The final season of ‘Abbott Elementary’ proved to be the perfect TV season

Abbott Elementary School just aired a perfect TV season.

Who would have thought that an ABC teacher comedy would be this interesting? Or that it will somehow end up being the funniest comedy of the season? Not a Netflix dark comedy. Not a good Hulu series starring some big movie stars. It’s something we thought was extinct: an internet comedy that everyone was talking about.

The third season finale of Abbott Elementary School on ABC, the school has a field trip to the zoo, and people are thinking about change and the future.

Sheryl Lee Ralph’s Barbara Howard started the day by noting how different kids have become. “I blame Real housewives. The kids watch with their mother and each season a new beast is created. But the real timeline continues when she takes her students to see Duster, the tuatara reptile, to the zoo the same year she started teaching. It turned out that Duster was “retired,” leaving Mrs. Howard to wonder if it was time for her to do so.

Then there’s Quinta Brunson’s Janine Teagues, who gets the news that her boyfriend’s rapper career, who creates educational songs about the dangers of drug use, is actually taking off. He was offered a job in New York City and wanted to take Janine with him. At a time when her potential as a teacher seems to meet her passion, she is forced to decide whether to move to New York or continue her growth at Abbott Elementary, where she seems is thriving.

Episodes, like all episodes of Abbott Elementary Schoolis a pleasure.

There’s a delicate balance between heart and humor that has come to define the show. (I especially love the line about Mrs. Howard growing beautiful with age “like good wine and Stanley Tucci.”) Janelle James and Lisa Ann Walter continue to deliver some of television’s best scene-stealing performances, while the nuanced work of Ralph is formidable but vulnerable Mrs. Howard has cemented her status as the best new comedian of the year.

It’s rare Office-inspirational series to make the simulation work in earnest, versus something like What do we do in the dark, succeeded because it was an outrageous forgery. What do you do? Office so great that you really feel like a fly on the wall witnessing everyone’s lives, and more than that, the characters’ relationships vibrate in a way that feels lifelike — eerie. As clumsy and annoying as they can be, your co-workers are the people you spend most of your time with and they start acting like a family. Abbott Elementary School even managed to have a Jim and Pam will-they-won’t-they relationship without feeling cliché.

But it’s not just that Abbott Elementary School is the good thing that made its first season feel so remarkable. This is the rare show that is “interesting” and “buzzing” in online circles that often obsess over readings in Heir or hypothesized plot points in Quit. What people actually watch—Young Sheldon now on Season 5, guys, while Yellowstone is the most-watched show on TV — and what is considered “hot” by the media and influencers is often so disparate that the press can lose touch.

This is a series that is not only hugely popular, but also the most tweeted about comedy of the year and ABC’s biggest hit comedy ever since. Modern family—But there is also the kind of online “credit” that is usually reserved for Fleabag or Crazy men. this is not The Big Bang Theory Become a disruptor and the social media are rolling their eyes. It’s a serious, heartwarming TV comedy that’s seen by most Americans, but also the most entertaining show on TV.

It is tempting to compare its success with the recent rise of Schitt’s Creek or Ted Lasso: it’s great to have a performance that makes you feel at ease while the time is gloomy like the present. But I think there’s something more to it Abbott Elementary School breakthrough at this point.

A TV show about teachers is hardly new. But this one feels special.

I love it Abbott Elementary School does not split the time between the stories about the student and the teacher characters. The students are always around, and the program never lets you forget what it feels like to have a day that caters to their needs. But this is a show about teachers. It is about people who have chosen to dedicate their lives to a necessary job that still requires a great deal of their financial and emotional investment. We’re learning about what motivates them to do this job, what it takes to get through the day and more, what they themselves get out of it.

Janine and Barbara have a special relationship. James’ Principal Coleman has some of the funniest observations on TV. But in the background of all those moments and arcs are the kids, a constant reminder of how they’ve always thought of students.

The program sheds light on how underfunded and underappreciated teachers are. What’s beautiful about Abbott Elementary School how one-sided it is about the situation, but by no means is it – there’s no “Special Episode” here. The reality is that the teachers have to be smart and dynamic in doing their job with the limited resources they have, and that is embedded in each episode of the series. The fact that the show isn’t preached about it, and instead only represents in terms of what it’s worth to those in the profession, is incredibly powerful.

The past two years have made us finally begin to realize what teachers mean to us. Distance learning has shed some light on what it takes to be an educator. We were reminded how important schools are to a functioning society. There was a disgusting, disgusting speech when schools were closed for COVID safety reasons, in which some parents criticized teachers for being too lazy to go back to work. While that absurd argument should not be validated, it has had the effect of encouraging rational, empathetic people around the important role teachers play in our lives and assessment. appreciate the sacrifices they make every day.

When I think about this year’s TV that was most memorable or made me laugh the most, it’s a compilation of moments from the first season of the series. Abbott Elementary School. It was Principal Coleman retreat from the fear of zombies. “They eat the hottest things first. Let me get my delicious ass back. ” Its perfect scene where the teachers meet Jacob Hill’s boyfriend (Chris Perfetti) for the first time and are shocked to learn he is black. How my heart fluttered when Barbara invited Janine out for dinner after an exciting Parent-Teacher Night.

It’s not easy being a “nice” gig. To do something touching and meaningful while still having a sharp sense of humour. There is a tenor that emphasizes the majority Abbott Elementary SchoolIts success is a “underdog”, and that is true. It’s a series created by a black woman, and the cast is so diverse that the only white male character is gay, which in itself is a critical commentary on how minorities are usually the people who enter this line of work. That’s why the final moments of the season finale are so endearing.

Mr. Johnson (William Stanford Davis), the supervisor asks the students who stay after the field trip to write an essay about superheroes, and they choose to write about their teacher. There’s another show where this is hilarious, and another audience will find it unbearable. But Abbott Elementary School earned that moment. It has done such an impressive job drawing these dynamic characters and subtly manipulating its politics into its stories so that a moving and inspiring scene has worked.

The only question now is, what are we going to do on Tuesday night without this show?