Abbott Elementary, Quinta Brunson’s hilarious and sweet Office-like teacher comedy set in Philadelphia, premiered in December. It was so heartwarming and funny that it quickly became an Internet darling. The problem is that it premiered December 7th but we didn’t get the second episode until January 4th! In that long wait, and as momentum grew, many more people watched it. Deadline is reporting that the ratings for the pilot increased 300% over the first 35 days since it aired.
Created, written and starring Quinta Brunson, Abbott Elementary debuted back in December to earn a 0.6 rating in the 18-49 demo and 2.79 million viewers, per fast affiliates. However, after 35 days of viewing across ABC’s linear and digital platforms, the series premiere shot up 300% in the demo for a 2.4 rating and 7.1 million total viewers. Per ABC, Abbott’s opening marked the largest percentage growth from L+SD to MP35 for any new comedy premiere. ABC started tracking MP35 performance in September 2017.
A new addition to Tuesday’s primetime slate, Abbott Elementary has been a consistent performer for ABC. The series topped its hour upon its debut and maintained its demo rating every week. Since its premiere, Abbott Elementary has bested FBI: International on CBS and Our Kind of People on Fox in primetime.
Not only that, this show has 100% on Rotten Tomatoes! I didn’t see last night’s episode yet because it airs at 9pm and I’m usually in bed by that time, but I’ll catch it tonight on my DVR. (It’s also on Hulu!) Abbott Elementary is a true delight and I’m so happy that it’s doing well! My parents are retired teachers and I’ve seen their experiences reflected, particularly with the obnoxious self-centered principal, played to a T by Janelle James. Sheryl Lee Ralph is fabulous as an old school second grade teacher and I also love Tyler James Williams. He plays substitute teacher Gregory Williams and am shipping his and Quinta’s characters.
If you’re looking for more new comedies, I also highly recommend Ghosts on CBS. That’s a little harder to find as it’s only streaming on a service I’m just hearing of now called Pluto, which has ads, so I’m DVRing it. It’s also very popular and has already been renewed for a second season. Oh and I’ve only seen one episode so far but Grand Crew on NBC is pretty funny too.
‘Abbott Elementary’ Becomes First ABC Comedy Premiere To Quadruple Ratings In MP35 https://t.co/4TDRSTlT89
— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) January 25, 2022
I love this show ❣. It’s must see TV for me.
I LOVE this show! TRUE belly laughs for me.
I WAS that young teacher at the beginning (Quinta), so idealistic, so wanting to go *way* over and beyond for my kids. By year 10, I was more like Lisa Ann Walter’s: cynical, trying to get whatever I needed for my classes any way I could get it done. By the end, I was tired! lol. By year 15 I morphed into a Sheryl Lee Ralph type, the wise older teacher who knew what worked and didn’t to get the kids to produce on grade level). I didn’t immediately understand the new tech crap they tried foisting every couple of weeks (computers didn’t come into the classroom (dial ups!) until I’d been teaching till the mid 90s!), and just closed my door, and taught the way I knew the kids needed (PHONICS! lol) and I got one of the younger teachers to tutor me on computers in the mean time!
This show is SO well done, the cast is on point (thought the Principal, while funny is a *little* over the top. But I have to say, we *did* have a principal who’d check in, say she was going to do a “bank run”, then head off to Nordstrom in The Grove, to shop until 2 each day! Her license rim said: I live to shop at Nordstrom! lol Hand to God!).
I’m so glad it’s doing well! I ADORE this show, it’s got a lot of heart and is so funny. The principal kills me, and the entire cast is fabulous. I can’t recommend it enough.
I also think CBS’ Ghosts is getting very good too – the BBC version is perfect, but this one is starting to stand on its own and is very funny.
I’m also enjoying American Auto and Grand Crew. I haven’t watched a network sitcom in a while, but all of a sudden there are several good ones.
Grand Crew and American Auto are also really good too right ? Did you watch American Auto this week (they were shooting a “woke” commercial)? It was hilarious !
Love AA, haven’t tried Grand Crew yet. I’ll stream it later 😊
We NEED more shows to laugh with!
I haven’t seen that episode yet, I usually catch up a day or so later on Hulu, but I’m looking forward to it!
I agree Jan, it’s nice to have some good, funny shows right now.
It really does live up to all the hype!! Every single main characters has amazing chemistry with each other, and the kids are magic. The talent those little guys have shown is amazing!!
And yes, Tyler James Williams steals every scene he’s in, esp when he does the deadpan camera stare!!😂😂🤣
Young Idris!
