This Wednesday, two of Philly’s most prominent representations on TV will merge in the first crossover episode of “Abbott Elementary” and “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” as the narcissistic chaos of a group of South Philly pub workers collides into the making-something-out-nothing optimism of an underfunded West Philly public school.
Philly locals and show creators Quinta Brunson and Rob McElhenney have discussed the processes and challenges of mixing the PG-rated water and the R-rated oil that are their respective Disney-owned shows, and how that will play out with one storyline told from two perspectives: the ABC-primetime mockumentary “Abbott” perspective this week, then the age-gated raunchier “Sunny” viewpoint on FXX in a few months.
“Our biggest concern is that people will watch ‘Abbott’ and think, ‘Oh, we like these characters. We like this episode. Let’s go check out the other show with the whole family.’ And we’re going to caution people against that,” McElhenney told Rolling Stone.
A while back, we asked artificial intelligence to come up with some plotlines and the result was a fairly boilerplate — possibly milksteak — set of plotlines.
But what do the Philly-based fans of each show want to see? What elements from each show need to go into the crossover to keep their unique essence and identity intact?
We found a couple of folks we think are qualified to answer those questions.
Anarchy meets altruism
Nicole Wyglendowski, “Ms. Wy” to her students, is a special education teacher at Edward T. Steel Elementary School in Nicetown and a Teach Plus Pennsylvania senior policy fellow. She’s also an Abbott superfan, live-posting during episodes and using the show as a tool for discussions and professional development to help teachers who deal with the realities of teaching in the city.
“There was a whole episode this season about how they asked for funding for after-school activities, but instead they got $50 for class pets. And so they literally got a gerbil and like a rock,” she said. “That’s funny, that brings light to the fact that we are really working here, we are working miracles with a gerbil and a rock … I think that brings light to what we do as teachers every single day, in a very funny way.”
Wyglendowski said that the show does hit a little too close to the classroom for some teachers — while others think it should be more critical — but the ones who do watch it find some catharsis from it.
“Something that other teachers say is that, ‘Oh well, sometimes it’s too real for them.’ They don’t want to watch more work out after work,” she said. “I can understand that, but I don’t feel that same way because I do think it also brings a lot of humor and light into some of the very dark and serious situations that we work through in our jobs here as teachers.”
Wyglendowski is also a fan of “It’s Always Sunny” and said she began watching it when she was probably too young to get all of the humor. She said that it offers a similar catharsis to “Abbott,” putting relatable problems in a relatable setting, but with far less altruism.
“I love a good show about horrible people doing horrible things,” she said. “It just cleanses something, it fills a hole in my cold, dead, black Philly heart. Just terrible people not pretending to be anything but terrible, honestly.”
Local comedian and writer Tom Bruno, “Condom Tom” to his audiences, is a fan of “It’s Always Sunny.” The show, along with his own experience in the bar and restaurant industry, has helped inspire some of the screenwriting he has done with writing partner Chris Reina. He said that the challenge of mixing two polar opposite styles of comedy into one is exciting, but there’s the risk of ticking off fans on either side of the spectrum, leaving the “Abbott” fans appalled or the “Sunny” fans feeling the taboo humor has been toned down.
“When you’re strictly one style of comedy and the other one’s a strictly opposite style of comedy, and then you’re trying to mesh them after years of creating your audience for that one particular style, that’s when it makes it rougher,” he said.
Keeping both identities laughing
Wyglendowski said that the biggest element needed for the “Abbott” episode to stay true to itself is that everyone has to come out learning something, including the stubborn Sunny gang.
“In ‘It’s Always Sunny’ there’s no character development. These guys are just terrible through-and-through, and I love that and I don’t want them to develop,” she said. “But at ‘Abbott Elementary’ these characters are learning and growing. So they need to be learning and growing. There needs to be a somewhat nice ending, where at least if they don’t learn something, then ‘Abbott Elementary’ characters quote-unquote win.”
Perhaps most important in the learning process is that Charlie from “It’s Always Sunny” could finally learn how to read, in Mrs. Howard’s kindergarten class, and learn the difference between Philadelphia and Pennsylvania.
Bruno disagreed with the idea that the “Sunny” gang had to come out of the “Abbott” episode as better people to stay true to the show. He did feel like there could be some learning, though.
“The kids at ‘Abbott Elementary’ and even maybe the staff can learn a lesson by not having those kinds of people come into a child setting,” he said. “They’re not meant to be mentors and shouldn’t be looked up to as mentors … they’re just misfits, they’re shameless misfits and always scheming.”
Bruno doesn’t feel the “Abbott” characters should necessarily “win.” Whatever attention the “Sunny” cast gets from visiting the school and inevitably causing mischief is better than not getting any attention at all. If the “Sunny” gang learn little from the experience and the “Abbott” staff take it as a cautionary tale of how not to behave, then it’s probably on target.
“It’s a terrible life lesson but it’s a true life lesson,” he said. “How many times you’re given false promises and then you’re let down. The faster you learn that in life, the better off you are in the long run.”
Previews for the crossover episode have already hinted at how some of the characters of the different show will pair off, and Bruno sees members of the “Sunny” gang, incredulous about having been allowed into the school, scheming to exploit the Abbott characters for their own financial gain or publicity for Paddy’s Pub. Danny DeVito’s Frank could enroll students to clean the bar, claiming it’s a service project. Dennis could try to take Jacob under his wing to man him up. Maybe even the secondary character “Rickety Cricket” could be brought in as some kind of drug prevention program, then end up doing the exact opposite.
“I would love to see if Charlie gets back to his janitor roots and hangs out with Mr. Johnson. I would love to see Dee queen out with Ava. It’s gonna be great. It’s gonna be awesome,” Wyglendowski said.
Wyglendowski would also like to see a little more Abbott-style plot development and continuation than the abrupt “the Gang has screwed up everything, start back at the bar for the next episode” structure in “It’s Always Sunny.” and the episode should mainly take place in the school and homes of the Abbott teachers.
One point of agreement between the two fans is that the crossover needs to be super Philly, even as it represents two very different sides of Philly.
“I love that they’re doing that as a small town situation, because yeah, in the universe that ‘Abbott Elementary’ exists, I love that ‘It’s Always Sunny’ also exists. I love that the tavern exists in South Philly and then Abbott Elementary’s over and West,” she said.
