Rating: 3 / 5 stars

For many high school students, the best teachers are always the laid-back and easy-going ones, but how laid back can a teacher be before they are too laid back? This is the premise of NBC’s new show, “A.P. Bio.”

“A.P. Bio” stars Jack Griffin (Glenn Howerton, “It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia”), a former philosophy professor at Harvard who was fired after getting into a fight with a much older professor. Since leaving Harvard, Jack has moved back into his dead mother’s apartment in Toledo, Ohio, and now works in a local high school teaching A.P. biology. However, Jack has no plans to actually teach biology because he believes the job is beneath him. Jack sees no problem with laying around and doing nothing during class-time, but unfortunately, the ones who do care are his students, who just desperately want to learn about biology.

Instead of using class time to actually teach, Jack would rather spend the time telling the students about his personal problems and making them help him get revenge on the man that stole his dream job, Miles (Tom Bennett, “PhoneShop”). Trying to keep Jack in line is Principal Durbin (Patton Oswalt, “Seinfeld”), the uptight principal who tries to be cool but still keeps the school running efficiently.

Throughout the course of the show, Jack tries to take on the problems that life throws at him and usually solves them in his own way, ways that usually involve breaking the law. Jack’s unusual problem solving methods usually make the situation worse. In the end, Jack will put aside his pride to make the best decision for not only himself, but everyone involved.

Many fans of “It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia” may be attracted to the star power of Glenn Howerton. However, they should be warned that this show does not contain the same type of humor as “It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia.” While it is true that this show does contain a certain level of “edgy” humor, it is not quite on the level of “edginess” as “It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia.” This places the show in an awkward position, where it is edgier than most NBC comedies but not edgy enough to attract a new type of audience to the network. As a result, this show sits awkwardly in the NBC comedy lineup.

Judging the show not based on its network lineup but as its own piece, the show does a great job at putting on a unique take on the common “bad teacher” plot. This show gives the old troupe some unique storylines to explore and really pushes the feeling of comedy and other emotion through powerful shock humor and phenomenal acting. However, relying on the same old “bad teacher” troupe is also where the show falls flat. By depending on the same old cliche, the show tries to be unique but does not have too many new storylines to explore, and that can generally make the show seem predictable.

Overall, “A.P. Bio” on NBC may not be a completely original idea, but the humor and passion behind the show definitely makes the show worth a try.

Image from A.P. Bio via YouTube.com