25 of the most memorable TV teachers
By Sundi Rose
Jack Griffin – A.P. Bio
Jack Griffin definitely wouldn’t make a list about the “best” teachers on TV, but watch one episode of A.P. Bio, and you’ll understand why he makes a list of “memorable” teachers. He’s pretty awful folks, and the least of his problems is that he refuses to teach the kids anything close to biology.
Jack Griffin is forced to return to his hometown of Toledo as a disgraced former Harvard professor. As a favor, his childhood friend gives him the bilogy teacher job, even though he has a Ph. D in philosophy. His fall from favor at Harvard has much to do with a meltdown he had with (perceived) arch nemesis, Miles.
Miles is also a philosophy professor, whose latest book is super-popular and a critical success. This is, apparently, at the expense of Jack and his career. Jack’s main mission is to blow Miles’ recent success up, and he’s enlisting the help of his bio class, at the expense of any sort of education in the subject. He even goes so far as to throw their textbooks out the window.
I’m not saying Mr. Griffin’s students aren’t getting some sort of education. They are certainly learning how to get things trending on Google. Unintentionally or not, Jack offers some real world education to these kids, mostly by being a cautionary tale about what can happen if you’re a terrible person at heart.
You can catch the first season on Hulu, and new episodes air on Thursday nights on NBC.