It’s nonetheless early within the 2025 TV schedule, however the crossover occasion between Abbott Elementary and It’s All the time Sunny In Philadelphia already looks like a contender for one in every of this yr’s finest comedy episodes. Watching The Gang getting into the world of Quinta Brunson’s award profitable comedy undoubtedly has me agreeing with my colleagues in regards to the potential focus of Sunny’s crossover episode.
Sadly, it seems that top-of-the-line moments the place the 2 worlds might have collided was lower from the ABC half of the equation, and I’m form of bummed out about it now. As EW spoke with producers Patrick Schumacker and Justin Halpern about Season 4’s ninth episode, “Volunteers,” the Abbott masterminds shared tons of details about this two-episode storyline.
That features Schumacher himself admitting to this a part of the Frank/Mr. Johnson battle of wills getting trashed:
We did at one level have an entire backstory between Frank and Mr. Johnson that they did know one another. It was that they went to highschool collectively. They dated the identical girl who was a canonical character in Sunny. That ended up falling away simply as a perform of, ‘Hey, we won’t inform that story. Perhaps let’s put it aside for one more time.’ 21 and a half minutes isn’t a variety of time to inform a narrative.
The story behind the Abbott Elementary crossover had already confirmed there was a mutual admiration between ABC’s profitable comedy and FX’s legacy sequence. Realizing that Danny Devito and William Stanford Davis would have gotten extra screentime collectively to scrap was already a bummer. Nevertheless, after Patrick Schumacker launched these further particulars, I believe I do know the place they might have gone with this potential love connection.
As soon as once more, all of it comes all the way down to Frank’s love for Shadynasty. Whereas it may not make most fan’s lists of finest It’s All the time Sunny in Philadelphia episodes, Season 7’s fifth episode “Frank’s Brother” feels prefer it’d be the very best connection between these two trash talkers; as Mr. Johnson might very simply be a part of the checklist of suitors who wished her of their lives. Whereas that’s not precisely gospel, it does really feel like the very best alternative to fiddle with canon with out retconning an excessive amount of.
Perhaps it is a good factor this plot level acquired lower, because it’d have individuals asking many questions. On the identical time, with out a definitive reply on who this secret third social gathering is, it seems that an excellent thriller is now forming between these two sequence. Ought to these two episodes carry out nicely sufficient, maybe we’ll get a follow-up that solutions these questions, and possibly others.
For now, you may benefit from the first half of Abbott Elementary’s crossover with It’s All the time Sunny in Philadelphia, as long as you could have an energetic Hulu subscription. We nonetheless don’t know when The Gang’s viewpoint of occasions will air, however we do know that it’s already filmed and ready for 2025’s undated debut of Season 17 to bust unfastened.