Sitcoms have been a staple of American television since the very beginning of its history, with laughter and joy being two things that people can always relate to. The jubilance that audiences have sustained over the 100-year course of television can largely be attributed to sitcoms. After all, comedies have long been known to be one of the cheapest genres to produce, and back in the early days of television production, that meant every studio was cranking out as many comedies as they could for as little as it would cost. Unfortunately, television budgets are much larger nowadays and have allowed studios to produce shows of more costly genres, practically rendering sitcoms extinct.

Luckily, a great new sitcom comes around every few years and reminds audiences everywhere that laughter is still the best medicine and that comedies are as relevant as they’ve always been. One such show is Abbott Elementary, a mockumentary-style sitcom about a second-grade teacher and her colleagues trying to guide their students through the Philadelphia public school system. The series began airing in December on ABC as a midseason entry, and with a second season on the way, Abbott Elementary has several reasons why it should stick around for years to come.

The Show’s Creator & Cast

One of the main reasons why Abbott Elementary has already garnered so much success has to be credited to the woman who made the series possible in the first place — creator and star Quinta Brunson. Brunson plays the main character, Janine Teagues, a second-grade teacher who proves in every single episode that she cares more about her students than anything in the world. Thrown into a system that has seemingly abandoned its students and its faculty, Janine strives to make efforts not just to help her students succeed in life but also to help her colleagues reignite the spark they once had for educating the youth of their city.


RELATED: Abbott Elementary to Partner With Scholastic to Provide Free Book Fairs at Underfunded Schools

Now, the series is a sitcom, so very rarely does Janine fully succeed in her endeavors, but even an occasional victory is a check-mark in the W column as far as she’s concerned. Not only is Brunson brilliant, but the cast of teachers that Abbott Elementary has put together is a comedic gold mine. A principal who would be better suited as a TikTok star, a gawky/baby-faced history teacher who supports Janine’s plight but is too awkward to be of help, two veteran teachers who know Janine’s actions are thankless, and a love-interest substitute-teacher who routinely insists that it’s just a temporary job. The episodes practically write themselves.

The Show’s Relatable Content

Speaking of the episodes practically writing themselves, Abbott Elementary should get renewed for several seasons because of how relatable the content is. There is a substantial portion of the population that has been to elementary school. Even though it was during our younger years, we still have significant and crucial memories from those days that helped shape us into the people we became. But we also have hilarious memories from all the shenanigans that young adolescents are bound to get themselves wrapped up in. The students and faculty of Abbott Elementary are no different.

RELATED: ABC Sitcom Abbott Elementary Breaks Impressive Record

Every episode revolves around an event/ordeal that often takes place in every elementary school across the country — open Houses, receiving new technology, dealing with substitute teachers, etc. The list goes on and on, and anybody who has ever been in an elementary school classroom can relate to it. Not only are the stories relatable, but the teachers and students are, too. Everybody had an over-the-top teacher like Janine, who always tried to do too much; everybody had a substitute teacher who didn’t care about being there; everybody had a principal where it was questionable how they even got the job in the first place. If a person has been to elementary school, they can laugh at Abbott Elementary (and that’s a lot of people).

Mockumentary Comedy Success

While this particular element isn’t a surefire sign of a successful show, it’s impossible to deny that mockumentary sitcoms have done well, especially in recent years. The Office, Parks and Rec, What We Do in the Shadows, and Modern Family have all been shot in the mockumentary-style format, and all have been considered successful among critics and fans.

Abbott Elementary mostly resembles The Office, Parks and Rec, and Modern Family. With the series airing on ABC — the same as Modern Family — it’s a safe bet that Abbott Elementary has officially been handed the sitcom torch.

Read Next

About The Author