The stars of ABC’s ‘Schooled’ give a spirited panel discussion at aTVfest.

“Schooled” is a spin-off of the series “The Goldbergs,” which follows Lainey Lewis (AJ Michalka) as she becomes the music teacher at her old high school, William Penn Academy. 

Michalka, Brett Dier (C.B.) and Tim Meadows (Principal Glasscot) sat down for a panel discussion with students after a screening of a new episode of “Schooled” on the second day of SCAD’s aTVfest, with a special appearance via FaceTime by Bryan Callen (Coach Mellor). 

The episode centered around the underfunded theater department and the favoritism towards the sports program as Lewis puts down her own money to finance the production of the musical, “RENT.” We also follow C.B. as he and attempts to navigate teaching a sexual education class to young men going through puberty. 

The audience laughed and cheered throughout the exclusive preview. They were equally excited to speak with the cast at the conclusion of the show. One of the uplifting aspects about “Schooled” is that it manages to balance the predominant comedic elements of the narratives with a wholesome take on teachers doing their best to inspire students and make a positive impact on their lives. 

When Michalka, Meadows and Dier took the stage, Meadows called Callen on FaceTime, since he couldn’t be there in person. In keeping with his character, Callen answered the call shirtless, having just finished some calisthenics. He traded some brief banter with his costars, humbly taking credit for the success of the episode before leaving them to answer some questions from the audience.

They each spoke about different teachers and mentors that inspired them throughout their lives, gave advice to aspiring artists and discussed their experiences working with children on the show. 

It was only after they had spoken about how they accidentally cursed in front of some of the children on-set, and used a light amount of profanity in the process, that they realized that there was an actual child in the audience at the panel. After the cast apologized, the child — also an actor — asked Meadows about a particular scene where he could tell that Meadows was close to laughter, even in the final take. 

Meadows talked about how much fun it was to film with the rest of the cast. He mentioned how difficult it was for him to keep a straight face to the point where he had to avoid looking them in the face to keep from laughing. 

The entire panel was full of jokes and laughter. The chemistry between the cast that Meadows talked about was definitely present in the way they interacted with each other. It was fitting that the actors on a show about entertaining and inspiring teachers were able to provide the audience of students with valuable advice in a lighthearted way.

Check out new episodes of “Schooled” on ABC every Wednesday at 8:30 p.m.