This gem is one of the year’s best TV surprises. It won’t stay secret for long

It’s a canonical checklist: The episodes are 22 minutes long, with fade-to-black commercial breaks. The setting is a workplace or family space inhabited by a cross-section of pals, kin or eccentrics. The stakes are based on understanding and idiosyncratic competition. It is, of course, the classic American sitcom, the staple of network programming for decade upon decade that has given us long-running staples such Friends, Modern Family, and The Big Bang Theory. It’s the same for 2022’s best new sitcom: Abbott Elementary.

The rumours of the sitcom’s demise have been greatly exaggerated – you just have to know where to look for them. Abbott Elementary isn’t screening at 9pm on a commercial network as a chaser to an overblown reality show, it’s streaming on Disney+. The show, which debuted in January on the Disney-owned American network ABC and has become a critical and commercial success, is both a terrific tribute to the pleasures of a well put together sitcom and a welcome update of the format’s legacy. It looks back, but it leaps forward.

Abbott Elementary creator and star Quinta Brunson.Credit: Liliane Lathan/ABC

Created by its star, 32-year-old writer and actor Quinta Brunson, Abbott Elementary knowingly works in the mockumentary tradition of The Office and Parks and Recreation. The everyday characters eye off the camera catching their inopportune moments and awkwardly explain themselves in sideline interviews. But here they’re surrounded by children – it’s set in a West Philadelphia primary school, where the teachers plug away five days a week and the staffroom is in turn a lunchtime sanctuary and an inquisitor’s den.

The demographics aren’t make believe. The student body is almost entirely black, as are the majority of teachers. Brunson’s Janine is a chatty, optimistic sparkplug, determined to make a difference even when everyone else says she’s going to make things worse, which draws both side eye and eventually support from veterans such as Ms Howard (Sheryl Lee Ralph) – who is so imposing even colleagues and television critics address her formally. Janine’s fellow newcomer, Jacob Hill (Chris Perfetti), gets called “white boy” at the local lunch joints. He’s hopeful it’s affectionate.

While it doesn’t reference the pandemic, Abbott Elementary acknowledges daily deprivation. The school’s budget is bleak and the principal, Ava Coleman (Janelle James, an absolute scene stealer), is more interested in social media success than supporting her staff. An early episode gets multiple gags about the real practice of teachers using crowdfunding to buy classroom materials. It’s not an individual keeping the school on the edge of collapse with a barely enough funding model, that’s just how the system is designed to operate.

The writing draws both punchlines and pathos from this struggle. “We care so much we refuse to burn out,” another old hand, Melissa Schemmenti (Lisa Ann Walter), tells Janine. Not every teacher makes the cut. One washout kicks a child, which is a no-no – instead “you threaten the parents” Melissa explains. A new substitute, Gregory Eddie (Tyler James Williams), doesn’t even know if he likes teaching. Watching the goofy temp improve in the classroom and scratch at his passion for the profession is one of the first season’s pleasures (as is embarrassment at Ava’s blunt flirtations).

Chris Perfitti and Quinta Brunson in a scene from sitcom Abbott Elementary.Credit: Ser Baffo/ABC via AP

“Diversions are an important part of teaching,” Ms Howard counsels Gregory, and the show makes the dedication of teachers clear without portraying them as saintly figures or losing their funniest lines. The faculty get frustrated, have weird opinions, and casually do difficult tasks to further a silly bit in an episode’s plot. It’s indicative of the show’s authenticity that the children that fill up the classrooms are non-actors, free of professional charm.

The pacing is brisk, with deadpan exchanges and inappropriate interjections occurring at a pace that could be described as Brooklyn Nine-Nine speed. Brunson got her start making content for Buzzfeed Video, and her trajectory has been back towards the traditional television mainstream. She’s a do-it-all creator, but doesn’t want a signature streaming show known for its arthouse flourishes. Brunson hired Randall Einhorn, who helmed numerous episodes of The Office, as her set-up director because she was so familiar with his work. He gives Willard R. Abbott Elementary a distinct tone, just as he did with Dunder-Mifflin.

The long and profitable second life of sitcoms on streaming services, where their rights require nine-figure deals, has swung the format’s pendulum back to commercial television. Shows such as Abbott Elementary can bring a younger audience to networks, even if it’s through catch-up viewing or online arms, while long-term there’s the lucrative possibility of creating a new flagship that can accumulate multiple seasons.

While it’s only halfway through its first season, Abbott Elementary is such a consistent joy that you could envisage the PG-rated show enduring. Brunson has set up dynamics that will define – or damage – future seasons. Janine’s self-doubt, for example, manifests itself with her boyfriend Tariq (Zack Fox), an aspiring rapper who she can’t admit she’s outgrown even as Gregory tentatively pursues her.

For now, this is one of the best surprises of the television year so far. And those 22-minute episodes are an absolute balm in the current age of demanding drama. That’s a lesson we can all learn.

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