Comedy
Chad Powers
Chad Powers finds its origin in Eli Manning’s undercover football disguise, but the content issues here are clear as day.
Janine Teagues is a lot of things: naïve, a bit clingy and too cheerful among them. But she’s also a passionate and capable teacher. But the school she teaches at—Abbott Elementary—is a mess.
The school is underfunded and understaffed. The kids are crazy, and the teachers are overwhelmed. The toilets don’t work, and the cafeteria food is toxic. And there’s an unidentifiable odor on the walls that you can never quite get used to.
The principal, Ava, is a little narcissistic. She first got the job by blackmailing the superintendent. And she was out to get Janine (one of the few teachers willing to stick it out for the benefit of the kids) for a while because Janine tried to report her for misusing school funds. However, she’s cleaned up her act a bit, becoming somewhat of a competent administrator.
Luckily, they aren’t the only teachers fighting to help the kids of Abbott get an actual education.
First, there’s Jacob. While perhaps a bit overtalkative, he started working the same year as Janine, and they “trauma bonded” over their horrific experience.
Then there’s Melissa. It might look like she doesn’t care, but she hasn’t stayed at Abbott all these years for the money. She stays for the kids. And she has her own unique (and slightly illegal) way of procuring some much-needed school supplies.
Veteran teacher Barbara Howard calls herself a woman of God. She loves teaching, and she’s good at it. But while she commands the respect of students and teachers alike, she’s also a bit cynical when it comes to the capabilities of her fellow instructors.
Finally, there’s Gregory. He originally interviewed for the principal position and got it—you know, until Ava blackmailed her way into the job. However, he didn’t let that setback deter him: He paid his dues as a substitute until he was offered a permanent position at the school. And he’s always there to help the school (and Ava) out of a scrape.
Despite getting no help from the higher-ups and no money from the city, Janine is confident that with the help of her friends, she can make a difference in the lives of her students.
Abbott Elementary is a mockumentary in the style of The Office and Parks and Recreation. Only this time, we get a peek at the functions (and dysfunctions) of an inner-city school.
The school and its staff are a bit of a disaster. Over the past few years, they’ve lied to the school board repeatedly, extorted local businesses, and hosted a number of “unpermitted shows and festivities.”
But they’re also full of heart. The teachers recognize that unlike schools with more money, they have to be instructors, administrators, social workers, therapists, second parents and sometimes even first parents to these kids.
And while they’re understandably frustrated by the lack of support they receive, they won’t let anyone tell them that wanting to help children is somehow a bad thing.
There’s some mild language. Harsher words get bleeped, and crude hand gestures are blurred out, as well. There’s also toilet humor: The first episode shows us a regurgitating toilet and vomiting child. Meanwhile two other children use the bathroom but don’t quite make it to the bathroom.
And while it’s probably not appropriate for teachers to talk about their romantic entanglements within earshot of so many little ears, they do so anyway—and often. Janine and Gregory eventually start dating. Janine’s ex-boyfriend—whom she had been with since middle school—is revealed to be the father of an Abbott student, meaning he cheated on her when they were together. Jacob is gay. Melissa breaks up with her longtime boyfriend because he (gasp) has the gall to propose marriage—something in which she insists she has no interest. And, of course, Ava was blackmailing the superintendent over an extra-marital affair—and we later learn he divorced his wife in order to marry his mistress. Etc.
All in all, Abbott Elementary runs in the same vein as other TV mockumentaries. It’s been widely praised, being a frequent Emmy nominee in a field dominated by cable and streaming shows. And while its humor will find appeal with fans of The Office or Parks and Rec, it won’t get a passing grade with others.
(Editor’s Note: Plugged In is rarely able to watch every episode of a given series for review. As such, there’s always a chance that you might see a problem that we didn’t. If you notice content that you feel should be included in our review, send us an email at letters@pluggedin.com, or contact us via Facebook or Instagram, and be sure to let us know the episode number, title and season so that we can check it out.)
After repeatedly lying to the school district the previous year, Abbott Elementary’s staff is forced to participate in mandatory team-building exercises to prove to the district that they do, in fact, know how to be team players.
