r/AbbottElementary

I’ll start with the second point.

Sitcoms tend to fall off after a certain point. Friends, for example. Amazing first four seasons. Season 5? Meh, I’ll allow it. It was absolutely horrendous after that and got progressively worse with each season. They should’ve stopped at 5.

Living Single should’ve just stopped at the penultimate season because the final one was a terrible stain on an otherwise phenomenal show. I know they had to rush the ending but what we got was an insult.

Seinfeld was also at its best in the earlier seasons, but this is a special case that’ll sort of defeat my overall point 😂

My Wife and Kids? Wonderful first two seasons. My favorite Black sitcom, actually. No clue what I was watching during and after season 3.

I still watch Friends and cry whenever the end approaches because I went through so much with those characters. Ten years of EXPONENTIAL growth for them. They are different people at the end of the series, and that journey made it special even when I was hate watching.

I know others disagree, but as it stands, if Abbott were to end next season, I don’t think it’d have that constant rewatchability factor for me. Like, it’s fun and there are some great moments—most moments are great, honestly—but I don’t think there’s been enough of a journey. I love the characters but they haven’t quite stolen my heart the way they could with just a few more good seasons.

I’m not saying we need to see divorces and babies and weddings and moves but some type of life changes that make me feel like I’m watching them grow in a way that matters.

I think a stellar example of this is The Good Place. They got in and out in 4 seasons, but I can never watch that finale again because in just 40 (I think?) episodes, they made me fall in love with them and how they were changing over and over again.

So I don’t think Abbott is ready to end like others do.

BUT they did start flanderizing a bit in season 5, which is typically the start of a show’s downfall. See Friends and My Wife and Kids for reference.

A lot of fans even felt like season 5 was weaker than previous seasons. I want them to keep going. I think 7 seasons may be the sweet spot, but this is where a show can easily take a turn for the worse and I’d honestly rather Abbott end prematurely than reach that point.

I’m so conflicted 😭

A glimpse of the challenges of living with a sudden, & obvious, disability when in the public eye. 💚🫂 Go, Lauren!

Maybe I’m just not into the Rickety Cricket path they’re going down with his character, but I really dislike the direction of Morton. Season 1-2 Morton felt real; a capable teacher but also struggling at home. Then they made him a desperate loser trying to get into the friend group. and now he’s an only fans user? I just wished they kept the rivalry between him and Jacob, and added nothing else to his character lowkey

EDIT: omg i am so sorry i have no idea how to get the spoiler marks to work properly. i almost always lurk on Reddit so i barely know how to use this platform... the spoiler tags are really not working (or i am doing them totally wrong)

while season 5 started pretty rough, i personally loved the second half of the season once they finished the Mall episodes. here are my season 6 predictions after catching up and reading through the finale discussions!

(Obviously spoilers ahead if you are not caught up to the end of Season 5)

I'll start off with some more obvious predictions that come off the heel of the Season 5 finale:

>!

• Kristin Marie is definitely moving to Abbott next season, and she'll be the one to take over Gregory's 1st grade class now that he's moved to Assistant Principal. this will give her a chance to be introduced to both Barbara and Janine and get roped into their hi-jinks with Melissa.

• Jacob's story arc will definitely shift towards taking on greater roles with the District through his whatever position it was (I don't remember the title). We might see even see Manny and the District crew regularly again.

• Gregory and Janine's relationship is going to build up to a proposal by the end of Season 6.

• lol this means Janine might get pregnant in season 7 if the proposal happens in the next season, or that could mean we'll have season 7 be their honeymoon season where they focus on family planning topics. Like what happens to a teacher during family leave?

• Barbara episodes are definitely going to be about her life as a... Glamma! Which means we're going to see Taylor again more regularly since she'll be living closer to Barbara again.

• As Barbara grows into her new life as Glamma, this will serve as the opener for Janine and Gregory thinking about family planning during any Taylor episodes.

• Barbara will probably start entertaining the thought of retirement as she becomes Glamma. That's been hinted at for the last 2 seasons now.

• Definitely going to get another episode with Janine's mom and Gregory's dad as they navigate elevating their relationship. Maybe Janine's sister might even come back for an episode to touch base as Janine continues to go through significant character development.

• We'll probably get more developments with O'Shon and Ava's relationship, learning more about O'Shon's life.

• Speaking of Ava, I really, really hope we get new story development for Ava. I'd love an Ava-focused season. We still don't know too much about her, like how she ended up with her Grandma being her only family member. What happened between the time her dad left her family to her Grandma stepping in? Did she live in a single mother household? What is her relationship with her Grandma like? What happened to her mom and where is she? The series hasn't introduced her mom or grandma in person yet, and it hasn't touched base on that part of her story since season 1. Tons of questions behind Ava's story.

• We are definitely going to start seeing more Caleb now that he's entering his first full season as a gym teacher. Actually this would become his first full year as a teacher. His character story will probably be about getting accredited lol.

• Jacob's story episodes will probably move towards being with Caleb a lot more now.

• We might even get to see Jacob and Caleb's family next season and see their dynamics, which opens up Jacob's personal character arc again for more story development as he grows from his own family difficulties that shaped him.

