Evan Marquez (Brian Jordan Alvarez) is going through this right now.

The English teacher at a high school in a Texas suburb has recently split up with her boyfriend Malcolm (Jordan Firstman), is being investigated by the school board for kissing him in front of the students, doesn’t want to be a local queer hero, and is also expressly forbidden from dating other teachers, such as the attractive new employee Harry (Langston Kerman).

FX’s latest comedy stays true to its genre, with dialogue that makes you laugh, casually outrageous characters and scenarios that at first glance could be straight out of the sitcom handbook, but sharpened to a 2024 clip by Alvarez and fellow writers Stephanie Koenig, Jack Bender, Zach Dunn and Dave King. The jokes fly so fast they could be improvised, setting the bar from the first scene for a show that’s brimming with humor even when the plot goes off track.

“English Teacher” has been in the pipeline since summer 2022, when it was ordered as a pilot. Alvarez teamed up with “What We Do in the Shadows” showrunner Paul Simms as executive producer. Dave King and Jonathan Krisel also serve as executive producers and share directing duties with Alvarez and Koenig. Six of the eight episodes of the first season have been screened to critics.

But back to Evan’s very rough life. All of the above struggles are brought up in the pilot episode, ostensibly as a season one story arc – but they are (mostly) resolved by the end of the episode. Harry takes a backseat to Evan and his friends’ professional misadventures, and the following episodes revolve around various everyday struggles at school; the gender dynamics of Powderpuff, the sensibilities of teenagers in modern times, tricky political situations in the workplace (and in the real world), and an out-of-school trip.

The teen actors are genuinely hilarious but underused as the show pushes its title character into the spotlight a bit too forcefully, and a few parents sprinkled in later episodes are a mid-season treat worth the wait (the best seed planted in the premiere turns out to be angry mom Linda Harrison, a great Jenn Lyon). Fellow teachers Gwen (Koenig), Markey (Sean Patton), college counselor Rick (Carmen Christopher), and principal Grant (Enrico Colantoni) all steal scenes in their own ways, spicing each subplot with uniquely chaotic personalities and idiosyncrasies.

With so much eccentricity around him, Alvarez is tasked with making Evan a serious guy (hilarious!), and the character begins to feel out of place, unable to keep up with the level of geeks around him. Six episodes in, there’s still no clear story arc for the season (other than the ongoing subplot involving Gwen’s boyfriend building a pool “by hand,” a gift that never fails to delight). But “English Teacher” doesn’t lose sight of the students, and with it the fact that it’s important to learn, grow, and improve week to week over time. With a promising start, there’s still plenty of time to continue to explore the comedic potential.

Grade: B

“English Teacher” airs Mondays at 10 p.m. on FX and streams on Hulu.