Years before her Emmy-winning TV career, Quinta Brunson was inspired by a FOX 29 meteorologist
The West Philly native and "Abbott Elementary" creator shouted out Sue Serio on "Live with Kelly and Mark."
If West Philly native Quinta Brunson never became an Emmy-winning actor, writer, and TV producer, chances are she would still be a recognizable name and a much beloved face on the small screen.
During Tuesday’s appearance on Live with Kelly and Mark, the creator and star of Abbott Elementary said her childhood dream was to follow the footsteps of longtime Fox 29 meteorologist Sue Serio.
“I did see myself becoming someone on screen. I wanted to become a weather person. There was a weather person in Philadelphia I loved, named Sue Serio. I thought she was the bee’s knees,” Brunson said.
South Jersey’s own Kelly Ripa, cohost of the long-running ABC talk show and Camden County native, instantly recognized Serio.
“You know she’s like a legend,” Brunson said, “and I wanted to be her.”
Since joining the Fox 29 News team as a weather anchor in 1997, Serio has been a fixture on Philadelphia TV screens. For decades, she has endured blizzards, thunderstorms, and the wild winds at the Jersey Shore to deliver weather reports.
Inside the studio, Serio has shared the green screen with famous actors to local children, supporting various nonprofits and going on to inspire a young Brunson.
“Imagine my surprise when I found out that the amazing Quinta Brunson — that’s right, the creator and star of [Abbott Elementary] shouted my out this morning on [Live with Kelly and Mark] !!!!! Thank you for the kind words [Quinta Brunson]. I would love to meet you next time you’re in Philly," Serio wrote in an Instagram post Tuesday.
Recognizing Brunson’s dream to be a “weather person,” Ripa and her husband and cohost Mark Consuelos directed the show’s producers to pull down a weather map for Brunson to flex her meteorology muscles.
Brunson then walked over to the digital screen, and leaned into her extraordinary sketch and improv skills. Within seconds, she transformed into a veteran meteorologist — broadcast voice, transitional phrases, and all.
“So, today in New York you might want to grab a jacket at 9 a.m. It’s going to be a little bit chilly. But don’t worry, at 3 p.m. it’s getting all the way up to 52,” she said, “But don’t get too excited though because at 7 p.m. it’s going to drop to 48. And you know what that means — You’re going to want to put that jacket back on.”
“At 9 p.m., you should be in, watching the playoffs so you don’t have to worry about it being cold. That’s the weather,” Brunson said at the end of her bit.
Along with displaying her weather anchor chops, Brunson also hinted at the season finale episode of Abbott Elementary‘s fifth season that airs on Wednesday night. The school’s teachers end up going on a trip to Florida, where they are informed that a new superintendent plans to shut down the school.
As for season six, Brunson said she hoped to shoot at Philly institutions that are particularly important to her. Her hope is to film inside Independence Hall or City Hall, but she said the chances may be slim.
“I feel like legally we shouldn’t be allowed to shoot there,” she said.
No harm in trying, we say. And there’s always the Fox 29 green screen if that doesn’t work out.
