Abbott Elementary Bound to Bring Shine to Sunny

As we’re all well-aware by now, the Sunny Gang will be appearing in an episode of Abbott Elementary during their current fourth season (an episode likely to air in January), and for a few weeks since the official announcement of this event, a lot of people have been asking: is this going to be a reciprocal crossover? Well, we now have an answer straight from Kaitlin Olson, courtesy of Variety: Yes. 

Not only will Sunny have an episode that works in tandem with the crossover, but the cast of Abbott Elementary will equally be featured in said episode. Kaitlin expressed how excited she was to see the teachers of Abbott get nasty in a few weeks, something they can’t do on the family-friendly ABC channel. (Though I wonder, will they? Or will most of the teachers attempt to keep their cool even when faced with some of the worst people on the planet?) 

And while it truly remains to be seen as to whether or not the characters of Abbott will bring some shine to Sunny in the form of spirit, we can very easily reason that the characters simply appearing on Sunny is guaranteed to bring shine: in the form of attention. 

As a statistics guy, the moment this crossover was officially announced I couldn’t help but obsess over the numbers floating around in my head (it’s one of the few things that made this crossover idea seem almost infeasible to me). Because while Sunny is well known by the general public for it’s insane out-of-context clips and memes (and its longevity legacy status), its actual audience is pretty cult-like: Sunny's live audience hits nowhere close to the numbers that any show you’ve never heard of on Network television reaches. (In fact, in 2015, when Sunny was in its tenth season and hit its all-time high record for viewership, it ranked only #524 in viewership for Primetime Series on Television, just below Food Network’s, Beat Bobby Flay and just above Diners, Drive ins & Dives.)

Knowing and enjoying Abbott Elementary enough to have followed the viewership and demos of the show for the past few years its been on air, I knew one thing for certain: Abbott’s audience is monumentally larger than Sunny’s, well more than double and maybe even tenfold. Looking at the raw stats from the most recent seasons of each show makes that pretty clear: 

Ratings and Viewership for Season 16 of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

Ratings and Viewership for Season 3 of Abbott Elementary

Excluding episode 6 (as Abbott’s episode 6 aired following the Oscars and should clearly be considered an outlier), Sunny’s average viewership for 7 episodes during the 2023-24 TV season comes in at 259,000, while Abbott’s is 2,508,000. In short, there are about 2.25 million more people tuning into new episodes of Abbott than there are people tuning into new episodes of Sunny:

This all being laid out in order to reckon with the fact the crossover on the Abbott side will be exposing Sunny[’s characters] to actually, truly, almost ten times (9.85x if you wanna get real specific about it) as many people as Sunny does, on average (on broadcast, that is). 

To me, this was a bit of a daunting number when we only knew (for certain) that the Gang would be appearing on Abbott… now that we know the Abbott teachers will appear on Sunny, these numbers are almost frightening...

Assuming a large portion of Abbott’s audience tunes in weekly because they enjoy the characters as much as (if not more than) the show in general, the audience will likely want to follow the teachers to witness them in another (harsher) environment (just like how Sunny fans are excited to follow the Gang into a different (softer) environment). In fact, it seems pretty likely that pulling Abbott's audience into Sunny may be just the intention, as Variety claims the crossover episode of Abbott Elementary will air before the episode of Sunny.

Having the show with the larger audience lead in to the show with the smaller audience is not an unfamiliar practice of television; in fact, Network channels love a lead in. (Traditionally lead-ins are more commonly used to introduce a new show after a fan-favorite to bolster viewership ratings, but the practice of a lead in with crossovers is still familiar, as recent as the CW’s Arrowverse.) And, coincidentally (or not..) enough, Abbott Elementary and Always Sunny just so happen to air on the same day of the week as each other, in back-to-back timeslots, respectively (a fact I actually used in my initial speculation that the crossover for Abbott would be with Sunny). 

Of course, people would have to switch the channel (and also own cable), but the lead in would still have quite an effect on Sunny’s viewership, as there’s likely a huge chunk of Abbott’s audience excited to see their favorite characters in not only a different tone, but a different style of show (seeing the Abbott characters on Sunny will be the first time they’re ever viewed completely “off camera”), regardless of whether they like (or even know) It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. 

(Additionally, not factored into any of the numbers herein, both shows stream on Hulu in the States and Disney+ internationally, so for the many millions of people who watch Abbott on a streaming service (ABC's latest press release boasted 6.19 million viewers for Abbott's Season 4 premiere), the boost of the crossover episode will likely have an even larger effect on pulling an audience to Sunny (in fact, they’re already pushing Sunny on users who look up Abbott on Hulu).)

