Boston Public
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. 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.
- Bad Boss: Superintendant Marsha "The Dragon Lady" Shinn in the first season.
- Badass Teacher: Harry Senate, Danny Hanson.
- 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.
- Dawson Casting
- Deadpan Snarker
- Did Not Do the Research
- Dramedy
- Emo Teen
- Friday Night Death Slot: Season 4.
- 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.
- Keep Circulating the Tapes: No plans to make the show available on DVD.
- 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
- Screwed By the Network: When it was moved to Fridays in the fourth season.
- 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.