Abbott Elementary sees teachers for who they are: big-hearted and underfunded – The Guardian

If Abbott elementary were a real school, the online reviews would probably be brutal. The students are unruly. The principals out to lunch. One teacher even kicked a kid. You can imagine childless neighbors complaining about their property values, former teachers ranting about why they quit and school parents cautioning other families to stay away.

Of course, Abbott Elementary isnt a real school. It merely depicts a fictional one on ABC, and in the mockumentary style. The workplace under the microscope in this sitcom is a West Philadelphia public school thats typical of its subject. Which is to say its overcrowded, underfunded and underserving its community. Its too true to the woeful state of public education in America to seem like it could be funny.

And yet it mines laughs, big ones, through its note-perfect imitations of life. After two years of Covid-related school closures, Zoom classes and critical race theory panic, its nice to be transported back to a simpler time when public schools were symbols of urban decay, and not the downfall of America.

Theres a reason why teachers are the rarest television fodder; unlike doctors or lawyers or even journalists, their lives dont appear to be especially cinematic. (Never mind the raft of headlines and cellphone videos that teachers attract for everything from breaking up hallway fights to entering into underaged affairs.)

And when teachers are on screen, they mainly function as props for the angst-riddled teens or tweens really driving the story. (See NBCs Saved By the Bell, HBOs Euphoria, Netflixs Sex Education, etc.) Glee and season four of The Wire are the rare shows that actually deem teachers worthy of genuine exploration.

AP Bio, the NBCUniversal comedy that ran for four seasons, is a notable exception that foregrounds faculty but even that sitcom is less a reflection on the seemingly impossible challenges of the job than one teachers unhinged fantasy of avenging the loss of a tenured professorship at Harvard. Even its fictional Whitlock high is a small-town, blue-sky idyll for the college-bound, majority white middle class.

Abbott Elementary, though, keeps it real. It doesnt shrink from urban public schools well-known occupational hazards the metal detectors, the corroded infrastructure, the expired books, the broken families. (Not even West Philadelphia gets a Fresh Prince-like caricaturization.) Abbotts comedy comes from teachers who are committed to solving these seemingly intractable problems, even when it would be easier and smarter to take the path of least resistance.

None in the teachers lounge is more keen than Janine Teagues, whose dedication is driven by a desire to be remembered as that elementary school teacher we adults canonize long after the world turns us cynical. If that character sketch seems more grounded than Harvard redundancy with an axe to grind, its because Quinta Brunson the A Black Lady Sketch Show alumna who stars on screen and as a writing executive producer conceived of the ABC series in tribute to her mother, a near 40-year schoolteaching vet. And the show takes its name from Brunsons actual sixth grade teacher, Joyce Abbott still of West Phillys Andrew Hamilton school.

She even gets an onscreen avatar who is played to utmost primness by the Tony-nominated Sheryl Lee Ralph (of Moesha fame). As for the rest of Abbotts core faculty, youve got the tough neighborhood broad (Lisa Ann Walter), the woke Teach for America type (Chris Perfetti), the blas principal (the devastatingly charismatic Janelle James). And then theres the substitute whose ambition and hotness keeps tongues wagging, played by Everybody Loves Chriss Tyler James Williams, whose on-screen chemistry with Brunson dates to their Black Lady Romeo and Juliet spoof.

Interestingly, Williams is inarguably the biggest name on the show. But for Abbott, the absence of celebrity actors is an asset, as it allows the story to be the star. And so far the story has resonated. After modest promotion and a launch in early December, ratings for the Abbott premiere quadrupled over the next 35 days, in an ABC first. Even more impressive: the series has avoided stigmatization as a Black show despite its overwhelmingly Black cast, a pitfall NBCs excellent Grand Crew could not avoid. If anything, Abbotts Black cast of teachers and students deepens its authenticity.

In interviews, Brunson has spoken of her desire to create a show with heart. And theres little doubt her success on that score has Abbott Elementary poised for a Ted Lasso-like breakout.

But ultimately this show is a win for teachers, many of whom have contacted Brunson directly to say that, finally, they feel seen. Its high praise; who knows if itll lead to any substantive reforms or even motivate viewers to shore up their public schools and advocate for those teachers. At the very least, Abbott offers a refresher on comedys golden rule: the truth is always funnier than fiction. Which is to say its not a school you want to skip.

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Abbott Elementary sees teachers for who they are: big-hearted and underfunded - The Guardian