Rating Onscreen Professors: The Good, The Bad and The Stoned

Ratemyprofessors.com gives students an inside look at that guy lecturing in front of them, but what about the inspiring and not-so-inspiring teachers of Hollywood.

Check out the best, the worst and the most stoned of the professors on the big and small screen:

Most Ever Present

George Feeny, Boy Meets World

What can’t this guy do? In the beginning of the series, Feeny is Corey’s neighbor, teacher and principal. But even after the gang moves on to Pennbrook College, Feeny is there, suddenly a college professor. Not only that but he is a man of varied knowledge, teaching archaeology, English lit and quantum physics. We’ll let it slide though, because Boy Meets World is king of the self mockery... For instance, Corey once says that Feeny is the only teacher he’s ever had since kindergarten. Plus, who can forget Eric’s “Fe-fe-fe-feeeeeeeeny” call?
 

Best Professor Feeny quote:
 

He ends the series with the very last lines: “I love you all. Class dismissed.” You can’t say you didn’t tear up just a little.

Most Desperate

Ross Gellar, Friends

Ever the lovable loser, Ross becomes even more so in front of his students at NYU where he teaches paleontology. In order to get his students to like him on the first day, he puts on a fake accent that he just can’t shake. In later episodes, he simply forgets to go to class, gives a male student a good grade after he claims to have a crush on Ross, and oh yeah, has an ongoing relationship with one of his female students.
 

Best Professor Gellar quote:
 

[When one of Ross' male students claims to be in love with him]
Ross: I mean, last year Elizabeth now-now this kid. What-what-what-what is it? Am I giving out some kind of...sexy professor vibe?
Rachel: Not right now.

The Best Non-Professor Professor
 

Roy Hinkley aka The Professor, Gilligan’s Island
 

Simply known as The Professor, Roy Hinkley was not actually a real professor, instead he was a high school science teacher. Despite his B.A., B.S., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees and ability to construct anything from coconuts and bamboo, he was unable to actually develop a means for the crew to get off the island.
 

Best Professor quote:
 

“Kissing on the mouth is far from sanitary. It can lead to all sorts of bacterial transfer.”

Coolest

Dr. Henry Walton “Indiana” Jones, Jr., Indiana Jones
 

In his day-to-day life, Henry Jones Jr. is a professor of archaeology at the University of Chicago. However, to escape the drudgery of teaching and to tackle his quests, Henry takes on the guise of Indiana, a superhero image he develops for himself. He wears a hat and carries a whip, is there any more bad ass professor than that?
 

Best Professor Walton quote:
 

“Archaeology is the search for fact... not truth. If it's truth you're looking for, Dr. Tyree's philosophy class is right down the hall.”

Most Mad Scientisty
 

Hubert J. Farnsworth, Futurama
 

Farnsworth is the stereotypical mad scientist, in addition to being really, really old and senile. He is a professor at Mars University though it’s never specified exactly what subject he teaches. Farnsworth is best known for creating doomsday devices which threaten to destroy himself and the universe on a regular basis.
 

Best Professor Farnsworth quote:
 

“I can wire anything directly into anything! I’m the professor!”

Best Mentor

Gerald Lambeau, Good Will Hunting
 

Lambeau is a math professor at MIT, where Will Hunting is a janitor. Lambeau leaves a difficult math problem on a chalkboard, which Hunting solves, and so Lambeau takes him under his wing, even going so far as to get him out of legal trouble. The professor puts Hunting in touch with therapist Sean Maguire (Robin Williams) and pushes his student academically, even though it ends up putting them at odds.
 

Best Professor Lambeau quote:
 

“Sometimes I wish I had never met you. Because then I could go to sleep at night not knowing there was someone like you out there.”

 

Most Schizophrenic
 

Sherman Klump, The Nutty Professor (1996 version)
 

Klump is an incredibly smart college professor who just happens to also be incredibly fat. Still, he is a good-hearted man on the verge of a scientific breakthrough that has the potential to be a miracle weight loss potion. In order to win the affections of his crush, Klump tests the formula on himself and transforms into “Buddy Love,” a slick, rude ladies’ man.
 

Best Professor Klump quote:
 

Sherman Klump: Daddy, all I'm saying is that scientific breakthroughs are occurring all the time.
Ernie Klump: The only thing that's 'bout to break through is your ass 'bout to break through the seat of your pants.

Most Underhanded

Micky Rosa, 21
 

Greedy for money, Micky Rosa, a professor at MIT, runs a student blackjack team that focuses on card counting. Rosa then takes the team to Vegas and continues to push them to do better. In the end, Rosa is screwed over, left with a bag full of chocolate coins and limo driven by the casino manager he just conned.
 

Best Professor Rosa quote:
 

“You are only ever as good to me as the money you make!”

Best Stoner

Dave Jennings, Animal House
 

Jennings is a bored English professor at Faber College where the Delta House is in danger of being kicked off campus. In addition to trying to sway his students to left-wing politics, Jennings also enjoys lighting up, even smoking with a student who’s never tried pot before.
 

Best Professor Jennings quote:
 

Jennings: Teaching is just a way to pay the bills until I finish my novel.
Boon: How long you been workin' on it?
Jennings: Four and a half years.
Pinto: It must be very good.
Jennings: It's a piece of shit. Would anyone like to smoke some pot?

Most Prolific Professor
 

Hank Landry/Jeremiah Lasky, Veronica Mars/Saved By The Bell: The College Years
 

Actor Patrick Fabian has played not one, but two college professors. Not only that but both have questionable sexual morals. In Saved By The Bell: The College Years, Fabian is Jeremiah Lasky an anthropology professor who has an affair with Kelly, putting a crimp in Zack’s plan to win her back. In Veronica Mars, Fabian takes on the role of Hank Landry, a criminology professor at California University. Landry is impressed with Veronica and attempts to take her under his wing, but Veronica refuses the help when she discovers Landry is having an affair with the dean’s wife.
 

Best Professor Landry quote:
 

“What an enlightening weekend I had. You learn a lot about people when you read their "Plan a Perfect Murder" papers. I must say, I'm a little frightened to appear before you today, and it's not just that a good half-dozen of you offed me. A chainsaw, Biggles? Really?”