The City of Brotherly Love is constantly within the gaze of the media.
From “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” to “Rocky” to “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” Philly’s culture has been spotlighted for quite some time now in entertainment media.
The latest confirmation of this comes from the success of, “Abbott Elementary,” which has won three Emmys and has earned the highest ratings for comedy television on ABC since the finale of “Modern Family.”
“There are two current shows set in Philadelphia. One is about these unbelievable narcissists, and the other showcases educators in a very real, authentic environment in the public school system which is vastly underfunded,” said Maria Pulcinella of WHYY, Philadelphia’s NPR affiliate.
“Abbott Elementary” is a Philadelphia-based sitcom about the public school system in Philadelphia, portrays the city in its beautiful, chaotic light, while making both Philadelphians and non-Philadelphians laugh. The main character, Janine Teagues (played by Quinta Brunson), is an elementary school teacher who was raised in the school system herself and decided to become a teacher to give back to the community that raised her.
“I love ‘Abbott Elementary.’ It’s a very fun representation, especially of the school system and the public versus private school tensions,” said Shannon Crane, who attended this week’s ONA Conference in Philly.
“One of the first episodes when they talked about teachers filling gaps when they don’t have funding, don’t have carpets or rugs. Very true to the character, to the city. A lot of people here are working on not much bandwidth.”
When it comes to overall representation of Philly in the media, Crane believes that more light could be shown to the city.
“I think there could be better representation on a national scale,” said Crane, who is the audience engagement lead for the podcast Tradeoffs. “A lot of problems that Philadelphia experiences, a lot of other cities also experience.”
“I think ‘Abbott’ has done a really good job of showcasing Philly and its nuances. It depicts working-class, compassionate people and if that means using an Eagles rug that’s fallen off the back of a pickup truck for your classroom because you don’t have the funds to pay for it, that’s real for a lot of educators,” Pulcinella said.
A lot of people see Philly portrayed in the media as representative of its blue-collar underdogs.
“I’d say, Philly is a character unto itself. I would like to believe [it’s] not all walking parodies of ‘It’s Always Sunny,’” Pulcinella said.
Background music rises from a marching band led by Elmo marching down Market street. Pulcinella laughs, recognizing how “Philadelphian” this exact scenario is.
“We have this great coverage on the Philadelphia chicken man who ate a chicken every day for 40 days,” Pulcinella said. “It took on a life of its own. The way that people showed up for that event is very classically Philly. I couldn’t see that happening in any other major city.”
This is the “chaotic Philly” that you might see portrayed in the media. And it’s not all wrong.
On the hit sitcom “Abbott Elementary,” Alexandria Mansfield, who grew up in Philadelphia and reports for the Florida Times-Union, believes that it “really hits differently.”
“Quinta Brunson is from Philly. She gets it. She tells jokes that people from Philly get. It feels almost like being on the inside of a joke.”
While Philly may be home to chaos by nature, it’s also filled with community, joy, and brimming with impassioned spirit.
“I think people like to have fun and poke fun at Philly,” Mansfield said. “And, we are very good at making fun of ourselves.”
