The class.
Simmer! Simmer! Simmer down, students!Mrs. Munger's Class was a series of 90-second shorts directed by Tim Maloney that aired between commercial breaks on Disney's One Saturday Morning block on ABC from 1997 to 1998. It is a yearbook page of students and their exasperated teacher exchanging funny insults and dialogue. Each student had a different personality to go along with his or her portrait.
Actual school portraits were used for the characters, though distorted and manipulated to avoid clearing personality rights. Despite this, it still eventually led to a class-action lawsuit against Disney from the teacher and four of her former students whose portraits were used in the show.
A TV pilot for a potential prime-time series was commissioned by ABC, but was not picked up due to the aforementioned lawsuit. It would remain unreleased until Maloney released it on an unofficial DVD he sells on his personal website. It can be viewed here.
After the lawsuit, Maloney created Centerville, which used the same premise of talking student photos.
Episodes from both shows can be watched here.
This show contains examples of:
- Art Evolution: There are a few subtle improvements in season 2, including a better bus animation and full bodies for the characters. Some of the students even sport new looks, with Cissy and Lance sporting new haircuts and Gordon getting a new 'picture'. The outside of the school is also changed a bit, including some trees in the background and a new title card on the school sign.
- Big Eater: Grace, who is known to barbecue in class.
- Butt-Monkey: Grace is often picked on, usually because of her weight. She bites back with "cut it out!" It barely works.
- Canon Foreigner: Mr. Nort, Mrs. Munger's neighbor and love interest, was created exclusively for the unreleased TV pilot, alongside Mr. Swain, the school's vice principal.
- Both Brad and the Taco Freeze also technically make their debuts in this pilot before being transplanted into Centerville.
- Captain Obvious: Most of Cissy's tattling is stating the obvious of even the littlest things.
- Catchphrase: Many characters have one.
- Mrs. Munger: "Simmer! Simmer!", and variants thereof.
- Grace: "Cut it out!"
- George and George: "WE'RE NOT TWINS!"
- Mahoot: "What?"
- Gordon: "Olé!"
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Half the class.
- Or better yet, anyone who isn't Dawn or Yvonne.
- Comically Missing the Point: In "Gerald the Gerbil", Mrs. Munger announces that Gerald has "passed away". The Georges are oblivious to what this means, prompting the class to mess with their heads until Mrs. Munger finally says flat out he's dead.
- A Day in the Limelight: The Georges get a subplot all to their own in the TV pilot about sneaking out to see an R-rated movie. Grace gets a minor one, being stuck in her locker for most of the episode and is integral to Mr. Swain learning about Mrs. Munger and Mr. Nort's relationship.
- Early-Installment Weirdness
- In the first few episodes, Gordon is played by an unknown male voice actor instead of Cree Summer.
- The Georges have deeper voices early on.
- Mahoot's voice has a higher and raspy voice.
- Flat "What": Mahoot.
- Funny Background Event: In "Fire Drill", Theodore is enamored with Coach Susan's firefighter helmet, repeatedly stating he wants to wear it. By the end of the short, Theodore can be seen leaving with the hat on once the bell rings.
- Goth: Implied with Karyn, who often says death-related words and has a morbid sense of humor.
- Got Me Doing It: In "Spelling Bee", Mrs. Munger responds to Theodore's attempt to spell "gather" in which he lists most of the alphabet by sarcastically suggesting that he left out a letter... "Olé!"
- Hidden Depths: The two times Mahoot said something besides "What?" During an oral report he said a complex sentence praising the diversity of America. Another time, he gave a sympathetic "Oh." when Dawn revealed her Freudian Excuse for being a perfectionist and teacher suck-up.
- Kissing In A Tree: In "At the Museum," Mrs. Munger tells the kids in her class to buddy up for the museum trip. However, Mahoot ends up with no buddy, and when she asks him where his buddy is, he just does his routine of repeatedly asking "What?" She says that she'll be his buddy and the class sings the song, the two "S"es replaced with Mrs. Munger saying her Catchphrase "Simmer! Simmer!"
- Never Say "Die": In "Gerald the Gerbil", Mrs. Munger is forced to avert this trope because the Georges don't understand that "passed away" means "dead".
- Once per Episode: The whole series runs on running gags, but in the first season, Mahoot almost never leaves when the bell rings.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted. Two students are named George, and said aversion is played up to the point that they even look similar. This causes the class to forget they're not actually related, much to their annoyance.
- The TV pilot confirms they aren't really twins at all. They're actually next door neighbors...in very identical houses.
- Pig Latin: Lance speaks entirely in this manner, for example: when he is asked what he is dressed as for President's Day, he responds with "Omas-they Efferson-Jay!"
- The Quiet One: Rock, though he eventually starts talking (and sounding a lot like Yoda). He even reveals himself to be an alien after Mrs. Munger takes a sick leave and zaps all his classmates (except Lance, who is also an alien), then invites his alien friends. This, however, turns out to be a daydream as Rock is awoken by Mrs. Munger, who is revealed to be his mom. However, this, too, is a dream as a delirious Mrs. Munger wakes up.
- Ruder and Cruder: The pilot episode for the prime time series gets away with a number of things you couldn't get away with on a Saturday morning block, including mild swearing and a subplot about the Georges sneaking into an R-rated movie (complete with partial nudity).
- Speech Impediment: Theodore has a very bad stutter. He frequently gets called upon to answer questions regardless.
- Straw Feminist: Yvonne.Mrs. Munger: Yvonne, please spell the word, "woman". "Woman".Yvonne: Woman. O-P-P-R-E-S-S-E-D. Woman.
- Suddenly Voiced: Played with with Mahoot, who usually only says "What?" when spoken to. When he and Dawn partner for an oral report Mahoot, without warning delivers a few very profound and articulate words about the United States of America as the conclusion to their report. Even though he goes straight back to his usual verbal tic, Mrs. Munger is absolutely floored when he does this.
- Synchro-Vox: A digital variation. Instead of recording real human lips, the mouthes were digitally manipulated so that they appeared to talk.
- Teacher's Pet: Dawn, who sits right next to Mrs. Munger. She even calls the rest of the class "the children".
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Dawn attempts to take charge of the class in "Rock's Song" when Mrs. Munger is forced to step out. This prompts Rock to end his silence and use his alien powers to zap her and anyone who questions his command until only he and Lance remain. Turns out it was all a dream though.
- Verbal Tic: Gordon often ends his words with Olé!
- Visual Pun: Combined with Freeze-Frame Bonus. When Theodore gets zapped by Rock in "Rock's Song" and briefly appears as a skeleton, an "MT" is visible where his brain is. His brain is empty.
- Whole-Plot Reference: The TV pilot is one to Romeo and Juliet. Mrs. Munger and Mr. Nort are in a secret relationship, but vice-principal Mr. Swain forbids it because Mr. Nort is a teacher at a rival school. Fittingly enough, Romeo and Juliet is being taught by Mrs. Munger to the class throughout the episode.
