Thoughts on the "Abbott Elementary" "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" Crossover

My wife and I just got caught up on the newest episodes of "Abbott Elementary". That means we saw the crossover episode they did with "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia". Let’s discuss.

I adore both of these shows, but each for very different reasons. "Abbott Elementary" is wholesome and sweet and also happens to be incredibly funny. The show is so well written and well acted and it's one of the best on all of tv. "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" is also hilarious, but it's also dark. I like that show. They take chances and they're allowed to take chances because of the network they're on. FX lets these shows do their thing, and "IASIP" is dark and bleak and laugh out loud funny. So, when this crossover was announced, I was a little skeptical. I didn't know how they would pull it all off. I assumed it was going to be on ABC because there's no way they could do this on FX. "Abbot Elementary" is too sweet of a show to be on FX. So, with that being confirmed, I didn't know how they'd pull off the usual tone of each of the main characters from "Always Sunny".

Well, after watching the episode, they nailed it. I was cracking up the entire time and I want them to do more and more of these episodes. The common thread in the show is that both take place in Philadelphia. But pretty much everything else is opposite of each other. As the episode started, the teachers from Abbot talked about the volunteers coming in to help out. This was a simple way to introduce the "Always Sunny" characters. When they showed up it was on from there. Charlie had a storyline where Melissa, Jacob and Barbara teach him to read. It was funny and nice. When Charlie was asked what he liked he mentioned beer, milksteak and bird law. Those are some classics from him. We also got to see Barbara teach like the pro she has shown us she can be. Jacob was the first to notice this problem. And Melissa, not only did she help with the reading, but she also stated that she had been to Paddy's Pub in the past, and I fully believe her character would have gone there before. Dee ended up working with Janine as her teacher's assistant. At first she loves the help and loves Dee, but then Dee meets Gregory. This changes their whole dynamic. Dee is constantly hitting on Gregory, and we see a little jealousy coming from Janine. I loved seeing all this play out. It was great. Frank goes to work with Mr Johnson and Gregory in the school garden. The back and forth between Mr Johnson and Frank is amazing. They're clearly at odds with one another from the jump. I heard from my mom, and then read online, that they cut a storyline where Frank and Mr Johnson had dated the same woman in the past. That would've been epic. Dennis made sure he was off camera the whole time, which he explains by saying he knows all about filming. He has that one line, but nothing else is needed from him. All of us that watch "Always Sunny" know exactly what he's talking about. And Mac is doing all he can with Ava so they can get their time card filled out for their community service. He is willing to do anything and everything to get this job done so he can move on to his next venture that he's interested in. It's pretty perfect. 

I think what made this work so well is they let the "Always Sunny" gang be themselves. They didn't curse or go way overboard like they do on FX, but they were still criminals and they still had bad intentions from time to time. They didn't muzzle them or make them out to be more than what they created on their own show. And that was probably the only way to make this work. It's clear that the "Abbott" crew knows and probably watches "Always Sunny". They knew how to write these characters on their show and it came out pretty wonderfully.

If you watch either of these shows I definitely recommend checking out the crossover episode. Like I said, I was on the fence but I love how it turned out. I think you'll feel the same way if you tune in. This was good stuff. It gives me hope for big network TV. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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