Light Bulb (Abbott Elementary)

Last updated
"Light Bulb"
Abbott Elementary episode
Episode no.Season 1
Episode 2
Directed by Randall Einhorn
Written by
Production codeT11.17153
Original air dateJanuary 4, 2022 (2022-01-04)
Guest appearances
Episode chronology
← Previous
"Pilot"		Next →
"Wishlist"
Abbott Elementary (season 1)
List of episodes

"Light Bulb" [1] is the second episode of the American sitcom television series Abbott Elementary . It was written by series creator and star Quinta Brunson, and was directed by Randall Einhorn. It premiered on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) in the United States on January 4, 2022. The episode follows Janine (Quinta Brunson), who attempts to fix a flickering light without the help of the school or electricians, and Gregory (Tyler James Williams) who must confront a parent of his class for bringing her son into school late.

Contents

The episode sees the first appearance of recurring characters, Tariq Temple and Amber Williams. The episode also sees a short cameo from Philadelphia broadcaster Jim Gardner, who appears in the cold open and is beloved by the staff of Abbott. [2] [3]

Plot

Janine arrives at school with her boyfriend, Tariq (Zack Fox). She finds a student who does not want to walk down the hallway because of a flickering light. Mr. Johnson (William Stanford Davis) tells her that it is above his paygrade to fix it and that they will have to wait for an electrician to get the lights fixed; because of this, she decides to fix the light herself. In Gregory's class, a student arrives with his mother an hour late, and he tries but fails to call the attention of the mother and only manages to tell her that school starts earlier than when they arrived, to which she barely acknowledges. Barbara tells him that he simply needs to talk to the student's mother. [4] [5]

Janine finds a ladder and tries to fix the lights herself, but instead causes a partial power outage in the school. Barbara coaches Gregory into confronting Amber about her son's tardiness. He tells her that her son could fall behind and retake the grade, and she promises him that her son will be at school on time. In the electrical room, Janine fiddles with the circuit breakers in the panel box with the help of Jacob which causes all the remaining power to go out, including the air conditioning. Barbara and Melissa confront Janine after the outage; shortly before she faints due to having not eaten any food. Janine wakes up in the nurse's office. Janine finds that everybody else is outside due to the outage and the heat. Janine expresses her disappointment that after trying so hard to fix the issue with the lights, she instead managed to make things worse. [4] [5]

Janine tries calling Tariq but gets his voicemail. Shortly after, Gregory arrives and the two decide to grab dinner. Jacob sees the two leaving and invites himself to join. Just as they leave, they find that Mr. Johnson has fixed the lights. [4] [5]

Reception

Upon its initial broadcast on ABC, "Light Bulb" received a total of 3.45 million viewers. [6] Compared to the first episode, the second episode increased its viewership by 5.6 million viewers to 9 million after 35 days. [7] Following DVR viewership totals, the total viewership within the first 35 days of its airing was 4.27 million. [8] [lower-alpha 1] The episode has the highest viewership in the series overall. The episode was included as part of the show's submission for the Outstanding Comedy Series award. [9]

The episode airs following its midseason entry in the 2021–22 television season; and following a winter break. Filming for the episode took place between August 16, and November 5, 2021, in Los Angeles, California. [10] [11] Like other episodes, interior scenes are filmed at Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank in Burbank, California, with exterior shots of the series being filmed in front of Vermont Elementary School in Los Angeles. [12]

Critical response

Janelle Ureta of Tell-Tale TV complemented the series by stating that; ""Light Bulb," is more heart warming than hilarious, but given the state of the world at the moment, that is perfectly excusable. The funniest bits come from little, often silly, very specific, moments." However, Ureta critiqued the episodes use of slow-humor, by stating; "However, to establish itself as a top-tier comedy, the new ABC series needs to have funny jokes with a larger reach. Janine’s persistent idealism and Ava’s persistent inappropriate flirting aren't enough. On “Light Bulb," they make us want to yell at the screen to move-it-along. Ava's doomsday bunker is far more interesting and entertaining." [3]

Notes

  1. ↑ Live+7 ratings were unavailable, so Live+3 ratings have been used instead.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black sitcom</span> Sitcom starring a predominant African American cast

A black sitcom is a sitcom that principally features black people in its cast. Prominent black sitcoms to date typically come from the United States with African American casts, forming a branch of African American comedy. Although sitcoms with primarily black characters have been present since the earliest days of network television, this genre rose to prominence in the 1990s, mostly then on upstart networks outside the Big Three.

