English Teacher Fans Love Brian Jordan Alvarez’s Viral TikToks

FX’s new big hit is English Teacher, a sitcom set in a Texas high school. Creator Brian Jordan Alvarez stars in the series as Evan Marquez, a well-intentioned teacher whose attempts to help his students sometimes backfire.

Mercifully, though, he never comes close to Will Schuester levels of overstep — perhaps because Evan finds fulfillment outside of work, too, particularly in his relationships with his best friend, Gwen, and not-quite-ex-boyfriend, Malcolm. Instead, the show offers wholesome, laugh-out-loud scenes set between classes, conferences, and field trips — and the occasional heartfelt sentiment, like the principal’s memorable line from Episode 7: “Good people make good teachers. And Evan, you are good people.”

Them has heralded English Teacher as the “hilarious gay workplace sitcom TV needs right now,” and Time called the FX series “the year’s best new sitcom.” But for a significant chunk of viewers, the impetus to seek out the show came not from critical acclaim or traditional marketing, but from Alvarez’s TikTok videos, many of which revolve around the “I love your daughter” trend.

Wait, What?

If you haven’t been on TikTok recently, you might have missed a certain trending sound: a clip from the 2002 Gilmore Girls episode about Kirk’s short film, which features a curious scene.

It begins with Kirk telling a man, “I love your daughter.” The man asks Kirk what he can offer his daughter. “Nothing. Only this,” says Kirk, before breaking into dance.

Creator @clozvr paired the awkward scene with Years & Years’ “Breathe” — the song that goes, “What’s that supposed to be about, baby?” — and, in the process, instigated a viral TikTok trend that’s seen many users try to woo their prospective partners with the power of dance.

But What’s That Have To Do With English Teacher?

Well, on Oct. 11, Alvarez posted a video of himself dancing to the sound. It’s delightful, and effortless — he’s rolling a suitcase somewhere while jamming — but the swoon-worthy lip-sync would earn him nearly a million likes. The trend may be about attracting a partner, but apparently, it works just as well at attracting viewers to your new TV show.

“For some reason this video is what convinced me to immediately binge all 7 episodes of the English teacher,” one fan commented. “I literally instantly closed TikTok and turned it on. Like I was hypnotized idk.”

Instead of leaving the fun there, Alvarez has treated viewers to many more takes on the “I love your daughter” trend, including a shirtless moment on the streets of New York.

“You should know also your marketing is working,” one user commented, adding that they were just starting English Teacher. (The show premiered on FX on Sept. 2, and all episodes are available now on Hulu.)

“Omg I just discovered I can select Picture in Picture in the options and watch English teacher with this playing in the background,” a particularly dedicated fan shared under a later video.

In the weeks since his first post, Alvarez’s videos have become a phenomenon unto themselves. Every time he shares a new video, viewers gather in the comments to celebrate. As one fan perfectly put it: “My day doesn’t actually start til I see you doing your lil dance.”

A Viral Hit

This isn’t the first time Alvarez’s dancing prowess has wooed the world — after all, his yearly uploads set to Taylor Swift’s “Cruel Summer” have a dedicated following. And he was a notable creator well before English Teacher, known for his viral character bits and his critically acclaimed YouTube series, The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo.

But the fervor for his TikTok dances — and their ability to attract new English Teacher fans — has even surprised Alvarez.

As he put it in one recent video: “What I could never have predicted is that the thing that would be the most effective thing to get everybody to watch my show is not great writing, or great cinematography, or great direction, all of which the show has... It was just being extremely hot and posting about it.”