English Teacher Is The Quick-Witted Comedy We’ve All Been Waiting For

For months, or so it feels, I have been searching for a comedy series akin to The Office or Parks and Recreation. Something that would scratch the part of my brain in need of a feel-good comedy series, and I’m happy to report, I finally found it! English Teacher follows Evan Marquez, a gay high school English teacher, along with his coworkers, as they try to balance the demands of the students and their parents, in Austin, Texas.

There are a plethora of reasons as to why I love this show, but I think what I’m most enamored by is its commentary on cultural politics. On the surface English Teacher is a comedy, but it’s so much more. Its protagonist is a gay teacher in the South who wears his sexuality confidently on his sleeve while navigating the bigoted parents of the school and dealing with a sea of students glued to their phones, receiving consistent information through a rose-colored lens about the world we live in today.

Nonetheless, high school is the perfect setting for banter on relevant, hot button topics as inquisitive, unworldly students are just that. They’re candidly intrigued by the world, thus getting into debates with the millennial, and some Gen-X, teachers and staff. Brian Jordan Alvarez, who both leads the show and is its creator, told the New York Times that he “hopes to show that airing out cultural rifts doesn’t have to be serious business.” It all makes for distinguished dialogue shedding light on topical issues and I think English Teacher captures the minds of adolescents better than any other show presently.

With the series creator being none other than the main character, he keenly pokes fun at himself — and everyone else. This allows English Teacher to not feel too pretentious in it’s own right. Rather it’s a quick-witted, mindful show that offers laughs. It’s also refreshing to watch a show that follows a gay protagonist that is written and created by a gay person. It’s authentic and lets the narrative play out that much more naturally and realistically. Moreover, the show’s ensemble, which includes the brilliant Stephanie Koenig, Langston Kerman, and Sean Patton, provides the ability for Alvarez to shine without taking any of their light. Each character has their respective place in the series and they complement each other well, bouncing off of each other’s banter smoothly and naturally much like great American sitcoms like The Office.

To watch the perceptive and hilarious English Teacher, tune into FX every Thursday, or catch it streaming on Hulu the next day.