The surprisingly fresh “Teachers” (TV Land, 11 p.m.) grew out of a Chicago improv group where too many of the people have a name related to “Kate” — Caitlin Barlow, Katy Collation, Cate Freedman, Kate Lambert, Katie O’Brien and Kathryn Renee Thomas — hence their name “The Katydids.”
What was some teaching experience and some improv scenes turned into a webcast and finally into this pretty funny workplace show, with fresh faces.
“As improvisers, we use a lot of improvisation for our writing,” Freeman told reporters at the TV Critics winter press tour. “And on set, we like to do it too, because there are these wonderful little surprises that you might not have scripted or you might not have thought of.”
And there was some observation involved.
“I actually was a fourth grade teacher for about five years in Chicago public schools,” Barlow said. “I taught fourth grade during the day. And then at night, I would do improv shows,” Barlow says. “It was like my dark secret.”
“It was a lot of fun to take my experience teaching and conversations that would happen in the teachers’ lounge and on the playground and bring that into the writers’ room,” Barlow says.
“It was sort of this double life,” O’Brien says. “And so when the show got picked up to series and we sold it, she let her principal know.” They made an announcement that she was going to Hollywood to be a star and everyone looked at her like she was delusional. “Sure, you are.”
But they also brought to the show memories of their own quirky teachers. Barlow recalls a third grade teacher who “would talk to us endlessly about her divorce.”
The troupe may be not well known to audiences, but a producer of the show is: Alison Brie, of “Community” and “Mad Men,” who actually appears in tonight’s premiere.
“If anyone could make me dress as a goat, it’s these ladies,” Brie says.
What ’s fresh about “Teachers” is not just its cast, but its whole female approach.
“From a writing and production standpoint, I’ve been on a lot of shows where there’s been one or two women writers, but I’ve never been on a show where there’s been one or two men writers and I think that felt truly historic to be sitting in a room where I’m the guy who doesn’t know about a Diva Cup or doesn’t know what a FUPA is.”
Yeah, I had to look them up, too.