Mr. Iglesias is an American comedy web television series that premiered on Netflix on June 21, 2019. The series stars Gabriel Iglesias, who executive produces alongside Kevin Hench, Joe Meloche, and Ron DeBlasio.
It follows the life of high school teacher Gabriel 'Gabe' Iglesias as he tries to make a difference in the lives of some smart but underperforming students at his alma mater Woodrow Wilson High School, who are in danger of being "counseled out" by a bully bureaucrat Assistant Principal, but also to help them unlock their full potential.
The show ran for two seasons, which made its debut in three parts on the streaming network. On July 2, 2021, Netflix announced that the show would not be renewed for a third season.
Mr. Iglesias contains examples of:
- Abhorrent Admirer: Among the students, Marisol regards Mikey this way. Abby also drops hints that she's less than enthused about Tony's interest in her, but Tony fails (or pretends to fail) to comprehend them.
- Academic Alpha Bitch: Whitney Carson from the honors class.
- Actor Allusion:
- Mr. Iglesias uses a lot of jokes and voices lifted from Gabriel Iglesias' stand-up act.
- When Carlos gets students signing up for his drama class he exclaims "Finally, a life outside the office!" Actor Oscar Nuñez played Oscar on The Office (US).
- The Alcoholic: Coach Dixon is never seen without a massive travel mug full of booze.
- Apathetic Teacher: Gabe's friend Tony is a lazy bum who puts the minimal possible effort into teaching history. The principal gives him the honours class hoping the students will bring out the best in 'him' rather than the other way around.
- Asian and Nerdy: Subverted with Grace, she was so shy at first she could only communicate with her computer. But she's actually a moderate student and a big fan of football. Coach Dixon once made a comment that he didn't think "her people" would like football, by which he meant "nerds."
- Aside Glance: Principal Madison mentions a time when she would sell things for a band. Gabe says there is nothing wrong with hawking merchandise as he looks at the camera and takes a sip out of a Netflix-branded mug.
- Bad "Bad Acting": Carlos is given an acting class to teach in the second season, and most of the student cast end up working to perform Romeo and Juliet. No one was expecting anything from the students and most of them do a passable job of playing inexperienced actors with flat delivery... except for Lorenzo, who is laughing during his lines and can be seen smiling and waving at his friends in the audience.
- Bigger Is Better in Bed: Abby's cheating boyfriend Danny is apparently so well-endowed that even Principal Paula is impressed.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: In the season finale, Gabe holds up a Netflix mug (with the old logo), and looks at the camera.
- Brilliant, but Lazy: Subverted with Marisol, she would normally be a straight A student but works several jobs that prevents her from doing schoolwork and attending classes she would otherwise crush. This makes her the uniformly smartest person in Gabe's remedial class, but she is far from Book Dumb.
- Casanova Wannabe: Tony is convinced he is a bona fide Latin Lover. He is anything but.
- The Cast Show Off: Mr. Iglesias is a popular teacher because he makes the classroom fun, making a lot of jokes and doing impressions. It lets Gabriel Iglesias channel his stand up act.
- Consistent Clothing Style: Abby is usually wearing a floral pattern.
- Conspiracy Theorist: There isn't a conspiracy theory that Lorenzo doesn't seem to believe in.
- Cool Old Guy: Ray Hayward. He taught Gabe and Tony when they were students at the school, and continues to do so as a more experienced teacher. He's the oldest teacher at the school and respected by everyone. Plus he was at Woodstock, so he's as cool as they come.
- Cool Teacher: The titular Mr. Iglesias is the kids' friend and mentor.
- Dance-Off: Happens in the holiday dance between the teachers and the students.
- Disappeared Dad: Walt's dad abandoned the family long ago. In season 3, Marisol's dad is revealed to have buggered off as well.
- Dogged Nice Guy: Mikey has a very obvious crush on Marisol, which she is aware of but sees him as harmless. On occasion it does lean into being creepily obsessive, but he does have immense respect and admiration for her. His sensitivity while making the Romeo and Juliet play leads her to kiss him for real during the performance, and he immediately forgets his lines.
- Dumb Is Good: Mikey. Poor, poor Mikey to a tee. He's consistently shown to be the slowest kid in the remedial class, without ever really understanding why everyone else is laughing at the things he says. He is however the sweetest kid you'll ever meet, and polite and respectful to all.
- Dumb Jock: Coach Dixon is a grown up version. He doesn't even know what the academic decathlon is.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: The first episode ends with all the teachers getting drunk at the end of the school year. But episode 4 establishes that Gabe is a recovering alcoholic who hasn't had a drink in 8 months.
- His drink is actually non-alcoholic. He explains that he doesn’t drink, so it’s likely that he was sober and just joined in with his drunk friends at the end of the episode.
- Enthusiastic Newbie Teacher: Abby still has her idealism intact.
