With few exceptions, most of us would have rather had teachers like Mr. Moore (Head of the Class) or attended classes with Zack Morris (Saved by the Bell) then the ones they got stuck with in real life. TV presented these and so many others as the ideal. As families are all heading back to school, here is a list of some favorite American series based on the classroom and some interesting trivia too.

Our Miss Brooks

Beginning as a CBS radio sitcom in 1948, Our Miss Brooks could be found simultaneously on TV beginning in 1952. Interesting, the radio show outlasted the TV series by one year. Arden played Madison High School teacher Connie Brooks who later taught at an upscale private school in 1955.

The Emmy Award-winning series ran for 130 episodes. Arden received an honorary membership of the National Education Association and received an award from the Teachers College of Connecticut’s Alumni Association in 1952 “for humanizing the American teacher”. She was able to present a realistic portrayal of a competent woman working in a profession that often did not receive the recognition it deserved.

Our Miss Brooks was even adapted for the big screen in 1956.

Room 222

Set in the racially diverse Walt Whitman High School in Los Angeles, California, many of the stories literally took place in room 222, an American history classroom taught by Pete Dixon (Haynes). His lessons often reflected on tolerance and understanding during the political climate of the times including the Vietnam War, women’s rights, race relations and Watergate. Other characters in the series included guidance counselor Liz McIntyre (Nicholas), principal Seymour Kaufman (Constantine) and student teacher Alice Johnson (Valentine).

Room 222 won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding New Series In 1970 while Constantine and Valentine won for Outstanding Supporting Actor and Actress in a Comedy Series.

Welcome Back Kotter

Gabe Kaplan starred as Mr. Kotter, a teacher who returned to his own high school, the James Buchanan High School in Bensonhurst, which was a fictional version of Kaplan’s own school in Brooklyn. In fact, the real school is shown during the show’s opening credits.

Kotter’s class was filled with lazy students known as “Sweathogs” of which Kotter was a founding member years before. Instead of just “babysitting” the class who would no-doubt eventually drop out, Kotter found a way to reach and inspire his class. The class role call included Vinnie Barbarino (Travolta), Freddie ‘Boom Boom’ Washington (Hilton-Jacobs), Juan Epstein (Hegyes) and Arnold Horshack (Palillo). These characters were also inspired by Kaplan’s real classmates.

Though Welcome Back Kotter was an instant hit for ABC, Boston’s local affiliate (WCVB-TV) refused to air the show due to the city’s controversial busing program which had caused protests and riots. The network was concerned that the show would only make matters worse. However, since the show usually portrayed the Sweathogs’ antics as juvenile rather than destructive, the show was brought to the Boston TV screens starting with the fifth episode.

In 1976, the show’s theme song, written and recorded by John Sebastian from The Lovin’ Spoonful, became a #1 hit. Lunchboxes were made and Mattel even created a set of Welcome Back Kotter action figures in 1977. However, the show’s ratings began to slip in during the third season. A female Sweathog, Angie Grabowski (Melonie Haller) was added to the cast and Kotter became the father of twin girls.

The fourth season of the show was a challenge as Travolta became a big movie star. He was only able to appear in ten episodes. Kaplan himself also reduced his appearances on the show. As the show was winding down, three spin-offs were considered including one called Rich Man, Poor Man; Horshack! (which was never developed outside of a backdoor pilot episode) and Mr. T and Tina which starred Pat Morita and was only remotely related to the show.

Square Pegs

Well-adjusted but awkward Patty Greene (Parker) and her friend Lauren Hutchinson (Linker) just wanted to fit in at Weemawee High School near New York City in the series Square Pegs. They were among the eight freshman featured on the show created by former Saturday Night Live writer Anne Beatts. Their friends included comedian wanna-be Marshall Blechtman (Femia), new wave Johnny “Slash” Ulasewicz (Butrick), valley girl Jennifer DiNuccio (Nelson), the dense Vinni Pasetta (Jon Caliri) and sassy LaDonna Fredericks (Wells).

The show’s theme song featured music by The Waitresses who also appeared as a band playing at a school dance. Other musical talent who appeared on the show included former drummer for The Doors, John Densmore who played himself and the group Devo. Bill Murray even guest starred in one episode.

