It only took two scenes for Jenn Lyon to get a handle on the meddling mom, Linda Harrison, in “English Teacher.”
Upset with the grade her son got in English, the mom’s convinced she can “fix” things and get the teacher to see her side of the story.
“I know this woman,” Lyon says. “When I got the full script, I was so excited … I didn’t know she called an entire town hall. I was trepidatious, but it was so collaborative and fun.”
Now, Linda Harrison — the woman behind steak nuggets and “double” Sprite — is poised to be a regular on the new FX comedy. No offers have come forth, Lyon says, but she should click with audiences once they see Episode 6.
“I don’t have kids, but power presents itself in any arena, whether it’s a school or a town council or a union,” Lyon says. “There are always going to be people that have sort of an outsized sense of themselves. They know what’s right in certain situations, but they’ll do whatever it takes to make sure their policies are implemented.”
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Jenn Lyon appears in "English Teacher" as the feared mother, Linda Harrison.
Double Sprite
Harrison tries going through the teacher (played by Brian Jordan Alvarez), even inviting him and a fellow teacher to her restaurant. She butters them up with her own invention — steak nuggets — and encourages them to try that double Sprite. They’re effective, but when she doesn’t get her way, Harrison sits in on a class, complains to the school board, serves a buffet to other parents and pushes her agenda repeatedly.
Growing up in the South, Lyon says she knew the motivation behind a Linda: “My Meemaw would say, ‘Butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth.’ She has a coldness, but she also presents in a way that’s very congenial.”
She isn’t just a Karen, Lyon says. “She’s even more than a Karen. … I think she’s possibly a Barbara. Barbara is next level,” she says.
Like so many indelible characters, Linda Harrison (who wasn’t named for the “Planet of the Apes” star) was talked about in early episodes. The “threat” of Linda hovers over the ones that lead up to her big appearance.
“She’s like dice,” Lyon says. Full of sides.
Jenn Lyon plays a concerned mother trying to push her agenda in "English Teacher."
Stage thrills
While the North Carolina native had plenty of roles on stage (“Crimes of the Heart” and “Born Yesterday” are among favorites), Linda is among the top three roles she has been able to play. The common denominator: “complicated, boldly drawn women.”
After years on Broadway and regional theaters, Lyon headed for Hollywood for one simple reason. “I wanted to be able to pay rent,” she says.
As fun as stage roles are, they don’t always come with a big paycheck.
In New York, Lyon says, “I wouldn’t just play to the balcony, I’d play to the check-cashing place across the street.”
Toning down a performance “was really a new muscle for me.” Directors often told her she was yelling in TV performances. “I’d be like, ‘Am I yelling? Or is everyone else whispering?’”
In the theater Lyon was a natural for period pieces — an 1890s aristocrat or a 1930s mob moll.
“And then when I started doing film and TV it was like trashy, sort of newly sober moms on the verge, you know?” she says.
The switch surprised her, but she accepted it.
“My dad really wants me to play lawyers, doctors, stuff like that, right? But they kind of don’t want a platinum blonde doctor," Lyon says. "I got typecast in a way that was very different from the theater.”
When her mom first heard Lyon swear on stage, she went backstage and said, “Now, Jennifer, I think you could talk to the playwright and just ask him to change it for you.”
“I was like, ‘Mom. It’s the character. It’s not me saying it.’ And she was like, ‘I know, but it’s real hard.’”
Carrie Preston, second from right, shows off her manicure in "Claws," which co-stars, from left, Niecy Nash, Jenn Lyon and Judy Reyes.
Roles add up
Lyon’s father, who’s a minister, applauded her participation in church productions.
“There have been a lot of times in my career working at an ice cream shop or whatever and they were like, ‘Why don’t you come home and be a youth choir director?’ But I just kept plugging away.”
Now with shows like “Claws,” “Justified” and “Saint George” on her resume, there isn’t time to consider an alternate path. Currently shooting “Sirens” — a limited series for Netflix — Lyon would make time for an “English Teacher” return if Linda Harrison needed to make an appearance.
“If (‘English Teacher’) doesn’t get a second season, there’s no justice in the world,” she insists. “And if I got to come back, I would be thrilled.”
Another helping of Linda Harrison? You bet. Pass the steak nuggets and go heavy on the Sprite.
