''Teachers'' is an American

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

television series that aired on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

. The show ran for six episodes from March 28 until its cancellation on May 2, 2006. Loosely based upon a 2001 UK series of the same name, it was developed by Matt Tarses, co-executive producer of the medical comedy '' Scrubs''.

Overview

Set in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, ''Teachers'' stars

Justin Bartha Justin Lee Bartha (born July 21, 1978) is an American actor, known for his roles as Riley Poole in the ''National Treasure'' film series, Doug Billings in ''The Hangover'' trilogy, and David Sawyer in the NBC comedy series '' The New Normal''. ...

as Jeff Cahill, a skilled, irreverent young

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

teacher at the fictitious Filmore

High School A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

, whose apparent apathy toward his job masks his actual wisdom concerning teaching at an underfunded school.

Sarah Alexander Sarah Alexander ('' née'' Smith; 3 January 1971) is an English actress. She has appeared in British series including ''Armstrong and Miller'', ''Smack the Pony'', ''Coupling'', '' The Worst Week of My Life'', ''Green Wing'', '' Marley's Ghost ...

co-stars as idealistic

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history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

teacher Alice Fletcher, his only kindred spirit on the faculty, for whom Jeff also has romantic feelings. Alice does not reciprocate these feelings, but she is becoming fonder of him. Radio personality

Phil Hendrie Philip Stephen Hendrie (born September 1, 1952) is an American radio personality and actor. He is widely known for his voiceover talent throughout the radio and film industry. He came to prominence in the 1990s hosting ''The Phil Hendrie Show'', a ...

plays Dick Green, an apathetic phys-ed and physics teacher, who spends his afternoons behind the gym.

Deon Richmond Deon Richmond (born April 2, 1978) is an American actor from New York City who is best known for his recurring roles as Rudy Huxtable's friend Kenny (nicknamed "Bud") on the NBC sitcom ''The Cosby Show'' and Jordan Bennett on the ABC/The WB sit ...

plays Calvin Babbitt, the drama teacher whose attitude about teaching falls somewhere between Jeff's and Alice's. He often gets caught up in Jeff's schemes.

Kali Rocha Kali Michele Rocha (born December 5, 1971) is an American actress. She is known for portraying Karen Rooney, the mother of four Rooney children and school's vice principal, in the Disney Channel sitcom '' Liv and Maddie''. She has also co-written ...

stars as the uncaring, rule-abiding Principal Emma Wiggins.

Matt Winston Matthew Winston is an American actor. He is the son of special effects artist Stan Winston. Career Winston's television appearances include the HBO dramas '' Six Feet Under'' and '' John from Cincinnati'', and as Crewman Daniels in '' Star T ...

stars as Mitch Lenk, a math teacher and

lap dog A lap dog or lapdog is a dog that is both small enough to be held in the arms or lie comfortably on a person's lap and temperamentally predisposed to doing so. ''Lapdog'' is not a specific breed, but a generic term for a type of dog that is sma ...

to Principal Wiggins. It is implied that he is romantically interested in her.

Sarah Shahi Aahoo Jahansouzshahi ( fa, آهو جهانسوز شاهی; born ), known professionally as Sarah Shahi (), is an American actress and former model. She played Carmen on ''The L Word'' in 2005, Kate Reed in the USA Network legal drama ''Fairly Leg ...

stars as Tina Torres, an attractive teacher from

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. She is Alice's possible rival for Jeff's affections, though it seems Jeff prefers Alice. It is revealed in Episode 05 ("Testing 1-2-3") that she does not have her teaching license, having gone to school, but taking jobs before she took her

finals Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

. However, she stated later in the episode that she will be taking them.

Cast

as Jeff Cahill *

as Alice Fletcher *

as Dick Green *

as Calvin Babbitt *

as Emma Wiggins *

as Tina Torres *

as Mitch Lenk

Production

Like many American sitcoms, ''Teachers'' was shot before a studio audience. The series began development under the title ''Filmore Middle'', which reflected its original

middle school A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school. ...

setting. Though adapted for American television by Matt Tarses, a writer and producer of the critically lauded series '' Sports Night'' and '' Scrubs'', ''Teachers'' was panned by many critics (including the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The ...

s Tim Goodman) as unoriginal and clichéd. The show was quickly cancelled by NBC, the news coming on May 15.Television - News - 'Joey' axed as NBC unveils '06-07 schedule - Digital Spy
/ref>

Episodes

Ratings

Based on average total viewers per episode of ''Teachers'' on NBC:

References

External links

* {{Teachers (TV series) 2000s American high school television series 2000s American sitcoms 2000s American workplace comedy television series 2006 American television series debuts 2006 American television series endings American television series based on British television series English-language television shows NBC original programming Television series about educators Television series by Universal Television Television shows set in New Jersey