Often, a TV school functions as a tiny microcosm of society. A decent show can cram an entire world into this one building, allowing for the school to become its own universe, with its own set of rules.
It can also work like a great TV city; a location almost as important as the characters itself, and is fully intertwined with the story. Or it can just be a big old building where good looking young people cause trouble and learn a bunch of life lessons.
Here are five great TV schools…
Greendale Community College
COMMUNITY (2009 – )
Greendale community college is to schools what THE OFFICE’s office is to offices. If you’re there to keep your head down, get stuck in and come out with results, then you’re in for a world of frustration. But if you’re open to larking around with a group of colourful oddballs, then Greendale is the school for you. COMMUNITY has been praised for its innovations and seemingly limitless ambition; it starts with a standard sitcom fish-out-of-water premise, then spirals outward at an alarming rate, devouring pop culture references and genre pastiches as it zooms along. Even more impressive than its dizzying inventiveness is the detail it pours into Greendale, the show’s primary location. At first it seemed like a fairly run-of-the-mill setting, full of textbook losers and burnouts, but like contemporary sitcom masterpiece PARKS AND RECREATION, it took the time to flesh out its universe, creating an exceptional backbench of comedic characters, used for a quick one-liner or a whole subplot. Greendale is a force, sucking everyone into its antics. From the cartoonish Dean to seemingly straight laced war veteran Todd, every character will eventually succumb to COMMUNITY’s world of paintball battles and simulated space exploration.
The College
SKINS (2007 – )
The theme of SKINS, if there is one, is often ‘adults are dumb’, and this can be seen no more clearly than within the walls of the characters’ college. While Harry Enfield or Bill Bailey might get to deliver some kind of inspirational speech playing a parent (peppered with swears for teenage ears), SKINS’ teachers are just plain morons. They generally fall into two categories: simpering ineffectual buffoons who are quite clearly petrified of teens, or loud maniacs who love their subject so much so much they just can’t resist dropping a blanket of F-bombs while discussing Shakespeare, or maths. Both types receive more or less the same reaction from the teen stars: sniggering, luck pushing, and at least one storming out. Sometimes they’ll experiment with a third type of teacher: the ruthless authoritarian, whose desire for the teens to stop behaving like a bunch of lunatics is totally harsh and unreasonable. The most recent (and worst) generation of the series featured head Ttacher David Blood (Chris Addison), whose contribution ranks somewhere between his performance in THE THICK OF IT and those Direct Line ads. David Blood is a real jerk, and worries about things like his daughter running away to get married, and keeping her safe after a car accident. The SKINS school is a perfect match of teachers and students; these people aren’t going to learn anyway, so what’s the point of wasting proper teachers?
Neptune High
VERONICA MARS (2004 – 2007)
No school has such visible class tensions as Neptune High. This is probably due to the school’s policy of admitting rich kids, poor kids, and nothing in between. But it’s not just the bizarre selection criteria that causes problems at Neptune; everyone, from either end of the social strata, has something to hide. Whether it’s caused by brooding motorcyclist Weevil, brooding rich kid Logan or brooding but less-interesting rich kid Duncan, trouble is always brewing. On top of each weekly dilemma, each school year seems to become disrupted by a long, arching mystery, often involving murder and intrigue. Luckily, Neptune is the home of teen sleuth Veronica Mars, once part of the popular circle, now ostracised and taking revenge by solving a series of noir-tinged cases at high school. That VERONICA MARS’ first two seasons work so well is in no small part due to its central location. Neptune High was a self contained ecosystem with a pecking order and clearly defined factions. When season three made the leap to Hearst University, it lost some of its spark. Hearst was a far less defined surrounding, and didn’t play up to Veronica’s character. Veronica was both top and underdog at Neptune; she was hated by many but knew the school like a gumshoe knows rain soaked alleyways. When VERONICA MARS became the story of a young woman trying to enjoy the college experience, it lost no small amount of its edge.
Mars University
FUTURAMA (1999 – )
Though not quite the pop culture spoofing powerhouse THE SIMPSONS was in its day, FUTURAMA managed a number of top notch parodies, most notably here. Mars University takes an affectionate swipe at the college movie in general, most specifically ANIMAL HOUSE, with a laid back episode of university related hi-jinx. Like COMMUNITY, one of FUTURAMA’s greatest joys is in its inventiveness, and ability to do seemingly anything. Here, it deftly weaves Fry’s feud with a super-intelligent monkey with a particularly ANIMAL HOUSE-esque battle between a rowdy fraternity and a grumpy dean. As is FUTURMA’s way, the majority of the gags come from taking a thing that exists and giving it a futuristic or space-related twist. This kind of schtick could easily be tiresome, but in the FUTURAMA team’s hands it makes for a piece of gleeful silliness, and an early highlight of FUTURAMA’s almost faultless first four seasons.
Harbor School
THE O.C (2003 – 2007)
Fans of gossip, soapy drama, seething glares and indie rock will fit in perfectly at Harbor School, alma mater of THE O.C’s privileged-yet-damaged young folks. It’s a school at which there’s always a juicy weekend event to gab about on Monday, except rather than a minor public incident, it’s a house burning down following a class-and-romance based scrap. Harbor will spring for a great big ferris wheel for their spring fling (or whatever other nonsense holiday needs celebrating), but you’d better believe it’ll be used for a declaration of love. Fans of the limelight may find themselves frustrated, though, because if your name’s not Marissa, Ryan, Seth or Summer, you’re probably not going to be involved in any big storylines. You might be doing something amazing in the background, but you’ll always loose out to the ‘Seth gets addicted to weed’ or ‘Ryan doesn’t quite fit in with the rich kids but kind of does’ plots that kept viewers riveted through two kind of good and two kind of bad seasons.
And one not so good one..
Bel Air Academy
THE FRESH PRINCE OF BEL AIR (1990 – 1996)
To Bel Air Academy’s credit, they were willing to take a chance on a goon like Will Smith. In the reality of THE FRESH PRINCE OF BEL AIR, he’s some kind of street punk from West Philly, always ready for a scrap on the playground and kicked across the country so his domineering Uncle Phil can force him back onto the straight and narrow. The Dean of admissions more than likely had reservations about Will, but a fat wad of Uncle Phil’s money soon put those concerns to rest. Luckily, Will turned out to be little more than a jovial goofball, often disruptive and irritating, but a minor nuisance at worst. Once Will was given an inch, though, he immediately took a mile. Spotting a loophole in the dress code, he wore his blazer inside out, displaying the conveniently snazzy lining, and his tie on his head for some reason. No one ever seems to call him on this, essentially admitting defeat. Furthermore, the Banks family appears to run the show through Uncle Phil’s limitless wallet; Aunt Vivian decides to be a teacher one week and simply strolls into a job. This is never mentioned again; presumably she got bored of this ambition and left them in the lurch the very next week. In this kingdom of privilege, Philip Banks is the corrupt overlord.