- Even the Guys Want Him: Abby's ex boyfriend Danny (played by Joel McHale) comes to town to win her back, and even though they are concerned for what is best for Abby just about everyone is enamored with him because of his rugged, masculine looks and joyful attitude winning everyone over.
- Evil Teacher: Assistant Principal Carlos Hernandez, a weaselly bureaucrat who wants nothing more than to “counsel out” (i.e. expel) many of the under-performing kids and make the lives of the students miserable. It's suggested he turned cynical after the theater program, which he headed, was cut.
- The Gambling Addict: Tony is constantly in money problems because he has a gambling problem.
- Genki Girl: Abby is always bursting with energy and excitement, no matter the situation.
- Goshdang It To Heck: Abby gets a lot of mileage out of this trope, as she technically doesn't swear, but between her body language and inflection she might as well.MOTHER... flowers!!Oh... suck a DICTIONARY!!!Don't you DARE... you mother-plucking son of a biscuit!!!
- Heel Realization: Gabe gets Carlos to back down on the clear backpack issue by making him realize that he is acting the same way as the tyrannical regime in Carlos' native Cuba.
- High-School Dance: The last episode of Part 3 centers around the school's holiday dance.
- Hot for Teacher: Mikey had to give an oral report to Abby while she was letting her hair down and stretching out her back. Gabe had to defend Mikey's performance by explaining this trope.
- Hot Teacher: Abby is quite pretty but didn't realize that she was distracting the students with the way she was stretching, doing it during an oral exam Mikey is completely discombobulated.
- Innocent Fanservice Girl: Of the kid-friendly kind. Abby had to judge student oral reports immediately after learning her boyfriend was cheating on her, she's normally not flirty but being distracted she was emphasizing her figure and letting down her hair in an accidentally seductive way to high school students.
- Limited Wardrobe: Most teachers have a flexible wardrobe, but Gabe consistently wears a school polo shirt and shorts to work. It's a running gag that he refuses to wear pants.
- Minnesota Nice: Abby is from South Dakota, but is otherwise every bit as chipper and friendly as you would expect.
- Mistaken for Racist: Coach Dixon often makes comments that appear very racist but are not. They aren't necessary nice or subtle, but at least not racist.
- Name One: Gabe and Marisol have a discussion about the word "Latinx":Gabe: Is it even proper Spanish? Or English? I bet you can't even tell me a word that ends in N-X.Marisol: Jinx, lynx, minx.[Beat]Gabe: Okay, a fourth word.Marisol: Pharynx, larynx, phalanx.Gabe: English department is killing it.
- New Meat: Abby is the newest and most naïve teacher at Woodrow Wilson High School.
- Obliviously Evil: Abby has no idea she was a bully in high-school. Even after Gabe and Tony try to explain this to her, she still doesn't get it.
- Oddly Small Organization: Woodrow Wilson High School is shown to occupy a sizeable campus but only two administrators and four teachers are regularly seen (occasionally boosted by two recurring extras and a football coach) while the student body consists of only a couple hundred students who can all fit in a moderately sized auditorium.
- Official Couple: Two couples unusually, one for the students and one for the faculty. Mikey and Marisol pair up in season 3 (students), as do Gabe and Jackie (teachers). If that weren't enough there are hints in the season 3 finale that Abby is finally being won over by Tony (teachers), and that Walt's atrocious come-ons to Whitney (students) are bearing fruit which would lead to four official couples in total.
- Product Placement: Characters are shown using Microsoft Surface products.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Carlos may be a pretentious control freak, but as shown with Mikey's oral exam, he'll give a student a second shot at an important test if given a good explanation, and even if he wants them expelled, he'll give them a fair and unbiased assessment.
- Recovered Addict: Gabe is a recovering alcoholic who regularly attends AA meetings.
- Sitcom Archnemesis: Mr. Hernandez, for the entire school it seems.
- Soapbox Sadie: Marisol is so committed to so many causes that she sometimes gets even on Mr. Iglesias' nerves. Exaggerated when she uses sociopolitical nagging as her talent for the school talent show.
- Statuesque Stunner: Besides being one of the tallest characters in the show at 5' 10'', making her taller than Gabe, Abby is gorgeous enough to drive students to distraction.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: After two loooooong seasons of being a piteous love-sick dope, Mikey gets a kiss from Marisol. They're a couple throughout the whole of the next season.
- Token White: Being set in a poor southern California neighborhood, the focus is mostly on a Hispanic and black cast. Among the main cast of teachers, Abby is the only white character. Among the main cast of students, Walt is the only white character. Both are redheads.
- Work Com: Centered entirely around the teachers at a high school. They have a Local Hangout but it shows almost nothing of their own homes. We've only seen Gabe's home once.
- Worse with Context: Abby tells the other teachers that Paula was banned from DeBlasio's because she dumped a margarita on a guy.Ray: Oh, big deal, she does that twice a month.Abby: It was a flaming margarita.
