How ‘Abbott Elementary’ Producer Randall Einhorn’s Experience on ‘The Office’ Helped Bring Janine and Gregory’s Romance to Life
variety.comSelome Hailu “Abbott Elementary” garnered a lot of comparisons to “The Office” and “Parks and Recreation” when it debuted in 2021, and for a good reason.
The Quinta Brunson-created ABC comedy utilizes the workplace mockumentary format that made those shows stand out, and more specifically, it shares with them a key creative: director and producer Randall Einhorn.
But when it came to developing “Abbott,” Einhorn felt that the device needed some updating. “We wanted the teachers to appear favorably, because they’re doing a thankless task for very little money,” Einhorn says, noting the contrast with Steve Carell’s Michael Scott, whose incompetence anchors the American version of “The Office.” “We wanted them to look like heroes.
That’s why this looks different than ‘The Office,’ which comes with low ceilings and floor lights. It’s like a place where you serve time, whereas I really wanted ‘Abbott’ to feel warm and inviting, a place you want to get back to.” And when “Abbott” returned for its second season, it leaned into one of the most storied sitcom tropes of all: the will-theywon’t-they.
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