Mrs. Munger's Class

Mrs. Munger's Class
Directed by	Tim Maloney
Starring	Peter Hastings Rob Paulsen Cree Summer C.J. Arabia Melissa Samuels Brett Bauer
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	41
Production
Running time	90 seconds
Original release
Network	One Saturday Morning on ABC
Release	September 13, 1997 (1997-09-13) – December 19, 1998 (1998-12-19)

Mrs. Munger's Class is two seasons of brief, 90-second skits on Disney's One Saturday Morning on ABC that featured the talking heads of a middle school yearbook page. The kids in the photos would often exchange silly dialogue and insults, while Mrs. Munger would tell them to "Simmer down! Simmer! Simmer!" The camera would focus on whoever was speaking on one part of the yearbook page and quickly pan to follow the dialogue. Students would move between the pictures to interact with one another. The show was in black and white, but color was used on occasion (on field trips or to show cosmetics). The skits used Adobe After Effects and Photoshop to manipulate photographs from a school yearbook.^{[ citation needed ]}

Pilot

A 22-minute pilot was made in attempt to launch an extensive series, but was left unaired in the outcome of the lawsuit filed by the students. It notably contained brief uses of the word "damn" and a sub-plot about an R-rated movie. It also features Brad, a character used later for the series Centerville, which the same studio made after its cancellation. ^[1]

Controversy

Although the school portraits used in the show were manipulated, collaged, and otherwise altered, the plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit felt that there was still too much resemblance. As such, the plaintiffs claimed the photographs were used for entertainment without personality rights clearance. Mrs. Munger turned out to be Mrs. Kathleen Foresman, who had taught at Woodbridge Middle School in the Washington, D.C. suburb of Woodbridge, Virginia, in 1975 when her picture and those of her 6th grade students were taken for a page in a yearbook. She, and four of her former students, filed suit against Disney on December 23, 1998. ^[2] Edward Jackson, a computer engineer in San Diego, had learned that his likeness was being used after his 10-year-old niece brought the similarity to his attention. Jackson, a black kid, was outraged not only at the use of his photo, but at the "Buckwheat"-like speech pattern of the character. ^[3] The lawsuit was settled for undisclosed damages. After the lawsuit, Maloney created the short-lived skit series Centerville, which used the same premise of talking student photos. However, unlike its predecessor, the characters in Centerville were not confined to a yearbook page and appear in different settings.

Adult characters

• Mrs. Munger (voiced by Peter Hastings): The teacher. She regularly urges the class to "simmer" when things get out of hand. When things get too much out of hand, she yells out, “HEY!” Although often expressing frustration toward the class, she generally manages to take things in stride. Usually, each episode would end with her saying, "Good gravy!" or “Oh for the love of (insert object)!”
• Susan Weiner: The field hockey coach. Appears as a substitute teacher in "Substitute Teacher" and attempts to teach fire safety in "Fire Drill".
• Fern Berkowitz: A woman who teaches creative movement to the students in the episode "Creative Movement". Mrs. Munger and Fern were roommates at Chunkin College.
• Mrs. Yamaguchi: An Asian-American teacher from the next room, whom Rock mischievously telecommunicates with the class in the episode "Class Computer".
• Sven: A somewhat effeminate man with a European accent. He gives Mrs. Munger a makeover in "Make-Over".

Students

In order from top left to bottom right:

