Boston Public

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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.