Despite good reviews from critics, Square Pegs struggled in the ratings. Ironically, it wasn’t the ratings that ultimately did the show in. During the production of the show, which took place at the abandoned Excelsior High School about 20 miles from CBS Television in Los Angeles, Embassy Television received a number of reports of drugs and alcohol abuse on the set in the presence of minors. It has also been reported that there was rampant drug abuse among the teen cast as well.

Fame

Partially sponsored by Yamaha musical instruments (which were featured prominently during the show), Fame was based on the 1980 motion picture of the same name which followed the lives of students and teachers at the New York City High School for the Performing Arts. The fictional school was based on the very real Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in New York. Despite this, most of the show was filmed in Los Angeles.

Four of the movie’s characters and stars also appeared on the show including introverted Bruno Martelli (Curreri), dancer Leroy Johnson (Ray), the German music teacher Benjamin Shorofsky (Hague) and dance instructor Lydia Grant (Allen). Allen was not only the show’s original choreographer, she also directed many of the episodes. Other characters taken from the movie (but played by different actors) included dancer Coco Hernandez (Gimpel), Montgomery McNeil (Paul) and English teacher Elizabeth Sherwood (Jenkins).

The series won a number of Emmy awards, and in 1983 and 1984, was voted the Golden Globe Awards: Television, Best Series, Musical/Comedy. Critics raved about the series when it debuted on NBC, but the lack of ratings caused the network to cancel the show after two seasons. However, the show was picked up for syndication for four more seasons.

Head of the Class

Set at Millard Fillmore High School in Manhattan, Head of the Class was created by Michael Elias who had previously worked as a substitute teacher before becoming an actor. The show followed a group of gifted students led by history teacher Charlie Moore (Hesseman). The students included nerdy Arvid Engen (Frischman), smart aleck computer whiz Dennis Blunden (Schneider), preppy, politically-minded Alan Pinkard (O’Dell), spoiled rich kid Darlene Merriman (Givens), the most down-to-earth of the bunch, Sarah Nevins (Russell), perfectionist Maria Borges (Bega), exchange student Jawaharlal Choudhury (Jory Husain), 10-year-old Janice Lazarotto (Vallely), poetry-loving Simone Foster (Haje) and tough guy Eric Mardian (Robbins).

Although the show was a reasonable hit, Hesseman wasn’t a fan of the show and have even called it a “disposable frivolity.” He left the show after the fourth season and was replaced by Billy McGregor (Connolly) explaining that Mr. Moore had gotten his big break appearing in a touring show of Death of a Salesman. After the show ended after five years, Connolly starred in a spinoff called Billy which aired for one season.

Saved by the Bell (Good Morning Miss Bliss)

Some will be surprised to learn that NBC’s hit TV series Saved by the Bell began as a series for Disney Channel. Then, it was called Good Morning Miss Bliss. It was to star Sandy Duncan as a teacher at John F. Kennedy Junior High School in Indianapolis, but the role eventually went to Hayley Mills.

Among the students were Zack Morris (Gosselaar), Lisa Turtle (Voorhies), Samuel “Screech” Powers (Diamond), Mikey Gonzalez (Battimo) and Nikki Coleman (Hopper). Haskins played the school principal, Mr. Belding.

The show was cancelled after 13 episodes, but NBC kept the rights to it creating a new name, a new location (Bayside High School in Bayside, California) and adding new characters A.C. Slater (Lopez), Kelly Kapowski (Thiessen) and Jessie Spano (Berkley) while dropping the other Mikey and Nikki. The Saturday morning sitcom actually premiered during prime time on August 20, 1989.

Saved by the Bell ran for three seasons ending with a graduation episode on December 21, 1991. But almost as soon as the credits rolled up the screen, the show was picked up for a fourth year. The problem was that Thiessen and Berkley had already moved on to other projects, so the producers added new character, Tori Scott (Creel) to the mix. The show officially ended on May 22, 1993. But that wasn’t really the end.