<i>The Great Christmas Light Fight</i> American TV series or program

The Great Christmas Light Fight is an American reality television competition show that premiered on December 9, 2013 on ABC. The seasonal miniseries is traditionally scheduled in a double-run of two hour-long episodes, all airing Mondays in the first three weeks of December annually as part of ABC's seasonal programming lineup.

<i>The Conners</i> American sitcom

The Conners is an American television sitcom created for ABC as a direct continuation of the series Roseanne. The series is produced by Werner Entertainment, with Bruce Helford serving as executive producer and features actors John Goodman, Laurie Metcalf, Sara Gilbert, Lecy Goranson, Michael Fishman, Emma Kenney, Ames McNamara, Jayden Rey and Jay R. Ferguson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quinta Brunson</span> American writer, producer, actress and comedian

Quinta Brunson is an American writer, producer, actress, and comedian. She is best known for creating, executive producing, co-writing, and starring in the ABC comedy series Abbott Elementary (2021–present). Brunson gained prominence for her self-produced Instagram series Girl Who Has Never Been on a Nice Date. She went on to produce and act in content for BuzzFeed Video, and developed two streaming series with BuzzFeed Motion Pictures.

<i>Abbott Elementary</i> American television mockumentary sitcom (2021–)

Abbott Elementary is an American mockumentary sitcom television series created by Quinta Brunson for ABC. It stars Brunson as Janine Teagues, a perpetually optimistic second-grade teacher at the underfunded Abbott Elementary, a fictional predominantly Black school in Philadelphia. The ensemble cast includes Tyler James Williams, Janelle James, Lisa Ann Walter, Chris Perfetti, William Stanford Davis, and Sheryl Lee Ralph.

<i>Abbott Elementary</i> (season 1) Season of television series

The first season of the American television comedy Abbott Elementary created by Quinta Brunson, premiered in the United States on ABC on December 7, 2021, concluded on April 12, 2022, and consisted of thirteen episodes. The series sees the introduction of characters portrayed by Brunson, Tyler James Williams, Janelle James, Lisa Ann Walter, Chris Perfetti, and Sheryl Lee Ralph.

<i>Abbott Elementary</i> (season 2) Season of television series

The second season of the American television comedy Abbott Elementary created by Quinta Brunson premiered in the United States on ABC on September 21, 2022, and concluded on April 19, 2023. The season consists of twenty-two episodes. Like the first, the season stars Brunson, Tyler James Williams, Janelle James, Lisa Ann Walter, Chris Perfetti, William Stanford Davis and Sheryl Lee Ralph.

"Pilot" is the first episode of the American sitcom television series Abbott Elementary. It was written by series creator and star Quinta Brunson, and was directed by Randall Einhorn. It premiered on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) in the United States on December 7, 2021.

"Wishlist" is the third episode of the American sitcom television series Abbott Elementary. It was written by Morgan Murphy, and was directed by Randall Einhorn. It premiered on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) in the United States on January 11, 2022. The episode follows Barbara, who refuses to promote her teachers wishlist with the internet, despite push from Janine and Ava.

"New Tech" is the fourth episode of the American sitcom television series Abbott Elementary. It was written by Brian Rubenstein, and was directed by Randall Einhorn. It premiered on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) in the United States on January 18, 2022. In the episode, Barbara struggles with a new learning program for her students; which prompts her to lie when she accidentally cheats the program.

"Student Transfer" is the fifth episode of the American sitcom television series Abbott Elementary. It was written by Brittani Nichols, and was directed by Randall Einhorn. It premiered on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) in the United States on January 25, 2022. In the episode, Janine deals with a troublesome transfer student from Melissa's classroom.

"Gifted Program" is the sixth episode of the American sitcom television series Abbott Elementary. It was written by Jordan Temple, and was directed by Matt Sohn, and the first of which not to be directed by Randall Einhorn. It premiered on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) in the United States on February 1, 2022.

"Art Teacher" is the seventh episode of the American sitcom television series Abbott Elementary. It was written by Kate Peterman, who also performs in the series as Tina Schwartz, and was directed by Jennifer Celotta. It premiered on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) in the United States on February 8, 2022.

"Work Family" is the eighth episode of the American sitcom television series Abbott Elementary. It was written by Justin Tan, and was directed by Jay Karas. It premiered on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) in the United States on February 15, 2022.

<i>Abbott Elementary</i> (season 3) Season of television series

The third season of the American television comedy Abbott Elementary created by Quinta Brunson premiered in the United States on ABC on February 7, 2024. Like the previous season, the season stars Brunson, Tyler James Williams, Janelle James, Lisa Ann Walter, Chris Perfetti, William Stanford Davis and Sheryl Lee Ralph.

"Fire" is the fifteenth episode of the second season and the twenty-eighth episode overall of the American sitcom television series Abbott Elementary. It was written by Ava Coleman, and was directed by Jennifer Celotta. It premiered on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) in the United States on February 15, 2023.

The fourth season of the American television comedy Abbott Elementary was renewed on February 10, 2024. Like the previous season, the season stars Brunson, Tyler James Williams, Janelle James, Lisa Ann Walter, Chris Perfetti, William Stanford Davis and Sheryl Lee Ralph.

References

  1. ↑ "'Abbott Elementary' – "Light Bulb"". Rotten Tomatoes . Archived from the original on February 10, 2022. Retrieved January 12, 2023.
  2. ↑ "Jim Gardner makes appearance in ABC's new sitcom 'Abbott Elementary'". January 4, 2022. Archived from the original on December 1, 2022. Retrieved January 12, 2023.
  3. 1 2 Janelle Ureta (January 5, 2022). "Abbott Elementary Review: Light Bulb (Season 1 Episode 2)". Tell-Tale TV. Archived from the original on January 27, 2023. Retrieved January 23, 2023.
  4. 1 2 3 Terry Terones (February 8, 2022). "Abbott Elementary Finally Shows the Real-Life Joy, Frustration, and Fun of Being a Teacher". Archived from the original on December 21, 2022. Retrieved January 17, 2023.
  5. 1 2 3 Sourav Chakraborty (January 5, 2022). "'Abbott Elementary' Episode 2: On a quest to fix everything" . Retrieved January 17, 2023.
  6. ↑ Metcalf, Mitch (January 6, 2022). "ShowBuzzDaily's Top 150 Tuesday Cable Originals & Network Finals: 1.4.2022 Updated". ShowBuzzDaily. Archived from the original on January 6, 2022. Retrieved January 6, 2022.
  7. ↑ Andreeva, Nellie (February 23, 2022). "Abbott Elementary Episode 2 Nabs ABC's Strongest Comedy Ratings Since Modern Family Finale In MP35". Deadline Hollywood . Archived from the original on February 23, 2022. Retrieved February 23, 2022.
  8. ↑ Berman, Marc (January 5, 2022). "Tuesday Ratings: Return of This Is Us Tops Night; Adequate Sampling for". Programming Insider. Archived from the original on December 2, 2022. Retrieved August 14, 2022.
  9. ↑ Chris Beachum (July 14, 2022). "2022 Emmy Episode Submissions". GoldDerby. Archived from the original on November 5, 2022. Retrieved January 17, 2023.
  10. ↑ "issue one thousand two hundred sixty-one" (PDF). Production Weekly. August 26, 2021. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 10, 2021. Retrieved December 2, 2021.
  11. ↑ "Film and TV Projects Going Into Production – Abbott Elementary". Variety Insight . Archived from the original on May 18, 2021. Retrieved May 18, 2021.
  12. ↑ Stephanie Harper (April 19, 2022). "'Abbott Elementary' Is Supposed to Take Place in Philadelphia — Where Is It Filmed?". Distractify. Archived from the original on January 11, 2023. Retrieved January 11, 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.