Where Glenn Howerton goes, chaotic characters and dark humor follow. The title of his 2018 show “A.P. Bio” may sound like your run-of-the-mill teen high school series, but it’s much more unhinged than that — in the best way possible.
Howerton’s character Jack Griffin joins the ranks of Whitlock High after getting axed as Harvard’s philosophy professor. Rather than accepting his fate as an A.P. Bio teacher in Ohio, Jack isn’t particularly interested in teaching his students anything. Instead, he forces them to join his plight for vengeance against his rival who replaced him — and anyone else who gets on Jack’s bad side. Rather than typical teen show students, the A.P. Bio class is filled with loveable weirdos.
While it's unique in its own right, there are plenty of shows like "A.P. Bio" to dive into once you’re finished binging it on Netflix.
'Community'
Jack Griffin and Joel McHale’s “Community” character Jeff Winger would be fast friends. Like Jack, Joel faces a career setback that ousts him from his field. Jeff’s suspension forces him to enroll in community college to make up for the fact that he lied about having a bachelor’s degree.
The charismatic and washed-up lawyer pulls similar schemes to Jack, as he becomes the ringleader of an eccentric group of friends of all ages, including Britta (Gillian Jacobs), Abed (Danny Pudi), Troy (Donald Glover), Annie (Alison Brie), (Yvette Nicole Brown) and Pierce (Chevy Chase). Meanwhile, Principal Ben Chang (Ken Jeong) is uncomfortably desperate for friends and his eager-to-please personality makes him an easy target for Jeff to manipulate.
The show aired from 2009 to 2015, and it’s set to fulfill the long-running joke that predicted “six seasons and a movie.” Dark, uncomfortable, and mildly offensive humor runs rampant with the characters which, again, works because we’re not meant to like many of the characters.
Watch on Peacock
'Bad Education'
The title tells you pretty much all you need to know about the BBC show’s premise. "Bad Education" kicks off by centering on the young, immature and frankly terrible teacher Alfie (Jack Whitehall), whose behavior is even more childish than his students half of the time.
Like Jack, he’s not particularly interested in actually teaching his classes. Alfie, too, likes to use his students as his personal minions to get out of jams of his own making. But honestly, that might be preferable to his teaching style — like orchestrating a seance to summon the spirits of dictators and war reenactments in class.
On top of playing the show’s original lead, Jack Whitehall created the series alongside Ben Cavey. The series has a bit of a confusing release timeline. It launched in 2012 and originally concluded in 2014. After that, fans were treated to a reunion special in 2022 and began airing new seasons in 2023, which are still ongoing.
Watch on Prime Video
'Vice Principals'
How many vice principals does it take to run a school? Two, apparently. “Vice Principals” centers on two self-important vice principal hopefuls: Neal Gamby (Danny McBride) and Lee Russell (Walter Goggins). Neal is divorced, and there’s no shocker there, as he’s a power-hungry disciplinarian who always has to be in control. Meanwhile, Walter is an equally dislikable character as a deceptive politician with sociopathic tendencies who teams up with Neal to … rule a school? Can someone say, "peaked in high school"?
Of course, no one really wants them in the position and they have to duke it out with Dr. Brown (Kimberly Hébert Gregory). On top of the scheming hilarity of the main characters, the show even brings in a masked killer angle, which ups the ante in a way we don’t often see in these kinds of school-based shows.
Watch on Max
'The Mick'
When it comes to degenerate out-of-their-depth characters, Kaitlin Olsen’s Mackenzie in “The Mick” matches Jack’s energy to a T as she becomes the guardian of her sister’s three kids after their parents get arrested for embezzling. Let’s just say she’s not very good at it. It’s not all bad, though. Like Jack, her sometimes twisted way of viewing the world genuinely helps the kids work through whatever kid or teen crisis they’re going through.
The outrageous factor in this particular show is pretty high, but we’d expect nothing less from the “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” actress. The dark humor in “The Mick” has had me wheezing at times, but sadly, the two-season show never quite got the traction it deserved. Between a 7-year-old becoming a pyro and a slightly moronic teen chopping off five fingers (honestly, how?), the stories are just wild enough to work.
Watch on Hulu
'It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia'
When you think about it, you could argue that the “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” gang are hot-mess grownup versions of some of the archetypes we see in the "A.P. Bio" kids. We’re not meant to like these characters — which is precisely what makes the show’s dark humor and largely offensive plotlines work.
The show centers on a group of “friends” who are a little too selfish to really earn that qualifier. They run Paddy’s Pub: a bar that never seems to have any patrons. Instead of focusing on their actual business, they get embroiled in scheme after scheme with zero consideration for anyone who gets in the crosshairs of their get-rich-quick scams.
Howerton not only plays the sociopathic Dennis Reynolds, but he created the show alongside Rob McElhenney (Mac). The rest of the gang includes Dennis’ twin Dee (Kaitlin Olson), Charlie (Charlie Day), and Dee and Dennis’ dad Frank (Danny DeVito). Naturally, Frank usually instigates the chaos and scheming of each episode. The long-running 2005 show must be doing something right with 17 seasons under its belt. I can personally attest to the show making me laugh so hard that it’s sparked an asthma attack once or twice. Honestly? Worth it.
Watch on Hulu