• Lance (voiced by David Finkel): Speaks only in Pig Latin. Apart from Cissy tattling, no one acknowledges this.
• Gordon (voiced by Cree Summer): Gordon generally utters sassy comebacks and one-liners. He finishes his quotes with "ole!"
• Karyn (voiced by C.J. Arabia): She is obsessed with death.
• Artie (voiced by Brett Bauer): A New Jersey kid. Most of his statements are very simple, or even unrelated to the topic at hand. When asked to interpret an art piece, for example, he responds with "I'm hungry and my feet hurt".
• Dawn (voiced by Melissa Samuels): The class kiss-up, who reveals that she is overcompensating for her parents that travel a lot. She often refers to her fellow students as "the children". Her portrait is located directly next to Mrs. Munger's. She is also implied to be Jewish during the Christmas episode.
• Cissy (voiced by C.J. Arabia): The tattletale. In field trip episodes, she often wears her girl scout uniform, numbered "666".
• Yvonne (voiced by Cree Summer): A black liberal feminist, in tune with modern art and high culture. Her responses usually pertain to oppression, social injustice and other common feminist complaints.
• Grace (voiced by Melissa Samuels): She is the figurative punching bag of the class. She generally says "Cut it out!"
• Theodore (voiced by Peter Hastings): A generally clueless student who stalls, stutters and takes forever to answer a question, even then almost always giving the wrong answer.
• Rock (voiced by David Finkel): The class nerd. He doesn't talk until late season 1, but only in object–subject–verb-style (Yoda speak). Rock is friends with Lance and in the "Creative Movement" episode implies that he believes himself to be from another planet.
• Amanda (voiced by C.J. Arabia): A flower child. She likes to sing or recite poetry. Most of her lines are sung.
• Phoebe (voiced by Melissa Samuels): Prone to random outbursts, stares the rest of the time. She brings her mom's cosmetics to school in several Season 2 episodes.
• George and George (voiced by Brett Bauer): The trouble-makers who are both named George and look alike. When people call them twins, they always say, "We're not twins!"
• Mahoot (voiced by Brett Bauer): Mahoot's only usual line of dialog is a brief, throaty "what" whenever he is addressed. In 'Good Will Mahoot', he said an actual sentence, followed by "What" when a stunned Mrs. Munger asks him to repeat himself. In "Simmer Minute", the thoughts inside his head are radio interference noises.

Class pets

• Gerald the Gerbil is a deceased class pet.
• Rupert is a turtle. On his first day in the class, some of the students annoy him, and he retaliates by biting them.

One-time students

• Darryl: Mahoot's cousin, who appeared only in "Mahoot's Cousin". He also says only "What?" and is apparently dumber and weirder than Mahoot. He has a crush on Phoebe.
• Farquhar: A foreign exchange student from Sri Lanka. Only seen in "Exchange Student".

Episodes

Season 1

• Word Problem (09/13/1997)
• Origami (09/20/1997)
• Math, Sarcasm, and Paper (09/27/1997)
• The Curve (10/04/1997)
• En Espagnol (10/11/1997)
• Field Trip (10/18/1997)
• Halloween (10/25/1997)
• Permission Slips (11/01/1997)
• The Zoo (11/08/1997)
• Substitute Teacher (11/15/1997)
• Thanksgiving (11/22/1997)
• Rock's Song (11/29/1997)
• Oral Reports (12/06/1997)
• Spelling Bee (12/13/1997)
• Christmas (12/20/1997)
• Seeing Things (01/03/1998)
• The Pits (01/17/1998)
• Calisthenics (01/31/1998)
• President's Day (02/14/1998)
• Seating Chart (02/21/1998)
• Film Strip (02/28/1998)
• Mahoot's Cousin (03/07/1998)

Season 2

• Chemical Reaction (09/05/1998)
• Wild Blue Yonder (09/12/1998)
• Exchange Student (09/19/1998)
• Career Day (09/26/1998)
• Creative Movement (09/26/1998)
• Art Museum (10/03/1998)
• Fire Drill (10/10/1998)
• Aquarium (10/17/1998)
• Bake Sale (10/24/1998)
• Class Computer (10/24/1998)
• Class Pet (10/31/1998)
• Make-Over (11/07/1998)
• Tallest Building (11/14/1998)
• Simmer Minute (11/21/1998)
• Gerald the Gerbil (11/21/1998)
• Onomatopoeia (11/28/1998)
• Good Will Mahoot (12/05/1998)
• Girls' Room (12/12/1998)
• First Snow (12/19/1998)

References

1. "Mrs. Munger's Class Lost Pilot Episode". YouTube. May 14, 2022.
2. "Disney sued for using photos without permission," Syracuse Post-Standard, December 26, 1998, p A-5
3. "Defamation suit filed," The Stars and Stripes, December 27, 1998, p13