So, obviously, this is a good episode that allows Tim Reid to fill out Venus' characterization. The only drawback to the whole episode is that Keny Long just looks too old to be a 16 year old- He does a great job though.
The other reviewer here is a teacher and likes this episode for obvious reasons...I have a little thing I use to teach "Teenagers" that they don't "Know it all"...
I am an Aircraft buff and know a lot about aerodynamics, So I take two sheets of paper and ask the teen, "What will happen if I hold these from the top 2 inches apart vertically, and then blow down between them?" They invariably state "They will go outward!" And then, to their surprise, they come closer together! The Venturi effect...It tends to really get them. It is a great eye-opener!
Teens know all about their Smartphones and video games and the latest slang, so they "Know they are smarter than there elders"....."No you are not!"
3 Reviews
Venus explains the atom
teacherjt1 September 2006
This is the episode that Venus explains the atom to a gang kid.
This is still incredibly powerful to students... I wish every teacher could show it. My students never forget the pros, the elected ones, and the new boys. Moreover, the idea that 'whenever you don't understand the teacher, stop him and make him explain it again.' Also, he tells the kid to reword what he is taught into his own meaning... very powerful.
The episode resonates with me as a science teacher (we learn in this episode that Venus used to be a science teacher) and with my students over twenty years later.
JT
This is still incredibly powerful to students... I wish every teacher could show it. My students never forget the pros, the elected ones, and the new boys. Moreover, the idea that 'whenever you don't understand the teacher, stop him and make him explain it again.' Also, he tells the kid to reword what he is taught into his own meaning... very powerful.
The episode resonates with me as a science teacher (we learn in this episode that Venus used to be a science teacher) and with my students over twenty years later.
JT
one of the best, a top 10
cormac_zoso3 March 2013
Warning: Spoilers
one of the very best in the 'krp lexicon and the way probably 99% of the people who have seen it can explain the atom ...
Venus, as any full-fledged fan of the show will know, was a full-time school teacher and a part-time DJ in New Orleans (not the full-time, top-rated DJ he and Andy claimed he was to Mrs. Carlson in the pilot episode), volunteers to have a talk with the son of Cora Isley, a cleaning lady at the station who stops in to chat with Venus on the night-side shift and make song requests for classic jazz such as Ella Fitzgerald, and try to convince Arnold, her son, not to drop out of high school ... his volunteering soon turns into a 'no good deed goes unpunished' route as Cora starts to describe her son who, it turns out, is a well-muscled, tricky gang-leader ...
Eventually, a wager is made that if Venus can explain the workings of the atom to Arnold in two-minutes and that Arnold will be able to remember it for months to come, that Arnold will at least finish out the school year ...
of course Venus wins the bet and shows that he was probably a very resourceful teacher even tho he admits when Johnny Fever asks him why he quit teaching that he, Venus, "couldn't cut it" ... Fever ignores this and asks if Venus can "explain how magnets work" to him ...
It's a classic and no doubt one that all 'krp fans among the best ... and once you see it, you'll always be able to explain the basic workings of the atom ... not a bad thing if one day you have kids ...
also the two guests, Veronica Redd and Keny Long who play the mother and son Cora and Arnold Isley, are both very at ease and self-assured in their roles and interact more naturally with the regulars on the show than many guest actors do ... i'm sure you've all seen it before, actors who even have a substantial role in an episode come across as a relative of the producer rather than a well-deserving actor ... these two blend well and with Venus as the pivot point for the episode, it's a point that would have made the episode into a blasé affair at best if not a sharp point ... it's a clever script but the quality interaction between the three make it really ring true an episode not to be missed
Venus, as any full-fledged fan of the show will know, was a full-time school teacher and a part-time DJ in New Orleans (not the full-time, top-rated DJ he and Andy claimed he was to Mrs. Carlson in the pilot episode), volunteers to have a talk with the son of Cora Isley, a cleaning lady at the station who stops in to chat with Venus on the night-side shift and make song requests for classic jazz such as Ella Fitzgerald, and try to convince Arnold, her son, not to drop out of high school ... his volunteering soon turns into a 'no good deed goes unpunished' route as Cora starts to describe her son who, it turns out, is a well-muscled, tricky gang-leader ...
Eventually, a wager is made that if Venus can explain the workings of the atom to Arnold in two-minutes and that Arnold will be able to remember it for months to come, that Arnold will at least finish out the school year ...
of course Venus wins the bet and shows that he was probably a very resourceful teacher even tho he admits when Johnny Fever asks him why he quit teaching that he, Venus, "couldn't cut it" ... Fever ignores this and asks if Venus can "explain how magnets work" to him ...
It's a classic and no doubt one that all 'krp fans among the best ... and once you see it, you'll always be able to explain the basic workings of the atom ... not a bad thing if one day you have kids ...
also the two guests, Veronica Redd and Keny Long who play the mother and son Cora and Arnold Isley, are both very at ease and self-assured in their roles and interact more naturally with the regulars on the show than many guest actors do ... i'm sure you've all seen it before, actors who even have a substantial role in an episode come across as a relative of the producer rather than a well-deserving actor ... these two blend well and with Venus as the pivot point for the episode, it's a point that would have made the episode into a blasé affair at best if not a sharp point ... it's a clever script but the quality interaction between the three make it really ring true an episode not to be missed
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