Started July 17, 2016 · Based on 2 seasons, 18 episodes · TV-MA
Vice Principals is a 2016-2017 HBO dark comedy about two rival vice principals at a South Carolina high school who team up to sabotage their new principal, Dr. Belinda Brown, a strict and qualified black woman, through crude schemes and personal attacks. The series uses mean-spirited humor to show their incompetence, jealousy, and desperate power grabs. There are no lectures on social justice, identity politics, or systemic issues; any racial or gender elements mainly highlight the vice principals' petty bigotry as part of their ridiculous behavior.
Community feedback
Was our 26% Woke rating accurate?
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for Vice Principals.
Woke representation / casting
The black female principal is central and visible as the target of sabotage, but the choice fits the rivalry story and serves to expose the leads' prejudice rather than signal diversity or push representation.
25%
Woke political dialogue
Some lines show the protagonists' bigoted assumptions, but these depict their flaws and receive no narrative support or activist response.
10%
Identity-driven story themes
The story is a personal vendetta over power at a school; identity aspects are minor and used to mock the antagonists' small-mindedness.
5%
Western institutional / cultural critique
It satirizes petty school bureaucracy and insecure male posturing through over-the-top schemes, but without modern activist framing of patriarchy, systemic bias, or cultural institutions.
20%
Woke character or canon changes
Not present in this title.
0%
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
Some critics raised sensitivity concerns about white men targeting a black woman boss in 2016, but no significant claims that the show promotes woke ideas; creators consistently described it as a power story.
25%
Creator track record context
Danny McBride, Jody Hill, and core team built careers on crude, boundary-pushing comedies about flawed people with no history of activist or identity-driven work.
5%
Production
TV Show · 2023
The inner workings of an American jury trial through the eyes of one particular juror, Ronald Gladden. Gladden is unaware the entire case is fake, everyone except him is an actor…
TV Show · 2016
Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May are back with a show about adventure, excitement and friendship...
TV Show · 2020
A ghost-hunting duo team up to uncover and film paranormal sightings across the U.K. and share their adventures on an online channel.
TV Show · 2020
David Tennant and Michael Sheen (playing themselves) were due to star in a production of 'Six Characters in Search of an Author' in the West End.
TV Show · 2020
All Nikki and Jason want is a baby—the one thing they can't have. So they decide to adopt. With their dysfunctional friends, screwball families, and chaotic lives, will the…
TV Show · 2019
Burned out on life, Miles undergoes a strange procedure at a strip mall spa -- and wakes to find he's been replaced by a better version of himself.
TV Show · 2017
In the wake of their first documentary's success, Peter and Sam seek a new case and settle on a stomach-churning mystery at a Washington high school.
TV Show · 2016
In his funky California beach enclave, Chip's the go-to guy for personal insights. But he isn't quite as enlightened when it comes to his own baggage.
