Keke Palmer celebrates Abbott Elementary for EW's 2022 Entertainers of the Year: 'I'm team Janine and Gregory'
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"The network sitcom is dead." That's at least what they wanted us to believe. But then came along Abbott Elementary to school us all.
Debuting in December 2021, the ABC comedy premiered to solid ratings that only grew over the holidays as viewers found the show on Hulu during their time off. When the second episode finally released in January, it was clear TV had its next darling: creator and star Quinta Brunson.
But the former Buzzfeed talent shared the spotlight, finding room for a full ensemble to shine. Joining Brunson's optimistic 2nd grade teacher Janine Teagues in the teacher's lounge was Sheryl Lee Ralph's Barbara Howard, Tyler James Williams' Gregory Eddie, Janelle James' Ava Coleman, Lisa Ann Walter's Melissa Schemmenti, Chris Perfetti's Jacob Hill, and William Stanford Davis' Mr. Johnson.
And it wasn't just viewers who took notice. The series was showered with awards throughout the year; and the series, Williams, James, Ralph, and Brunson all received Emmy nominations this fall — with the latter two winning for supporting actress and writing, respectively. And the show has only grown in popularity in season 2...
To honor the Abbott cast as one of EW's 2022 Entertainers of the Year, Emmy winner Keke Palmer — who just received a New York Film Critics Circle award for her work in Nope — pays tribute to the show she loves.
Getty Images From top left: 'Abbott Elementary' stars William Stanford Davis, Chris Perfetti, Lisa Ann Walter, Tyler James Williams, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Janelle James, and Quinta Brunson; (inset) Keke Palmer.
Abbott Elementary is bringing to the forefront a genre that I think sometimes doesn't get the love that it deserves. When you think about sitcoms, the biggest thing that pops out to my mind is satire — clichés, or things that we consider dramatizations of people that we know — and I think it's something that sometimes is lost in the kind of over-nuanced society that we're living in. But it's a true craft, and it's something that we've seen from shows like The Jeffersons or All in the Family or Family Matters, The Parkers, even Malcolm in the Middle, or Everybody Hates Chris. And I think what makes me so excited about someone like Quinta Brunson is that she loves and appreciates that element of it just as much as I do, and it's a sitcom in its truest form because it has those cliché characters and it brings you back to the sentiment that we all are trying to get to and that we're all trying to find, and we solve our problems in 30 minutes or less.
One of my favorite episodes is the one where Mr. Hill showed that it's okay to be corny, silly, goofy, dramatic, extra, whatever. People often make me feel like being a cool person only looks one way, and it's like, you can be corny and still be cool. Who said you can't be both? Why is corny something that's all of a sudden lame? It's something that makes people feel close to you, it's likable. And if you own it, it's extremely dope. So I like the message of the episode because whether you're a kid or an adult, I think sometimes we get caught up in what we think is cool or what we think is gonna make us seem dope, and what words or adjectives we don't wanna be in line with. And I don't give a s---. I'm me.
And you better believe I'm team Janine and Gregory, but I do love the gag of not seeing them together yet, so I want them to drag me along for a little longer. Abbott Elementary is something that the world needs right now. It's incredible how Quinta was able to break through in a time where everybody wants everything to be so intense in order for it to matter, or in order for it to make an impact or in order for it to feel real, and it has to be sometimes rooted in this overly aggressive expression of oppression.
It just makes me so happy that this show and its cast was able to win and still say something. It still comes around to a message at the end of every single episode, every character finds something unique about themselves, or we learn something, and it just takes you home to that old-school feeling. But it's still very smart and it's still very funny and it's still very enjoyable to watch — for everyone in the family to watch together.
—As told to Gerrad Hall
More EW Entertainers of the Year 2022:
