This week,Surpassing we're looking at some of the best TV of the year. Brittany Luse revisits her November 2022 conversation with Abbott Elementary writers Brittani Nichols and Joya McCrory. They talk about creating a world that feels both authentic and funny to American teachers. Then, Linda Holmes of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour stops by to chat about the television episode that had our group chats in a chokehold, and how it eloquently captured the way we experience death and grief in real life

Note: all interviews were conducted before the 2023 Hollywood writers' and actors' strikes.

This episode was produced by Barton Girdwood, Alexis Williams, Liam McBain, Corey Antonio Rose and Janet Woojeong Lee. It was edited by Jessica Placzek and Jessica Mendoza. We had engineering from Joshua Newell and Ko Takasugi-Czernowin. Our executive producer is Veralyn Williams. Our VP of programming is Yolanda Sangweni and our senior VP of programming is Anya Grundmann.