• Mr Johnson's story is going to advance with Ms Carol!

• We are definitely getting more Ava and Dia hi-jinks now that Gregory is going to serve as the straight man comedic role between them as Assistant Principal lol. I love Dia so I hope to see more of her.

More speculative predictions:

• In hindsight, I think the writers started increasingly featuring Tasha, Morton, and introducing Dominic so that they can fill in enough grade teachers to cover the incoming influx of students that will be moving into Abbott after the other 18 (19 minus Abbott) schools are closing. That means they're going to transition into becoming main cast members getting into their own hi-jinks.

• Following the above, Tasha's story will probably be introduced, Morton might get some actual story development in being less of an incel lol, and Dominic will start to have his story develop like an early series Janine. We may find out why Tasha became an apathetic teacher.

• Morton finds... housing! And then a car, lol. We might get a continuation of his MostlyFans storyline or he'll be doing some new odd job.

• Janine will begin to transition into a seasoned teacher, mentor role for Dominic

• I have no idea who will become Courtney's 7th grade teacher, but it could be either Tasha, Morton, or possibly Kristin Marie if my other prediction is right. I hope it's NOT Kristin Marie since that would be a rehash of last season with Melissa and Courtney. It's hard to imagine where they would place Courtney in anyone other than one of the main cast members' classes since they haven't built up the other teachers' characters enough yet.

• But, for the above, they might switch up Jacob's grade level like how Melissa got moved to 6th grade. Instead, Jacob will move down to 7th grade and have Courtney be part of his class next season.

• We'll probably see another episode featuring Crystal Riley and the aftermath of Liberty Rings going no-test and no-homework LOL.

• But, I think Ava's rivalry with Crystal is going to open to a new story point for Ava where she begins to take greater pride and ownership over her career as a principal instead of focusing on one-upping Crystal. This would be the ultimate one-up to Crystal, and force the two to start to grow into their roles as principals and not just sorors. This would be picking up where we left off in Season 5.

• I absolutely want more Krystal and Tariq episodes, I think the PTA episodes are so funny. But it's getting harder for me to imagine how they can have episodes focused on them since Nick is moving onto grade 3, which none of the main characters teach (unless Melissa gets moved down to elementary again and we get Melissa-Tariq moments lol). I can't remember what grade Krystal's kid is moving into, I think it's 2nd grade?

• I also really want more Erika episodes cause episodes she's in are always my favorite ones lol. An Erika episode is a good episode for me. She got to do a camera crew monologue during the Janine-Gregory breakup storyline so I think she's going to get introduced more regularly. We also haven't had a chance to see Simon in a while, and if the Jacob-District story is happening, that's an easy way to involve the District crew again.

• I want more Ms Inez episodes, it's like she's right at the brink of becoming a consistent recurring character like Tariq, borderline main cast member. Ms Inez episodes would be a fantastic way to talk about the literacy crisis in the US right now.

• We're going to see Melissa Schwartz launch her Board of Education campaign now that she's out of a job, and that will lead to Jacob's next season political story madness LOL. I think the Campaign episode was setting up a politics story for Jacob that's a commentary on the state of US showboating and muckraking politics. It was pretty obvious who was playing what role in the political commentary of the Campaign episode in Season 5, lol.

• I hope they ease up on hitting back at Jacob next season. They did a great balance of this comedic bit throughout Season 1-3 where it was more like a gentle pushback instead of outright dismissal. It was particularly bad in the first half of Season 5 where everyone was downright mean to Jacob, but I think they started writing these comedy bits better near the end of Season 5. It felt like a bizarre turn of character for everyone in the first half of Season 5 before they started returning to form again.

• In general, I hope Season 6 leans back into more story arcs (personally those are my favorite) and introduces more involved story episodes. Season 5 was weak in that dimension: the story-focused episodes didn't move the story developments for the characters very much. I don't think they should move the series into a serial format, instead focus on writing layers into the story again.!<

Anyways that's all I have at the top of my mind right now, what are your predictions for Season 6?

I feel like this latest season really messed with Jacob's characterization. He once had an amazing partnership with Janine, a blooming bromance with Gragory, and his relationship with Melissa was starting it to grow too. But now, it seems his only traits are annoying everyone and going crazy over Janine and Gregory. I think anyone who has seen Brooklyn 99 will agree at least a little bit that the writers are turning him into Boyle, and that hasn't been fun to watch. It seems he's only there to be a punching bag and a sycophant now.

I’m honestly shocked to see how many people are taking Janine’s side on that. Are people here just not familiar with how close Philly and the Outer Banks are? Plus in reality you’d have to fly to Norfolk, VA and drive from there. So you’re only saving 9 hours driving time (round trip) for a cost of maybe $1,000.

Then you’d also have to spend time at the airport waiting to fly (and maybe paying for parking). And to be realistic again you’d have to spend time renting the car too. If flights get delayed that’s extra time. Plus cars are just comfier than planes.

Lastly you could even incorporate the trip into the vacation. Like at the very least you could find a cool place to stop to eat on the drive, or maybe a museum you both think is cool, etc.