Head of the Class

Cute Show, very family orientated but nothing like the original and a very Disney Channel like show. Thought it would be different and more adult being an HBO Max original. Wish they tied in the character of Darlene (Robin Givens) in more showing she's from the original.

Alicia Gomez is the new young teacher of a honors class at Meadows Creek High School. It's a group of young smart students struggling to find their place in the world.

The original 80's show was one of my favorites for a short time. I love Simone and just about everyone in the class. I love Howard Hesseman from WKRP and his teacher-knows-best character. I love them so much that the show started losing me when they slowly lost some of the kids. Quite frankly, these new kids are all various shades of annoying. They are all cut from the same Disney-Nickelodeon teen character mold. It takes a few episodes to get used to their friendships. Robin Givens has a cameo in this one as a mom. At the end of the day, these are not appealing characters and therefore non of this is compelling. Even the teacher is almost as childish as the kids. Then there is the pilot trying to tackle cancel culture. I don't think anybody wants that... on both sides. The show keeps trying to annoy me more than entertain me. Its only hope is the tween audience of its target. I don't think that they would like this either and I don't think HBO is the place for them. Some exec must have the idea of scattershot programming.

I actually enjoyed the original series. I was a bit younger than the characters on screen but at least related to the characters. This seems like a generic show so far with no real connection to the original.

They couldn't have gotten Hesseman to play the now antagonistic Principal? Granted I love Krista Miller. But even her role this far just screams please please laugh.. And here's some canned laughter to make sure you're supposed to think this is funny.

The same thing applies to the new batch of gifted kids. No one feels different. All just kind of bland sameness. Granted the old series were very neutral stereotyped chargers but at least they felt different. I can still tell you there was Dennis, Darlene, Arvid, Janice, Simone, Jawarhalol, Eric.. still after all these years those characters stand out. I can't even tell you the name of any of these new characters in the middle of the first episode.

This head of the class isn't even middle of the pack.. More bottom of the barrel.

The biggest loss of this show, it's presentation is that it isn't set in NYC any longer. It's moved to the Bay Area, so it might as well be Saved by the Bell: The HBO Years. Actually, I'll take it back, Saved by the Bell reboot is lightyears ahead of this.

The kid characters are just bland, they are all interchangeable with one another.

As for Isabella Gomez, as great as she was on the reboot of One Day At A Time, she is so much bleh here. And the go to woman when you need mean on a sitcom Christa Miller, she just falls flat. And bringing in Robin Givens for a single episode and her character is sooooooo far away from Darlene in the original series, it just hurts, yes, people change over the years, but not to the point they would be totally unrecognizable as the same character 30 years later.

At the end of the day, whoever at Warner approved this, needs to be taken out back and shot. Either that, or you pull the series for a year, rework it. Put it back in NYC, besides the fact the city lends itself more to diversity than the Bay Area, used correctly, NYC in and of itself is a character. Plus it makes it easier to have various character call backs even if they don't appear on the show.

Seth Cohen, Michael Elias. And Rich Eustis dropped the ball on this reboot. They don't get the good of the series, and have written episodes that aren't even memorable in any way, shape or form.

Once again Hollywood proves theres nothing new under the sun. They took a good show from the 80's with Howard Hessman, and they ruined it with bad acting and bad jokes. Not that the old Head of the Class show was the best acting, but it was waaaaaay better than this. It feels like youre watching a bad Disney tv show for eleven year olds. Its a good premise for a show in my opinion. I loved Head of the Class in the eighties because I was also in a gifted program and we all enjoyed watching the show back then. But this stuff theyre making now.... It seems like its all about making bad jokes with bad timing and bad acting. I was so excited when I saw a new Head of the Class was coming out. But this was unwatchable.