Joe's TV List Gets the Hook

#48: Boston Public
(FOX, 2000-2004)

During its too-brief run, this show espoused plenty of liberal causes, but to conservative fans, every week was a brilliantly articulated advertisement for school vouchers. You want guns? Racism? Gay-bashing? Underage sex? Drugs sold out of lockers? You got ’em! Actual Boston accents? Not so much. Despite its wild mood swings and occasional outright nuttiness, it made for great TV — until FOX banished the show to the Friday night death pool and then pulled the plug altogether. Chi McBride eventually resurfaced on The Nine, playing a bank manager taken hostage by armed robbers, probably thinking throughout the entire three or four episodes, “Hey! This is just like my last job!” That’s Winslow High, all right — a place where every child gets left behind.