00:00It's Abbott Elementary, full disclosure, my favorite, favorite new show.
00:16Well, okay, I got two favorite new shows, so I'll tell you that in a second.
00:20But Abbott Elementary, I just feel so connected to this show.
00:25I went to Temple University in Philly.
00:26Temple May, had to give Temple a shout-out, but also the cast of this show, comprised of people that I admire and love.
00:38But there is one person, I got to tell you, that stands above everyone else.
00:43She is an icon.
00:45She is black girl, woman, magic, excellence, royalty.
00:50And the first time I saw Ms. Cheryl Lee Ralph in person, Jesus wept, and I did too.
00:56So to see Cheryl be part of this brilliant cast with a show that is revolutionary, shattering record ratings, I mean, it's incredible.
01:08So I've said all I can say, because at this time, at this moment, in this second, get ready to get your breath taken away.
01:16Because the one and only Cheryl Lee Ralph is here.
01:24Come on now, come on, Essence, stand up here.
01:29Okay, I'm going to listen.
01:30I'm going to do this one more time, because when you are in the presence of queens, you respond to queens.
01:38Cheryl Lee Ralph is here!
01:44Have a seat.
01:45And a modest queen at that, because every time I see her, I literally bow down to you.
01:50This show, first of all, season two, getting ready to get that going.
01:57Did you know, because you've been around, the original Dreamgirls cast.
02:02The list goes on and on.
02:04You know a hit when you see it.
02:06Did you know this was a hit?
02:08Absolutely.
02:09How did you know?
02:10It's all in the script.
02:11It's all on the page.
02:12The script was so well written, and there was actually a moment during the shooting of the pilot where Tyler Williams and I looked at each other, and we were like, you feel it, don't you?
02:24And I was like, I feel it.
02:26And it was like, we've got something special here.
02:30And the audience reaction to the show, it has just been outstanding, and it has not stopped.
02:39Which is so rare.
02:40I mean, first of all, we should make the point, Lisa Ann wanted to be here as well, the cast, and you're here representing the entire cast.
02:47The trajectory of the show, people loved it from day one, but what was so also unique is that the ratings with each episode got bigger and bigger.
02:55It was that word-of-mouth factor.
02:58How did the show break through the noise?
02:59You know something?
03:00I don't know, but I do believe that Abbott Elementary is the kind of show that was necessary for a time like this, where we are.
03:10People wanted to laugh.
03:13People wanted, people always love learning, especially while they're laughing.
03:18It's the best way to get people, you know, to learn something, and that's through entertainment.
03:22And this show has a wonderful way of dealing with some very difficult subjects.
03:29You know, people had no idea the struggle of a lot of teachers across the country, nor were people aware of the struggle of many schools across the country.
03:41The fact that education is very much not equal in the country, you know?
03:49You know, there was a scene in the pilot where Janine, played by Quinta, Janine, we love Quinta.
03:57Yes, we do.
03:58Janine has a book, and she says, well, there have been three more presidents since this book was printed.
04:04That's real.
04:05That was really happening in that school district in Philadelphia.
04:10That was a real thing.
04:12And people just thought, wow, serious.
04:16That can't be really happening.
04:17But, yeah, it's really happening.
04:19I know I was with you and Quinta a couple of weeks ago in New York, and the original character you thought you should play is not the character.
04:26Yeah, I'm going to tell that story.
04:28That was not the plan, at least as you saw it.
04:31Tell them the story.
04:32Well, listen, I read the script, and I said to myself, the role that you'd want to play is Ava.
04:37You want to be the principal?
04:38You know, and I said, now, that's very different because everybody sees me differently.
04:44And I said, break out of the type.
04:47Be that raw, ratchet woman.
04:51See, they feel me.
04:54Plus, every time I look at Ava's character, I'm like, Ava has on my hair.
05:00You know, Ava has on my wardrobe.
05:04Ava has on my shoes.
05:05So how did Quinta convince you that you weren't Ava?
05:09You know what?
05:09It was very simple.
05:11Quinta literally looked at me.
05:12She said, Miss Ralph.
05:13That's when she called me Miss Ralph.
05:15She now calls me Cheryl.
05:17She said, Miss Ralph, we need a queen for this role, and you are that queen.
05:23Oh, my gosh.
05:26When did you recognize that for so many of us, the teachers that broke through our lives was the teacher like her?
05:33That stern voice that we take no prisoners, that I'm expecting better of you than you are providing and challenging.
05:41When did you know?
05:42Because everybody has a teacher.
05:43I think most of us have a teacher.
05:45Mine was Ernestine Rose, who was my do better, Tamron Hall, do better.
05:49Oh, yeah.
05:49When did you know that teacher was resident?
05:51I come from a family, a neighborhood, a community of teachers.
05:57Yes.
05:57And they have always wanted best.
06:01You know, even my mother, good, better, best.
06:04Never let it rest until your good is better and your better best.
06:10You know?
06:11So my dad started out as a teacher who broke the color line in Connecticut as a male black teacher.
06:19Ended up a college professor.
06:22You know, my brother is a special ed teacher in Albany.
06:27My niece just graduated from Cheney, is now going to NYU for her master's in education.
06:36My sister-in-law is a retired principal.
06:39Teachers are all over me.
06:40I'm a sorority girl, Delta Sigma Theta sorority in.
06:44There you go.
06:45Full of educators.
06:46Teachers full of the kind of women.
06:49Okay, so the other thing that's in your blood.
06:50By the way, you are not on just one show, two.
06:53Two shows.
06:54Two shows.
06:55But what else is in your blood is the music.
06:58And I can't wrap this up without talking about music.
07:01And I know you're going to be doing something special in the winter and the fall.
07:05And you were even on Tamron Hall's show.
07:06You sang on Zoom.
07:07I was like, you know you can kill it when you sing on Zoom in your home with a bad mic and you just do it.
07:13So you're going back out.
07:14You know what?
07:15We, for the past 32 years, I've been producing something called Divas Simply Singing.
07:21Yes.
07:21Well, thank you for that.
07:23The Divas, for me, it's an acronym.
07:25Divinely Inspired, Victoriously Awesome Singers.
07:28Wow.
07:29You know?
07:29And we bring health awareness.
07:32Talking about health and education inequities.
07:35Right.
07:36And we do it one song at a time.
07:39It started out around HIV and AIDS when nobody wanted to talk about it.
07:43Yeah.
07:44Well, now we've got a new pandemic in COVID.
07:46And we want people to know COVID has not left us.
07:49It is still with us.
07:51Your health matters.
07:52You matter.
07:53We need you to be watching.
07:55Do you remember?
07:57On the 21st day of September.
08:00Do you know what that is?
08:02That is a premiere night for Abbott Elementary.
08:07Nine o'clock Wednesday on ABC.
08:10Yeah.
08:11Yeah.
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