September 2, 2024 (2024-09-02) – present (present)
English Teacher is an American sitcom television series created by Brian Jordan Alvarez, who stars as main character Evan Marquez.[1] The cast also includes Stephanie Koenig, Enrico Colantoni, and Sean Patton.[2] The series premiered on September 2, 2024, on FX.[3] It received positive reviews from critics.[4]
Premise
High school teacher Evan Marquez finds himself at the intersection of professional, political, and personal aspects of working at a high school.[5]
Evan Marquez, a high school English teacher, finds himself under investigation when a parent reports him for kissing his now ex-boyfriend in front of students. He spends the week writing a statement in defense, only for the investigation to be dropped when Markie, the gym teacher, threatens to reveal to the parent's country-club friends that her son is gay. The district forbids Evan from dating fellow faculty at the same time Harry, a handsome new teacher, attracts Evan's attention.
The school's powderpuff tradition is threatened by the school's LGBT alliance. Evan brings on a drag queen friend named Shazam to help the boys put on an authentic drag performance. Meanwhile, Gwen coaches the girls in playing football with Markie's assistance, but the teachers are convinced to teach the girls self-defense instead. After realizing Shazam is stealing things from the school, Grant cancels the powderpuff performance, but the students do it anyway.
A very revealing run-in with Harry at the gym convinces Evan that Harry is trying to flirt with him. This results in Evan dodging Harry throughout the week despite the two being paired to manage the Homecoming dance. Meanwhile, a student named Chelsea drums up sympathy for her friend Kayla, who is self-diagnosed with "asymptomatic Tourette's." Markie points out to Evan that this is just a ploy for Chelsea to gain popularity. At the dance, Kayla is crowned Homecoming Queen and gives the crown to Chelsea, securing her own popularity. Harry tries to speak with Evan, but Evan spirals and rejects him out of panic. Harry clarifies that, like Evan, he is in an open relationship with another man. He and Evan briefly kiss before Evan rejects him again.
Markie revives a student gun club to Evan's horror. He convinces his book club to stage a protest in an attempt to shut the gun club down, but they organize an identical counterprotest. Moretti claims his hands are tied and he cannot disband the club unless there is an active threat. Evan asks his class to write about heinous deeds they would do if they could get away with it. One student's essay is classified as an 'active threat' that shuts the club down, but the teachers are forced to take firearm training instead. Meanwhile, Gwen is dismayed at her low ranking on a list of the hottest teachers circulating among the students and tries dressing more glamorously. It is later revealed that one of Evan's students only created the list in a backhanded way to improve Gwen's wardrobe.
The teachers facilitate a camping field trip. Evan and Gwen are dogged by Sharon, a parent chaperone who is paranoid about the students playing sex games. Evan becomes jealous after learning Gwen invited Markie and Rick to help build her pool. Gwen admits that she does not think Evan is a helpful person and the two get into a fight. Markie tries to flirt with Gwen by giving her his night goggles, but Evan realizes they are latex (to which Gwen is allergic). Evan and Gwen reconcile.
Evan issues failing grades to his class for their poor essays on The Red Badge of Courage, which incurs the wrath of Linda Harrison, the same wealthy and influential parent who previously reported him for kissing Malcolm. Grant forces Evan to meet with Linda; during the meeting at her restaurant Evan refuses to change the grades. Linda retaliates by bringing a school board employee to observe Evan's class and organizing a parent-teacher town hall to lambast Evan's teaching. Markie suggests proving that Linda's restaurant is committing tax fraud. Evan, wearing a wire, goes to meet with Linda, where she admits that she has tried to maintain her relationship with her older son but hides his homosexuality from her social circle. Evan allows the class to redo the essay. Meanwhile, Gwen attempts to catch her students cheating and falls through the ceiling doing so.
7
"Convention"
Kathryn Dean
Brian Jordan Alvarez & Jake Bender & Zach Dunn & Dave King
Evan, Gwen, Markie, Rick and Grant attend a teacher's conference in Dallas, where Evan and Gwen learn that Grant may be hiring a new teacher to replace Markie, and all the seminars seem to be about the dire state of teaching. Evan runs into Pasha, a friend from college who now works in the energy industry. Pasha offers to get Evan hired at his company, which Evan considers. However, Grant reminds him that teaching is what he loves. The next morning, Malcolm confronts Evan about his refusal to commit to an exclusive relationship and Evan declares they will solely be friends. Evan ditches Pasha's company after realizing they are making fun of Rick. Grant's keynote speech is a hit; afterwards Grant and Markie admit that Markie pretends to quit every year.
Malcolm takes Evan to a gay bar for a surprise party for his 35th birthday. To Evan's embarrassment, his coworkers are in attendance, including Harry. Malcolm encourages Evan to sleep with Harry, who also comes on to Evan. Elsewhere in the bar, Markie contemplates making a move on Gwen, who has just broken up with Nick. Malcolm brings Harry up on stage and Markie encourages Evan to make a move on Harry. Evan goes up and kisses Malcolm, to Markie's surprise; the latter later declares that sometimes you have to let people be who they are. This encourages Gwen to get back together with Nick. The group eats burgers at Gwen and Nick's house where Malcolm and Evan kiss.
Production
Development
In June 2022, it was announced FX had ordered the pilot, with Brian Jordan Alvarez set to serve as writer and executive producer, alongside Paul Simms.[13] In November 2023, FX ordered the series.[14]
Casting
Upon the initial announcement, Alvarez was set to star.[13] In September 2022, Stephanie Koenig, Enrico Colantoni, and Julian Sergi joined the cast as series regulars, while Carmen Christopher, Jordan Firstman, Yissendy Trinidad, and Langston Kerman were set to recur.[15] Sean Patton later replaced Sergi in the role of Markie Hillridge.[16]
Release
Promotional poster
English Teacher premiered on FX on September 2, 2024.[17] Episodes are released on Hulu a day after they air on FX.[18] The first two episodes were released on the streaming platform on September 3, 2024.[19]
Reception
Critical response
For the first season, review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 98% approval rating with an average rating of 8.1/10, based on 40 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "English Teacher makes no bones about the drudgery of faculty life while never feeling like homework, making for a biting and buoyant schoolhouse sitcom."[20]Metacritic gave the first season a weighted average score of 83 out of 100 based on 25 critic reviews, indicating "universal acclaim."[21]
Streaming viewership
The streaming aggregator Reelgood, which monitors real-time data from 20 million users in the U.S. for original and acquired streaming programs and movies across subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) and ad-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) services, reported that English Teacher was the eighth most-streamed program in the U.S. from August 29 through September 4, 2024.[4] The series then climbed to fourth place on the top-streaming shows charts for the week ending September 11, 2024, before shifting to ninth place by the week ending September 14, 2024.[2][22]
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