It’s been a minute since a good crossover on TV hit the airwaves, as such small-screen events have become scarce in recent years. However, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia and Abbott Elementary have their first of two highly anticipated crossover episodes together premiering this week amid the 2025 TV schedule. A first look shows the It’s Always Sunny vets hilariously interacting with the teachers and students at Abbott, although one key member of the Paddy's Pub gang had to be kept separate from the kids, and I'm not surprised at all.
The idea for this absurd crossover between the two Philly-based comedies has been cooking for a little while now. Most likely, none of the characters from It’s Always Sunny would be allowed to work in a school. However, when asked by Rolling Stone which characters she wished she could keep permanently on Abbott, showrunner, EP and lead actress Quinta Brunson answered Sweet Dee, and surprisingly, Danny DeVito’s outlandish character Frank Reynolds, but with one small contingency:
And then I think I would also steal Frank, because he’s just fun to react to in our world. For so many reasons, I still regret that we didn’t have a scene of a kid just reacting to him. We didn’t have time. There was a version of it where there was a kid just looking at him, but he’s just fun to react to. And our show is based a lot in reactions to cameras. Although we realized in our world, we had to keep him away from the children. But he’s a riot.
Yeah, Frank and children are a recipe for disaster. We’ve learned enough about his relationship with his own kids to know he’s not exactly a good influence on the youth. Frank's shenanigans on It’s Always Sunny are pretty notorious and definitely a highlight of the show. Dee and Dennis’ father is always one with a scheme and finds the sketchiest, most immoral way to complete it. His motivations are always self-serving, and I could totally see him roping in the students at Abbott to do his dirty work, if given the chance.
The crossover's plot involves the Paddy’s Pub gang volunteering for a day at Abbott Elementary School, and god knows what their twisted motivations for doing that are. The first episode will show the events of that day from the lens of Abbott’s characters, meaning it will be in the classic mockumentary style. At a later date, fans will see the crossover event from the perspective of the Sunny characters. So it'll be intriguing to see the Abbott crew in a more uncensored way.
It’s Always Sunny is not for the faint of heart, and the showrunners don’t plan on compromising its shock-value style for the purposes of family friendly viewers. However, Quinta Brunson and Sunny co-creator Rob McElhenney do plan on warning certain Abbott audiences against watching the FX show because of its R-rated content. Sunny has never been afraid to push the limits, and its main premise is that these characters are very morally corrupt people, especially Frank.
After all, this the man who, in one episode, started a sweatshop with child labor and in another installment, pretended to be his adult daughter Dee’s fiancé to get in on his ex-wife’s money. So I’m left wondering what Frank gets up to at Abbott that tips off the faculty that the children should be nowhere near him.
On the whole, I'm most looking forward to seeing the characters fit into each other's storylines. Although I’m quite worried for the faculty at Abbott, the Sunny gang has a bad habit of just leaving a huge mess wherever they go. But, hey, maybe some good will come out of all this. Maybe Barbara or Melissa will finally teach Charlie how to read. This will be It’s Always Sunny’s 17th season on air, and somehow, its ensemble is still the most unpredictable on TV. Let’s just hope a naked Frank doesn’t get stuck in the playground equipment --- again.
I honestly feel like I can’t come close to predicting what will happen. Yet I certainly can’t wait to find out by tuning in to Abbott Elementary this Wednesday on ABC at 9:30 p.m. ET. The episode will also be streamable next day with a Hulu subscription.
