“Abbott Elementary” Review: A fun series for Philadelphia teachers struggling with budgets and bureaucracy to reach their students

We saw children facing the Willard R. Abbott Public School. Inside, a teacher rehearses with second graders about her favourite movies and characters. When someone says “American gangsters”. The teacher deliberately looks into the camera and says. That he will have a third conversation with his parents about what they can see.

Janine Teagues (Quinta Brunson) is this 2nd-grade teacher, and she’s the main character in the documentary Abbott Elementary. Why? Because he was a junior high school teacher in Philadelphia, and his optimism and positive attitude were rare at Abbott.

It’s not that other teachers don’t care.

They care deeply about their students – at least if they don’t try to rebel against the more passive young teachers. But if the city limits its budget and pushes it every step of the way. For example, Janine needs a new carpet for her classroom after too many kids have peed on her.

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For them, like Xanax for Kids, it centres and relaxes them. But the school’s incompetent and spectacular principal Ava Coleman (Janelle James). It doesn’t get it because the school doesn’t have the money for it.

Your coworkers react differently to this. Janine’s second teacher, Jacob Hill (Chris Perfetti), does it because he feels he has to because he is a great “ally”. Obsessed with Janine for controlling her class, 20-year veteran Barbara Howard (Cheryl Lee Ralph) works with what she has. Melissa Shementi (Lisa Ann Walter) uses her connections in South Philly; she “always knew a man”.

When an overworked teacher kicks a student:

Ava fires him and works to get the principal to send emergency funds to the school. While Janine wrote a clever email asking the director for more carpet. Ava decided to spend $3,000 with her for a new sign. Enraged, Janine sends an email to the principal.

But Barbara reminds her that she will forward this email to the principal. Ava contemplates her revenge by holding a meeting to honour her coworkers and saying that anyone can speak the truth about others. He started by calling Janine “Squeaky and Annoying”.

Gregory’s deputy Eddie (Tyler James Williams) arrives and soon finds a soul mate in Janine, but Ava gives her a nickname that will trigger a call to Human Resources if Gregory thinks he has the lever. After a respectful meeting, Janine takes matters into her own hands, as “she knows a man who knows a man”, also known as Melissa.

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In addition to starring in Abbott Elementary, Brunson is the show’s creator and executive producer (given his previous life as a video artist at BuzzFeed, this wasn’t a problem for him). She is backed by seasoned sitcom producers Justin Halpern, Randall Einhorn (who also runs the pilot) and Patrick Schumacher. As such, Abbott Elementary maintains the same tonality as in the pseudo-documentary mentioned above (which Einhorn also uses for directing).

And that voice? Well, it’s a combination of funny jokes that occasionally look into the camera to let people know the camera is there and side interviews that sometimes don’t prove what the person is thinking. But he also has the same sense of family and community as the other two shows.

Brunson was able to build on these qualities quickly;

With laughter, that more than anything, comes from the curiosity and attitude of the main characters. Getting this set up so quickly is a sign of a sitcom that has resilience.

Another sign that we like Abbott Elementary is that we don’t mind the layout format. Keep in mind that this is a format that has been copied repeatedly since the original English version of Office debuted 20 years ago, and it has more or less stood the test of time.

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But introducing him to a tough city elementary school was an inspiring decision, especially since the show isn’t for kids but because of the absurd bureaucracy these teachers go through in their (sometimes futile) attempts to reach their students for views.

Brunson’s performance as an almost obsessive Janine keeps the series going, but the rest of the cast also complete their roles well, and it seems that if the show were based on these teachers’ ability to teach despite things like “back toilets”, the show should be fun to do. Not only is Abbott Elementary fun, but pilots create a family at work that can last for several seasons.