Though mockumentaries can be hit or miss on television,Abbott Elementarybecame a huge success after its 2021 debut, and four years later, there are still plenty of storylines the series can pursue. Sitcoms do have a limited shelf life, though, so there are definitely some school-inspired stories that will need to be seen before the popular sitcom ends.
Abbott Elementaryfollows a handful of staff members at the titular school in Philadelphia during their daily activities. That means the show sees the teachers at the underfunded school doing their best to help their students while also trying to balance their work with their personal lives.
Before the series comes to its inevitable end, however many years from now that may be, there is one school tradition thatAbbott Elementaryneeds to tackle that we have seen no mention of just yet.
Abbot Elementary Will Not Run Forever
A Successful Sitcom Might Run 10 Years
Every type of television series has a shelf life. Popular sitcoms can often run for a decade, which means we might still have several years ofAbbott Elementaryleft to enjoy, and those years will need to put plenty of unique takes on elementary school traditions the audience knows well.
With the season 5 renewal, however, has come the flood of information about the potential forAbbott Elementaryto end sooner rather than later. The series does not want to overstay its welcome, and creatorQuinta Brunson has expressed worry about being typecastas characters like Janine the longer the show runs.
It’s also difficult for cast members of a sitcom to pursue other projects when they spend the better part of a year filming the same series.Disney executives have acknowledged that difficultyfor theAbbott Elementarycast in the same breath that they have clarified that there are no plans to cancel it.
It would certainly bepoetic forAbbott Elementaryto have a nine-season run. That would mean the kindergartners from season 1 would be eighth graders in a potential season 9, following the journey of those students and teachers to its logical conclusion. Whether or not that happens, however, will be down to interest in the show.
Showrunner, writer, and star Quinta Brunson has made it clear thatshe will continue making new episodes ofAbbott Elementaryas long as the cast and crew are committed to the show and there is still an audience for it, explaining:
We’re going strong. We’ll continue to do that until it doesn’t make sense anymore. We’re all still very dedicated to making this show. The audience is dedicated to watching it.
Abbott Elementary Has Successfully Tackled School Milestones
Abbott Has Captured The Spirit Of Elementary School
During its first four seasons,Abbott Elementaryhas already successfully tackled so many milestones that happen while kids are in elementary school. The difference here is that,unlike family dramas or children’s programming, the point of view is from the teachers rather than the students.
That point of view is part of what makes the show work so well.
Abbott Elementaryhas shown that teachers can be just as competitive as their students. Janine (Brunson) and Melissa (Lisa Ann Walter) each encourage their students to read as much as possible in order to win a pizza party, for example. They become so competitive that some of their students lie about the number of books they are reading.
That competitive nature can also be seen when different teachers work with students for the science fair, or when Ava (Janelle James) gets frustrated that other schools have access to more resources than Abbott. These storylines help people see what the teachers go through while the students grow.
Abbott Elementaryis also great at using school milestones to turn typical tropes on their head. It takes a drug education presentation for its students to the extreme after one student is caught smoking. The season 3 episodeeviscerated the typical after-school special formatand made it incredibly entertaining.
There are still plenty of milestones for the show to cover that have not yet made it into the show’s sitcom format yet. The series could certainly get more mileage than it has out of standardized testing and will likely tackle the topic ofanAbbott Elementaryteacher retiringeventually, for example.
There is one more school tradition thatAbbott Elementaryneeds to tackle at least once before the show comes to its eventual end.
Picture Day Deserves The Abbott Treatment
Abbott Elementary Has Not Done School Pictures Yet
Picture Day is one school tradition that is likely not going anywhere despite the prevalence of social media and the ease with which anyone can share a picture with the world. School pictures used to be the way parents could keep relatives updated on the passage of time for their kids, sending out wallet-sized snapshots.
TheclosestAbbott Elementaryhas come to Picture Day so far is highlighting the 100th day of school. There, students got their picture taken after dressing up as a 100-year-old, but it was a tiny part of the overall storyline.
In the public school system, there is one day out of the year when a photographer is brought in to take portraits of individual students. In elementary schools, where kids spend all of their time in one classroom, classes also get a picture of everyone together, including the teacher.
It used to take weeks for students to get their pictures to bring home after their parents paid for them. Now, most schools get access to the photos digitally for parents to decide if they want to purchase prints or not.
The actual products of Picture Day might have changed in the modern day, but a series likeAbbott Elementarycould still have a lot of fun with it- especially for the younger classrooms that Janine, Melissa, Gregory (Tyler James Williams), and Barbara (Sheryl Lee Ralph) teach.
These are the teachers who will be valiantly trying to verify the students do not get their clothes dirty, don’t get scrapes on the playground, or don’t mess up the hairstyle their parents crafted for them. Because Picture Day is an all-day affair, it takes time for every student to get a picture taken.
The longer the wait for a classroom, the more chances for the students to get into a mess before getting their picture taken.
Of course, because of social media, how kids approach Picture Day has changed as well. A lot of kids know their best angles, how lighting can make a difference in a picture, and even some of the youngestAbbott Elementarystudents will likely have their own opinions about a bad picture.
The school tradition is ripe for comedy because of how antiquated Picture Day might seem now.
Of course, one aspect of Picture Day that might also speak to the audience is just how an underfunded school like Abbott would deal with the event. While in reality, some photographers will volunteer their time to take pictures for schools, more often than not, it is a paid service.
Abbott’s lack of funding has already led to such plot lines as blackmailing the company building a golf course up the street and running last-minute fundraisers. How the show approaches Picture Day before it even happens could be a fun storyline on its own.
Picture Day has so much potential to provide a great episode ofAbbott Elementarythat it would be a shame for the writers to never bring the school tradition into the series.
