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Our favorite ‘Abbott Elementary’ cast pairings

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Welcome to Screen Gab, the newsletter for everyone who loves “Abbott Elementary” for much more than just the love triangles.

As Screen Gab editor Matt Brennan and senior TV writer Yvonne Villarreal discuss in this week’s Break Down, the third season of ABC’s Emmy-winning comedy has given us an ensemble’s worth of brilliant comic pairings along with its will-they/won’t they romances.

Also in this edition, the writer of Netflix’s Jennifer Lopez vehicle “Atlas” picks his favorite JLo performance, plus streaming recommendations for your weekend.

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To write “Atlas” I was fortunate to have the opportunity to consult with professor Michel Maharbiz from UC Berkeley. He was working on a technology called Neural Dust, which are AI sensors the size of a grain of sand that could be used to discover all kinds of medical treatments. My father passed away from ALS so the possibility of using AI to eliminate pain and suffering for families around the world deeply resonated with me.

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Name your favorite JLo performance in a project that’s not your own.

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Break down

Times staffers chew on the pop culture of the moment — love it, hate it or somewhere in between

Sheryl Lee Ralph and Lisa Ann Walter in “Abbott Elementary.”

(Gilles Mingasson/Disney)

“Abbott Elementary” (ABC, Hulu) has spent the last three seasons crafting a sweet and heartwarming will they/won’t they dynamic between co-workers Janine (Quinta Brunson) and Gregory (Tyler James Williams) amid the daily chaos and absurdities of working in education. But when I spoke with Williams recently — for my piece on Chris Perfetti, who plays socially awkward history teacher Jacob Hill — something he said struck me:

“Everyone asks me about Janine and Gregory and I’m like, that’s not nearly as interesting as Gregory and Jacob. That’s the will they/won’t they I am most invested in. Gregory likes and wants to be with Janine; Gregory does not want to like Jacob and yet Jacob breaks him down over the course of two seasons. And that, to me, from an actor’s perspective, gives me the most to play. My characters wants to not like you. You had a conflicting objective to the point where the season finale of Season 2, I remember breaking that script down and there’s that big moment between Janine and Gregory, when they talk about what their relationship should be. And I remember looking at that and flagging, I was like, “OK, I’m gonna have to really break this down.” But the bigger moment to me was the moment of the bro hug after the fact. Because Gregory needs a place to be vulnerable. And that’s what Jacob allows him to be. Whenever we have scenes together, whatever that is, it’s some of the most exciting things for me, because I have just as much to play here as I do with Janine.”

It had me thinking about how the workplace comedy has found ways to craft other enjoyable combinations of its ensemble cast that are just as compelling, without the angst and frustration of a beautifully torturous slow burn. Screen Gab editor Matt Brennan joined me recently to break down our favorite “Abbott Elementary” pairings. —Yvonne Villarreal

Matt Brennan: Yvonne, when you shared Williams’ insights about Gregory and Jacob’s relationship with me recently, it helped crystallize something I’ve been thinking about “Abbott’s” third season, which began with a time jump and found Janine working for the district instead of her beloved elementary school: ABC’s Emmy-winning comedy series seems to be enjoying stretching its legs. Even with an episode count curtailed by last year’s writers’ and actors’ strikes, creator/star Quinta Brunson and Co. managed to explore a wide array of unexpected or less established character pairings this time around.

I’ll start with a small shoutout: Mr. Johnson (William Stanford Davis) and the kitchen staff, who provided TV’s best parody of “The Bear” to date.

Is there any dynamic duo that stood out to you this season?

Yvonne Villarreal: Do you even have to ask, Matt? You know my brand. When newly single Jacob (Chris Perfetti), in need of a new housing arrangement, became roommates with Melissa (Lisa Ann Walter) and they found themselves bonding over things like “The Real Housewives of New Jersey” and book nooks, my millennial heart was suddenly longing for bonus content of life with the odd couple in the form of TikTok videos.

Workplace formats can often feel stifling because we’re confined to the job setting — and we all have work friends that we commiserate with over Slack who don’t necessarily function in our personal life. But the way “Abbott” has found ways to deepen the ties of its characters has been both meaningful and fun to watch. As a hardcore admirer of the will they/won’t they trope and an angsty slow burn, I think keeping us interested in the whole ensemble is a necessary foundation for any romantic story lines: Although I am rooting for Janine and Gregory and whatever heart-eyes emoji moments their coupling will bring, I don’t want it to steal the focus. It’s why I’ve found Manny (Josh Segarra), Janine’s district co-worker, to be an enjoyable addition this season.

What about you, Matt? How do you think “Abbott” can avoid the pitfalls of the love triangle? And what other pairings have you enjoyed, or hope might deepen, as the show continues?

Matt Brennan: Jacob and Melissa’s life as roommates had me LOL-ing, Yvonne — that would totally be us if The Times made us bunk together! What you point to about “Abbott” being grounded in its ensemble is, I think, exactly how it will avoid getting locked into a pattern of Janine-Gregory love triangles, which is very low down the list of reasons I tune in every week. (Sorry, I’m just not sentimental about them. I wasn’t about Pam and Jim, either.) In fact, the series’ greatest strength may be that it has a cast where you can put any two characters in a scenario together and end up with comic fireworks.

Just sticking to Season 3 examples, I’m thinking of Barbara (Sheryl Lee Ralph) and Melissa leading the charge to “reset Ava” when she returns from “the legal property lines of Harvard” with a purpose; Gregory and Ava in a “competitive” panel discussion with their doppelgangers from another school; or the recent episode “Double Date,” which uses a bar night and a book club to launch six distinct subplots at once. For any sitcom, which depends on A, B and even C stories to work, this flexibility is central to longevity, and “Abbott” has shown that it has the ability to keep firing on all cylinders as long as the creative team remains engaged.

All that said, my favorite moments on “Abbott” are still those that bring the entire cast together at once, often in the shared experience of dashed hopes or thwarted purpose. I haven’t laughed harder at anything on TV this year than the staff collectively “vetting” the school’s new namesake (“Where were you on Jan. 6?!”) only to discover that he’s a flat-Earth truther. In fact, I’m going to re-watch it again right now.

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