CBS
February 7, 1983
Sitcom
DVD
B
This Borowitz & Hirsch story has Mr. Rob Donovan (Steven Peterman) nearly fired for his "unconventional" teaching style and personal life. Muffy, whose own grandmother called her a "fascist" (on the Bat Mitzvah episode), objects to both. She thinks he should teach only from the textbook, and she's horrified to hear that he lives with his girlfriend and her child. (It's unclear if this is also his child, but I'm thinking not, since at the end we find out that the girlfriend's divorce hasn't yet gone through.) Principal Dingleman (Basil Hoffman) somewhat agrees with Muffy, but mostly he doesn't want any controversy. Although Lauren is disappointed that her crush is living with someone, she makes the sacrifice of urging Rob to get married. And she, Patty, their friends, and even the popular kids hold a sit-in to keep Rob at the school. I'm a little surprised that Rob talks about things he's fought for, including the ERA (and, it's implied, the legalization of marijuana), and yet isn't willing to stand up for himself until he realizes that even Jennifer learned something from him.
The episode works on a couple extra levels, one political and one meta. Muffy, with her "Moral Code Club," represents the Moral Majority, while Dingleman, without explanation quotes Vice-President Agnew, so they represent conservative forces in the '60s through '80s, while Rob is identified with the Left, although even materialistic Jennifer likes him. As for the meta, Rob says in the tag that he'd rather be right than popular, and Lauren agrees, to Patty's surprise. I'll talk more about the "failure" of this series when we get to the end, but in episodes like this it's clear that the writers weren't afraid of being different than the typical teen sitcom.
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