Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Mr. Iglesias’ On Netflix, Where Gabriel Iglesias Plays A Fun High School Teacher

Everyone remembers their favorite teacher from high school. And many a sitcom was built around that favorite teacher and the class that he or she connects with the most. The latest is Mr. Iglesias, a starring vehicle for veteran standup comedian Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias. Is it good enough to stick with for the show’s entire term?

MR. IGLESIAS: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: Gabe Iglesias (Gabriel Iglesias) talks to his history class on the last day of school. “Let’s go over all of American History in the last five minutes.”

The Gist: Gabe is one of Woodrow Wilson High School’s best teachers, because he uses his natural sense of humor to teach lessons about things like the Monroe Doctrine to students that are talented but underachieving. But he keeps them engaged with bits about how Monroe was the first president to not wear a powdered wig. His best student, Marisol (Cree Cicchino), even gives him a model VW Bus on the last day, to commemorate the road trip Gabe is going to take in his bus that summer.

Gabe gets along well with principal Paula Madison (Sherri Shepherd) and his fellow history department teachers: His old buddy Tony Ochoca (Jacob Vargas), whom he used to get in trouble with when they went to Wilson High together, and the overachieving rookie teacher Abigail Spencer (Maggie Geha). And the teachers are trying to raise money for Ray Hayward (Richard Gant), who has been at the school forever, to get a new hip.

The only one he doesn’t get along with is vice principal Carlos Hernandez (Oscar Nuñez), as weaselly bureaucrat who wants to “counsel out” (i.e. expel) many of his students, even Marisol, for grade, attendance and discipline issues, in order to get the school’s average scores up for the next round of funding. When Gabe sadly suggests the program should be called “Some Children Left Behind,” Carlos eagerly scribbles it down and says, “That’s not bad.” Gabe appeals to Paula to let him take the students about to be expelled and try to get them through summer school, sacrificing his vacation.

Our Take: Mr. Iglesias is one of those shows that would have fit very well in ABC’s TGIF lineup back in the day. It’s rated TV-14, but aimed firmly towards the family segment; a traditional four-camera sitcom performed in front of a life audience, it has all the hallmarks of sitcoms like Welcome Back, Kotter, Boy Meets World, Head of the Class and all the other ones that were mostly school-based and had a large teen (or young adults playing teens) cast. There’s a lot about it that’s groan-inducing. But we found ourselves laughing a lot during the first episode, and most of that is thanks to Iglesias, who is an executive producer along with creator Kevin Hench (Last Man Standing).

If anyone has seen Iglesias’ standup over the years, they know that the man who calls himself “Fluffy” is a jovial, self-deprecating presence who has a talent for using his voice to make some jokes even funnier. He does that here, doing things like a dramatic, British-like voice to make a joke, a teenage girl voice at some point, and other voices. But he’s just a generally funny dude, and Hench has worked with enough standups (he also wrote for Cristela Alonzo’s underrated ABC sitcom) to give them room to do their thing. And with each episode clocking in at around 30 minutes instead of the traditional 22, there’s plenty of time to let Fluffy be Fluffy.

It also helps that he’s got sitcom vets like Shepherd, Gant and Nuñez on board. Shepherd in particular makes for a good foil/friend for Iglesias, and when that’s paired with Paula’s distress over her crummy love life, it makes her character one that will likely grow into something good as the season goes along.

We’re not sure what to think of the student characters yet. They’re all pretty much caricatures, but as the show goes along, there will be more stories focusing on them and their characters should get more fleshed out.

Sex and Skin: Not that kind of show.

Parting Shot: Gabe, Paula, Abby, Roy and Tony all get drunk at a bar to celebrate the end of the school year, and they take a picture of themselves going nuts only an hour after their first drink.

Sleeper Star: Gloria Aung plays Grace, a nerdy hacker who is so shy she speaks through her computer to everyone except Gabe. She seems especially obsessed with Paula’s dating profiles (she’s even on Farmers Only) and her pathetic love life.

Most Pilot-y Line: When Gabe promises Marisol he’s going to get someone to take care of the letters, she says, “Oh my god, are you going to jump Hernandez?”

Our Call: STREAM IT. Mr. Iglesias is a classic sitcom you can watch with your family and get some good laughs along the way, thanks to Iglesias and the show’s fine cast.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, VanityFair.com, Playboy.com, Fast Company’s Co.Create and elsewhere.

Stream Mr. Iglesias on Netflix