Room 222

OK, it wasn't perfect, and everything tended to get neatly sealed up at the end of each episode, but I remember episodes of "Room 222" now and it seems to capture what it is like to be a teacher(I am one myself, so I know whereof I speak.) The teachers were realistic, the kids didn't look like they hadn't seen the inside of a high school for years (some of the "teens" in "Boston Public" had receding hairlines) Teachers seemed to have a rotating schedule like in real life (unlike, for example, Kotter, who seemed to fill his day with the same 9 students. Even the aforementioned "Boston Public" seemed to have teachers in front of the same kids all day.

This and the first "Cosby" show were probably the best depictions of school life and the lives of teachers; maybe not because they are so accurate in themselves but because the rest are so far removed from reality.

My mom was a career schoolteacher in Urban Philadelphia, teaching primarily minority students and doing it very well.

Room 222 was the very first Network TV Show that accurately showed what urban education was really like.

It wasn't always perfect, but my late Mom loved it, and for that reason I have to give it a perfect 10.

My late Mom was a Saint, everyone loved her....

This is just to correct some of the entries in the cast list. I wish I could remember more of this series but I was just too young, I do know however, that both Michael Constantine and Karen Valentine were on for more than one episode. They were series regulars. I was only age 6 when this series started and 12 when it went off the air but I remember that much.

Michael Constantine played the principal and Karen Valentine a fellow teacher. I used to watch this show regularly with my parents. I seem to remember Bruno Kirby being on several episodes as well. Denise Nichols and Lloydd Haynes were definitely the stars. It was a very good show I wish it would come back on TVland or something.

This show pretty much was a forerunner to shows like "The White Shadow", "Boston Public" and even the first two seasons of "Beverly Hills: 90210". When it first premiered it was viewed as a "dramedy". In fact, it even had a laugh track the very first season. But, the show progressed you could see that this was very much an issue oriented show that dealt with issues that many shows today deal with (sex, drugs and death). One show that was particularly controversial was when a young student contracts v.d. and an elderly teacher loses her job because she gave advice to the young man. This was in an era when anything dealing with s.t.d.'s were still kept in the closet. Too bad they don't show the reruns of this show anymore, rather than the fluff that proceeded it in that classic A.B.C. Friday night lineup, The Brady Bunch.

this show seemed better almost 40 years ago than it does now.the subject matter seems almost trite today,but was groundbreaking then.funny how things to my generation that seem quaint just seem old-fashioned to the younger crowd.oh well...this series ushered in a whole new generation of TV programming(sort of reality-like)with grownup plots(including one i recall-Bridget Loves Bernie-that dealt with a interdenominational marriage-wow).this time was ground zero for political and social activism,and much of this show dealt with these issues.Lloyd Haynes played the everyman History teacher who had a lot of wisdom to impart to his class,backed up by Denise Nicholas(who was his girlfriend on the show)and a mostly wacky Karen Valentine.the show was a bit on the unreal side(i didn't go to a school like that)but did what it intended to-bring TV into a new age.