JonahWeiland.com

I had a handful of people write me today to ask what I thought of the new NBC show “Teachers,” which debuted last night. You might ask, “Jonah, why does anyone care what you think about this show?” Really, I don’t know, but it obviously has something to do with the fact that Phil Hendrie is a part of the cast for the show. See, I worked with Phil as the producer/writer of his radio show back for almost three years when it was on KFI AM 640 in Los Angeles. Shortly before the show went national, I left the show to pursue the gold mine that was the Internet. So, I guess that’s why people care. And I figure I might as well share my idiotic ramblings with all of you.

Yes, I did watch it. What did I think? Honestly, Phil was really the best thing about an otherwise not so funny show. It wasn’t awful by any stretch (the American version of “Coupling” is the great suckage litmus test by which I compare any new comedy … it wasn’t anywhere near as bad as that), but it also wasn’t that funny. The scenes featuring Phil were truly the funniest moments of the episode, which is sad because he was only in the pilot episode for less than 2 minutes. Clearly, more time with Phil is needed.

As for the rest of the show – eh! Basically it was there to introduce us to the characters and set-up the love-triangle between Jeff Cahill (played by Justin Bartha) and two other teachers who are infinitely hot, Alice Fletcher (played by the adorable Sarah Alexnader from the original, far superior British version of “Coupling”) and Tara Torres (played by Sarah Shahi). If you’ve not seen the show, but did see the teaser commercial, then you pretty much saw the best moments from the show (”Jeff Cahill.” “I have a boyfriend.” “OK, Jeff Cahill.” “Boyfriend.”). Bartha’s OK as the lead, but I’m afraid he’s not quite strong enough in this first episode to convince me that he can carry the show. Alexander is good as always, but the dialogue doesn’t seem a perfect fit with her rapid fire delivery that was so excellent in “Coupling.” Tara Torres is so unbelievably hot that I may not have heard a word she said. Seriously, she’s OK, but they really need to move her beyond a sex object for her to work.

The supporting cast, though, is lacking. The quirky Ms. Emma Wiggins played by Kali Rocha is just that, quirky, without any other personality attributes thus far. Calvin Babbit played by Deon Richmod is hardly defined and was given some of the weakest jokes on the show. At the moment, he just doesn’t fit well into the show. Hendrie rounds out the supporting cast and he really is the best of the lot. Playing cranky Dick Green, he has the best moments of the show and the greatest possibility. He’s a clearly defined character. You know exactly where he’s coming from, but you’re not quite sure what to expect. Of the entire cast, he has the most potential for comedy.

It’s not a bad show, far from it, but it feels like the main three cast members haven’t exactly gelled yet. I do think this show has some promise and it might just be a matter of time for the writing staff and actors to all find their voices, but you don’t get much time on network television to prove yourself anymore. This episode was all fairly obvious set-up, but I guess you need some of that in order to get to the good stuff. The coming weeks will give us a better idea if this show takes off or not. If it continues on as is, I don’t think it’ll last long, but if you up the funny and take it in some unexpected directions, it could prove successful. NBC’s had some luck with new comedies of late in both “My Name is Early” and “The Office.” Let’s see if they can do it again.