Drexell's Class

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American sitcom

title: "Drexell's Class" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1990s-american-school-television-series", "1990s-american-sitcoms", "1990s-american-workplace-comedy-television-series", "1991-american-television-series-debuts", "1992-american-television-series-endings", "elementary-school-television-series", "american-english-language-television-shows", "television-series-about-educators", "television-series-by-20th-century-fox-television", "television-shows-set-in-iowa", "fox-broadcasting-company-sitcoms"] description: "American sitcom" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drexell's_Class" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American sitcom ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox television"]

Field	Value
genre	Sitcom
creator	[Andrew Nicholls
Darrell Vickers](andrew-nicholls-and-darrell-vickers)
writer	{{Ubl
director	{{Ubl
starring	Dabney Coleman
theme_music_composer	Kurt Farquhar
composer	{{Ubl
country	United States
language	English
num_seasons	1
num_episodes	18
executive_producer	{{Ubl
producer	Marsha Posner-Williams
runtime	30 minutes
company	{{Ubl
channel	Fox
first_aired
last_aired
::

|image = |caption = |genre = Sitcom |creator = Andrew Nicholls Darrell Vickers |writer = {{Ubl | Bill Boulware | Eric Brand | Ralph R. Farquhar | Jim Herzfeld | Phil Kellard | Wayne Kline | Robert Kurtz | Tom Moore | Andrew Nicholls | Darrell Vickers | George Zateslo |director = {{Ubl | Matthew Diamond | Dick Martin | Gino Tanasescu | John Tracy |starring = Dabney Coleman |theme_music_composer = Kurt Farquhar |composer = {{Ubl | Rich Eames | Scott Gale |country = United States |language = English |num_seasons = 1 |num_episodes = 18 |executive_producer = {{Ubl | Phil Kellard | Tom Moore | David A. Neuman |producer = Marsha Posner-Williams |runtime = 30 minutes |company = {{Ubl | Grantwood Productions | 20th Century Fox Television |channel = Fox |first_aired = |last_aired =

Drexell's Class is an American sitcom that aired Thursday at 8:30 on Fox as part of its 1991–92 lineup. The show was created by Andrew Nicholls and Darrell Vickers.

Synopsis

Dabney Coleman is Otis Drexell, a fifth-grade teacher at fictional Grantwood Elementary School in Cedar Bluffs, Iowa. Drexell was a divorced father living with his two daughters, the boy crazy Melissa (A. J. Langer), who dated happy, dim-witted Slash (Phil Buckman), and the levelheaded, mature Brenda (Brittany Murphy). His sarcastic, cynical and manipulative ways made it easier to deal with his class. Drexell's backstory revealed he was a corporate raider who lost a large amount of money on a failed venture, dodged his taxes, and was arrested. At his sentencing, he was offered a suspended sentence if he served as a teacher at the understaffed school to pay off his back taxes. The cast also included two antagonists, the smug rival teacher Roscoe Davis (Dakin Matthews), who enjoyed putting Drexell down, claiming he had a better class of students, and principal Francine Itkin (Randy Graff), who thought Drexell was incompetent and couldn't control his class. Itkin later had a nervous breakdown and was replaced by shrewd principal Marylin Ridge (Edie McClurg).

One of Drexell's few friends was P.E. teacher George Foster (Cleavant Derricks), who shared Drexell's love of sports and beer. Early episodes focused on Drexell's unwillingness to teach his students lessons by the book, while later episodes focused more on his life outside of school and his attempts to be a good father. On one occasion, Drexell's ex-wife made an appearance; Drexell hoped she would remarry so he could stop paying alimony.

Cast

Dabney Coleman as Otis Drexell
Randy Graff as Principal Francine E. Itkin
Dakin Matthews as Roscoe Davis
Jason Biggs as Willie Trancas
Heidi Zeigler as Nicole Finnigan
Damian Cagnolatti as Kenny Sanders
Matthew Lawrence as Walker
A. J. Langer as Melissa Drexell
Brittany Murphy as Brenda Drexell
Edie McClurg as Principal Marilyn Ridge
Cleavant Derricks as George Foster
Phil Buckman as Slash
Jacqueline Donnelly as Bernadette
Matthew Slowik as Lionel

Episodes

Awards and nominations

::data[format=table]

Year	Award	Title of work	Recipient
1991	Young Artist Awards	Outstanding Young Ensemble Cast in a Television Series
1991	Young Artist Awards	Best Young Actor Guest Starring or Recurring Role in a TV Series	Michael Oliver
1991	Young Artist Awards	Best Young Actor Guest Starring or Recurring Role in a TV Series	Brandon Quintin Adams
::

In popular culture

The Simpsons made light of the show's cancellation in their 1992 "Treehouse of Horror III" episode with a "graveyard of cancelled shows". A tombstone of Drexell's Class is featured alongside tombstones of Fish Police, Capitol Critters, and Family Dog.
An early episode of the show had a montage of historically accurate flags, from the Red Ensign of Colonial America and showing how the American flag changed, with the current 50-star flag marked "1991" followed by the flag of Japan marked "2000". This had been criticized by Asian-American groups and the Veterans of Foreign Wars who considered that to be a joke in poor taste.
Tupac Shakur and Digital Underground appeared and performed on the show in a cameo appearance.

References

Brooks, Tim and Marsh, Earle, The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows

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