by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer

Rave reviews by the New York Times and Time Magazine greeted the Sept. 2 premiere of FX’s “English Teacher,” with Time calling the series, “The year’s best new sitcom.” Brian Jordan Alvarez who wrote, directed, and stars in “English Teacher” attended Broadview Elementary, St. Andrew’s-Sewanee School, and the University, while Theater Department Chair Jim Crawford, returning to film acting after a 20-year hiatus, plays a pompous educator in episode seven — with a secret not to be revealed until the episode screens.

When the Messenger last talked with Alvarez in 2018, he had high hopes for his role as Estefan in the season’s final episode of “Will and Grace.” The audience loved him, and the writers wrote him into the script as a regular for the next two seasons.

What else has Alvarez been up to? Currently, Alvarez is in New Zealand filming for the sequel to M3GAN. “I joined the M3GAN franchise in the role of Cole. I play an engineer in these films,” Alvarez said. “I’ve also been doing a ton of animation voices and a lot of my own characters online. Making “English Teacher” has taken up a lot of my time, but it’s been some of the most fun I’ve ever had!”

In the series, Alvarez plays Evan Marquez, an English teacher at an Austin, Texas high school. “When I was conceiving of the show, I thought a public high school was an interesting environment because people from every part of life have to come together for a common goal of educating the students,” Alvarez explained. “There’s a lot of comedy that you can find in that space. I chose Austin because I love Austin, but also because it’s a liberal bubble inside a more conservative place. Similar to the way Sewanee is in Tennessee.”

Crawford submitted an audition tape for his role in the series electronically. In the 90s in New York City, Crawford frequently played small roles in soap operas. “For many years I stopped pursuing film and television because I was so busy doing theater acting, teaching, and parenting,” he conceded. And he pointed to another complication — “You used to have to go into the studio for an audition.” Technology changed that. Crawford has an agent who sends him leads on roles he might like, and he creates an audition tape in the University studio, frequently working with Elizabeth Shipps who reads lines off camera.

The audition description for “English Teacher” invited improv, and Crawford embellished on the few lines in the script. “His audition tape was wonderful, so we cast him!” said Alvarez. Crawford plays a pompous speaker at a teachers’ conference who expounds on the depressing business of being an educator. Filming took place in one long 12-hour day where Crawford got to watch the leads perform. “I realized they do a lot of improv on this show. They tape it and just throw ideas at one another,” Crawford said. “It’s a very creative environment. When we were filming my stuff, Brian started throwing lines at me, and we went on a kind of extended improvisation. Camera used to make me more nervous than theater acting, but this was great fun. A film set is like a small city of 100 to 200 people, and everyone on the set was friendly and efficient. That’s a tribute to Brian. He has so much creative energy and generosity.” The episode’s secret? “I won’t know until I see it on TV what made it in there,” Crawford confessed. “If there’s anything about my disastrous divorce, that’s all improv.” [And, author’s note, all fiction.]

“Tune in!” Alvarez said. “Jim was a pleasure to work with and has lots of funny stuff that made the cut!”

Crawford described the series as “looking at the comic lives of teachers.” But he added, “The best comedies are about something serious. “English Teacher” is about the tensions around contemporary issues.”

Crawford’s observation echoes the reviews. “English Teacher” strikes “a savvy balance between funny character beats and timely observations from the increasingly politicized realm of public education,” Judy Berman writes in Time Magazine. “‘English Teacher’ is one of the first TV shows to authentically depict [the] clash of worldviews … between earnest millennials and nihilistic zoomers.”

“English Teacher” airs on the FX Channel on Mondays at both 10 p.m. Eastern and 10 p.m. Pacific time. Jim Crawford appears in the episode screening Oct. 7. There might just be a reason to no longer dread Mondays. (Viewers who miss “English Teacher” on Monday, don’t despair. “English Teacher” also airs Tuesday on Hulu, the day after the FX screening.)