We’re less than a week away from seeing the It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia gang make their network TV debut in the midseason premiere of Abbott Elementary. It will be more than a little disconcerting to see cable TV sociopaths, who are guilty of some truly horrendous acts, appear on the Disney-owned ABC. Although, to be fair, it won’t be the first time that a Disney project has featured someone who took an unsettling interest in cannibalism.
While fans still have a lot of questions about how exactly this crossover will work, Quinta Brusnon and Rob McElhenney recently spoke to the Los Angeles Times to clear up some of the confusion around their joint endeavor. According to McElhenney, the “basic premise” that he and Brunson came up with was to tell “the same story through two different tones, as seen through the lens of Abbott, and then as seen through the lens of Sunny.” So we will get two very different tellings of these events in one episode of each series.
And some jokes that aren’t network-friendly will be introduced on Abbott Elementary, but later paid off on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. For example, according to the L.A. Times, Dennis is somewhat “elusive” in the Abbott episode, but Brunson and McElenney promised that his storyline would make more sense in the second installment. “Dennis is the key,” Brunson cryptically suggested.
Don’t Miss
“When you see the Sunny episode, you’ll realize why we did that with Dennis,” McElhenney teased.
As we’ve previously mentioned, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia fans have theorized that the characters’ sanitized behavior on Abbott Elementary will make sense because the show is a mockumentary, and they’ll be projecting their best selves for the cameras.
McElhenney confirmed that this is indeed the case, revealing that the mockumentary format is “what allowed for us to still be authentic and step into the world of Abbott because these characters are going into a school and they’re constantly monitored by cameras, so they would put on an act. If we’re not acting the way that our Sunny characters would, it’s because we know we’re being filmed and we’re putting it on the show.”
This also means that the Sunny episode will showcase a version of the Abbott Elementary characters that we’ve never actually seen before. “Conversely, when they came over to us, we thought it would be fun to see what their characters would be like when the bell rings and the cameras are not on them,” McElhenney explained.
“Our documentary is being filmed because they’re seeking funds for their school. So you’re going to put, probably, a better version of yourself,” Brunson agreed.
Hopefully this doesn’t mean that off-camera Janine will beat up children and/or lock anyone inside a burning apartment.
Just because the Paddy’s Pub gang will be dialing down their behavior for the cameras doesn’t mean that the Abbott Elementary episode won’t test the boundaries of what can be shown on primetime network television.
When asked about dealing with ABC’s Standards and Practices Department, McElhenney confessed that he was shocked that one gag had slipped past the censors. “There’s a joke in your episode that I cannot believe is going to make the final cut. Did I see the final cut?” McElenney asked Brunson. After she confirmed that he had in fact watched the episode that’s set to air next week, McElhenney added, “I cannot believe that that joke was made on your show.”
I guess we’ll have to wait and see which joke exactly might corrupt the entire Abbott Elementary brand.