Sheryl Lee Ralph Reveals Why She Thinks ‘Abbott Elementary’ Could Be the Next ‘Grey’s Anatomy’

Awards Daily chats with Abbott Elementary‘s Sheryl Lee Ralph about how the first character she ever played is connected to Barbara Howard and why she thinks Abbott could be the next Grey’s Anatomy.

On ABC’s Abbott Elementary, Barbara Howard (Sheryl Lee Ralph) watches newbie Janine (Quinta Brunson) as she find her way as a teacher, early in her career. Which begs the question: What was Barbara like when she was a new teacher? Ralph says that she likes to connect this character with one from her past.

“It’s so interesting,” says Ralph. “People always look at my very first film A Piece of the Action. I play a raw, young, little hood rat girl who was very smart but just needed a teacher who understood her, and her name was Barbara Hanley. So people always put together the power of that performance with the performance they see now in Barbara Howard, and say, ‘This is why Barbara Howard is a great teacher.’ It always makes me feel so good that people actually take the time to do their own personal research and put puzzles together. That’s what I think it is.”

Barbara Howard is so put-together and collected in how she handles herself that even when she messes up, like when she accidentally marks all of her kindergarteners reading at a fourth-grade level in the episode “New Tech,” she never looks to the camera in fear, like so many of the other teacher characters do when they’re in trouble.

“In my mind, I did not look at the camera those first 13 episodes because I believed [the cameras] do not belong there. They should not be in the school,” says Ralph, getting into character. “They should not be recording this. The fact that they are taking advantage of an underprivileged school system and children who don’t have as much as others, I don’t believe they belong there. Well. . .” says Ralph with a sly smile, “we’ll see what happens with the next 22 episodes.”

Unlike her character, who is resistant to technology, Ralph enjoys it.

“I’m Ava. I’m trying to convince my phone I’m 22 years old. Yes, thank you. I love the future and the fact that I’m in it. But that doesn’t mean I’m good at using it. Very often, they’ll send me things and I don’t post them because I can’t figure out how to do it! But I love it. I can’t believe that all I have to do is pick up my phone and say, ‘Siri, Google directions home.’ That’s the best! ‘Hey, Siri, Google my net worth.’ I love it!”

She also loves the intergenerational dynamic between Janine and Barbara. After Janine offers to help Barbara learn how to use the new school technology, Barbara’s eyes swell with tears as she says, “I’d like that.”

“I love the fact that Barbara is so open to learning that she remains a lifelong learner. That was always important to my father and it’s become important to me. And I love the fact the character is open to learning. So it’s like, if you can help me, please, help me.”

In the season finale, Barbara wonders if it’s time for her to retire (thankfully she doesn’t!). Ralph believes it’s the young teachers like Janine that keep her around.

“There’s a moment after all of those 13 episodes, Barbara has been commenting on poor Janine’s wardrobe choices, and at one point, she turns to her friend and says, ‘I remember when that was me, when those were my clothes’, and it’s like, ‘God, I love it so much.’ She dresses so weird. It’s so endearing, and I really think that Barbara gets a second chance, a third chance, a fourth chance, with seeing these new teachers come into the school system, and they’re so deeply needed. It looks like she’s not helping them because she’s so hard on them, but she’s with them because she wants them to succeed. I think Barbara deeply wants to know that when she retires, they’ll be others to carry on just as well as she did.”

But Ralph herself has no intention to retire just yet—even if she believes it could be with this show.

“I knew [Abbott Elementary] was something special! Tyler Williams and I looked at each other and I said, ‘You feel it, don’t you? You feel it. Because we’ve been down this road several times. And this show right here? We’ve got something special.’ I would be shocked if this show did not retire everyone on the show. I would be shocked if the next 10 years were not spent successfully and happily doing Abbott Elementary. Look at it this way: If Grey’s Anatomy can be going on for 15 years, trust me, Janine has got a story to tell for 20!”

Abbott Elementary airs on ABC.