Teachers: Did TV Land's New Comedy Make the Grade?

Somewhere between the first day of kindergarten and the college commencement ceremony, we’ve all racked up a list of teachers we’ve found memorable — for reasons both good and bad.

And now, thanks to TV Land’s Teachers, we’re not sure we can look at those educators the same way again.

The freshman comedy, which debuted Wednesday night, follows six elementary-school instructors as they navigate both their professional and personal lives — and I, for one, will now always wonder whether my second-grade teacher was hooking up with a drug dealer in her free time.

Although the series premiere does have a central plot — in which the teachers try to solve their school’s bullying problem… by making it way worse — the half-hour episode also introduces us to each woman’s quirks, both positive and negative. (But mostly negative.)

Ms. Snap, for example (played by Katy Colloton) is obsessed with her appearance, so much so that she forces a student to draw three separate pictures of her, to ensure her cheekbones are on proper display even when they’re depicted in crayon. Ms. Watson (Kate Lambert) is still emotionally unstable after a break-up… that happened 14 months ago. And Ms. Adler (Kathryn Renée Thomas) won’t rest until she gets revenge on her high school bullies (including a particularly cruel former classmate, played by executive producer/Community alum Alison Brie, who guest-stars in the pilot).

If Teachers has one flaw, it’s that each scene ends too briefly, just as the six leading ladies are finding their rhythm — a problem, I suspect, that stems from Teachers‘ original web-series format. That aside, the rookie comedy is clever, entertaining and another strong rebranding effort from the network that houses it.

But what did you think? Now that you’ve seen the show, make like one of TV Land’s Teachers and grade the series premiere!