Progressives Chat: Support for ‘Abbott Elementary’

Abbott Elementary’s Quinta Brunson, front row center, Chris Perfetti, left, and Tyler James Williams; back row, left to right: Sheryl Lee Ralph, Janelle James, and Lisa Ann Walter

The 74th Emmy Awards will be broadcast live, on NBC, Monday, September 12, 2022.

This is for prime-time television achievements for the previous 2021–22 season.

After nominations came out in July, and with an awareness for some established series—as well as ones with their first seasons—having been well-received, I decided to spend some time in July and August catching up by streaming their seasons—especially with 2021–22 television season. I figure, “It’s not a bad idea to see what I think. And I may have been falling behind and missing out [to some extent].”

2021–22 nominations for Outstanding Drama Series: Better Call Saul (AMC); Euphoria (HBO); Ozark (Netflix); Severance (Apple TV+); Squid Game (Netflix); Stranger Things (Netflix); Succession (HBO); Yellowjackets (Showtime).

2021–22 nominations for Outstanding Comedy Series: Abbott Elementary (ABC); Barry (HBO); Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO); Hacks (HBO Max); The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon Prime Video); Only Murders in the Building (Hulu); Ted Lasso (Apple TV+); What We Do in the Shadows (FX).

This is a total of 16 productions which comprise the nominations in their respective genre’s top category. Frankly, I did not have that much time. As one who follows the entertainment awards website GoldDerby, I was able to ascertain which ones appear in position to win. I took on three each from drama and comedy for a total of six. (By the way: I trust readers do not need me to explain, in general, what each series is about.)

In drama, I had previously watched the first two seasons of past Emmy champ Succession. It won with its second season in 2020. Its third season aired during Fall 2021. I also took on freshmen Squid Game and Severance.

In comedy, I first went with Hacks and, soon afterward, followed it with last year’s winner Ted Lasso. And then I viewed the freshman Abbott Elementary.

For the 2021–22 season, no matter the respective outcomes of the Emmys, my preferences turned out to be: Squid Game and Abbott Elementary.

They both have in common this: They are about unjust economics in terrible systems which weigh down people. What they also have in common is that they are highly relevant to this current period in history. Last year I wrote and published, here at Progressives Chat, a topic on Squid Game: ‘Why has [“Squid Game”] resonated with a global audience?’. I can simply add that that series is innovative and daring. So, I will move on to Abbott Elementary.

Abbott Elementary is about an underfunded school in west Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its protagonist is second-grade teacher Janine Teagues, played by series creator and executive producer Quinta Brunson, who must navigate the system. Her colleagues include thirty-year, kindergarten teacher Barbara Howard (Sheryl Lee Ralph); fellow second-grade teacher Melissa Schemmenti (Lisa Ann Walter); and fellow instructor Jacob Hill (Chris Perfetti), who hired at the same time as Janine. Joining them is substitute teacher Gregory Eddie (Tyler James Williams), who continues with the first-grade students after one of them made their previous teacher flip. And the school also has the not-qualified principal Ava Coleman (Janelle James).

Abbott Elementary is a comedy which has many reminded of NBC Emmy-winning The Office. It is single camera and has a mockumentary style. But that isn’t enough to describe Abbott Elementary. It is, frankly, a workplace comedy in a school setting. It is a remarkable series with superb performances (with nominations for Brunson, Williams, James, and Ralph). It has interesting, distinct characters. These characters are smart. They are relatable. They have depth. They also evolve. Even the principal, who is inappropriate and vain, proves to be creative and capable.

Abbott Elementary, which debuted as a preview on December 7, 2021 before it continued in January 2022, has a thirteen-episode count with its first season. (The season-two premiere is scheduled for next Wednesday, September 21, 2022.) The pilot, by Brunson, and which is nominated for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series, is one of the best of any series I have seen in years. Streaming and viewing the first season, available on both Hulu and HBO Max, was an absolute pleasure.

Given my preferences for Squid Game and Abbott Elementary, the following question may be asked: Will they win? They both can. But, many on the site GoldDerby figure Succession will win its second statue in drama. (I don’t disagree.) I sense part of this is because actors love the series’ material—and they want to act that kind of material—as it evokes a King Lear-like figure who has adult children and, constantly, they play power games. At the same time, that back and forth reminds me of Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner. In comedy, I actually think Abbott Elementary will prevail. Over the last month, momentum has built for it. This suggests a rally of support to have it finish on top. There was the Television Critics Association (‘Abbott Elementary is the golden child of TV critics, scoring 4 wins at the TCA Awards’), which prized it with four, including not only Outstanding Achievement in Comedy but also Program of the Year. It also won from the Hollywood Critics Association TV Awards (‘HCA TV Awards: “White Lotus,” “Abbott Elementary,” “Better Call Saul” Lead Winners’). What may be the best precursor came from the two-night, September 4 and 5, Creative Arts Emmys. Abbott Elementary won the 2021–22 Emmy for Outstanding Casting for a Comedy Series (specifically awarded to Wendy O’Brien). Since 2015, the prevailing series with that award went on to win the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series. This began with HBO’s Veep, starring Julia Louis–Dreyfuss, which also won in 2016 and 2017. The last four years’s winners, with both, were for separate series: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, in 2018; Amazon Prime Video’s Fleabag, in 2019; Pop’s Schitt’s Creek, in 2020; and Ted Lasso, in 2021. I sense this pattern will continue, here in 2022, as a series Emmy for Abbott Elementary would be well-earned.