Abbott Elementary (2021- )

We already knew that Abbott Elementary was hilarious from its previous 4 seasons. This award-winning sit-com (Emmys, Golden Globes, and Critics’ Choice, Screen Actors Guild, and NAACP Image Awards) is unique in many ways. For starters, most sit-coms take place in a family home – think storied black family sit-coms like Norman Lear’s Sanford and Son, Good Times, and The Jeffersons. Abbott does not. Unlike the norm of a studio audience, Abbott is filmed (at least partially) in real-world locations much like the recent And Just Like That… (2021-2025) or much of Modern Family (2009-2020). But Abbot’s stellar, mainly black cast also sets it apart from most other shows in the genre.

Also path-breaking is the mighty Quinta Brunson who created the show and acts as the showrunner, writer, executive producer, and star! In 2022, Brunson became only the second black woman to win the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a comedy series category since Isabel Sanford won in 1981 for her pathbreaking work as Louise “Weezy” Jefferson on The Jeffersons. Like The Office and the new Office-adjacent The Paper, Abbott’s filming style is the mockumentary with the unseen documentary crew focusing on the work and social lives of a core group of staff members at the Willard R. Abbott elementary school including senior teachers Barbara (Emmy award winner Sheryl Lee Ralph) and Melissa (Lisa Ann Walter), junior teachers Janine (Quinta Brunson), Gregory (Tyler James Williams), and Jacob (Chris Perfetti),  principal Ava (Janelle James), and janitor Mr. Johnson (William Stanford Davis).

The characters are a balance of unchecked optimism (Janine), measured resolve with plenty of side-eye (Gregory), crazy conspiracy theories (Mr. Johnson), upstanding and righteous God-centred morality (Barbara), don’t mess with me Philly fandom (Melissa), well-intentioned, but awkward ally overreach (Jacob), and I’m too sophisticated, well-dressed and connected for this job energy (Ava). Ava, by the way, has commandeered a space in the basement for a private bathroom and built a walk-in closet off of her office for the many costume changes required for her high-profile social media upkeep. Adding to the quirky delightfulness is the down on his luck pessimist energy of Mr. Morton (Jerry Minor), the low-key sexiness of tech support O’Shon (Matthew Law), and Janine’s selfishly oblivious ex-boyfriend turned PTA-engaged boyfriend of an Abbott student’s mom, Tariq (Zack Fox).

At the end of season 4, the gang had come together to save Ava’s job as principal after she’d been fired by the district for taking bribes from a posh local golf course. But before you get the wrong idea, Ava and colleagues did not take things for themselves. Instead, they engaged the duplicitous white golf course executive to provide computers for their students in an underfunded, overlooked, and out-of-date school that is brimming with bright young black students. Romantically, while Janine and Gregory had transcended their will-they-won’t-they status into an adorable exploration of their new committed relationship, O’Shon had finally penetrated Ava’s arrogant aloofness to convince her to go on a date which ended on a literal high note with them joining their colleagues at a karaoke bar to belt out Mary J. Blige. (Another highlight of the outing was Janine and Gregory’s duet of Ja Rule and Ashanti’s Always on Time [2001]).

What’s new in season 5? Well, as episode 1 commences, the gang has assembled in the school staff room to share expectations and gossip about the new school year, including news of a ceiling collapse at another district school. As they talk, they indulge in the box of donuts commenting on the generosity of the unknown purchaser. One-by-one they confirm that none of them purchased the treats finally asking Mr. Johnson if he ever disposed of the box of donuts that they left on the counter at the end of the previous school year. When he confirms that he did not, they all pause mid-chew and begin to spit out the donuts just as a calamitous crash booms and the ceiling caves in leaving rubble on the staff room floor from which Mr. Morton emerges unscathed in a bathrobe with toothbrush in hand to announce that he has not been living at the school. Looking over at the box on the counter his next words don’t fully register with his shocked colleagues: “Are those donuts?”

But the district is not done with Abbott and they send a representative – SNL’s Mikey Day also of Netflix’s Is it Cake? –  to undertake a “team building” exercise which is clearly meant as a punishment for their breach of school regulations with the golf course. So outside the staff goes to join hands and pass a hula-hoop and unbind knotted ropes. It is there that Gregory encourages Mr. Johnson to ride a bicycle for the first time, inspiring the older man to overcome his fears and accomplish a life-long goal. It is here that we see the affection and love that the staff have for each other, something that transcends mere work relationships.

These words of encouragement are also directed at the Italian-American Melissa who must come to grips with her new position as a grade six teacher. The problem is that, after teaching much younger students throughout her career, she is over-thinking the challenge the older students pose with their defiance, testiness, and overall challenging behaviour. But her fears are only stoked by Jacob and Mr. Morton who make the grade six classroom sound like an Ultimate Fighting Octagon! Meanwhile, the newest Abbott staffer – student counsellor Elena Alomar (Courtney Taylor) – is not only overwhelmed by a schedule that includes too many schools and far too many students, but Barbara and Jacob’s petty battle over when to run the staff room dishwasher.

Besides the hilarious performances of the stellar cast, Abbott provides loads of laughs through the staff’s seemingly spontaneous interactions with the students. At the beginning of season 5 episode 2, Ava accidentally blasts Los del Rios Macarena over the school’s intercom system which she has synched with Bluetooth to her cell phone. But as the students empty into the hallways to dance with the teachers, the potentially disruptive incident becomes a moment of bonding and joy!

Abbott Elementary is a fun, joyous, and at times raucous comedy that centres work colleagues who are much more like family. The humour emerges from their often-over-zealous desire to support and help one another, with the best of intentions often ending in spectacular miscommunications and comedic missteps. We’re certainly happy that school’s back in session!