I was watching the season four episode "All Guts, All Glory" on VH1 this morning (albeit in a heavily edited format, thanks to VH1 chopping up the episodes to add room for needless promos of "Love & Hip Hop," "Black Ink Crew," and "Hip Hop Squares"), and I was impressed by Jim Meskimen's performance of ULA professor Jeremy Mansfield. Meskimen's quick-fire impressions of William Shatner, Casey Kasem, Marlon Brando, and Jack Nicholson were top-notch (Meskimen's energetic delivery reminded me of a cross between Robin Williams and Phil Hartman--may they both rest in peace), and his on-camera chemistry with Will Smith throughout the episode was fantastic.

It's unfortunate that Professor Mansfield didn't appear in any more episodes (although Meskimen did have a recurring role as Werner, the producer of Hilary's talk show, during season six); it would've been interesting to see Mansfield and Will engage in several conversations--and debates--about not only Western philosophy, but also about life in general...perhaps Mansfield would've been a second mentor (after Uncle Phil, of course) to Will. I would've loved to have seen Mansfield and Will enjoy several misadventures together.

Enjoy your evening, everyone!

I'm sorry, but I couldn't stand Professor Mansfield. The guy was such a jerk. He deceived Will into thinking his classes were something, that they never were. And after Will changed his mind and wanted to stay in the class after all, Professor Mansfield pushed him out until he agreed to take the class without getting a credit for it. And the worst part of all this is, that nobody (including Will, who had been treated like crap by him) seemed to see anything wrong with Professor Mansfield's behavior.

Yes, I do realize that the message was supposed to be "Will has to learn to not be a slacker in school". But I could only see the message as being "teachers can be complete jerks to their students, but you're still supposed to see them as flawless paragons". And I don't care if Professor Mansfield could do (supposedly) funny impressions. That is not enough to redeem to character to me.

I'm sorry, but I couldn't stand Professor Mansfield. The guy was such a jerk. He deceived Will into thinking his classes were something, that they never were. And after Will changed his mind and wanted to stay in the class after all, Professor Mansfield pushed him out until he agreed to take the class without getting a credit for it. And the worst part of all this is, that nobody (including Will, who had been treated like crap by him) seemed to see anything wrong with Professor Mansfield's behavior.

Yes, I do realize that the message was supposed to be "Will has to learn to not be a slacker in school". But I could only see the message as being "teachers can be complete jerks to their students, but you're still supposed to see them as flawless paragons". And I don't care if Professor Mansfield could do (supposedly) funny impressions. That is not enough to redeem to character to me.

Interesting observation. Though we both have varying opinions on this topic, I was still impressed by your overall verdict of Professor Mansfield. Thanks for commenting, Furienna.