MovieChat Forums > Classic TV: The 80s > Does anyone remember Making the Grade?

Does anyone remember Making the Grade?


No, not the movie with Judd Nelson (if anyone remembers that either!). 1982, a sitcom set in a high school, six episodes and out. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083445/?ref_=nv_sr_4

What I remember, and this may not be entirely accurate, is that it was artistically inconsistent, which was a common problem in turn-of-the-80s shows. Some episodes were comedic, some were dramatic. Also, IIRC, the main character was the school principal, which probably wouldn't have resonated well with audiences. Could be the showrunner, et al didn't know who their target audience was supposed to be.

I specifically remember an episode where a narcotics officer was working undercover in the school, and the principal was fed up with her, because it didn't seem she was gathering info, just hanging out and partying. And in the final episode, he was in a hospital while the school was having parent-teacher day. Parents were demanding to see the principal, and someone came to the hospital to try to get him released. I think he may have been having a mental breakdown, not a physical issue, because he was singing old show tunes and not responding to whoever was pleading with him. Then the picture went to freeze-frame right in the middle of a song, credits rolled and that was it.

So it was hardly awesome, but there were a lot of odd, to put it mildly, shows in that era. Does anyone else remember?

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