And the thing is, even if just a quarter of Abbott’s audience cares enough about the characters to tune into Sunny’s episode featuring them, those views would still result in triple the audience Sunny has pulled, on average, in the past four seasons. (And to restate, again, that there is the real possibility of that increase being a factor of ten.) That’s just a little (a lot) scary (but maybe good scary?). 

If/since the Abbott episode airs before the Sunny one (in which we know the Sunny characters are going to have to be censored), the Sunny episode, which will absolutely be as raw and uncensored as the rest of the show, is going to be major whiplash for anyone not well-familiar with Sunny and its dark satire. The reactions to this crossover are certainly going to span quite the range of responses on social media, and I think it's pretty obvious to us Sunny fans that we should brace for impact once this episode airs. 

Whether that impact be an influx of people discovering, understanding, and enjoying Sunny, excited to hop into the fandom and dig into these characters, or people watching and being completely appalled by the show, upset at everyone who loves it, will only be revealed with airing, but an impact will certainly be made. 

Do we panic? Do we celebrate? Should the blog start pumping out media literacy guides? Haha, jk... I'm sure our new viewers will be great... right?

From the bars of the Paddy's Pub gate,

Seth

A Kiss From a Rose on the Logo

For the past few Seasons, it hasn’t been the official start of Production until John Tanzer, Sunny’s Director of Photography, shares a photo of his parking spot to Instagram, and today he finally did:

What’s particularly striking this year is that the Sunny crew seem to be using a logo we’ve never seen before. 

Now, in the past, the logo/text on Tanzer’s sign hasn’t necessarily reflected what the actual Season’s logo looks like (e.g. for Season 16, the sign was simply the words “SUNNY” while the official Season 16 logo was a plumpy cursive), however, if it has been a logo design, it’s been something we’ve seen in the past (e.g. Season 14s cracked logo design was the same as the logo they used for promo in the earlier seasons (1-5), with a 14 slapped on the end).

So this logo has thrown us for a bit of a loop. It seems to be a Frankenstein of sorts, with the “It’s Sunny in Philadelphia” reflective of the old school promotional logo that carried a bigger “U” and a backwards second “N” (less the cracks), while the “Always” and “17” are in a new cursive font that looks almost like a fancy hybrid between Season 16’s fat cursive and Season 7’s thin cursive logos:

But there’s something even more different about this new logo—a brand new graphic off to the side:

On closer inspection, the graphic is very clearly a rose lying on its side… but why is it there? Does it mean anything? Could it be connected to the Sunny we already know? Symbolic of what’s in store? Or something else entirely?

Off the top of my head, I can only think of two major uses of roses in Sunny in the past:

The first (and perhaps most obvious due to the title of this post) is Dee’s screen name in The Gang Wrestles for the Troops being “Desert Rose.” In the episode, she engages in online dating with a solider named Ben and, upon his arrival in Philly, presents herself as a rose, with a rose, while the Seal song “Kiss from a Rose” plays. (Coincidentally (or not?) that song turned 30 years old this year.)

Ask any Sunny fan what’s the funniest use of Kiss From a Rose and they’re going to cite this scene, guaranteed. 

So, if the rose is connected to Sunny’s past, could it be a nod to Dee, hinting at a more Dee-centric season, perhaps? (The return of the Chernin brothers likely means a focus for her in at least an episode or two, as Dee is their favorite character to write.) 

The other use of roses we’ve seen with Sunny is actually connected to prior promotional material. In 2017, ahead of the premiere of Season 13, FX’s Instagram page for Sunny ran a spoof of The Bachelor with Mac, called “The Machelor”. In a series of Instagram stories, fans got to vote who they thought should fill the “Dennis shaped hole” inside of Mac, with Mac granting a yellow rose to the winner. In the end, it was of course Dennis who got the yellow rose (it’s always been Dennis):

(The joke here being the reveal of the Dennis sex doll, which, funnily enough, FX and Sunny made a random post about on Instagram, today)

So, if we take the promo route of a rose’s involvement, could its appearance in a Season 17 logo (promotional or otherwise) mean something for Mac and Dennis? 

Or maybe it’s simply indicative of something romantic in general? We know the Season finale features Frank going on a date, could this be part of a larger, over-arching plot? Or could romance be a big theme this Season (for promotional purposes, as a gimmick, or actually?)

