Season 17 is On the Board — Literally!

This afternoon, Rob McElhenney tweeted out a very interesting photo from inside the Season 17 writers’ room:

Along with the caption, “100 dollars to anyone who can figure out what this episode is. You have one day.”

Whether the cash offer is real or not remains to be seen, but the writing definitely seems to be appurtenant to an actual episode being written, so this is now our first official look at a Season 17 plot (if you can decipher any of it). 

D+D is clearly Dennis and Dee, similarly M+C is definitely Mac and Charlie and F stands for Frank. Even at a glance, you can probably tell there’s a lot of F’s on that board and the plot is likely Frank-centric…and there’s a new name, Sam, that keeps popping up. 

But outside of the names, working out Charlie Day’s shorthand is not an easy task, so the likelihood of decoding what this episode is about, coupled with the fact that they clearly haven’t finished writing out every point, is pretty slim. (Though if it’s simply his handwriting that’s slowing you down, you can always refer to the Who Pooped the Bed? Whiteboard monologue for some guidance.) 

I spent about two hours with some friends working to decode what’s going on here, and I think we have a really solid guess (at least to the idea of the A plot). On the off-chance the money offer is real, I’m saving sharing it for tomorrow. I’ll be back to throw it on here after the “one day” deadline has elapsed (or, in the case in which Rob acknowledges anyone who is correct, write about what the plot actually is). 

Anyone else think they’ve got a good guess? 

Exciting stuff!!

-Seth

I’ll give you this one, if you’re really lost:

“16. Frank dumps Sam ‘cause she doesn’t put out”