Not Everyone in the ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ Fandom Wants the ‘Abbott Elementary’ Crossover
To some TV-watchers, crossover episodes are like flipping through a stack of old photographs — if they’re not in any of them and nobody’s having sex, they just don’t care.
Later this season on Abbott Elementary, Mac, Charlie, Dennis, Dee and Frank from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia will all guest star in a very special episode that’s been in the works since Quinta Brunson and Rob McElhenney first bonded over the bizarre, traumatizing and unlicensed Willy’s Chocolate Experience in Glasgow that went viral back in January. McElhenney officially confirmed the It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia/Abbott Elementary crossover at the beginning of this month by dumping a bunch of onset photos showing the Paddy’s Pub gang palling around with the Willard R. Abbott Elementary School staff, and ever since then, much of the Always Sunny fandom has been sharing their fan theories for potential crossover plot lines while poring over each social media post for hidden clues.
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The rest of the Always Sunny fans, however, have been quietly rubbing their temples and waiting for the It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia subreddit to lose interest in what these naysayers consider to be a gimmick episode. Since that doesn’t seem to be happening anytime soon, one fan set the forum ablaze by posting a thread titled, “Shut Up! Shut Up! Oh My God, I Don’t Care About the Abbott Elementary Crossover!!!”
The thread quickly shot to the top of the It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia subreddit as fans who refuse to watch their favorite cable TV assholes censor themselves for a cameo on a broadcast sitcom commiserated in their apathy toward the highly publicized and widely discussed crossover. “I had never even heard of Abbott Elementary until the news of the crossover broke,” one fan remarked of the ABC sitcom that averages over 9 million viewers per episode.
“I powered thru 3 eps of Abbott Elementary this morning. Found it to be very mid. My expectations for the crossover are very low,” one user wrote of Brunson's feel-good sitcom about a struggling public school that’s essentially the tonal opposite of Always Sunny.
Other Always Sunny fans admitted that they attempted to get into Abbott Elementary after McElhenney announced the crossover with mixed results. “I just started watching it because I don’t want to miss context for the crossover episode,” an adventurous Always Sunny fan said about Abbott. “I’m only a couple episodes in and so far my thoughts are it was pretty good … it was alright … it wasn’t great … but it was fine.”
Even some users who love both Always Sunny and Abbott expressed their reservations. “I’m a fan of both shows, but the hype > what the results will be. Might have some fun moments, but it will ultimately be disappointing. Crossovers always are, especially when it’s pre-announced and shoved in our faces like this,” one joint fan opined.
However, the crossover had its defenders in the thread who pushed back on the wave of pessimism. “Abbott is fine. Just because the characters aren’t as crude, uneducated, and antisocial like Sunny people seem to think it’s gonna suck,” one user dissented. “I think that because of the stark contrast between the gang and the abbott crew it will be entertaining as hell. And plus I think a Charlie/Mr. Johnson bit has a lot of potential. It’s the absurdity of a group like the gang being surrounded by level-headed educators. It will be fine.”
Another fan simply said, “As long as they can keep Uncle Jack away from them kids it’s all going to be okay.”
