Excellent, Without a doubt!!

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Yes some things happened that would turn out totally different outcomes ( see principal shoves student into a locker from earlier post etc: )in real life, but this show had the balls to tackle some very sensitive and racial issues.It was not afraid to bring any issue to our sets and that was the reason for its early cancellation. Advertisers didn't have the balls to sponsor it worrying about consumers reactions. Each episode dealt with issues that at the end had a moral and gave the viewer something to think about. The mixing of school and private lives of the teachers gave the show an added charm about it. It was a show that on occasion would bring a tear to my eye. Yes Harry Senate was a rebel of a teacher, but I know it would have been great to have a teacher like that a student could turn to one so dedicated when I was a kid. Scott Guber, well I had a vice principal just like him in HS. So hated by the students but looking back he was just trying to get everyone through HS and had an odd way of going about it. Was the only student to go to his wake. Harvey Lipschitz was a nice character that brought some pretty funny moments to the show. For the most part the entire cast was likable and the show was always well put forth and kept viewers coming back for more. Bought all episodes here on the internet 2 years ago but they were bootlegs filmed off of a TV set and the copies were terrible. I hope to some day find a real copy of the entire series but until then can only hold its memories near to my heart. Lets not forget Principal Harper who was probably the most controversial principal ever. But at the end of the day he always seemed to make it feel right. Best show ever in my opinion, wish it was still running today.

Boston public, from its already highly reputed developers, does not fail to deliver. I can imagine that a non-American audience would find events presented in this series as quite shocking. The writing and acting is top notch. Theonly problem with the series is that it portrays the American schooling system has highly out of control and indisciplined, even though the staff themselves are shown to be highly professional and capable people working under immense pressure. That seems to be a move to make it a little more commercial. For the same purpose, we see too much sex and everyone is sleeping with each other in some controversial way or the other. The subject of sex is used extremely often, although it may not be such a bad thing. Towards the later seasons, the show seems to have run out of ideas and started deriving plots from current political situations such as the war on terrorism. Despite such unoriginality, this show is one of the best TV shows ever made.

There have been some very compelling movies and television shows that feature education, and especially the student experience over the years. "To Sir with Love" was a fine motion picture, as an example. "Blackboard Jungle" is a classic. "Mr. Novak" was a high quality television show that made a statement appropriate to the times. Boston Public, however, is the finest depiction of the world of education ever presented. The difference is that this program looks at the angst of youth in a changing world through the eyes of teachers. There have been moments of great mirth--like when Harvey Lipshulz claimed to be George Washington reborn--Cleopatra in an even earlier life. Another gem was when this great actor, Fyvush Finkel, gave an over the top speech about teaching, ending about how he'd toss bombs at enemies. Can't forget when "Harvey" waltzed into Steven Harper's office in boxers--his trousers were hanging from a tree. Other times, I've melted into tears. There was the time that actress Jeri Ryan seemed to implode inward when a brilliant young student with ADD--a gifted musician--lost his life in a car crash.Loretta Devine is just that--divine. When she, along with Sharon Leal and Rashida Jones break into song; wow... A thousand times wow.Let us not forget Nicky Katt's Harry Senate. If all teachers were this devoted. And the utterly charming Jessica Gilsig. I think I'm in love. The real key to this extraordinary television show was Chi McBride's Steven Harper, interacting with Anthony Heald's Scott Guber. Moments like these are as rare as hen teeth anywhere; television, motion pictures, legitimate theater.If the powers that be were on their toes, they would revive this show in a year or two. Let us see Winslow High further down the road.Kudos to the WE network for bringing Boston Public back. At the top I wrote that Boston Public is the best show of its kind ever. Well, it's more than that. It's the best television show of all time.

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