he could pull his hair out. And let’s not forget his current crush on Lauren Davis. He is a play by the book man and often shows this. He is also a bit uptight like a wind-up toy someone has wound to tight. Even his brother thinks so. (Maybe this is the reason the brother hired a prostitute for him?)
Superintendent Marsha Shinn (Morgan) is more affectionately known as The Dragon Lady. (She actually does have an uncanny resemblance to a dragon.) She is as hard-boned as she is rude. She does not understand the views of the faculty. She has even tried to have Harper fired or suspended, simply because she is not in the school but yet she feels that she knows everything.
Louisa (Rashida Jones, If These Walls Could Talk II: Women Only, The Last Don) is the loveable principals assistant. She is probably the least gossiped about person in the school Even though she has graced the pages of Sheryl Holt’s website. (More about this later) she is also probably the sanest one of the bunch also.
Lauren Davis (Jessalyn Gilsig, The Practice, Snoops) is the Social Studies Department Head. This woman is strong, but yet she is young and still kind of wet behind the ears. She has Guber Chasing after her. He even smelled her hair one day. She’s been called a racist by the principal because of some mishaps with a couple of students. She has had someone scrawl nasty words on her blackboard. She’s been caught in the basement making out with Harry Senate. Plus she’s been hit in the head with a breast implant. She’s got crap for refusing to be fingerprinted. She’s had a student tell her he is in love with her, then commit suicide. She’s been spit on, and she’s been held hostage by a student that has already robbed and killed a man. I am surprised she hasn’t gone crazy yet.
Harvey Lipshultz (Fyvush Finkel, Picket Fences) is the high school history teacher that is soo old he should have retired ages ago. Couple this with the fact that he is a bit racist, actually bigot is a better word, and you have lawsuit waiting to happen. Just last week they had an armed suspect in the school and the first words out of his mouth are, “Is he black?” He has taught in his social studies class that Jefferson owned slaves. Plus the fact that he told all of the girls in school that it was their American Duty to wear bras, and the football team that they should open their showers up to the gay football player. The fact that he co-teaches with Marla Hendricks, just adds fuel to the fire. I will explain her now.
Marla Hendricks (Loretta Devine, Waiting to Exhale, The Preacher’s Wife, Urban Legends II) is the high school nut case. In the pilot episode, she writes on the board, “Gone to kill myself hope you’re happy. ” She suffers from depression, and takes pills. She is a good teacher, and friend. Even though she is a bit wacky at times.
Milton Buttle (Joey Slotnick, The Single Guy, Twister, A League of Their Own) is the dorky but cute math teacher. He is the butt of a lot of Sheryl’s website. He is also getting a bit of criticism from the faculty. First he was dating Louisa, the principal’s assistant, he broke up with her to date a girl he met at the coffee shop, only to find out that she is 18 and a student at Winslow.
Kevin Riley (Thomas McCarthy, Meet the Parents, Ally McBeal) is the Football coach. He is a bit nosey, and a bit of a bully. He is not one of the characters that we know a lot about.
Marylin Sudor (Sharon Leal, Legacy, The Guiding Light) is the sexy English teacher. She was voted the number one teacher the male students would like to sleep with. She is the teacher that all of the female students want to be like, but she is also the one that they know they can come to if they have a problem, such as the girl with the fore mentioned breast implant.
The final faculty member is the notorious Harry Senate (Nicky Katt, Boiler Room, Rules of Engagement, Way of the Gun). Senate is the “Dungeon” teacher. The dungeon is the class that no teacher wants to teach. this is slso the class Marla Hendricks used to teach, before she was coupled with Lipshultz. And the class she wrote "Gone to kill myself, hope your happy." on the board in. These kids are kind of like the kids from “Dangerous Minds”. Senate however fits this room perfectly. He has kissed Dana Poole, fired a gun in class, found a student a job at a morgue. He is the most controversial character in the show. Right now things are going well for him. He has a good relationship with Lauren Davis.
Now the students of Winslow High…
Malcolm White (Bryant) is the school bully and tough guy. He found out the hard way that you don’t mess with Harper.
Dana Poole (Sarah Thompson, Cruel Intentions II) is the popular kid in school. She is the kid in the pilot that refuses to wear a bra. Then she kissed Harry Senate and then tried to blackmail him with it. She has been high at school and refused to take a urine test.
Sheryl Holt (Lamya Jezek) is the protagonist of all events at Winslow High. She has her own website Holt45.com. On this site she posts her news about everything that goes on at Winslow. If you want to know the goings on at Winslow ask her. She has made animation about Guber and Lauren Davis, had Milton Buttle jump in a donkey’s butt, had Milton crap in his own mouth, had Louisa parade Milton around like a puppy dog, had Harvey Lipshultz dance around in a bra and panties waving an American Flag, had Harvey pick black students out of his nose, had Steven Harper turn into an ape and throw kids against lockers. Plus she logged into the school surveillance tapes and posted the surveillance footage of Lauren and Harry making out.
This concludes the intros for all the characters. I am sorry the review is so lengthy but with all that goes on at Winslow this is the only way I knew to explain it. This show although it is a little strong, does deal with the everyday problems today’s teens deal with. It hits problems such as, drugs, violence, sex, suicide, bullies, differences of opinion, perfectly on the head. It shows that school it isn’t school it is a battle zone, and a giant lawsuit waiting to happen. Forget all those reality-based TV shows. If you want reality TV here it is, reality TV at it finest.

My rating= 

Violence, Nudity, Language= (medium violence, medium language, small abouts of sexual suggestive scenes)
 

P.S. Check out the Boston Public Website.Boston Public

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Scott Meenen N3SJH thanks Nici for this review