FX's 'English Teacher' Is the Year's Best New Sitcom: Review

Alvarez anchors the show’s compact ensemble as Evan Marquez, the eponymous young English teacher determined to make a difference in the lives of his students at Morrison-Hensley High. One obstacle in his path is, well, those same students. Evan and his best friend and fellow teacher Gwen (Stephanie Koenig) note in the premiere that the kids are suddenly less “woke”; now they demand, for instance, to be taught “both sides” of the Spanish Inquisition, and it’s impossible to tell when they’re being ironic. A generation gap between earnest millennials and nihilistic zoomers has been palpable for years in the public square that is social media. English Teacher is one of the first TV shows to authentically depict that clash of worldviews. In one scene, Evan, a cisgender gay man, is drafted to “explain nonbinary” to a class he doesn’t even teach. But, of course, the students know at least as much about gender identity as he does. They just want to bait their teachers into saying stupid things while they record it for TikTok.