{"id":356128,"date":"2025-10-02T02:25:15","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T02:25:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/356128\/"},"modified":"2025-10-02T02:25:15","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T02:25:15","slug":"abbott-elementary-bosses-on-season-5-premiere-phillies-game-episode","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/356128\/","title":{"rendered":"Abbott Elementary Bosses on Season 5 Premiere, Phillies Game Episode"},"content":{"rendered":"

Note: This story contains spoilers from \u201cAbbott Elementary\u201d Season 5, Episode 1.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbbott Elementary\u201d<\/a> has embraced a central theme each season, whether it be battling with the district, grappling with charter schools or reckoning with gentrification, but last season taught showrunners Justin Halpern\u00a0and Patrick Schumacker it\u2019s okay not to stick to the plan.<\/p>\n

Season 4\u2019s biggest storyline happened much later in the season, when Ava (Janelle James) was fired as principal after taking the fall for the school accepting bribes from the golf course next door \u2014 a plot that, despite leading most of the central action for the back half of the season, came together \u201clate in the game\u201d in the writers\u2019 room.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really liked the results of Season 4 and \u2026 the climax and all of that, so we went into [Season 5] a little bit more open-minded,\u201d Schumacker told TheWrap, noting that clear skies approach was both liberating and daunting. \u201cWe have figured out what our main themes are and the general thrust of the season, we just figured it out a little bit later than we normally did.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Like Ava\u2019s Season 4 firing \u2014 and subsequent re-hiring\u00a0\u2014 Season 5 embraces changing roles for its teachers that switch up dynamics and prompt them to look inward. Just as Barbara (Sheryl Lee Ralph) has a new lease on life as she takes on her music class, the Season 5 premiere sees Melissa (Lisa Ann Walter) embrace her move to middle school, that is, before Jacob (Chris Perfetti) and Morton (Jerry Minor) scare her with their tales of mean middle-schoolers.<\/p>\n

Likewise, the arrival of Abbott\u2019s newest teacher and Barbara\u2019s old student, Dom (Luke Tennie), prompts Janine (Quinta Bruson) to reconsider her role at the school after Barbara quickly takes him under her wing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also just try to continue our character\u2019s growth so that it stays fresh,\u201d Halpern added. \u201cAt the start of every year, we\u2019ll be like, \u2018Hey, let\u2019s put to bed these types of jokes or these types of interactions with these characters that they\u2019ve grown past.\u2019 We were always trying to find the comedy in newer places by the characters growing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The showrunners are also careful about incorporating too much Gen Alpha slang, joking that if it gets to them, \u201cit\u2019s probably lame by that point,\u201d but promised a couple labubu references in Season 5.<\/p>\n

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While last season\u2019s \u201cIt\u2019s Always Sunny in Philadelphia\u201d crossover presented a massive logistical challenge for Halpern\u00a0and Schumacker \u2014\u00a0as they pieced together schedules for the busy cast members \u2014 they upped the ante with Season 5 by filming Episode 3 at the Philadelphia Phillies game.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was more challenging than the crossover \u2014 this was like, \u2018Hey, we got to move 60 crew and cast to Philly for four or five days,\u2019\u201d Schumacker said, detailing the three days of production in the city of brotherly love, both outside the stadium, in the empty stadium with about 500 extras, and then on the actual game night. They applauded writer Ava Coleman (a coincidence with the character), line producer Scott Sites and location manager David B. Lyons for pulling the episode off.<\/p>\n

The team had to pivot in real time for its post-game scene with Phillies star Kyle Schwarber \u2014 which was set to include Barbara making a comment about the player slumping \u2014 when Schwarber made history as the 21st player in MLB history to hit\u00a0four home runs in a game.<\/p>\n

\"(Credit:(Credit: Instagram)<\/p>\n

\u201cKyle Schwarber was amazing,\u201d Schumacker said. \u201cHe had to rehearse his scene before the game. He played the game, and then he shot his scene, where he actually has dialogue after the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schwarber is just one of the guest stars gracing \u201cAbbott Elementary\u201d this season, with \u201cSNL\u201d star Mikey Day appearing in the Season 5 premiere and other comedians set to appear as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have some cool people that are known in the comedy world, but maybe aren\u2019t quite known to the world, that I think will be really fun adds to the cast,\u201d Halpern said. \u201cWe\u2019re always looking for somebody who lives within our tone, but brings a completely different POV to the show, and we have a couple people that are newer that I really am excited about.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAbbott Elementary\u201d airs Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. ET\/PT on ABC and streams the next day on Hulu.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Luke\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Note: This story contains spoilers from \u201cAbbott Elementary\u201d Season 5, Episode 1. \u201cAbbott Elementary\u201d has embraced a central…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":356129,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2397],"tags":[43488,8134,5,4,144,25,4216,40,43489,51256],"class_list":{"0":"post-356128","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-phillies","8":"tag-abbott-elementary","9":"tag-abc","10":"tag-baseball","11":"tag-mlb","12":"tag-philadelphia","13":"tag-philadelphia-phillies","14":"tag-philadelphiaphillies","15":"tag-phillies","16":"tag-quinta-brunson","17":"tag-what-to-watch"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115302205248335694","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=356128"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356128\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/356129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}