Tonight is the night when the Paddy’s Pub gang from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia crashes Abbott Elementary — or, as Quinta Brunson would put it, five weird white people will show up to Willard R. Abbott Elementary School and none of her fans should bother to Google them.
After months of anticipation, teasers, fanfare and fan theorizing, the most powerful sitcom crossover in the history of Philadelphia is finally upon us. The first episode in the two-part, cross-town collaboration between Abbott Elementary and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia will air on ABC tonight at 8:30 p.m. ET, with the second part telling the cable version of events coming when It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia Season 17 finally arrives. And, when Always Sunny does return later this year, Abbott Elementary star and creator Brunson will be watching it along with none of her show’s fans, if she has her way.
Don’t Miss
Over the weekend, Brunson and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia head Rob McElhenney admitted that they’re afraid that the crossover will inspire fans of the family-friendly, feel-good, TV-PG Abbott Elementary to check out the much darker and rougher It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and during an appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers yesterday, Brunson reiterated her warning:
“If you’re a fan of Abbott, it’s gonna feel like a regular Abbott episode,” Brunson told her fans of tonight’s special event, “If you have never seen It’s Always Sunny, you won’t know the difference. There will just be these white people on the show all of the sudden.”
When Meyers pointed out that the tonal difference between Abbott Elementary and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia is roughly as drastic as the discrepancy in atmostphere between Paddy’s Pub and Suds, Brunson admitted that she worries about the mental health and safety of curious Abbott Elementary fans who might mistakenly believe It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia to be another upbeat, friendly, warm comedy. “I’m very concerned,” Brunson admitted. “I’ve actually been warning our fans to not watch their show.”
“I have been (watching),” Brunson clarified of her own longstanding fandom of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia that started with her illegally pirating episodes of the FX sitcom during college, although the Emmy darling clearly believes that she has a stronger stomach than her fans do, telling them of the sister sitcom, “I just think you probably shouldn’t turn it on. You don’t have to watch it. Just watch the Abbott episode.” Brunson added. “Sorry, you guys, to the Sunny people.”
On that note, Brunson complimented the Always Sunny team for how they performed during the production of the crossover episodes, saying, “It was really nice watching them work. They’re a well-oiled machine. … They’re an ensemble comedy like we are, and to watch them be so fine-tuned, I was just, like, learning from them.”
For the sake of her fans, hopefully Brunson didn’t learn too much from McElhenney, Charlie Day, Glenn Howerton, Kaitlin Olson and Danny DeVito — the Abbott Elementary fandom doesn’t want to know what kind of machine Always Sunny really is — or what kind of oil it uses.