“Abbott Elementary”'s strength rests in its insistent comfort, which its creator and star, Quinta Brunson, has understood as core to the broadcast sitcom’s mission.
Calling the show comfortable four seasons in isn’t the pejorative it might be if we referred to, say, “The Bear” in a similar fashion. Yes, that namedrop is intentional, and not merely because in arguments about what is and is not a TV comedy, “Abbott” tends to be cited as the classic half-hour standard bearer, down to its mockumentary format, because of its overt hilarity.
Through her second-grade teacher Janine Teagues, Brunson is capturing the essence of that one unforgettable instructor who made a difference in our lives. (Her fictional school is named for her favorite grade school teacher.) She’s a dauntless stand-in for the tireless souls who refuse to be deterred from inspiring young minds.
And while FX’s critical darling sustained some backlash in its third season for offering up some version of “more of the same,” the “Abbott” writers parlay its broadcast comedy predictability into an asset.
That matters as the show resumes with another school year at Willard R. Abbott Elementary. Four seasons in, Janine is no longer the awkward newbie, but not quite the equal of veteran Abbott teachers Melissa Schemmenti (Lisa Ann Walter) and Barbara Howard (Sheryl Lee Ralph).
Thanks to her detour into the underbelly of the educational administration machine, Janine better understands the challenges and limitations of working for a chronically underfunded public school in West Philly.
Overwhelming problems remain. One that cannot be fully fixed is Principal Ava Coleman's mismanagement – not that we’d want that. Janelle James’ portrait of ineptitude is the Teachers Appreciation Day gift that keeps on giving.
But even Ava doesn’t deter Janine from fulfilling her true purpose as a teacher, inspired by her fellow educators Jacob Hill (Chris Perfetti) and her sustained crush on Gregory Eddie (Tyler James Williams).
Like all great workplace sitcoms, the “Abbott Elementary” character ensemble is a family with a pair of characters dangling on the limb of the “will they/won’t they tree,” K-I-S-S-I-N-G in the third season finale.
The big question as "Abbott Elementary" returns is what became of Janine and Gregory's cliffhanger lip-lock. But that's never all there is. Two seasons ago Brunson used her show’s popularity to explore what charter schools mean to a community. That “Abbott” arc clarified those nebulous political talking points about school choice and vouchers by explaining how charter schools work against the public school system and communities who simply want their children to receive a solid education in a safe environment.
Season 4 digs into another thorny real-world class conflict without mentioning a certain dreaded word associated with it in the season premiere. But we quickly get what’s happening when Ava stumbles into her office and is met by a vision so unfamiliar that she thinks she’s seeing a ghost. It’s just a white kid whose parents recently moved to the area.
Janine explains that a big-time PGA golf course is under construction about 10 blocks from Abbott, and new homeowners are moving to the area so they can play here. “And while Tigers Woods is a notable golfer,” Janine says, “the demographic of most golfers is mainly…uh…”
Ben Onyx Dowdy and Janelle James in "Abbott Elementary" (ABC/Disney/Gilles Mingasson)
Yes. Thanks to this new golf course, gentrification is set to hit Abbott and its families more tangibly than it already has, starting with basic rolling effects like sudden water loss in the school building and an uptick in scuttling vermin.
Brunson never wanted “Abbott Elementary” to be about the Blackness of the school or most of its teachers, drawing the focus instead to the blend and crash of the individual personalities comprising the staff. That said, she is also unafraid to cash in the currency of affection we have for these characters to shed light on actual phenomena making life untenable for real working-class people.
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The golf course subplot doesn’t show up in every episode. Next week’s episode doesn’t include a single mention, actually; a contagious outbreak has everyone's plate full enough.
But it mirrors a case unfurling in West Philly right now. Billionaire interests bigfooted the restoration of the Cobbs Creek Golf Course, located in a predominantly Black neighborhood whose residents weren’t consulted and are steadily being squeezed out by rising property prices and their accompanying taxes. Locals also consider this "restoration" to be environmentally irresponsible, clearcutting old trees in greenspaces local neighbors used for hiking and naturalists prized for their diversity.
One of the first things a kindly grinning Janine says in the pilot is that the city constantly tells its teachers that there’s no money to fund their school's needs, “but they’re doing a multimillion-dollar renovation to the Eagles stadium down the street.”
Matt Oberg, Chris Perfetti, Sheryl Lee Ralph and Lisa Ann Walter in "Abbott Elementary" (ABC/Disney/Gilles Mingasson)
Municipal disinvestment plagues communities across the country, not just big cities. The golf course development, though, offers a chance to depict for the show’s primetime audience the ways ballyhooed urban renewal projects impact longtime residents who didn’t have a say in the matter.
“Abbott” doesn’t go head-on into that aspect – not in the premiere, anyway. And you don’t have to know anything about the Cobbs Creek golf course development to recognize something is going very wrong in the show’s pocket of West Philly. A slick lawyer dangling penny-on-the-dollar payoffs before these extremely underpaid teachers is never up to any good. Even in that telltale “uh-oh” moment, the cast’s physical humor keeps the scene light, and the zingers hit their target without fail.
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We all want to watch whatever emerges from Janine and Gregory’s interlude, even those of us who hoped it wouldn't happen.
Paying attention to how these teachers and their resilient community contend with another well-funded menace promises to be worthwhile – a rarer commodity in broadcast primetime these days.
Few network comedies dip a toe into social commentary with much nuance, and without softening the landing in some way that defies reality. But the fact that “Abbott Elementary” is willing to wade into this class politics discussion with a hopeful smile on its face and loses none of its glee is an accomplishment.
Season 4 of "Abbott Elementary" premieres at 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 9 on ABC. Episodes stream Thursdays on Hulu.
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