TV's Most Famous Teachers

Television sitcoms have been rife with characters who work as educators. The career is one nearly everyone can comprehend, since most of us have spent our childhoods in classrooms.

As an educator myself for twenty five years, I observe the television teachers more severely than most viewers. Sometimes the character is so unconvincing that I simply cannot bear to watch the show. Some of these fictional teachers are portrayed quite realistically, however, making the show more appealing to me.

Here is a list of ten of the most recognizable TV educators and the shows in which they appear.

10. Peggy Hill in "King of the Hill" - Hank's wife (voiced by Kathy Najimi) is a substitute teacher, which is probably even more stressful than being a full-time teacher. It probably is not nearly as challenging as being married to a conservative propane salesman and being a neighbors to Bill and Boomhauer.

9. George Hamilton Feeney in "Boy Meets World" - This very effective teacher (played by William Morris) also served as Cory Matthews' principal and neighbor. He combined the compassion and the professionalism that is required of high school educators.

8. Charlie Moore in "Head of the Class" - I still have trouble viewing Howard Hesseman, who played this teacher of a gifted history class, as anyone other than WKRP deejay Dr. Johnny Fever.

7. Mike Stivik in "All in the Family" - The show's long duration allowed viewers to see this character (played by Rob Reiner) grow from Meathead into grad school into a college professor. We never really got to see him actually teach, but if he handled his students as well as he handled his bigoted father-in-law, we can bet that he was very effective in the classroom.

6. Mrs. Puff in "Sponge Bob Square Pants" - This character (voiced by Mary Jo Catlett) has the misfortune of teaching Sponge Bob and Patrick how to drive. It's no wonder she ends up with post-traumatic stress disorder after enduring Sponge Bob's reckless driving.

5. Ken Reeves in "The White Shadow" - The former NBA player (played by Ken Howard) is primarily a basketball coach at the inner-city Carver High School. He does serve also as a part-time teacher, and in one episode he had the unenviable task of teaching sex ed to a classroom of teenagers.

4. Helen Crump in "The Andy Griffith Show" - Opie's teacher (played by Aneta Corsaut) ran a strict classroom, and she also won the heart of Opie's father, Mayberry sheriff Andy.

3. Gabe Kotter in "Welcome Back, Kotter" - This educator (played by Gabe Kaplan) had a tougher task than any other in this list. He had to teach a class of reluctant learners called "Sweathogs" at Brooklyn's James Buchanon High School, where he himself had attended as a teen.

2. Edna Krabapple in "The Simpsons" - Bart's teacher (voiced by Marcia Wallace) has some of the stereotypes of people in that profession: she smokes inveterately; she passes disruptive students just to get rid of them; she prays for snow days, and she knows the master contract by heart.

1. Roy Hinckley in "Gilligan's Island" - The Professor (played by Russell Johnson) never really gets to teach on the isolated island. However, the guy must have been a remarkable instructor, having mastered nearly every subject on the globe, including electricity, astronomy, obscure tribal languages, scientific names of nearly every tree, and almost everything else except how to build a boat that would get the castaways off of the island.