Though, perhaps the rose, laid down next to Sunny’s logo, is really to give the cast and crew their flowers. Back in January the cast of Sunny presented an award at the 75th Emmys, doing so in recognition of their accomplishment for being the longest-running sitcom on television, but also doing so with no nominations in tow. (And while Season 16 didn’t actually qualify to be nominated until the 76th Emmys this September, they still received no nominations following their recognition earlier this year.) Sunny deserves its flowers, especially the cast and crew who have been involved for going-on twenty years now, and maybe this is something to acknowledge that. 

For whatever the rose might mean, this logo in general is still very clearly Frankensteined, and the cursive font integrated with the old-school logo has really managed to gag me (because why create something brand new if it’s not for anything official?) 

UPDATE: On December 4th a color version of the logo was shared. It looks like the rose is yellow (or gold, if you would), and the cursive "y" in "Always" loops through the "Y" in SUNNY:

(And if you look closely, it looks like the logo is sitting on... bedsheets?)

Should we..take it as a hint that the rose is yellow as opposed to red? Mm..

It's almost giving "Golden Bachelor" vibes, isn't it?

-Seth

Now Rolling on Season 17!

Tuesday, October 15, 2024

Los Angeles, CA

Filming begins on Season 17

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

Today's the day! The sun is shining and it's directly over the Fox Lot in Los Angeles as It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia officially begins shooting its Seventeenth Season today.  Glenn Howerton marked the start of filming by sharing a throwback photo, accompanied by a very sweet caption:

Rob McElhenney later reused the photo Glenn shared in a post of his own, adding an additional photo: a recreation of that one from almost 20 years ago, today.

These spot the difference games are pretty hard, huh? Glenn and Charlie look almost exactly the same, and as Rob pointed out on Instagram, he's wearing the exact same jacket.

(It looks like Kaitlin was also on set today, via a video she posted to Instagram outside of her trailer, and while there was no Danny sighting, we know he's gunning to film the Sunny half of the Abbott Elementary Crossover this week!) 

Anyone manage to pick up any clues from the background? No?

-Seth

Season 17 is Getting REAL Weird With It!

Last week our first “leak” of Season 17 was the confirmation that Sunny will have a crossover episode with Abbott Elementary, one of the most wholesome sitcoms currently airing on television. This week, our second “leak” went the exact opposite direction of wholesome when Rob chose to share Network notes regarding scenes in an upcoming episode (while attempting to redact certain information):

As you can see, his attempt at redaction was fairly crude, so when you brighten the image, you're able to make out pretty much the entire redacted portion of the screenshot. The Network Note reads:

“Caution on scene where Dennis sho[ws/ots] video footage of him masturbating a dog & [w/t]hen Dennis holds up a Tupperware container. Any graphic bestiality simulation must be avoided for cuts airing on both FX linear channel & the Hulu platform. Given the nature of the scenes, always shoot alternate angles and positioning so that there are options to work with should they be needed during Post Production. Please keep the semen Tupperware as generic and nondescript as possible.”

And, even with the redactions properly redacted, “graphic bestiality simulation” is an eye-catching phrase which would immediately cause a stir among the fandom every-which-way, so being able to uncover Rob’s redactions and learn that this season we will be witnessing Dennis jerking off a dog to completion (on camera) and collecting the semen as part of a currently-unknown plot only exacerbated the fandom’s reaction to Rob’s post. 

We saw basically everything from “I’m throwing a party, they’re finally letting Dennis get really freaky,” to “I’m not watching the newest season, this is too far even for Sunny.” But, after a day of initial reactions, the fandom has pretty much settled into a space of either moving past this leak, chalking it up to being something egregious, added (and shared by Rob) for “shock value” that's better off not to be thought about, or trying to deduce if there is a “rational” (for Sunny) explanation as to what could be happening in connection with this content warning.

If you know me, you know I’m always in the camp of figuring out a plot (and then well beyond it), so taking the content at face value for what we uncovered (collecting dog semen, yeah that’s what we’re talking about) let’s try and deduce something about this Season 17 episode:

First thing that immediately struck me is the Network Note referencing Page 26 of the script. For a 22-minute show, this a pretty big tip off that the scene(s) being referenced are toward the end of the episode, if not serving as the actual end of the episode. Thankfully, Rob just supplied us with the Season 16 scripts, so we have a perfect point of reference:

And funnily enough, the average script length for an episode last season hovered around 26 pages. (The script in question was likely sent to the Network as a Production Draft, so you can also look to the four Season 16 Production Drafts to see page 26 is about on par with what would be the final scene(s) of an episode.) 