In 1992, NBC created the made-for-TV movie, Saved by the Bell: Hawaiian Style which took the teens to the wedding of Kelly’s grandfather, Harry Bannister (Dean Jones) in Hawaii. Then in 1993, the spinoff series Saved by the Bell: The College Years debuted on prime time. Initially, the show was to feature Zach, Slater and Screech but Kelly was later added to the dorms. The show lasted only one season, but ended on a cliffhanger, so NBC created another made-for-TV movie, Saved by the Bell: Wedding in Las Vegas which brought the whole six original character together again for the wedding for Zach and Kelly.

Saved by the Bell: The New Class

While NBC was creating the Saved by the Bell: The College Years spinoff, they were also creating a second spinoff for Saturday mornings called Saved by the Bell: The New Class. Unlike the College show, the New Class had an amazing seven-year run. In the beginning, Mr. Belding (Haskins) was the only character to reprise his role, however Screech (Diamond) was brought on the series to serve as Mr. Belding’s administrative assistant.

The New Class was known for its multiple casting changes with each season introducing one to three new characters. In the end, only Mr. Belding appeared in all seven seasons of the show.

Sweet Valley High

In 1994, the pages of Francine Pascal’s Sweet Valley High came alive on the small screen with real-life twin sisters Brittany and Cynthia Daniel playing the roles of flirty Jessica and responsible Elizabeth Wakefield living in the fictional town of Sweet Valley.

Distributed by Teen Dream Productions, the show was shown in syndication for its first three years before premiering on UPN for its fourth and last season.

Freaks and Geeks

The short-lived Freaks and Geeks series by Paul Feig and Judd Apatow was set in William McKinley High School in Chippewa, Michigan near Detroit (this was named after Feig’s own high school). Set during the 1980-1981 school year, the show focused on Lindsay Weir and her brother Sam who attend the school as new students. The normally academically smart Lindsay tried to shed her smart girl image by hanging out with a group of slackers or “freaks” while Sam settled in with the “geeks.”

The show became more popular when it was off the air than on. Although the show was cancelled after just 12 episodes, it became more popular off the air than when it was on. It is a show has been remembered fondly by many and often makes the list of best TV shows of all time.

Boston Public

Created by David E. Kelley, this drama series for FOX took place at Winslow High School in Boston and centered on the lives of the teachers, students and administrators at the school with the slogan, “Every day is a fight. For respect. For dignity. For sanity.” The show was praised for its drama and ethnically diverse cast. It was the winner of the 2002 Peabody Award (“Chapter Thirty-Seven”) from the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia. However, when FOX moved the show from Mondays to Fridays, the rating tanked causing the network to pull the plug on the series.

Friday Night Lights

The sports drama series Friday Night Lights was adapted as a 2004 movie before it came to TV. Developed by Peter Berg, the series was inspired by H. G. Bissinger’s nonfiction book of the same name. Set in the town of Dillion, Texas where high school football is a big deal, Eric Taylor (Chandler) served as the team’s coach while his wife Tami (Britton) served on the school’s faculty. When not playing football, the show’s themes consisted of topics like family values, school funding, racism, drugs, abortion, etc.

While praised by critics and fans alike, Friday Night Lights just couldn’t drum up good ratings. It ran for two years on NBC before the network cancelled it. However, due to passionate fans, NBC was able to strike a deal with DirecTV to co-produce the show for three more seasons allowing the service to air the shows months before they would be shown on NBC.

Glee

Created by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Ian Brennan, Glee was a musical comedy-drama series centered on New Directions, the glee club at William McKinley High School. While practicing for upcoming choir competitions, the students would deal with a variety of issues each week including race, sexuality, relationships and occasionally homework.

The large cast included club director Will Schuester (Morrison), Terri (Gilsig) Will’s wife, the mean cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester (Lynch) wanting to axe the glee club’s budget and guidance counselor Emma Pillsbury. The students consisted of pregnant cheerleader Quinn Fabray (Agron), gay student Kurt Hummel (Colfer), wheelchair-bound Artie Abrams (McHale), self-important Rachel Berry (Lea Michele), quarterback Finn Hudson (Monteith), vocal diva Mercedes Jones (Riley), delinquent Noah Puckerman (Salling) and shy girl Tina Cohen-Chang (Ushkowitz).

