From time to time the phenomena in the United States take time to reach our screens. Last year the critics fell in love (and no wonder) with ‘Hacks’ and this season the new comedy that has stood out has been ‘Colegio Abbott’ (‘Abbott Elementary’), whose first season premieres today in full Disney + after its broadcast on ABC.
Created and starred by Fifth Brunson Like Janine, the fiction follows the day-to-day life of the teachers of a public school without resources in Philadelphia, as a mockumentary. Janine has a great vocation and zeal to offer a quality education to her studentsbut you will find yourself running into a system not too keen to invest in it.
Labeled a workplace “mockumentary,” ‘Abbott College’ is closer in style to ‘Parks and Recreation’ than to the sought-after realism of ‘The Office.’ Yes, we have bosses who are unbelievable, but deep down we find people who want to do their job well, who believe in it despite being aware of the risk of ending up burning out at work.
Ordinary people who love to teach
In fact, comedy is very clever in two respects: the first is to give a deep humanity to the teachers. They have their incredible and defining traits, but they are not heroes of education nor are we in a ‘Dead Poets Club’: they are people who are navigating between their vocation (if they have one) and the reality of exercising it.
The second is to fully embrace those flaws, inefficiencies and the chaos that the day to day of a school of these characteristics entails. The camera – they are supposed to be recording in different poorly financed schools – is there to capture those moments in which they occur.
In addition, the look that the series has at various educational programs that are arriving in school classrooms is curious: the use of new technologies, advanced classes for “talented” students, etc. ANDThe script does not stay in the four jokesbut is interested in reflecting (always in a comic way) what the implementation of these initiatives entails.
A comedy that works from the first minute
All this from a humor that works from minute one. ‘Abbott College’ it has an excellent pilot episode and, unlike other comedies that take time to polish the gears, does not lower the level throughout its inaugural season.
This is not to say that there isn’t a bit of trial and error when working with the characters and their plots. To be a comedy that wants to talk about real issues and the day to day in the guild, sometimes sin cartoonist with some characters —such as the director (Janelle James)—, taking time to find them the appropriate place in the machinery.
Generally speaking, ‘Abbott College’ is a magnificent comedy with sparkling dialogues that manages quite well the balance between humor and the most tender moments that arise. A sitcom in the purest style that works with the precision of a Swiss watch.