But thanks to the 2am boredom gods and On Demand, I am SOOOO GLAD that I watched the first four episodes.
THIS IS A MUST SEE... seriously, a MUST SEE
I think just about everyone my age knows Tony Danza, primarily from his role in Taxi. He's the kind of actor that you had posters of plastered all over your walls and then 20 or so years later when he pops up somewhere you're like OMG!! HE was HIM??
Anyway, the premise of the show is that pushing 60 (OMG again) he has the desire to teach, something that he originally wanted to do back before he showed up on the small screen. And so he does.. at Northeast High School in Philadelphia.
Let me just interject here that as a Philly girl, it was nice to see the city represented in a kinda good way although I don't necessarily think that NE High is the most accurate representation of an urban high school. I can think of a few others right off the top of my head but at least the school is diverse and has the right mixture of kids that make a reality show entertaining.
But make no mistake, this was hard to watch.
Hard because Danza is soooo sincere in what he wants to do. So much so that it is painful to watch him and his self-video commentaries. He is over his head.. he knows it.. he doesn't know how to reach the service.
Like I said, his motives are sincere. Just the amount of tears he sheds when he's trying to get through to the kids, teachers and principal that he's there for the right reasons and not to just make a television show.
One hardship in particular is a scene where he issues his first quiz on "Of Mice and Men". Three of his students want to head to the school's resource room and he tells them to stay in the room.. give the quiz a shot.. they might surprise themselves with how much they actually do know.
The problem is that these kids were on IEP's (Individualized Education Program) and if they want to go to the resource room then it's basically illegal not to send them.
The administration and the teaching consultant (I think that's what he is) get all in a tizzy and Danza is like all he wanted to do was gives these kids the opportunity to try and maybe if they try and they get a good grade it will snowball into them believing that they can do the work.
In being reproached by the powers that be, the flat out tells them that he doesn't agree with IEP's.. that they've made the kids believe that they need special help when maybe all they needed was to be pushed to working harder.
A - freakin - MEN!!!
The point is, that this guy is trying, Hard. With the cards stacked against him. And like I said, it's painful to watch sometimes because if anything, you believe from the get go that he really wants to be that teacher that makes an important impression on a student that stays with them a lifetime.
He made a comment on one episode, "... get smart early or get smart late".
Watch this show early ... or watch it late.. just watch it,
NOTE: I purposely did not include commentary on the kids in his class because you really need to watch it for yourself and draw your own opinions.
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