The songs covered on the song were released on iTunes during each week’s broadcast and were also compiled on CDs. Over 36 million digital single sales and eleven million album sales were made worldwide. The cast even toured with live concerts in 2011 and Glee: The 3D Concert Movie was produced.

During its first season, Glee was nominated for 19 Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, six Satellite Awards and 57 other awards! During the show’s 121 episodes, over 729 music performances were presented.

School of Rock

Based on the movie of the same name, School of Rock was a musical-comedy television series featuring a group of fine, rule-abiding students who are given a unique music teacher to turn their lives upside down. Set in Austin, Texas, the show centered on Dewey Finn, a musician strapped for cash looking for work and accepts a substitute teaching position at a local middle school. To his surprise, he finds that teaching can be fun when one can inspire their students.

The sitcom followed a group of rule-abiding students who learned to take risks and reach new heights thanks to substitute teacher Dewey Finn (Cavalero), a down-on-his-luck musician who uses the language of rock and roll to inspire his class to form a secret band.

High School Musical: The Musical: The Series

Inspired by Disney’s High School Musical film series, this show for the new Disney+ streaming service was identified as a mockumentary musical drama. It was set at East High School in Salt Lake Utah (where the original movie was filmed) and follows the school’s new drama teacher, Miss Jenn (Kate Reinders) and her desire to present a stage version of the first HSM movie. The second season focused on the kids bringing Beauty and the Beast to life.

The cast of characters include musical theater enthusiast Nini Salazar-Roberts (Rodrigo), guitarist, skateboarder and former flame of Nini Ricky Bowen (Bassett), E.J. Caswell (Cornett) and jock theater enthusiast, transfers student Gina Porter (Wylie), Big Red (Saperstein) the understudy stage manager, feminist Kourtney Greene (Renee), choreographer Carlos Rodriguez (Rodriguez), STEM teacher Benjamin Mazzara (St. Cyr) and Seb Matthew-Smith (Serafini). The show ran for four seasons.

Saved by the Bell (Revival)

In 2020, one of the crown jewels for NBC’s new streaming service Peacock was a new version of Saved by the Bell. The series served as both a sequel and revival of the original series. It was not filmed in front of a live audience, a little edgier and had some unneeded language thrown in too. The new show actually mocked the original’s wholesome charm.

Berkley and Lopez appeared in every episode, Jessie Spano (Berkley-Lauren) serving as a school counselor and A. C. Slater (Lopez) as a P.E. teacher. Gosselaar and Thiessen also reprise their roles as Mr. and Mrs. Morris, the Governor and First Lady of California. Voorhies appeared in one episode as a grown-up Lisa Turtle working as a fashion designer living in Paris.

As for the students, the show featured underprivileged Daisy Jimenez (Velazquez), Mac Morris (Hoog) son of Zack and Kelly, Lexi-DeFabrizio (Totah) a transgender cheerleader, Aisha Garcia (Pascual-Pena) an ultracompetitive quarterback, Jamie Spano (Cameli), the dumb-as-rock football captain (and son of Jessie) and drama student Devante Young (Darden). The show ran for two seasons.

Abbott Elementary

One of ABC’s biggest hits of 2021 didn’t even air until December 7 as a midseason replacement series. Abbott Elementary not only stars Quinta Brunson, but she created the show as well. The comedy mockumentary series takes place at an underfunded and predominantly black, Philadelphia public school where the teachers are being recorded for a fictional documentary.

Brunson plays Janine Teagues, a second-grade teacher who is determined to make a difference in the lives of her students while making the lives of her fellow teachers more complicated. It’s a tough job. Most of the new teachers don’t make it past year one. Janine’s coworkers include the experienced kindergarten teacher Barbara Howard (Ralph), the tough but loveable second grade teacher Melissa Schemmenti (Walter), the nerdy history teacher Jacob Hill (Perfetti), the tone-deaf school principal Ava Coleman (James), and the introvert teacher Gregory Eddie (Williams).

Abbott Elementary has been received well by critics and audiences alike and has won numerous awards. It is a hilarious comedy with heart and just might inspire new teachers into the field.