Neal Justin: 'Abbott Elementary' is back in session

"The White Lotus" may have taken the most Emmys this year but "Abbott Elementary" star Sheryl Lee Ralph went home with our hearts.

The actor's soul-soaring acceptance speech, in which she sang an excerpt from "Endangered Species," was the hands-down highlight of Monday's ceremonies.

"It has been absolutely overwhelming," Ralph said two days later during a virtual news conference with TV critics, her voice still hoarse from responding to the hoopla. "Since Monday, I've been on the verge of tears all day, all night. I don't think I could possibly be any happier."

But Ralph, who joins Jackee Harry as the only Black woman ever to be named best supporting actress in a comedy, also had some harsh words for Jimmy Kimmel.

The late-night host, who has publicly raved about the sitcom, did a bit in which he lay comatose on stage while "Abbott" creator Quinta Brunson accepted the award for outstanding writing. Ralph wasn't laughing.

"Ooh, the disrespect, Jimmy," said Ralph. "I told him that to his face and he understood."

Her reactions to the win and the joke encapsulates why "Abbott" is one of the few network sitcoms still worth watching. It's tough and sensitive.

Fans of the series, which starts its second season at 8 p.m. Wednesday on KSTP, Ch. 5, have already fallen in love with the beleaguered teaching staff at Willard R. Abbott Elementary School, a fictional Philadelphia school that can't afford a library computer, let alone cleaning supplies.

Brunson, who created the show, plays Janine Teagues, an instructor who has the same Pollyanna personality as Ted Lasso but with greater challenges than any soccer coach has ever faced. In this week's episode, we learn her salary isn't covering her rent and unpaid parking tickets.

Her commitment to students keeps her coming back for more. The same could be said for her colleagues. Ralph's no-nonsense character, Barbara Howard, is determined to find funding to pay for a desk to help out a new student who uses a wheelchair. Jacob Hill, played by Chris Perfetti, learns sign language so he can better communicate with one of his kids.

"We may not be able to do it all," said teacher Gregory Eddie (Tyler James Williams) in an upcoming episode. "We do what we can."

But the sitcom never comes across like a public-service announcement.

"The focus in our writers room is always to focus on the comedy first. So we don't really begin with a feeling of responsibility to portray the teachers' crisis," said Brunson. "We begin with the reality of our situation and naturally things like that come into play. The more we focus on our characters and four walls at Abbott, the more we wind up talking about these major issues."

The comedy's success comes with more demands, including more interest from the media. Immediately after the news conference, Brunson dashed off for an appearance on — where else? — "Jimmy Kimmel Live."

"What we learned from the first season is to trust what we did," said Brunson. "I think we did a very good job. We got to be in this bubble and create this wonderful television. I think the lesson we learned is to do the exact same thing."

The busier schedule — 22 episodes instead of 13 — means the cast had to be back on set for a table read the day after the Emmy celebration. Nobody thought about playing hooky.

"We were all a little tired but it was the greatest feeling in the world to get back," said Perfetti. "There was no place else I wanted to be."