Tonight NBC is airing a special preview of the new comedy A.P. Bio. The series follows disgraced former Harvard philosophy professor Jack Griffin (Glenn Howerton, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia), who had a bit of a breakdown after his dream job was given to his rival. Jack moved back into his deceased mother’s home in Toledo, Ohio, and now works as an Advanced Placement Biology teacher at Whitlock High School. However, “works” is a bit of an exaggeration—Jack has no plans to actually do any teaching, and he makes this abundantly clear to his students from the minute he first walks into the classroom. Instead, Jack puts the students to work plotting ways to get revenge on his rival. While some of the students are OK with this arrangement, others are more eager to learn, and want to get rid of this joke of a teacher. Meanwhile, Principal Durbin (Patton Oswalt, Happy!, The Goldbergs) is aware of Jack’s activities, but is too much of a pushover to do anything about it.

I have only seen a handful of Always Sunny episodes, so I wasn’t that familiar with Glenn Howerton before watching tonight’s pilot. However, I thoroughly enjoyed his performance—he is really great as this obnoxious, care-free, disgruntled teacher who just doesn’t give a you-know-what, and Patton Oswalt is hilarious as the guy who’s supposed to have authority, but lets everyone walk all over him. The pilot just gives a brief introduction to the students, but some of them are really fun, and I look forward to exploring more of their backstories in future episodes. The show kind of reminded me of the UK series Bad Education, which also follows a young teacher who doesn’t follow the rules, and has a similar principal/teacher relationship. A.P. Bio comes from creator Mike O’Brien and executive producers Seth Meyers and Lorne Michaels, all of whom have worked on Saturday Night Live. I also checked out the show’s second episode, which I found to be even funnier than tonight’s premiere—I’m definitely in for the full term with this series!

In tonight’s premiere, “Pilot: Catfish”, Jack decides to use his students to enact revenge on his rival; Principal Durbin struggles to control Jack.

Tonight I’ll also be watching/recording Grey’s Anatomy, The Big Bang Theory, Young Sheldon, Life in Pieces, Superstore, The Good Place, Will & Grace, Arrow, Top Chef, and Beyond.

For additional suggestions on what to check out tonight/early tomorrow morning, including Chicago Fire & Absentia, check out the If We Controlled Your Remote… 2/1/18 post at TVisMyPacifier.com.