Since the note regarding bestiality simulation is being inserted at Page 26, it’s probably pretty safe to say this is the first instance of such a thing in the episode, so the video footage, and Dennis presenting a Tupperware full of semen, is likely an end-of-episode reveal. My best guess, based on all of the information we have on hand, is that this plot in the episode (whether it’s the A, B, or rare C) hinges on some mystery “product” being implemented or used and, as a final scene reveal, Dennis shows the video footage of where the product came from, revealing to his audience (and the audience) that the product is actually dog semen. (Think, opening of Kitten Mittens, where we watch the advertisement on the CRT TV and then reveal Charlie presenting it to the Gang, cut to their reactions, and cut to title, only this time it’s raw footage on the TV, reveal Dennis’ Tupperware, maybe reactions, and then cut to black, cue end credits.)

That’s my guess as to how this all goes down…WHY Dennis needs dog semen (for himself? or is it for a scheme the Gang are pulling? or perhaps tied to a dog we already know?) or WHAT he’s using it for (an ingredient in a product to be used or is it something to inflict on others? or is it for its actual purpose, making more dogs?) is impossible to glean at this point, it’s really anyone’s guess… and you can guess too! There have been some good theories about dog semen usage floating around, so I’ve laid them all out on this Tumblr poll that’s open to voting for the next week. The options are as follows:

(Results to be published October 16)

None of the poll options calling to you? Let me know if you have your own theory (with rationale and evidence, if you've got it). Does this plot perhaps link to the episode Rob shared of Charlie’s whiteboard? (If so, that would make for quite the tone shift of season finales we’ve had in the last few years... so I'm leaning toward doubting that connection.) It really, very much probably doesn’t link to the Abbott Crossover (or ABC would have notes, surely…), but we wont’t know for sure until we know!

Thanks for the plot leak, Rob; you’re excellent blog fuel!

- Seth

It IS Always Sunny at Abbott Elementary

It seems Rob doesn’t want me to see a moments rest (or let my blog get any traction), because only a few hours after my last post, deducing that what RCG are currently filming is not Sunny but is, in fact, the speculated crossover with Abbott Elementary, Rob dropped two photos from set confirming that fact:

October 9, 2024:

More information has been released concerning the crossover, via Variety!

The first (and biggest, imo) is that the Crossover episode will be airing as Episode 9 of Abbott Elementary.

Abbott premieres October 9 and is currently set to air their first four episodes in the next four weeks, back-to-back. ABC has yet to set a firm schedule for the remainder of the year, but due to Abbott's late start this fall, it's likely Episode 9 will end up being the mid-season premiere for Abbott Elementary. If the intent of the Abbott episode is to air alongside Sunny's new season (the article teased a potential reciprocal episode on Sunny), that would mean Season 17 of Sunny would be premiering sooner than we might expect: late January or early February! 

Patrick Schumacker, one of Abbott's Executive Producers, shared that Charlie Day's performance on set alleviated any concerns anyone had concerning the ability for the shows to mesh together, and that Charlie Kelly has a significant plot in the crossover. In an interview on October 8, Lisa Ann Walter (who plays Melissa on Abbott) discussed how her character and Sheryl Lee Ralph's character, Barbara, share Charlie's plot in the crossover and had a great experience filming with him. She also spoke with ABC about how, in comparison to a normal Abbott episode, the one featuring the Sunny Gang is "unhinged." (Apparently Charlie Day sticks with the usual Sunny method of ad-libbing and improv'ing lines!) 

Hearing Charlie's plot is with Barbara, a kindergarten teacher, and has a lot of room to improv seems to be leading us right toward that "Charlie learns to read" plot everyone is gunning for!

As to Rob's presence on set? Seems like he's struggling to keep it PG, but having just as much fun as Charlie is. 

An interview from TVInsider with Tyler James Williams, who plays Gregory, revealed that there are some really interesting pairings in the crossover and teased that "there’s definitely people in Abbott who have seen and possibly been to their bar." Which could be anyone, really, but my money is definitely on Mr. Johnson... him or a random group of 6th Graders. He also said echoed the same sentiment the other Abbott cast members have been sharing, that the shows work surprisingly well together, and that it's "funny as hell."

October 12, 2024:

Danny Devito, in an interview with The Movie Dweeb, has revealed that there is a Sunny half of the crossover event, which "sets up the whole idea of why we have to be at Abbott." So if the Sunny half of the crossover explains why the Gang are at Abbott, that means it's highly likely the episode airs before Episode 9 of Abbott Elementary... again much closer to confirming a late winter/early Spring premiere for Season 17 of Sunny!

