Reviews

Contrary to other theme-based shows, such as hospitals (E.R., Scrubs more importantly), hotels (Jamie Foxx Show) and crime scenes (CSI + spin-offs), "Teachers" is situated mostly in and around an fictional school and gives us a realistic view on how school life is from the eye of a teacher. While this element might be a bit overdone at some points (it is unlikely that all teachers go to the pub, every night, with their colleagues - not to mention the excessive smoking by all staff members), it does not raise doubts about the reliability of how situations are coped with. If we compare this to far from the truth patient-doctor relationships in Scrubs, miraculous survivals in E.R. and questionable research methods in Crime Scene Investigation, the impression is accurate at least.

Themes in this show vary from teacher-student problems, (the lack of) a sex and/or love life, school events, alcohol, smoking, relationships with colleagues (even cheating with them), maturity and the choice of be(com)ing a teacher. Simon for example, constantly struggles whether he has made the right decision to be a teacher, whereas Matt definitely seems to be having trouble with being faithful and Kurt and Brian have relationship issues -- most relations are purely sexual and usually end up in a catastrophe and are therefor even rumored to have a homosexual relationship.

The teachers are portrayed as very normal human beings, something that a student may forget at that age, or not even think of. But we're all humans after all - teachers cope with sometimes even the same problems as their students; including hangovers and love. You might even say that teachers are not as adult and grown-up as they should be theoretically. From an educational aspect only, it looks as if they are all quite in the wrong business. Though this changes through the course of the episodes, where the actual teaching seems to be educationally correct.

The balance between humor and serious issues seems to be fair and quite random. This is not the sort of show I would stay home for, but definitely to watch when I bump into it. The jokes are mostly unpredictable, while some others lean on clichés and easy puns, for instance; the mispronunciation of 'Mr. Dong' instead of 'Mr. Chong', after the school principle has been looking below Bob's belt and then directs herself at Mr. Chong, an Asian man who is presumably visiting or inspecting the school that day.

The changing of the cast in every season may be frustrating at times, but on the other hand is a realistic view on how things happen at a school. After all, teachers tend to get fired, get promoted, or (take a) leave. Every cast member has their own personality, with the problems that come along with it, including divorce, cheating on your partner, obesity, homosexuality, height, problems with several body features (it is for instance suggested that the size of Kurt's penis is below average) and so on. They might not be all be very detailed, but they give one the feeling you can relate to (at least one of) the teachers.

A definitive plus and highly recommended.

:: LAUGH OR DIE

Jensen! is a show which is, simply put, simple-minded comedy in a Daily Show sort of fashion. Structured as it is, Jensen usually divides his show into two parts: an 'overwhelming' entrance as himself as the show host, where he usually pretends to calm the audience down because they are way too enthusiastic. If you look carefully, producers at the side try to make the audience go wild by sign language for 'this is the time you need to applaud'.

With my studio experience, it wouldn't surprise me if, just like other television shows, they pre-recorded the laughs. The recording of the laughs can be divided into three parts: a little laughing, lots of laughing, and laughing your ass off. This gets carefully mixed in between the shows, which gives you the impression that all jokes that are made are indeed funny.

:: DAILY NEWS

This is followed by some lame jokes, usually based on news and popular affairs. Jensen his daily news usually consists of badly edited videos of other television show and extremely poor quality videos ripped off of YouTube. This is amateuristic at most.

:: INTERVIEWS AND GUESTS

Jensen then fills his time with interviews, where it seems he tries to be as little compassionate as possible. On top of this, lame sex jokes about the length of his penis, the amount of women he has slept with, kinky stuff that goes on in the backstage room, are most likely to pop up every once in a while. As far as the guests are concerned, they vary from international stars to temporary famous people, such as the "Vegan Streaker", Dutch Idol candidates, "Boer Zoekt Vrouw"-candidates and in some cases politicians. Due to the fact the Dutch show-business is not comparable to that of the United States, the supply of truly interesting people is limited. This combined with the size of the country, the influence it has on political scale and the rather boring political situation in the country itself, makes the interviews rather dull.

In the situation where there is an actual celebrity, Jensen tends to ask rather simple questions, rather than having an in-depth interview. Unlike a normal interviewer, Jensen is quite politically incorrect. This could be seen as a definitive plus. Dutch TV tends to be rather conservative, influenced by religion and prudish. Jensen is none of that - however, he crosses the lines sometimes.

:: LIVE MUSIC

Artists that coincidentally perform on the show, usually lipsynch. A good reason for this may be that the studio sound was never meant to be used as an artists audio-decor. That might very well be. If artists really play live though, the act itself is worthless. Camera positions are poor, sound quality usually hits the extreme low points. Not to mention that the people who actually do sing live, are parodies (Dutch Idols rejects, for instance) or one hit wonders.

:: GOOD THINGS ABOUT THE SHOW + Very easy to watch, no brain activity involved + Progressive as opposed to the quite conservative Dutch television + Great guests coincidentally + The disappearance of the 'co-host' (I'd rather call him part of the studio decor) Jan Papparazi

:: BAD THINGS ABOUT THE SHOW - Repetitive jokes - Harsh language - No respect for people with disabilities - Prerecorded laughs - Uninteresting guests most of the time - Poor artists

OVERALL RATING: 5/10