So aside from being an opinionated TV viewer and loving (albeit nagging) wife, I am also a mom. I like to believe I'm pretty cool in that regard, in the sense that I don't feel as old as my mom seemed at the age I am now. OK, so maybe not that cool.
But the one thing I do worry about is bullying, because in this day and age, it's no longer just shoving someone on the playground. It's people bringing weapons to school, it's the emotional and psychological abuse that some kids dish out and others have to deal with, it's all the social media bulls**t that exists nowadays... what an epidemic.
So I wonder if things would be any better if all schools had a Meredith Davis around? OK, probably not. But she does the things to mean girls that some of us only dream of doing.
Meredith, played by Ari Graynor ("Fringe"), is the bad teacher of "Bad Teacher," based on the movie of the same name and while the premise is similar, it's not entirely the same. Here, Meredith is a recently dumped trophy wife whose wealthy husband left her for a younger model. She is left penniless, car-less and living in her friends' (Kat Foster and Richard Kind) guest house so, hey, things could be worse. Inspired by her pal's stepdaughter, Lily (Sara Rodier), Meredith comes up with what she deems the perfect plan to return to the lifestyle she had grown accustomed to: Pose as a teacher at Lily's school and meet and marry the next sugar daddy of her dreams. Easy enough, right? Yeah, not quite.
Problem is, Meredith isn't a teacher. In fact she's a barely functioning human, a self-centred woman who only seems to want a fancy car and live in a fancy house and wear and shop for fancy clothes and do nothing all day but be fancy. So she bangs out a phony resumé, works her charms on the adorably oblivious Principal Carl Gaines (David Alan Grier, "In Living Color") and is hired on the spot. Not a good sign for the school system, but it's a comedy so I just whistled and skimmed over that part.
Aside from Graynor and Grier, the rest of the cast is just as good and includes Joel (Ryan Hansen, "Party Down," "Veronica Mars") as the gym teacher, Irene (Sara Gilbert, "The Talk"), the awkward, socially inept teacher who fancies Meredith as her new (Only? Aww.) BFF, and Ginny (Kristin Davis, "Sex and the City") as the prissy faculty president with the stick up her butt who immediately resents Mer. Thankfully no one is playing the Justin Timberlake character (which hopefully means no dry-humping) but I'm assuming each week will feature a different rich guy Meredith tries to land.
It'll probably be the same formula with a hot dad in Meredith's sights and a student/underdog-related problem arising. Mer will be torn but will ultimately wind up choosing the kids over the man with a Constanza-sized wallet, and I'm down with that.
I wasn't sure what to expect from the small-screen update, since the movie wasn't exactly a winner, but it was a pleasant surprise. It helps that I don't offend easily, though some might not love the way Meredith talks to the students. The scene about "bitches" springs to mind but I was unfazed, likely because I have the vernacular of a trucker. But I also get that some will be clutching their pearls as they speed-dial the Parents Television Council.
Sure, the humour may be vulgar and outrageous but there's heart to this version, something that's missing in the movie. Give "Bad Teacher" a try. You might like what she has to say.
"Bad Teacher" airs Thursday, April 24 at 8:30 p.m. ET on Global and CBS.
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