ABC Just Had An Incredible Record-Breaking Premiere

ABC's Abbott Elementary season 2 premiere had the highest ratings of any comedy in three years.

By Britta DeVore | Published

After cleaning up at this year’s Emmy Awards (even despite the Jimmy Kimmel drama), ABC continues to find a hit in their mockumentary comedy series, Abbott Elementary. The report cards are in and, according to Deadline, the series has crushed the records over the last few years with its Season 2 premiere, marking it down as the network’s highest-rated comedy debut in three years. Since dropping on screens everywhere on September 21, the series has received a 4.12 rating within the 18 to 49-year-old demographic of viewers, crushing ABC’s competitive comedies like The Conners, The Goldbergs, and Home Economics

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To give you an idea of how huge this is for the Quinta Brunson-created series, last year, during its premiere season, Abbott Elementary landed a 2.38 rating, meaning their sophomore breakout is 73% higher. Crushing it on multiple platforms, Abbott Elementary raked in a whopping 10.4 million viewers spanning its linear and digital platforms. The last series to boast numbers this high was Modern Family with its series finale in April 2020. 

The hysterical, well-written, and perfectly cast series follows a group of teachers at the titular Philadelphia public school where they do their best to keep their students engaged in learning, despite having limited resources to do so. The educators at Abbott Elementary have a passion for what they do and pull together to help each other while the administration continues to underfund and undermine their efforts.

Shot in the style of a mockumentary, just like many of our favorite shows before it including The Office and Parks and Recreation, the show is a non-stop laugh fest as audiences follow along with the daily routines of several of the school’s staff members. 

Quinta Brunson created the series in which she also stars alongside Tyler James Williams, Janelle James, Chris Perfetti, Lisa Ann Walter, William Stanford Davis, and Sheryl Lee Ralph. As mentioned, Abbott Elementary cleaned house at this year’s Emmy Awards, nabbing seven nominations and taking home three, including a win for Brunson for her writing.

The production was one of the main winners during the event alongside the Mike White-created HBO series, The White Lotus which also saw a giant number of nominations and wins. 

The first season of Abbott Elementary premiered back in December 2021, quickly rising to the top of ABC’s most viewed content clocking in at a 13-episode freshman season. Quickly renewed for a follow-up, Abbott Elementary was picked up for its 22-episode, now record-breaking, sophomore season. If the ratings are any indication (and they usually are), chances for the show to come back for a third season are looking really good right now. 

While networks like The CW may be making huge budget cuts by slicing and dicing their program slates (goodbye Riverdale and Nancy Drew!) it’s clear that with these viewership numbers, ABC is doing just fine. Abbott Elementary is proving a force to be reckoned with and will only continue to grow as the word travels that it’s currently one of the best comedies out there.