Professors and TV: the Challenge

Today, Russell Johnson died.  He was the Professor on Gilligan's Island.  Dan Drezner pondered if there has been a positively depicted prof on TV since.  Yes, but the pickings are slim.  It was fun to watch the nominations on twitter, but most were either PhDs who had not taught much (President Bartlett) or teachers who were not professors. When we have to settle for Big Bang Theory, which gets so much wrong about academia (the episodes about hiring, tenure and such cause me physical pain), then things are pretty sad.

Why is this the case?  One could argue that prof-ing is just not that interesting to outside observers unless one adds more than a hint of sex.  So, damn near every professorial appearance in TV and in movies involves profs bedding their students or vice versa.  While such stuff does happen (as I have ranted about elsewhere), it is not as prevalent as TV/movies would have folks believe.  So, it gets wildly exaggerated, but other than that one element, profs are temporary experts who show up, offer some expertise and then move on.  Except for animated shows (see the list).

The only times where universities and colleges appear on TV is when the high school kids graduate and then they need to all move to the same post-secondary institution (Buffy, for example).  Unless there is some good slaying to be had, there is simply not going to be much interest in professors, I guess.

So, let me change Dan's game slightly: can you come up with plots/stories/characters based in colleges/universities that do not involve either profs having sex with students or professors being evil (not that there is anything wrong with that)?  To be clear, I am asking not just for movies and tv shows that actually exist, but what kinds of plots/characters/stories can you come up with that would be worth a TV show or movie?  A bit easier today with the niche-ization of TV.  You don't have to get a huge audience, just one that can beat ... Killer Women.