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A (for Abbott), B, C, Easy as…

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So excited to talk about this (Emmy winning) show as I can’t believe that I’ve hardly written about it on here. As the title (albeit, clumsily) suggests, this blog is about the brilliant new American sitcom ‘Abbott Elementary’, which stars Quinta Brunson (who created the show) and started airing in 2021. ‘AE’ is a mockumentary style sitcom (a bit like ’The Office’ or ‘Modern Family’ or, one of my personal faves, ‘Parks and Recreation’). ‘AE’ tells of the teachers in an elementary/primary school in Philadelphia with predominantly Black pupils and teachers and focuses on a lot of real things that many teachers in underfunded schools in USA with overworked and underpaid teachers really deal with all the time and how hard it is to be a teacher generally, even if it can also be incredibly rewarding. I’m sure that real teachers can perhaps resonate with certain aspects of the show but you don’t have to work in education to get at least a bit more of an understanding of what it’s like as
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Ghosts - What a super (natural) show it was

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Wow, where to even start with this gem? Firstly, it’s quite sad even thinking about this show now being in the past tense, but I'm still so glad that it was made at all. For those that don’t know it, this blog is going to be focusing on another brilliant series that I’ve hardly talked about on here, which is ‘Ghosts’, which ran for five seasons from 2019-2023 on the BBC (there is also an American remake which started airing in 2021 but this post is just about the original series). ‘Ghosts’ was created by Simon Farnaby, Martha Howe Douglas, Ben Willbond, Mathew Baynton, Laurence Rickard and Jim Howick and even if you don’t know their names, you might know their work as they’re the team behind the ‘Horrible Histories’ TV show (2009-2014) and ‘Yonderland’ (2013-2016)*. They refer to themselves as the ‘Six Idiots’ and are arguably some of the finest comedic actors and writers of their generation working right now (the same could definitely also be said of Reece Shearsmith and Steve
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Another firm favourite - Inside No 9

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  TW-references to suicide and sexual assault Very excited to do another post on this show as part of my (kind of) mini-series on some of my favourite TV shows and why I rate them so highly.  There are so many things to love about this show so I’m bound to forget to include some reasons in this post (especially as others might like it for different reasons).  Firstly, while people understandably tend to focus on how dark it is and the twists etc, it’s always a comedic show with a lot of humour regardless of the tone or genre. For example, with episodes like the brilliant The Devil of Christmas, it manages to simultaneously be a harrowing and unsettling but also very humorous take on an old-fashioned style Christmas special. This really works well to entertain the viewer while settling people into what they think the plot/tone might be before often pulling the rug out or shifting the tone dramatically and the lines that seemed like one-off jokes actually end up subverting expectations a
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Crazy Ex-Girlfriend - One of the best musical TV shows out there

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I can’t believe that I’ve hardly talked about this show on here, it’s so fantastic. Although, saying that, I’ve barely seen anyone talking about it to be honest so it’s always exciting when suggested videos pop up about it online.  For those that don’t know it, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is a comedy-drama musical series that ran from 2015 to 2019 and stars (and was co-created by) Rachel Bloom, who’s appeared in Bar Fight!  (2022), Reboot and BoJack Horseman among other things and is a super talented writer and performer. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend was actually also co-created by Aline Brosh McKenna, who wrote the always iconic, generation-defining masterpiece The Devil Wears Prada (2006)*.  CE-G is such a great show for so many reasons and I would definitely recommend it if it sounds like something that you'd enjoy. It tells of Rebecca Bunch (Bloom) who works as a high-powered attorney in New York as it’s what her mother wanted for her but starts to realise how unhappy it actually makes her s
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The Mindy Project - Why is it so uncomfortable?

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  As the title suggests, this post is going to attempt to take a bit of a deep dive into The Mindy Project . Although, it'll probably be quite shallow in reality as I’ve not seen that much of this show due to some very unsettling elements that I'll be getting into shortly... ‘TMP’ ran from 2012 to 2017 and was pretty popular, as far as I can gather. There were lots of famous names and familiar faces appearing in both prominent and supporting/guest roles, including Mindy Kaling in the titular role and Ike Barinholtz (from The Afterparty and the super underrated Friends from College ) as one of the leads. Chris Messina (who was in the incredible Celeste and Jesse Forever ) plays a main role as well and some other familiar faces, such as Ben Feldman (Jonah in Superstore ), the always wonderful Cristin Milioti ( How I met your Mother , Palm Springs *) and the iconic Rhea Perlman (who recently appeared in the new Barbie  movie) all appear in the show too. Therefore, although I had
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Nine episodes and recommendations for Inside No .9

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   (TW- references to suicide) This is a slightly more detailed look at a really great and underrated show that I’ve been watching a lot of lately but haven’t talked about that much on here so I decided to right that immediately. Thinking about it, it’s another brilliant show featuring a nine in the title and as a significant aspect (as the number 9 appears in every ep of Inside No.9 in some way eg a house/seat number). For instance, there’s this show, Brooklyn 99 with the famous ‘99’ chant and even Superstore  (which admittedly isn’t my favourite but is still so good) is based in a store called Cloud 9 as well, so some cool links there, even if unintentionally. ‘Inside No. 9’ first aired in 2014 and is an anthology series, which often falls into a dark comedy, drama or horror genre but some have more supernatural elements and others are less overtly gothic/disturbing. Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton (of The League of Gentlemen  and Psychoville ) are the writers and both appear i
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It must be true love - A deep(ish) dive into sitcom relationships

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Quite excited for this one, hope you enjoy it. This time, as the title suggests, I’m focusing on sitcom romances, which is something that I’ve touched on in other posts but haven’t dedicated a whole post to  it before. As I’m sure most people probably know by now, my all-time favourite couple is Jake and Amy (Brooklyn 99) for many reasons (mainly Jake’s incredible sweetness, support and love for her) so I’ll mainly be talking about other couples for this post. I’ve always been quite interested in what makes certain sitcom ships so popular and beloved. This is especially interesting to consider with how differently shows tend to present their romances now because of how (for the most part) tastes and an understanding of what’s inappropriate and what's actually romantic and respectful and what isn’t have changed and developed, at least somewhat. For instance, Rachel and Ross from Friends were considered one of the most iconic sitcom will they/won’t they couples for a long time but, r
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