Head of the Class

Once again Hollywood proves theres nothing new under the sun. They took a good show from the 80's with Howard Hessman, and they ruined it with bad acting and bad jokes. Not that the old Head of the Class show was the best acting, but it was waaaaaay better than this. It feels like youre watching a bad Disney tv show for eleven year olds. Its a good premise for a show in my opinion. I loved Head of the Class in the eighties because I was also in a gifted program and we all enjoyed watching the show back then. But this stuff theyre making now.... It seems like its all about making bad jokes with bad timing and bad acting. I was so excited when I saw a new Head of the Class was coming out. But this was unwatchable.

Alicia Gomez is the new young teacher of a honors class at Meadows Creek High School. It's a group of young smart students struggling to find their place in the world.

The original 80's show was one of my favorites for a short time. I love Simone and just about everyone in the class. I love Howard Hesseman from WKRP and his teacher-knows-best character. I love them so much that the show started losing me when they slowly lost some of the kids. Quite frankly, these new kids are all various shades of annoying. They are all cut from the same Disney-Nickelodeon teen character mold. It takes a few episodes to get used to their friendships. Robin Givens has a cameo in this one as a mom. At the end of the day, these are not appealing characters and therefore non of this is compelling. Even the teacher is almost as childish as the kids. Then there is the pilot trying to tackle cancel culture. I don't think anybody wants that... on both sides. The show keeps trying to annoy me more than entertain me. Its only hope is the tween audience of its target. I don't think that they would like this either and I don't think HBO is the place for them. Some exec must have the idea of scattershot programming.

This is possibly the wokest show ever made. It also bears no relationship whatsoever to the original. It's not even set in the same location.

Some examples of the wokeness:

-Within the first couple minutes of the first episode, a girl mentions that guys make 17% more than women for the same job.

-There is one of the main schoolkid characters, who is G. He wants a gender neutral bathroom. Many episodes feature him looking for G love.

-There are every race of character in the school, so much so that white is not predominant at all. It is very noticeable and unnatural seeming.

-There is a running debate over whether cancel culture is good or bad. Much more screen time is devoted to why it is good. In fact, I only recall hearing arguments for why it is good (There are consequences for one's actions).

-The main teacher character is a Hispanic woman, rather than a white male, such as was in the original.

So anyways, the show is not funny at all. It feels fairly typical for a Disney Channel show. However, the woke thing stands out strongly, differentiating it somewhat. It doesn't even feel like an actual show so much, as an indoctrination tool. It is guaranteed to be a failure.

If you're expecting a show that looks or feels like the original 80s-90s sitcom, which is pretty good btw (classic 80s sitcom theme song too) and you should try to watch at least some of if you can, this isn't it. The only common factor between both is that they're a class of intellectually gifted high school students. Also, both have diverse casts but the original has a wider range of characters who also seem more distinctive.

The style of the original is more like a real classroom and school, though not 100% realistic, and it is repeatedly made clear the students are above average in various ways academically. The teacher is a role model character and helping these students through their own personal issues as well, sometimes fairly serious. The style of this Head of the Class is more like Saved By the Bell (after the early years) where they hang out and chat in random scenes, rarely seen in a normal class setting, and some little story or two is playing out throughout the episode. The teacher character seems more like an older student buddy who is almost equal level as them but sometimes gives them helpful tips and encouragement.

As for the rating, add maybe 2-3 points for people under 18 as it's fairly in line with the style of comedy found on the Disney Channel and Nickelodeon, it's just those shows are hard to watch as an adult beyond nostalgia. The original aired during prime time hours on a major network and before cable was widespread so it's not quite as narrowly fine tuned to younger people and is still enjoyable as an adult I think.

This show is amazingly terrible. The cast is remarkable when it comes to lacking talent. The writing is worthwhile and funny if you're being held at gunpoint for comment. They should've called it something completely different to preserve the originals legacy. I personally would've called it "Thud".