Episode 780

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Answering Mike's call for new segments, Pandy and Christian debut List and Shout!, a semi-serious, semi-subjective look at characters across all of fiction. In this inaugural edition, the hosts rank both their favorite and worst teachers, in addition to the least effective head teachers. Along the way, the hosts discuss sentient rooms from space, give childish names to their Pokemon rivals, and both pan and praise one particular character in equal measure. [ 1:19:20 || 38.4 MB ]

To listen, click here: http://www.earth-2.net/theshow/episodes/e2ts_780.mp3

[Missy]

For this list, I tried to stay away from mentors (Mr. Miyagi, Yoda, etc.), because I feel that's a different category entirely.

Favorite

1. [tie] Ian and Barbara: We'd all be lucky to have teachers as caring and ass-kicking as these two. One threw a dude off a pyramid, and the other drove over a Dalek with a truck! And why did they do this? Because they were concerned about one student.

2. Miss Grotkey: I adore her hippie, "Stick it to the man!" attitude.

3. Roland Pryzbylewski: For all the reasons Christian noted.

4. Mr. Bergstrom: If any one person helped Lisa Simpson realize she can rise above Springfield (without being ashamed of it), it's this loving substitute.

5. Indiana Jones: Admittedly, I'm not a fan of the movies, but here's a man who fought Nazis, discovered God is real, and had a hand put through his chest. And lived to tell the tale. The only reason he isn't higher is because he fathered Mutt.

Worst

1. Professor X: Tricks parents into signing their children up for war.

2. John Kimble: The problem here (and why he's so high on the list), is that he puts all of the kids at risk by going undercover as a teacher. He makes the best of the situation and truly warms to the kids and the job, but it turns into a major, life-risking fiasco.

3. Peter Venkman: He uses his position to get laid.

4. Professor Terguson: Dude's a battle-scarred, racist maniac.

5. Keiko O'Brien: It's not that she's Keiko O'Brien, it's that she leaves the school willy-nilly to go on botany expeditions whenever the mood strikes her.

Least Effective Head Teacher

1. Dean Fairbanks: Loses control of a racially tense situation, which involves his son at the forefront. He also puts his son (and the school) in the middle of an age-old rivalry.

2. Mr. Vernon: Like Rooney, Vernon's right to a point. But he's a real cunt about it.

3. Mr. Rooney: While he's right that Ferris is ditching school, he himself ditches school (RE: his responsibilities) to prove it.

4. Emma Frost: While she was great with the Generation X kids, and later the X-Men, she did lose The Hellions.

5. Dean Peterson: While an awesomely cool dude, he allow Homer to run around like a nut job. Further, he allowed Homer into the school.

[Rjoyadet]

I was also thinking about Mr. Bergstrom when best teachers were being listed, even though I forgot his name until mentioned above.

Jaime Escalante: Takes high school students who could not perform above a fourth grade level and got them to pass advanced calculus exams. He talks a overbearing parent out of expelling their gifted daughter, and she ends up being one of the highest scores. He convinces another student not to quit and he pulls through even though he goes through a nervous breakdown after a long cram session.

For worst teacher I though of Miss Simian from for being a mashup of Edna Krabuppel and Miss Wormwood.

Mr. Small : he is a bad hippie Stereotype and his students learn something completely different from what they need.

For Worst Principal I had Principal Brown: because he faked his diploma to become principal. His work is usually run more by his relationship with Miss Simian than by his responsibilities. He is also a pushover, the often passive Gumball has been able to boss him around when showing a little bit of confidence.

[Stavros]

As the inventor of list shows I felt like Patrick Stewart watching Red Dwarf for the first time. My hand was halfway to my phone to call my lawyer but then you guys made me laugh, and everything was fine.

Looking forward to more!

[Donomark]

Absolutely co-sign on Ms. Hoover being a bad teacher. Krabappel and some of the others are at worst lazy, Hoover's always been abjectly apathetic to the point of almost nihilism. I've always disliked her. Plus she once called Lisa a "PC Thug".