Boston Public

• Main
• Characters
• Laconic
• Trivia
• YMMV
• Quotes
• Crowners
  • Awesome
• Wikipedia
• All Subpages
• Create New

Drama series created by David E. Kelley and airing on FOX, Boston Public basically told the story of the Teen Drama from the point of view of the teachers. Took place in Winslow High, a public high school in Boston, hence the name. Basically Degrassi In America!, except the teachers are the troubled ones. The show lasted from October, 2000 to January, 2004, with a total of 81 episodes in four seasons.

Tropes used in Boston Public include:

• Abusive Parents: Meredith Peters (AKA The Hook Lady).
• Adults Are Useless: True, but it's not as egregious as other shows with teen/adult casts.
  • They're useless, but they do generally make the attempts to help. They're just not always effective ones.
• Badass Teacher: Harry Senate, Danny Hanson.
• Bad Boss: Superintendant Marsha "The Dragon Lady" Shinn in the first season.
• Bald Black Leader Guy: Principal Steven Harper.
• Benevolent Boss: Steven. Most of the time.
• Birthday Suit Surprise Party
• Brother Chuck: Lauren, Louisa, Brooke, Carmen Torres, Charlie Bixby.
• Bunny Ears Lawyer
• Butt Monkey: Guber.
• Call Back: Buttle -- "Oh my head's up a horses ass. I feel like...bending over, and pooping in my mouth."
• Celebrity Star: See High School Dance.
• Code Silver
• Crossover: With The Practice, and Boston Legal.
• Deadpan Snarker
• Did Not Do the Research
• Dramedy
• Emo Teen
• Flanderization
• Former Teen Rebel: Steven, Danny Hanson.
• Heterosexual Life Partners
• Hidden Depths
• High School Dance: Whitney Houston performed at the prom in the third season finale.
• Hollywood Atheist: Danny Hanson.
• Hot for Student
• Hot Teacher
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Each episode is titled "Chapter One", "Chapter Two", etc.
• Informed Judaism: Guber, Harvey.
• Inner-City School
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Guber, Danny, Charlie Bixby.
• Lesbian Jock
• Loads and Loads of Characters
• Looking for Love In All the Wrong Places: For the first few seasons, Guber can't catch a break with the ladies. First, he dates a woman who turns out to be a hooker, then hooks up with Meredith Peters, a psychopathic Abusive Parent with a hook for a hand. Not to mention hopelessly pining for Lauren and later Marilyn. And what's amazing is that, being Jewish by his own admission, Scott always falls for non-Jewish women. And in Season Four, he ends up with an ex-porn star. ("At least she's a Democrat", he tells Steven).
• Luke, You Are My Father: Harvey finds out in Season Two that he has an African-American son, grandson and great-grandchildren.
• McCloud Speech: Harry Senate was often on the receiving end of these.
• Mean Boss: Guber.
• Mood Whiplash
• N-Word Privileges: Harvey once used the term "African-American Black-Colored Negroes".
  • Also, Danny had his class read and discuss a controversial book about the N-Word.
• Naive Newcomer: Kimberly Woods in the third season.
• Napoleon Delusion
• No Medication for Me
• Obstructive Bureaucrat: Superintendent Shinn in Season 1, Dave Fields in Season 3.
• Only Sane Man: Steven and Guber.
• Parents as People
• Pet the Dog: Guber.
• The Place
• Promotion to Opening Titles: Meredith 'The Hook Lady' Peters, Brooke Harper.
• Psychologist Teacher
• Public Exposure
• Put on a Bus: Milton Buttle, Kevin Riley, Lauren, Louisa, Harry, Kimberly Woods, Brooke.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Steven.
• Ripped from the Headlines: Every school-related controversy of the late 90's/early 2000's was featured on the show. Threat of a school shooting? Check. Transgendered prom queen? Check. Affirmative action-related race riot? Check...
• Rousing Speech
• Sassy Black Woman: Loretta Devine does sass like nobody's business.
  • Don't forget the bus driver, Mrs. Parks, who frequently stopped by and demanded that the staff "SMELL THAT SHOE!" and also never let them forget that she ONLY makes $19,000 a year!
• Satellite Character
• Save Our Students
• School Play
• Soapbox Sadie
• Stalker with a Crush: Lauren dates one of these at first before realizing what a psycho he is. And get this? He used to be a student of hers.
  • Kimberly Woods is victimized by one of these in the third season.
• The Starscream: Guber.
• Stern Teacher: Guber often gets called out for being this. As does Lauren in the second season.
• Team Dad: Steven.
• Teen Genius: Riley in the third season.
• Teen Pregnancy
• Tonight Someone Dies: Second-string characters would get introduced for the express purpose of dying later on in the series, sometimes as soon as the same episodes they've been introduced.
• Two-Teacher School
• Wacky Homeroom: The Dungeon. The very reason why Marla walks out on the class, though not before writing "Gone to kill myself. Hope you're happy." on the blackboard.
• Walk and Talk
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Harry Senate. Dear God, Harry Senate.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: Kimberly Woods in the third season.