What Were They Thinking With 'Teaching Name'?

[PracTz]

Long-short is that discussing Beav's teacher Miss Landers on that board got me to thinking about one of the most awkward eps on this show in which Eddie's one-shot teacher whom everyone called 'Miss Lister' announced she was leaving teaching to have a baby. Eddie, understandably, rather confused and heartbroken but, natch, all the implications of unwed motherhood and nonmarital babies happening to perfectly nice folks were quickly swept under the carpet when she explained to Tom (who somehow got roped into helping with the baby shower), that Miss Lister was her 'teaching name' but that she actually was married to a Mr. Not-Lister. What was espcially puzzling here was that somehow all the other students seemed to completely be on board with this as though they ALREADY knew 'Miss Lister' was a married woman but why was Eddie kept in the dark about this when she herself admitted to Tom that she knew Eddie would be sensitive about this development?

[jehobden]

Originally Posted by PracTz

Long-short is that discussing Beav's teacher Miss Landers on that board got me to thinking about one of the most awkward eps on this show in which Eddie's one-shot teacher whom everyone called 'Miss Lister' announced she was leaving teaching to have a baby. Eddie, understandably, rather confused and heartbroken but, natch, all the implications of unwed motherhood and nonmarital babies happening to perfectly nice folks were quickly swept under the carpet when she explained to Tom (who somehow got roped into helping with the baby shower), that Miss Lister was her 'teaching name' but that she actually was married to a Mr. Not-Lister. What was espcially puzzling here was that somehow all the other students seemed to completely be on board with this as though they ALREADY knew 'Miss Lister' was a married woman but why was Eddie kept in the dark about this when she herself admitted to Tom that she knew Eddie would be sensitive about this development?

This reminds me a bit of the Saved by the Bell pilot that aired on NBC in 1987, "Good Morning, Miss Bliss". Miss Bliss, played by Hayley Mills, had just been married, but she insisted on having her students call her "Miss Bliss" still. I would think if she continued going by her maiden name that she would want to be called "Ms. Bliss", since "Miss" denotes a single woman, but not in this case.