Danny also shares a few details about Frank's plot in the episode, stating he's outside the school in winter weather and he’s caught in a cage and eating mulch while packed in ice. (Winter! It's been a long time since we got a cold-weather episode of Sunny!) Similar to what we heard about Rob filming for Mac, Danny discusses [the Sunny cast’s] struggle with not being able to swear or say whatever they want while filming Abbott.

October 17, 2024:

A new group photo for the crossover has been released via Rob on Instagram:

Check out the poster on the doors into the school...Considering Danny says his plot takes place in the winter, seems an awful lot like a New Years sign! 

How soon can we official place our bets that Sunny 17 will premiere in January? I'm ready.

Filming Begins! But is it for Sunny?

Sunny news broke yesterday when Charlie Day posted an Instagram video in which he was wearing what's clearly Charlie Kelly’s wardrobe, tying his shoes to the song Going the Distance, accompanied by the caption “Gearing up for season 17.” Shortly after Charlie’s post, Rob McElhenney created a remake of Charlie’s video with Mac’s shoes and posted it to his Instagram story, and a few hours later Glenn followed up with his own special version. 

All three of the “gearing up” videos, courtesy of Babygirlmac on Twitter 

While Glenn isn’t wearing any Dennis clothes we’re familiar with, Charlie and Rob definitely seem to be in wardrobe, and this is a show in its seventeenth season so for the guys to be in wardrobe means they’re very likely currently filming—But is it Sunny they’re filming? 

Seeing Charlie dressed as Charlie Kelly this morning was a shock to a lot of people, because it seems a little too soon. Besides the fact that we normally hear a rumbling or two from the Sunny crew ahead of RCG making it to set, from all the information we currently have, Sunny shouldn’t start shooting until at earliest next week.

On September 20, 2024, Glenn told us Sunny starts filming in about three weeks. Whether that be the start of the third week following September 20 (October 7) or a full three weeks following that weekend (October 14), it’s hard to justify October 2 as being about three weeks from September 20. Though, for the benefit of the doubt, let’s say it’s not impossible that Glenn may have misspoken, or maybe filming got pushed up… 

BUT there is actually a logistical impossibility for filming Sunny that currently exists.

On August 15, 2024, Kaitlin and Rob’s episode of the Variety Awards Circuit Podcast dropped, and in that episode Kaitlin shared a fun fact about her ABC show, High Potential: it films not only on the same lot, but the same stage as Sunny. That means once High Potential wraps, they’ll clear all its sets off the sound stage to bring in all of the Sunny sets. So, if Sunny has started filming, they’ve started without the majority of their sets (Paddy’s and the Gang’s apartments), which makes very little sense. Though, say they’re shooting on-location ahead of all the sound stage scenes (it’s not unheard of, though pretty unlikely), then maybe they could have started filming Sunny… 

EXCEPT on that same Podcast, Kaitlin stated she has “three or four days off and then we go right into Sunny.” As of today, High Potential is still shooting, and funnily enough Kaitlin was the one to supply us with that information, yesterday. While the guys were sharing their gearing up videos, Kaitlin shared a photo of her nails (a cute tribute to Dee) from on set of the season finale of High Potential:

And if Kaitlin is still filming High Potential as of today and she gets a few days off after wrapping (which makes sense considering they share a stage), Sunny really has not started filming yet. The evidence is mounted against them. (Which means Glenn didn’t misspeak, though I only said that for the lead to harder evidence, not because I ever doubted him.)

So, if Rob, Charlie, and Glenn aren’t filming Sunny but they’re dressed as their Sunny characters and “gearing up” for Season 17, what could they possibly be up to?

Well, remember my first Season 17 speculation post back in July? I’m still parked right there, and more confident than ever following my conversation with Glenn about Randall Einhorn’s potential directorial return: the Abbott Elementary crossover is with Sunny. And it very well may be filming right now as Abbott actively films their fourth season and RCG are in character, a week prior to Sunny filming. 

Ok, yes, maybe I look like this to a lot of people right now:

But just know, once they finally officially announce it, you heard it here first. 8.5 episodes for Season 17, and it all starts with filming the 0.5; that’s what I’m calling.

Which means there's nothing from Paddy’s Pub just yet. I’d say give it another week or so and hopefully we get a glimpse of that shitty bar we all miss dearly. And, in the meantime, get hyped and get your bets in for Abbott Elementary plots… is a kindergarten teacher all Charlie needs to be able to adapt to reading?

News, news, news, every day there's news...

-Seth