The Education of Max Bickford

I like Richard Dreyfuss; I think he is a great actor, close to the caliber and style of Paul Newman, but not as intense as Robert de Niro or Jack Nicholson. You might remember Dreyfuss from such classics as "Jaws" and "The Graduate", but I mostly remember him from "Always" (1989), directed by Steven Spielberg.

However, from now on, I'll remember Dreyfuss as professor Max Bickford, from the TV series "The Education of Max Bickford" (TEOMB. Its a great tv series, different from everything else currently available, but completely dependent on the main character (Max), at least until mid season.

These are 22 first season episodes (years 2001 and 2002):

Pilot (Originally Aired 9/23/2001)
Herding Cats (Originally Aired 9/30/2001)
Who Is Breckenridge Long? (Originally Aired 10/14/2001)
Hearts And Minds (Originally Aired 10/21/2001)
In The Details (Originally Aired 10/28/2001)
Do It Yourself (Originally Aired 11/11/2001)
Revisionism (Originally Aired 11/18/2001)
A Very Great Man (Originally Aired 12/2/2001)
It's Not The Wrapping, It's The Candy (Originally Aired 12/9/2001)
The Good, The Bad And The Lawyers (Originally Aired 1/6/2002)
Save The Country (Originally Aired 1/13/2002)
The Cost Of Living (Originally Aired 1/20/2002)
I Never Schlunged My Father (Originally Aired 1/27/2002)
Money Changes Everything (Originally Aired 2/24/2002)
Genesis (Originally Aired 3/3/2002)
An Open Book (Originally Aired 3/10/2002)
Past, Present, Future (Originally Aired 3/17/2002)
Murder Of The First (Originally Aired 3/31/2002)
The Bad Girl (Originally Aired 4/14/2002)
The Egg And I (Originally Aired 4/21/2002)
One More Time (Originally Aired 5/12/2002)
The Pursuit Of Happiness (Originally Unaired)

I don't know if there'll be a second season, but I hope it will. I can remember of, at least, one superior show that has been canceled - "Get Real" - so only future can tell. TEOMB has one advantage over "Get Real" - it has Dreyfuss's BIG name backing it up. This TEOMB's strength is hard to manage: if the series gives too much room for other characters, then Dreyfuss will fade and so may the investors; if Dreyfuss gets too much relevance, as it slightly does until episodes around #12... then the show will feel Bickford-o-centric and the other actors and actresses won't really be able to build solid characters. So, it is a delicate balance that I believe is very successful, until now.

Marcia Gay Harden plays Andrea Haskell, once a Bickford's student, now a teacher at the same women-only college.

Eric Ian Goldberg is Lester: Bickford's 13 year old son.
Katee Sackhoff is Nell: Bickford's 19 year old daughter, studying at the same college where her father teaches, but being an internal student.

Helen Shaver is Erica Bettis, a character that the series tries to evaporate, throughout the first season. Bettis once was a man (a great friend of Bickford), then he changed gender... and got back to teaching. It is a too unusual person that doesn't fit right on TEOMB.

Bickford is a troubled man. He failed a promotion and he carries a heavy (drinking) past, that costed his wife's life, on a car crash... Since after such terrible event, Max tries to reorganize himself and manages to: he quits drinking, he becomes head of his teaching department, and he does reasonably well as a parent of two. The series is all about this "new" person, his academic life and how he deals with his children.
Simple, sometimes beautiful; always entertaining.

There is an episode guide for the series @ EpisodeGuides.com.