Rich Eustis Movies

By rights, Head of the Class should have ended its run at the end of its fourth season, with the departure of series star Howard Hesseman. However, ABC decided to film a fifth and final season as a back-up, in case any of their new programs of the 1990-1991 season should be prematurely canceled. As it turned out, the network's new sitcom Baby Talk was not quite ready for prime time in September, thus Head of the Class was hastily inserted into the schedule until the production problems on the other series could be ironed out. In the season opener, it was explained that Hesseman's character, Fillmore High School substitute teacher Charlie Moore, had quit his job to pursue a full-time acting career. Thus, the genius-level students in Moore's Individual Honors Program now had a new teacher, a flamboyant Scotsman named Billy McGregor (played by Hibernian comedian Billy Connolly). Like Moore, Mr. McGregor was dedicated to instilling in his brilliant charges the emotional maturity and social skills that they would need when finally released into the real world. Unlike Moore, McGregor conducted his classes as though he were performing a monologue at the local comedy club. He also tended to become more involved than your average teacher in the students' off-campus lives, notably in the episode "Viki's Torn Genes," in which he helps student Viki Amory (Lara Piper) locate her birth mother -- with surprising results. Occasionally, his unorthodox methods backfired disastrously, notably in the two-part episode in which, after McGregor lectures the kids on the proper way to protect themselves from being mugged, nerdish Arvid (Dan Frischman) is inspired to purchase a gun! Head of the Class was canceled mid-season on January 15, 1991, only to return on May 28 with five new episodes, all of them leading up to the series finale when the IHP class finally graduates -- not so much because it is high time that they did so (which of course it is), but because Fillmore High is about to be demolished. In the last episode, the two-part "It Couldn't Last Forever," the IHP kids try to figure out who among a classroom full of geniuses will be chosen to deliver the valedictory speech. This terminal episode marks the brief return of former regular Tannins Valelly in the role of child prodigy Janice Lazarotto. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

"Permanent substitute" teacher Charlie Moore (Howard Hesseman) continues to instill the genius-level students of Fillmore High's Individual Honors Program (IHP) with the sort of things one can't find in a book -- such as emotional maturity, personal responsibility and a genuine sense of self-worth -- in season three of Head of the Class. New to the series this year is Rain Pryor, daughter of Richard Pryor, as the street-smart T.J. Jones, a remedial student who is "slow" mainly because of a bad and overly defensive attitude, but who is determined to earn the right to join the IHP kids. This is the season that Head of the Class carved its niche in the annals of television history. The hour-long episode "Mission to Moscow," originally telecast November 2, 1998, was the first American prime time comedy series episode ever to be filmed in the Soviet Union. Other season highlights include "Let's Rap," featuring future King of Queens regular Leah Remini in a one-line bit part; "First Date," wherein tough-guy Eric (Brian Robbins) and budding poetess Simone (Khrystyne Haje) go out together for the first time; "I Am the King," which sets up Charlie Moore's eventual exit from the series when he is hired as a commercial spokesman for an appliance store; and "King of Remedial," in which fat, wisecracking science geek Dennis (Dan Schneider) surprises himself by becoming the role model for a group of special-education students. Finally, season four offers the second of the series' musical episodes with the two-part "Shop Til You Drop," wherein the IHP class stages a production of "Little Shop of Horrors." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In addition to sexual encounters and nudity, toilet humor is on a roll in this story about some teens trying to finish a 12-week course in fast-food service -- yes, 12 weeks to study how to make and sell a hamburger. As their final exam, the teens have to run a burger place. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Season one of Head of the Class begins as substitute teacher Charles Moore (Howard Hesseman) takes over the high-achieving Individual Honors Program (IHP) at New York's Monroe High School (soon to be re-christened Millard Fillmore High). Though principal Dr. Samuels (William G. Schilling) expects Charlie merely to keep quiet and allow the students to study on their own so that the school can continue winning the annual Academic Olympics Contest, our hero prefers to take a less passive approach to his work. He realizes that although his students all possess genius-level intellects, they are woefully lacking in personal maturity and basic social skills. Thus, Charlie sets the class on its ear by adopting a "hands-on" approach, flamboyantly instructing his charges in "The Book of Life." Though Samuels is terrified that the kids' grades will suffer, in fact they begin to excel beyond all expectation -- just as Charlie and assistant principal Bernadette Mehra (Jeanetta Arnette) figured they would. Mr. Moore's first crop of students include Maria (Leslie Bega), Darlene (Robin Givens), Allan (Tony O'Dell), Arvid (Dan Frischman), Simone (Khrystyne Haje), Dennis (Dan Schneider), Eric (Brian Robbins), Sarah (Kimberly Russell), Jawarhalal (Jory Husain), and preteen prodigy Janice (Tannis Vallely). Occasionally commiserating with the IHP-ers during this and the next season is "normal" student Lori Applebaum (Marcia Christie). Charlie's new job is jeopardized early in the season when the IHP's regular teacher Vernon Thomas (Roscoe Lee Browne) returns from sick leave; fortunately, Thomas is wiling to defer to Charlie's unorthodox techniques. Later in the season, the academic tables are turned when the students help Charlie re-qualify for his teaching license. And in one far-sighted episode, the kids compete in an academic tournament against a group of brainy Russian students; two years later, Head of the Class would be the first American sitcom to film an episode in the Soviet Union. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

There are no cliff-hanging moments in Serial, but there's plenty of laughs in this trenchant comedy comment on 1970s lifestyles. Martin Mull plays the father of a Marin County family that succumbs to every silly fad coming down the pike. Mull tries to distance himself from his family's idiocies, but it's always the man who pays the piper. The film, based on a collection of newspaper essays by Cyra McFadden, is neatly tied up with a Capraesque ending allowing Mull to finally prevail. Some of the best moments involves Mull's tiltings with his trend-happy neighbor Bill Macy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide