Commentary

Hey, 'Abbott'! Show Starts New Season With A Secret

“Abbott Elementary” returns for its fourth season Wednesday night on ABC, but I am forbidden from telling you about most of the premiere episode.

That is because ABC has put a spoiler clamp on the show’s main storyline, which deals with a certain something involving certain someones.

This, says ABC, must be kept under wraps so that viewers tuning in for the show will have an opportunity to gasp in surprise at the show’s big reveal.

I pledge to meekly obey this demand for secrecy in order to stay in ABC’s good graces, but for the life of me, I do not know why this particular spoiler prohibition is in place anyway.

The reveal takes place practically at the very outset of the episode (which the TV Blog previewed on Tuesday), so it is not as if the suspense builds throughout the show’s 22 minutes until some kind of grand finale.

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Except for a few minor subplots, the rest of the show deals mainly with the possibility of fallout from the big reveal.

Unless I’m missing something, the story I am not allowed to divulge here does not seem like a big deal. 

Or to put it another way, I doubt millions are on the edge of their seats waiting for this moment. It is not exactly “who shot J.R.?”.

Elsewhere in the episode, the construction of a new public golf course near Philadelphia’s fictional Willard R. Abbott Elementary is wreaking havoc on the school -- snarling traffic and creating shortages of water and gas.

Titled “Back to School,” the episode marks the start of the Abbott Elementary school year. Except for the thing I cannot reveal here, little has changed at the school as the new session begins.

The only thing out of the ordinary is the enrollment of a new student -- a little boy who is white and the son of well-meaning young parents who are also white.

Like “The Neighborhood” on CBS, the “joke” here is that an earnest white family has moved into an area where white homeowners are as rare as hens’ teeth.

White students range from rare to nonexistent at Abbott Elementary, whose student body is decidedly and overwhelmingly “urban,” as the radio business once referred to majority black audiences.

The boy’s arrival at the school causes a few moments of consternation among the mostly black personnel at the school and then little is heard again about this subplot. Truth be told, I didn’t get it.

New York City has Jalen Brunson and Philadelphia has Quinta Brunson. They are not related (according to Google AI), but both are doing wonders for their cities, especially the latter.

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