Principal's Office

Halter is also the most heartless of the principals, in a tough-love sort of way.... [But] Most of the time, though, this show makes you wish that the principals had sharper teeth.

Nothing here is dramatic enough to be genuinely or consistently interesting, as if they couldn't get waivers to present any of the juicy stuff that might give the show sizzle. The result is a high school version of "The People's Court."

Aside from learning that paddle-whacking still exists, the rest of the show is as dull and dimwitted as the students.

The show’s value, if any, is in demonstrating the different styles used by the principals: tough, tender and so on. The show’s drawback is that it suggests that all principals do is administer discipline. For that, the show’s creators need a spanking.

It probably wasn't their intention, but the producers of The Principal's Office have succeeded in capturing one reality of high school life that's often been overlooked on shows like "Gossip Girl" and "One Tree Hill"--the sheer tedium of it all, from the petty rebellions to the sometimes even pettier responses.

Producers play this for laughs, though just slightly. (These are high school kids, after all.) Even so, the show's flat and almost stunningly uninformative.

While moments in The Principal's Office are relatable enough, they're just not that intriguing, maybe because they involve people we've never met before and will not meet again.