Its a cute show. One of my friends is a retired teacher and she was raving about it so I decided to check it out. Good for Quinta Brunson for both creating and starring in her own show!
So funny you should mention Ghosts today. I literally discovered the show yesterday. I binged on the British version so far and it’s fantastic, I’m laughing so hard. I was mad nobody mentioned it to me earlier.
I haven’t heard of Abbott Elementary either, but can’t wait to check it out now, I hope I can find where I can watch it.
This show is SO GOOD. I don’t know the name of the woman who plays the principle but she is my fave ! She is hilarious. Also, when did the little boy from Everyone Hates Chris grow up ??!!
OMG I was like “he’s so handsome!” and then I discovered he was the kid from Everyone Hates Chris and I felt OLD.
So I just looked up the principal, she’s Janelle James, a stand up, writer, and actress. Her delivery is FLAWLESS.
I love this show. The cast chemistry is amazing. I am so happy it is getting renewed.
Both this show and Ghosts are my two favorite shows right now. Both are hilarious and are some of the few shows I watch regularly . I thought Quinta Brunson was hilarious on the Black Lady Sketch show so happy to see her get her own show. The principal character is so funny, and love the red head teacher with”connections”.
Man I was watching Quinta years ago on Buzufeed. She was great, so happy she’s doing well!
Yay! I’m so glad. I just discovered this show this past weekend and I love it. They’re all great (Quinta is adorable) but I think my favorite is Ava, the principal. She’s so good at being so vain and awful! I also really, really like Grand Crew and highly recommend that too.
It’s been filling the Parks and Recs shaped hole in my life.
I feel that way too, it has that same “everything is bad but a group of good people try to make it better” vibe to it.
I just finished binging Ghosts on Paramount+, it was soo funny! I loved it!. Based on this post, I am going to make Abbott Elementary my next show!
I just resigned my elementary teaching position with “at risk” students after 7 seven years this past June (I was burned out after pandemic teaching and am focused on graduate studies for now), and I love this show! With a few exceptions (like, what teachers can go off campus during lunch to get a manicure??? Sign me up to work in that district…) it is so realistic. I also appreciate that it focuses on working with younger children. Too often entertainment that deals with education is focused on high school…but the foundation starts early and it’s important to draw attention to the educators who do that work!
I’m sitting here in my fourth-grade classroom while my students are at library. I want to watch this, but this school year has been so horrible, I don’t know if I should even try. Kids are struggling. Even those learning in person have tons of holes in their learning. Behaviors are over the top. Emotionally they’re all over the place. I’m so tired.
I LOOOOOVE THIS SHOW!
I like it a lot, it does parallel the Office or Parks & Rec and I get the same feeling they had in their first seasons though- you know they’ve got a good framework here, you can tell they’re feeling things out writing wise, they’re just playing it a little safer to start and these characters are going to go off the charts hysterical as they move along. (Like when the principal gives the kindergartner reader Michelle Obama’s book to sight read in front of the school on the spot! That was great. It expect that’s the really absurdist direction they’re going towards. The principal is *perfect*.)
Love seeing Tyler James Williams who played little Chris from Everybody Hates Chris all grown up in a great comedic role too. He was always such a funny actor and makes perfect reaction faces. This is the perfect showcase for him.
I really like the actors who play Janine and Principal Coleman too. I haven’t seen much of them before this show and don’t really know their names off hand (I think I will soon), but they’re hilarious.
The entire cast is perfect though. Not a single weak spot in the lot!
I watched a couple episodes of this series and the accuracy is almost frightening. Especially with the whacked out, grossly incompetent principal and unbelievable lack of resources. I’m a kindergarten teacher and these past couple years have been so rough that when I get home I want to totally disassociate from my job, which makes watching this show a little bit difficult. I am saving the rest of it to binge watch this summer when I’m working my “easy” job and hopefully I’ll enjoy it more.
I do love Ghosts though! The British version is streaming on HBO Max and there are several seasons. It is different enough from the US version that you can easily watch both without anything being spoiled.
I love the original British Ghosts and generally prefer British humour but I’ve heard the American one isn’t as bad as some remakes can be, so that’s a relief.
Unless you are an elementary school teacher you have NO IDEA all the funny things that happen in a single day between kids’ comments, things they write or things they do. It’s the best part of the job! 😜
I love, love, love Ghosts (US version) and thanks to @CB for recommending it to me on Twitter the other day. I binged it in one day on Paramount Plus. I’m adding Abbott Elementary to my watch list.