Boston Public

Boston Public was a popular American television series created by David E. Kelley and broadcast on the Fox Network from October 23, 2000 through 2004. It centered around the Winslow High School, a fictional public high school located in Boston, Massachusetts. The show was named for the real public school district in which it takes place.

Fired or Minor Characters

Their were some characters in the series that were fired or other characters that were only minor characters that made occasional appearances. Many of these characters were students that were introduced into the series to make some sort of social commentary.

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Louisa Fenn (Rashida Jones) was the wisecracking, sassy high school secretary who briefly dated Milton Buttle until he broke up with her after meeting Lisa. Louisa learned of Milton's affair with Lisa and pondered ratting on him, but didn't; she did, however, gain a spiteful attitude towards Lisa. In the second season, she was discovered to be secretly writing "Dear Helen", a sex column, for the school paper. Louisa came from a biracial family (her father was African-American while her mother was Caucasian). Before mysteriously vanishing from the series, she started up an unofficial girl band with Marla and Marylin.

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Milton Buttle (Joey Slotnick) was the nerdy, mild-mannered English teacher who was often on the receiving end of Sheryl Holt's online parodies. He met Lisa Greer at a Starbucks one day and started a relationship with her, only to find that she was a student at Winslow High. Despite this, he reluctantly continued his relationship with Lisa but was discovered and fired, though he continued dating Lisa. Eventually, he and Lisa broke up.

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Kevin Riley (Thomas McCarthy) was the football coach who was fired when he told Scott that he knew that about the secret affair between Milton and Lisa in an attempt to get Scott and Steven to go easy on Milton. Kevin sued to get his job back in an episode that crossed over with the television series The Practice, but he lost his case and angrily snubbed Steven when he attempted to make peace with Kevin. The coach that replaced Kevin was a minor character who was rarely seen.

Related Topics:
Thomas McCarthy - The Practice

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Dana Poole (Sarah Thompson) was a popular student who kissed Harry, then tried to blackmail him. Despite this, Harry reached out to her and tried to help her when she became a stripper. As a college student, Dana returned to interview the high school faculty and staff about the low teacher salaries and began to date Harry, only to later break up with him at his birthday party because he lied to his co-workers about how long their relationship had been going on.

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Sheryl Holt (Lamya Jezek) was the editor of the student newspaper and webmaster of an online website, Holt 45, that was a frequent problem for the faculty as it often spoofed them and their private lives with graphic innuendoes.

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Superintendent Marsha Shinn (Debbi Morgan) was the judgmental and hypercritical superintendent who once visited the school to complain about the unorthodox teaching methods of the faculty in an attempt to get Steven fired after he physically assaulted a school bully.

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Mr. Bob 'Big Boy' Lick (Dwight "Heavy D" Myers) was the school's heavyset but compassionate counselor whom most students did not seem to like or trust, but both Steven and Scott often referred students over to him.

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Christine Banks (Lindsay Hollister) was an unpopular, overweight girl who was often bullied and got into trouble when she responded to the harassment with violence. Kevin persuaded her to earn respect from the students by being on the wrestling team, and it worked. However, Christine suffered a heart attack after playing a match, and later died.

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Dr. Benjamin Harris (Leslie Jordan) was an effeminate Southern chemistry teacher who got into trouble when he organized a school production of Susan Miller's "It's Our Town 2" that centered around homosexuality. He later resigned after he was discovered having had cybersex with two 18-year-old female students that he thought were college students in an Internet chatroom.

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Brooke Harper (China Shavers) was Steven's headstrong daughter who was transferred to her father's high school after being kicked out of a private school for kidnapping the school's mascot as part of an animal rights protest. She continued her political activism, including organization the students to stage a walkout over toxic chemicals and overcrowded classrooms in the school that ended up sparking a riot as the school athletes feared that these problems will be fixed by cutting the sports budget. Brooke once dated a 27-year-old man named Roland McClane as well as Jeremy Peters, but neither relationship lasted long. She always hoped for her parents to get back together, but had accepted that it was not going to happen. At the end of the third season, Brooke had graduated and had been accepted to Harvard University.

