This was a really fine show when it first came out. The characters are very, very good and show different personalities. Like Guber, the "Nazi" as called by fellow students, was a real strict VP and I liked how the guy was so desperate for women at times. Also, Harry Senate, the young smart mouth man with a sarcastic attitude but seems to have a good heart deep down. This show was well done the first two seasons, but the good FOX shows seem to be good for the first few seasons, then the writing gets bad and the show just keeps going farther downhill until there is cancellation. But seasons 3 & 4 weren't too bad, fox just wants the highest ratings possible. There are various extreme story lines in the show like a sex room in the school, teachers screwing students, a hostage situation. Now not all of these things are common in every school but they do happen. This show needs things like that it gives it the entertainment and drama. If this show did not have it, it would be very boring and have been canceled fast. But a great show nonetheless and great actors. Bravo Boston Public, damn, I miss this show

I just watched an unseen episode (by me) of Boston Public in which Mr. Harper takes "Billy" a tough kid and teaches him to read and learn. This was one of the finest shows, of any genre, that I have ever seen. I am a 54 year old Canadian male and I was moved to tears as Mr. Harper deals with Billy, via flashbacks, showing us the evolution of tough street kid to a young man whose thoughts look to a future that was prematurely ended in the craziness called Iraq. When Mr. Harper reads Billys' letter; the warmth, love and respect that Billy shows to a man that cared enough comes through and the tears Mr. Harper shed was the same feelings I felt. Bravo to the writers of this show and Bravo to Chi Mcbride on a performance that was em-my worthy.

Network: Fox; Genera: Drama/Comedy; Content Rating: TV-14 (for language, adult situations, strong sexual content and occasionally strong violence); Classification: Contemporary (Star range: 1 - 4);Season Reviewed: Complete Series (4 seasons)On the face of it 'Boston Public' is such an absurd series that it is easy to criticize. Too easy. We could talk about the implausibility of the situations, its possibly sensationalist attitude toward serious situations, the infantile melodrama that the characters gin up amongst themselves and the sometimes interminable liberal soap box preaching of the series until the sun came up. Not only would that be to miss the point entirely, but - for me - 'Public' is just way to much fun to get bogged down with those kind of details. In the series TV virtuoso producer/creator David E. Kelley proposes all the melodrama teens go through in high school shows is also experienced by the faculty and staff. And how! Kelley uses the fictitious Winslow High is as a Petri dish to satirize the current state of the American public school system. In the mix there are budget battles, students assaulting teachers, teachers assaulting students, bigotry, xenophobia, school shootings, riots, drive by shootings, stalkers, rapists, undercover narcotics agents, fight clubs, secret sex rooms, and gay male prom queens. To Kelley, high school is a boiler plate where the show becomes so extreme that it ceases to be a soap opera and starts becoming a hyperbole. This is all not without a heavy dose of camp along the way. Almost always there will be a talented kid (usually musically) who is in with the wrong crowd (usually drug dealers or gangs) and needs a Winslow teacher to help him/her reach their full potential (usually so he/she can sing in the Kelley's trademark closing montage). 'Public' is so gleefully, unabashedly, wonderfully, laughably absurd (and I'm sure knows it) that's its impossible to take seriously. But it is also a thoroughly entertaining piece of pure television. Now Kelley has never been a stranger of telling us what's on his mind and using his shows to do it. Sometimes he gets caught up and goes overboard with the kind of direct-to-the-camera moralizing that would make Rod Serling wince. Sometimes his metaphors are just downright ridiculous, such as when the model UN "goes to war" upside the head of a Canadian student in the boy's bathroom. If only Kelley took the reigns of UPN's 'Twilight Zone' remake so he could have aliens literally look into the camera and pontificate that "the real terrorist here is...the American citizen himself". Sweet Jesus. Aside from that, many of the shows takes are right on. Teachers even have televised debates and classroom Talk Times in which every possible perspective is laid out in the open. I particularly like an absolutely ingenious way they solved a school budget battle at the end of the third season. Aside from very often giving both sides of the issues a fair shake (the final "Affirmative Action" episode is brilliant in this regard), the reason that this kind of writer self indulgence doesn't hamper the show is because 'Public' has such a sturdy foundation built in - and there is so much going on in every parallel story - that it can withstand this kind of hit and not fall down. That sturdy foundation, and the foothold in reality for the series, are Chi McBride as Principle Harper and Anthony Heald as Vice Principal Scott Guber. Even when the show was at it's craziest, McBride (with a constant hysterical "what now" look of exasperation on his face) and Heald (turning the stock "tough, weasel Vice Principal" role into a lovable character) are so believable they are able to keep the credibility from straining. Loretta Devine is sublime as mentally off-the-hinge firecracker Marla Hendricks. All 3 of them got Emmy snubbed if you ask me. For Kelley, it's a triumphant return back to an expansive ensemble drama. Unlike 'The Practice' where, all his characters generally speak with one voice, 'Public' is a large ensemble where every characters is detailed and fully realized. The cameras follow them down the hallways and they spin in and out of each other's stories with their own independent thoughts and opinions. It is lively and electric. This is a great ensemble drama, and that's even with all the revolving door of teachers that reshuffled the cast every season. I loved Lauren Davis (the enchanting Jessalyn Gilsig, by all accounts the star of the show before leaving it for 'Nip/Tuck') and Harry Senate (Nicky Katt), but I grew to like Ronnie Cook (Jeri Ryan) and Danny Hanson (Michael Rapaport) almost as much - among many in a cast that is too large to begin mentioning. But, then again, how can I forget Fyvush Finkel as irrepressible Harvey Lipshitz, the classic old teacher who has watched the classroom change around him and feels out of touch and irrelevant. And then there is Kathy Baker in a creepy recurring role. One of the thinks I respect most about Kelley is that he puts an emphasis on characters who are isolated and lonely, which there is no shortage of here. The teachers of 'Public' have given up a personal life for a 24-hour job or their own demons. 'Public' is a rare show that has the guts to approach this not for laughs, but solemnly, earnestly, as the characters try to find the slightest bit of companionship or reassurance that they aren't wasting their lives. This is refreshing amid a TV landscape where a character's biggest problem is scheduling two dates on the same night. Honest to its characters, undeniably funny and freely debatable, it was not to be taken too seriously, but not entirely played for laughs. 'Boston Public' was a blast and a half. Kelley's best in years.* * * ½ / 4

