🍿FindToWatch
Series · Comedy · 2021 · TV-PG

Abbott Elementary: parents' guide

10+our pick

Best for ages 10 and up. Rated TV-PG.

A warm, sharp workplace comedy about teachers at an underfunded Philadelphia public school that tweens and parents can enjoy together. Filmed like a documentary, it follows an upbeat young teacher and her colleagues as they make do with too little money and a self-absorbed principal. Content stays light: mild swearing with harsher words bleeped, flirting and a slow-burn romance, jokes about affairs and strippers, and social drinking. Kids' hardships, like a student with an unstable home, are handled with care. Age 10 fits the mild language and grown-up jokes, though younger kids may miss much of the humor.

What's in it

Violence

Mild

Mostly slapstick: exploding toilets, stumbles and a collapsing ceiling. Kids hit each other, a student smashes a computer, a trash can catches fire, and a teacher is fired for kicking a student.

Language

Mild

Words like "hell," "damn," "ass" and "bitch," plus "oh my God." Stronger words, including two f-words in a recent season premiere, are bleeped, and a rude hand gesture is blurred.

Sex and nudity

Mild

Flirting, dating, kissing and a long will-they-or-won't-they romance. Jokes touch on strippers, prostitution, affairs and one crude insult, and a man starts to unbutton his shirt before coworkers stop him. No sex or nudity.

Drinking, drugs and smoking

Mild

Adults drink socially at bars and on dates, with hangovers implied but no one shown drunk. A teacher takes smoke breaks and later vapes, and kids call a calming classroom rug "Xanax."

Scary or intense scenes

None

Nothing scary. Some storylines touch real hardship, such as a child sleeping in class because of instability at home and a parent who left.

Worth talking about

The teachers keep going despite a lack of money and supplies. Why do some schools have so much less than others, and what keeps a teacher committed to a hard job?

Where to stream →

On our lists

Similar picks around 10+

10+ All Creatures Great and Small (2020)Series · Drama · 2020 · TV-PG Violence: mild, Language: mild, Sex and nudity: mild, Drinking, drugs and smoking: moderate, Scary or intense scenes: mild 10+ Dead End: Paranormal ParkSeries · Animated, comedy · 2022 · TV-Y7 Violence: mild, Language: mild, Sex and nudity: mild, Drinking, drugs and smoking: none, Scary or intense scenes: moderate 9+ Emma.Movie · Romance, comedy · 2020 · PG Violence: mild, Language: none, Sex and nudity: mild, Drinking, drugs and smoking: mild, Scary or intense scenes: mild 11+ Ms. MarvelSeries · Superhero, comedy · 2022 · TV-14 Violence: moderate, Language: mild, Sex and nudity: mild, Drinking, drugs and smoking: moderate, Scary or intense scenes: moderate 10+ The Owl HouseSeries · Animated, fantasy · 2020 · TV-Y7 Violence: moderate, Language: none, Sex and nudity: mild, Drinking, drugs and smoking: none, Scary or intense scenes: moderate 9+ Turning RedMovie · Animated, comedy · 2022 · PG Violence: mild, Language: mild, Sex and nudity: mild, Drinking, drugs and smoking: mild, Scary or intense scenes: mild

Checked October 13th, 2026 against Common Sense Media, Plugged In. The age is our judgment, not an official rating, and every family draws its lines differently: read the notes, not just the number. Spotted something we missed? Tell us. How we rate.