Related Topics:
China Shavers - Animal rights - Harvard University

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Marcie Kendall (Cara DeLiza) was a student whom Meredith slapped with her prosthesis during an argument, leading to Meredith being fired. In the third season, Marcie began Scott's assistant and was involved in the student walkout. Later on, she became pregnant by Brian Harrower, her boyfriend; overwhelmed by her impending responsibilities of being a mother, she decided to give up her baby for adoption.

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Robin Chambers (L.B. Fisher) was a transgender student who caused an uproar and some gay-bashing when he chose to become a candidate for prom queen. He won the contest and ended up wining a dance with the prom king, who subtly came out as being gay to Robin; the two danced the night way. Neither student is seen again.

Related Topics:
L.B. Fisher - Transgender

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Superintendent Elizabeth Vasquez (Elizabeth Pena) (presumably) replaced Marsha Shinn as the superintendent of schools. Unlike Shinn, she was less judgmental and was persuaded by Steven to not suspend or fire Scott for his role in the student riot; she even half-jokingly told Steven to keep Scott from talking to the athletes. However, she was fired in the middle of the third season.

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Patricia Emerson (Anne Archer) was the sultry, middle-aged mother of Becky Emerson who claimed to be the descendant of Ralph Waldo Emerson and even kept her maiden name when she married her husband, an arms dealer. She complained to Colin about his grade on Becky's assignment and, unhappy with her marriage, flirted with him, leading to an affair with the young teacher. Ultimately, she reconciled with her husband and ended the affair.

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Rebecca 'Becky' Emerson (Courtney Peldon) was the beautiful but nutty daughter of Patricia Emerson who developed a crush on Colin and was devastated when she learned that he was sleeping with her mother. As a result, she threatened to expose Colin's affair at a poetry until she saw her parents together again and decided not to. Later, she became the anchorwoman of the student television station and was about to air footage of a married teacher having sex with another woman in a classroom, but was persuaded from doing so by Danny. In the series' fourth and final season, Becky became Scott's assistant and once gave him surprisingly insight advice.

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Devon Rick (Matt Lutz) was a gay teenager on the football team who watched as his boyfriend was beaten up by their homophobic teammates. The incident prompted Scott to start up a Gay-Straight Alliance and lecture the school on the evils of homophobia. Eventually, Scott persuaded Devon to come out and identify the students who beat up his boyfriend.

Related Topics:
Matt Lutz - Homophobic - Homophobia

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Dave Fields (David Conrad) was liaison to the Mayor pushing for standardized testing and budget cuts. He persuaded Ronnie to act as his eyes and ears in the school and even offered her a possible political career, but Ronnie eventually rejected his offer of romance and politics.

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Riley Ellis (Andrea Bowen) was a 12-year-old prodigy looking for a normal friendship while attending Winslow High. Steven persuaded Brooke to be her friend, but Riley rejected the friendship when she realized that Brooke was only doing it to try and get close to a male student that she has a crush on.

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Taylor Prentice (Verne Troyer) was a little person (or dwarf) ex-professor who helped underachieving students ace exams and later dated Marla.

Related Topics:
Verne Troyer - Dwarf

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Peter Feldman (Miko Hughes) was a student who, after being electrocuted in Danny's class, came to believe that he was Jesus Christ reborn. As such, he began to come to school dressed in ceremonial robes, offering advice to Danny and even using student fees to help a homeless man. Eventually, it was discovered that the reason behind his assuming the identity of Jesus was that he witnessed a young boy get hit by a bus one afternoon.

Related Topics:
Miko Hughes - Jesus Christ

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Julien (Thomas Dekker) was a student who came out to his father, who beat him and his mother. Julien ran away from home, prompting Danny and Claire to track him down and get him to live with his mother who had finally left her bigoted and abusive husband.

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