This show was one of the best products to come from David E Kelley, and David E Kelley was one of the best things to happen to television. With so many dramas about lawyers, police units, and hospitals get more than enough attention, this show drew a lot of appeal simply by finding a new interesting segment of society to feature on a TV show that anyone who has ever attended public school would like to know more about. Kelly infused his drama about the academic faculty of an inner-city school with a balance of humanity and sensationalism. The show featured a talented ensemble through which conflict could be created through clashing philosophies, but the one thing their passion to the job. The characters on the show were all conveniently designed to be single and attractive, leading to another classic draw of TV in this day and age, sexual tensions. A chief complaint that many, including myself, had with the show was that it wasn't entirely realistic, most high schools do not have as many eventful things going on as Winslow (where the show took place) every week, and I don't remember as many of my teachers being drop-dead gorgeous and so sexually-in-need, but the show, nevertheless had a lot of gripping drama and really faced head-on some of the issues involving public school, from both the standpoint of students and teachers. It's much easier to appreciate, anyway, when you accept that David E. Kelley shows aren't supposed to be realistic. Unfortunately, the show has lost some of it momentum after the first couple years. For one, there was a high cast turnover, and it was hard to get attached to characters after they kept leaving or getting fired and replaced by new characters. I don't know what the cause of that was, but with the exception of the relationship between Principal Harper and his assistant Scott Guber, both played by two capable leads, none of the other interpersonal relationships in the story really had a chance to develop. It was also for other reasons that I felt like Boston Public had never grown past season one, like inconsistencies thrown in by the creators that looked like cheap attempts to boost ratings. For instance they suddenly made Scott Guber a religious Jew who abhorred dating Jewish women in the 4th season even though the desperate assistant principal had been trying to get with ever non-Jewish teacher in the school since day 1 and always hated Mr. Lipschutz, and they suddenly added a daughter for Steven Harper in the second season who attends the school when there was never any mention of her in the first season. For these reasons, I always felt like each season, was just another season 1 for Boston Public and after a while it just got old. The move to Friday nights by Fox was also rediculous, the last thing any student wants to watch on a Friday night is a show about school. The show recently got cancelled and I kind of understood why, since I myself had drifted out of it, but at the same time I really appreciate it, as it once was very good.