This story contains spoilers for Abbott Elementary.
Abbott Elementary is built to last. Three seasons and four Emmys into its run, the ABC sitcom shows no signs of slowing down, either creatively or comedically. In fact, the public school-set series seems keen to keep growing, flexing its storytelling muscles by attempting – and pulling off – tricky maneuvers that have nearly toppled plenty of great sitcoms before it.
Quinta Brunson’s winning series made its first surprise move last season, when it rather cleverly decided to pump the brakes on the burgeoning relationship between cheerful go-getter Janine (Brunson) and her more low-key co-worker, Gregory (Tyler James Williams). Lots of sitcoms throw up obstacles between their main couples, but they’re typically flimsy and frustrating ones that are clearly added in solely for the sake of keeping a pair’s sexual tension unresolved – and keeping viewers tuned in by the millions – for as long as possible.
Instead of coming up with excuses, Abbott Elementary simply allowed its lead character to make a mature adult decision with no ratings-grabbing ulterior motive. “I come to school every day happy because I get to see you,” Janine told Gregory back in the Season 2 finale, “and have a friend like you, and I can’t lose that friend.” Janine said she selfishly didn’t want to give that dynamic up, and for viewers who have watched the pair develop a delicate, beautiful relationship over the past two years, it made sense.
As admirably realistic as the decision was, the series’ follow-through has been even more impressive. Gregory and Janine remain fairly close friends in the new season, but the stolen kisses, flirty looks, and dance floor slow-grinds have all stopped. The pair’s romantic future together seems inevitable, and we’ll applaud it when it happens, but for now, the show isn’t rushing love. Abbott isn’t rushing into anything – including, mercifully, loathsome secondary love interests.
Abbott Elementary often draws comparisons to other popular network mockumentaries of decades past, including The Office and Parks and Recreation. While Brunson has spoken at length about the ways the latter inspired the series, the show seems to be taking steps to avoid some of the former’s mistakes. Though Gregory and Janine both dated other people in the show’s early seasons, Abbott season 3 breaks from sitcom convention by refusing to run out the clock wasting time with secondary love interests who will likely only draw viewers’ ire.
There’s no Karen (Rashida Jones’ character from The Office) here, nor is there a Kelly (Superstore), Robin (Cheers), or anyone who even remotely resembles the hated third corner of TV love triangles of decades past. Janine has spent nine episodes working alongside characters played by notable streaming-era heartthrobs Josh Segarra and Benjamin Norris, and she hasn’t so much as shared a second-too-long glance with any of them. Instead of introducing boyfriends who will serve as filler characters, or trapping Janine in an unhappy relationship with her slacker ex Tariq (Zack Fox) – just as Pam (Jenna Fischer) from The Office stuck with her loser husband for far too long – Abbott has allowed Janine space to grow independent of any love interest.
That’s because Abbott isn’t interested in false starts and tired tropes. The show cares about being funny, and honest, and about centering the kind of love school teachers (like Brunson’s own mom, who also inspired the show) bring to their job every day. Abbott’s boldest move to date may be Janine’s switch from a classroom setting to a job with the school district. This risky plot twist (which was presented in a premiere rather than as a finale cliffhanger, another casual subversion) carefully sidesteps the mistakes made by so many sitcoms before it. As a writing choice, taking a sitcom’s hero out of its central setting – and potentially away from its dynamic central ensemble – can be disastrous. Audiences hated the season of Scrubs that saw surgeon J.D. become a med school professor, for example, while later seasons of The Office floundered as Michael Scott left the show and Jim began working for a different company. But Abbott Elementary isn’t most sitcoms – it’s learned from its predecessors, and it’s better for it.
Abbott has navigated its own (likely temporary) premise change seamlessly. It helps that writers have found excuses to bring Janine back to Abbott regularly and Brunson clearly remains as committed to the role as ever, but the show has also managed to minimize any sense that things might feel “off” (a feeling sitcom fans are often painfully attuned to) with Janine at the district. Instead of worrying about the show’s sense of equilibrium, we’re busy laughing at Gregory’s Garden Goofballs or Melissa (Lisa Ann Walter) and Jacob’s (Chris Perfetti) secret friendship. It’s clear by now that Janine herself longs to return to classroom life, but the plot hasn’t overstayed its welcome, and the show is as comedically agile and heartfelt as ever. Abbott also smartly holds multiple truths at once, and refuses to paint either the district job or classroom one as the “right” one.
The Abbott Elementary writers’ room makes smart moves week after week, and they’re executed so well as to at times seem nearly invisible to the naked eye. Often, it’s not what the show does, but what it deliberately chooses not to do, that makes it great. The series refuses to give viewers pointless shipper crumbs or introduce frustrating new love triangles when Janine and Gregory have chosen not to get together. It also managed to circumnavigate the usual disjointed feeling that comes with major character transitions, like Janine’s move to the district. By grounding its story in real humor and heart and focusing on low-key character moments rather than ratings grabs, Abbott Elementary has become one of the most rewarding sitcom watches around. It’s also established a strong, character-and-comedy-driven foundation from which it’s poised to keep growing for as long as it wants – whether or not Janine’s actually at Abbott.
