Here's The Abbott Elementary Episode The Writers Have Not Been Able To Crack Yet [Exclusive]

If you haven't already fallen in love with the must-watch series, "Abbott Elementary," what exactly are you waiting for? The Emmy Award-winning mockumentary sitcom about an underfunded public school in Philadelphia was created by the incomparable Quinta Brunson and has been taking the world by storm since it premiered at the end of 2021. The series is a delightfully, and sometimes painfully accurate look at the public education system in the United States, boasting a staff of hilarious characters and even funnier students.

Over the first two seasons, "Abbott Elementary" has explored topics like what happens when an entire school of kids is given way too much candy on Halloween, how to handle a phenomenon of kids aimlessly following a viral trend, and how an old-school teacher like Sheryl Lee Ralph's Barbara Howard can learn to co-exist with a student's mom who has "B****" tattooed across her chest. This doesn't even include the wonderful stories about the teachers outside of the classroom, like the dating woes of Janine Teagues (Brunson) or the rivalry between the feisty Italian Melissa Schemmenti (Lisa Ann Walker) and her sister.

How NOT to grow a Lemon Tree #AbbottElementary #BlackHistoryMonth pic.twitter.com/ihUH4r5X7c

— Warner Bros. TV (@warnerbrostv) February 10, 2023

The sky's the limit for a show like "Abbott Elementary," which can take something as simple as a first grader asking if eating a lemon seed will make a lemon tree grow in their stomach and spark one of the hardest laughs I've had all year. However, as we recently learned after interviewing the show's executive producers, there are still some topics the writers' room has yet to make work.

/Film's Ben Pearson spoke with "Abbott Elementary" executive producers Justin Halpern and Patrick Schumacker to see if there's any story the team hasn't found a way to make work just yet. The answer? Spirit Day.

"We keep trying to crack a Spirit Day episode that we haven't have not been able to crack," says Patrick Schumacker. "We had the desking episode in season 1 started as a Spirit Day episode, because we wanted an episode that showcases some of Barbara's theatrical background. For whatever reason, we have not been able to crack that one yet in two seasons."

The lack of a Spirt Day episode has become a point of contention in the writers' room as well. "Every time someone brings up Spirit Week, everybody's like, 'Shut up. Stop. Get it away. Get it out of here. We can't make it work,' like it's our Kobayashi Maru. No one can figure out how to make Spirit Week work as an episode," Justin Halpern says. "So, every year, it's like, 'Well, what about Spirit Week?' It's like, 'Shut the f*** up. We're not doing Spirit Week.'" [laughs]

Here's hoping the team finds a way to crack the code and make Spirit Week a possibility. As a former elementary school educator myself, I'm personally a huge fan of celebrating the 100th day of school by inviting the kids to show up dressed like they're 100 years old. If you want to use the idea, just give me a shout-out on Twitter. I'm easy to please.