I'm really enjoying the new series so far. They've got rid of the characters which annoyed me (sorry to see the back of Jenny, but Andrew Lincoln's character was immature-annoying and his psychology teacher friend was smug-annoying; the supposed gay teacher was just generic-annoying) and they've introduced other, interesting ones.
I know what you mean about the first one, Cholister. I thought it also exemplified what is, to me, 'Teachers' most irritating characteristic: its tendency to split gender along sitcom/advert lines, so the males are entirely unself-aware, useless, infantile and pathetic, while the females are sensible, self-assured, insightful and mature. Thus, in the first episode, we have Kurt and Brian (both of whom I love to death) reaching new heights of fuckwittery, while New Girl copes with all the 'fat' stuff inhumanly patiently, with nary a twitch of irritation.
Penny is, perhaps, the exception to the gender split (although even she is a better manipulator than the hapless males who stare at her tits), so it was perhaps inevitable that her character receive an overhaul. I didn't read her dowdy image as "you can't be a decent person if you try to look 'your best'"; I saw it more as a reluctant (and possibly experimental) attempt to develop new interpersonal skills by removing or offsetting those upon which she normally relied ie. her appearance. I'm assuming she'll revert at least slightly to type by next episode.
They really need to do something with poor old Bob. Surely he can't sleep in his car for the whole series? |