Dangerous Minds

:

Season 1
  • Network: ABC
  • Series Premiere Date: Sep 30, 1996
Metascore
65

Generally favorable reviews - based on 16 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 16
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 16
  3. Negative: 1 out of 16

Critic Reviews

  1. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Howard Rosenberg
    May 27, 2014
    60
    Potts has some nice moments. Even an actress as able as she, though, ultimately buckles under the tonnage of this character's supremacy, and strong supporting work from Greg Serano, Tamala Jones and Vicellous Reon Shannon as the students she takes under her wing is not enough to shore her up. [30 Sept 1996, p.F10]
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  2. Chicago Tribune
    May 27, 2014
    60
    [Potts] plays Johnson a little stronger, a little grittier, a little more in control, than Pfeiffer did, and as a result is more believable. The series, too, is less of a simple-minded fable, incorporating a more detailed vision of the modern educational landscape, fleshing out Johnson's fellow faculty and having her rely less on teaching by bribe. [30 Sept 1996, p.3]
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  3. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Miles Beller
    May 27, 2014
    50
    Its efforts at grainy, gritty realism (e.g. a quality visually tried for in occasional stop-go cuts) comes off more as MTV hip-hop style than storytelling with true inherent significance. [30 Sept 1996]
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  5. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Caryn James
    May 27, 2014
    40
    If Dangerous Minds had really been interested in such thorny issues, it might have been onto something. Instead, the conversation simply serves to shine Ms. Johnson's halo. That's not exactly credible for a show that pretends to depict gritty reality. [30 Sept 1996, p.C16]
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  6. Baltimore Sun
    Reviewed by: Chris Kaltenbach
    May 27, 2014
    40
    Annie Potts (who's OK, but no Michelle Pfeiffer) is a teacher so good, so strong, so committed, you wonder if she's vulnerable to kryptonite. She also inhabits a fantasy world where she's able to stare down gang members and nonchalantly plant a kiss on the cheek of a sleeping student (wonder what the school-system lawyers in B'more would say). [30 Sept 1996, p.6D]
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