The man leading the team-building seminar says that he wears a cross (and shows the necklace) but doesn’t believe in God. Barbara (who is a believer) tells him that it’s OK, since God believes in him. She also boldly states that she never takes the Lord’s name in vain, causing her colleagues to question whether her frequent use of “sweet baby Jesus” counts or not. A man makes a crude sexual insult to a colleague while imitating a middle-schooler to demonstrate how cruel the kids can be.
Ava shows the staff a slideshow of her and her boyfriend on vacation, which someone tells her is an HR violation. Later, she shows a shirtless picture of her boyfriend to a colleague (we don’t see the pic). A man says he used to work at a male strip club and starts to unbutton his shirt before his colleagues stop him.
A few people are slightly injured after their colleagues refuse to take the team-building exercises seriously, resulting in blindfolded individuals stumbling and falling over obstacles. A cameraman faints from a gas leak after Ava neglects to have a professional fix the problem.
Ava gleefully announces that Janine will have 40 second graders in her class this year due to there not being enough students to form two separate classes. (She admits that she hopes this will “break” Janine.)
Teachers gag when they realize the doughnuts they found (and ate) in the teacher’s lounge were left over from the previous school year. A ceiling collapses due to a man sleeping up there. People are rude to each other. A woman snatches candy from someone. Ava brags about her physical appearance and her new boyfriend. She tells a few lies. Insults are exchanged.
We hear that Janine’s mom abandoned her. As such, she’s formed an attachment to Barbara as a mother figure. But when Barbara starts offering advice to a former kindergarten student—who is now a teacher at Abbott—Janine gets insecure (and Ava mocks her). She’s even a little mean to the new guy. However, Janine realizes that she can’t blame him for Barbara’s actions and even offers to mentor him through his first school year.
Two teachers try to prepare their colleague, who has only ever taught second graders, for teaching middle schoolers. They imitate the kids, insulting her and swearing. She tries to talk back, but they remind her that as the adult, she can’t do that or she’ll get written up.
The f-word is bleeped out twice. We hear a couple of uses each of “a–,” “b–ch,” “d–n” and “h—.” God’s name is misused a couple of times.
After a child ruins the classroom rug, Janine goes to extreme lengths to get a new one for her pupils.
Ava brags that she caught a man from her church cheating on his wife with a deaconess and blackmailed him to get a job. She repeatedly objectifies another man by calling him pet names and insinuating that he might be a stripper. When Janine sees a man holding a child’s pants in the bathroom, she is suspicious of his actions until he explains he is helping a child who didn’t make it to the toilet in time. A woman says big feet are a sign of fertility. Someone insults a woman’s undergarment (it’s not visible). A woman jokes she could make more money as a prostitute.
A teacher is fired after kicking a student. (She claims he hit her first.) Kids hit each other. Teachers condone threatening their students and the parents of their students. Kids throw something heavy at a computer, breaking it. Several teachers and students cry and scream at each other. One teacher has to put out a trash can fire in his classroom.
A child urinates on a rug. Another urinates in his pants. A girl vomits on her desk. Teachers trying to help these students get the bodily fluids on their hands. A few teachers are sprayed by a toilet while trying to fix it.
Janine and the other teachers are constantly told the city has no money for schools even though the city is paying for a multi-million-dollar football stadium renovation. Several teachers make a deal to have a man steal school supplies for them. Ava lies to make herself look good and spends important school funds on something useless. (And she tries to humiliate Janine when Janine tries to report her.)
We learn that a young boy sleeps over his lunch break on the classroom rug because it’s softer than his bed at home, and he doesn’t sleep a lot at home because he has many siblings and an absent father (who fights with his mom when he is home). Janine is critical of a parent who allowed her daughter to watch “American Gangster.” Students are generally disrespectful to teachers. We hear one teacher is losing her hair and another takes frequent smoke breaks (though he says he switched to a vape). A teacher compares her classroom rug to Xanax because of its calming properties.
We hear uses of “h—” and “a–.” We also hear the term “freaking.” God’s name is abused. A crude hand gesture is blurred out. Someone says she is a “woman of God.” Someone tells the kids about the Illuminati. A woman mentions astrology. A man worries about “white fragility.”
Emily studied film and writing when she was in college. And when she isn’t being way too competitive while playing board games, she enjoys food, sleep, and geeking out with her husband indulging in their “nerdoms,” which is the collective fan cultures of everything they love, such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate and Lord of the Rings.
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