The first thing you notice is the voice. Even before you look at the picture you notice the voice. Eve Arden started off as a showgirl but soon learned that it was her voice and aggressive delivery that would make her a star -- and it did. Like many, she tried to translate her talent into TV ... and succeeded. Easily the template for every high school TV series and movie that followed, brimming with stars (Gale Gordon, Richard Crenna). Gordon would later appear as a regular in several iterations of the Lucy show (each progressively worse than the last) and Crenna became a major TV star. No coincidence that Eve was brought out of mothballs years later to play her old character in GREASE. Nominated for awards .. and won several. Superb way to remember an era gone by.

OUR MISS BROOKS was one of the funniest shows on radio and TV, and, amazingly, both the radio and TV show hold up well even today. In an item above, it is mentioned that the show was "one camera." It was not. It was filmed the same way that I LOVE LUCY was, and that is, with three-cameras and a "live" studio audience. I believe the poster above was thinking of the movie version, which was nothing like the TV show, in that there was little interaction with the students. There are bootlegged collections of the series available on DVD, obviously taped on someone's VCR when they were re-run somewhere or other, and the quality is poor, but they're better than nothing at all. Try to avoid collections that have 4th season episodes when Connie moved from Madison High to a private school.

and heard the radio show, too. The show made a seamless transition from radio to television with the original cast and writers intact. It was filmed by Desilu as a one-camera show, so it lacks some of the energy which shows like I Love Lucy derived from a live studio audience. But the cast was perfectly cast and the writing was sharp. The only false note in the program concept is Arden's desperate and somewhat pathetic attempt to "hook" shy biology teacher "Mr. Boynton." There is almost no chemistry between the two and no evidence of passion on "Miss Brooks'" part. The real sizzle here comes from the classic exchanges between "Miss Brooks" and principal "Osgood Conklin." Gale Gordon as "Mr. Conklin" is far funnier than in his later roles as foil for Lucille Ball. Richard Crenna is a bit too old to play a high school boy in the TV version but his strong abilities as a comic actor allow him to pull it off. The TV show is not available on DVD or video tape; the movie version is shown regularly on TCM and is very close to the TV series (albeit with more money to spend on the production). The main difference between the two, the movie focused on the Brooks-Boynton romance and downplayed "Miss Brooks'" work in the classroom, interactions with students and - unfortunately - her classic exchanges with "Mr. Conklin."

I've seen a good many episodes of Our Miss Brooks and they are excellent, a not so everyday school with an English teacher and her strong crush on the bashful biology teacher Mr. Boynton. My favorite was Mr. Conklin, the crusty no nonsense Pricipal who always clashed with Miss Brooks as well as the nerdy Walter Denton who had a crush on Conklin's daughter, Harriet. But, in the 4th season the show show was not as good at all because Miss Brooks transfers to a private school along with Mr. Conklin who also gets a job there as principal and so then the show just just kind of sunk. I never liked it as well. The 1st 3 seasons were the best when the cast was at Madison High school. Those are the episodes worth watching, after that the 4th season isn't worth seeing because it just wasn't as funny.