Glenn Howerton Caught A Canon-Breaking Moment In It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia's Abbott Elementary Crossover

The second half of the "Abbott Elementary"/"Always Sunny" crossover event is a lot of fun, but it almost had a moment that would've disappointed the more serious members of the fanbase. As Glenn Howerton (a co-creator of the show who plays Dennis) explained at a recent panel attended by /Film's own BJ Colangelo, the new episode nearly featured a moment that contradicted an established bit of "Always Sunny" canon. 

"I caught something that doesn't make sense based on season 16," Howerton explained. "We don't know that Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul were in a show called 'Breaking Bad.' We refer to them as Malcolm in the Middle. And then [in this new episode], I'm [saying], 'Making the call I'm like f***ing Walter White over here."

The canon Howerton's referring to is laid out in "Celebrity Booze: The Ultimate Cash Grab." There, the gang tries to befriend Cranston and Paul, repeatedly referring to Paul as Malcolm because they think he's a grown-up Frankie Muniz. Although I personally didn't care for this episode much (it felt like the most phoned-in outing of the season), the gang's "Malcolm in the Middle" mix-up was undeniably funny. It was important that season 17 didn't undermine that episode's most memorable running gag, so props to Howerton for catching the continuity mistake of this latest episode during production. 

Howerton was responding to a question about how they keep track of the show's continuity while filming. Rob Mac, an "Always Sunny" co-creator who always plays the character Mac, noted that the show is still filled with continuity errors despite their best efforts:

"We also noticed early on there would be scenes where we would be wearing different shirts and you'd be outside the pub and then walk in and we would be wearing a different shirt," Mac admitted. "You kind of don't notice, your mind just fills in the blanks."

Mac noted about the writer's room, "We'll pitch something and then someone will point out, 'oh no, that completely and totally contradicts something that we set up as canon, you know, three seasons [ago],' and then sometimes we'll just eradicate that." 

This is the sort of problem that's harmed a ton of sitcoms before them; "How I Met Your Mother," for instance, confused fans with how they established Barney Stinson couldn't drive in season 2 and then threw that character trait out the window in season 5. Although "Always Sunny" has certainly played around with continuity throughout the series (mainly when it comes to Mac's evolving sexuality), they've rarely done it in a way that feels as inconsistent as that one big "HIMYM" mistake.

What seems to have helped the "Always Sunny" crew in recent years is that they started their "The Always Sunny Podcast" in 2022. Day, Mac, Howerton, and a revolving door of the show's other prominent writers and actors, have been revisiting classic episodes of the series. The process seems to have refreshed their memories on all the lore established in those early seasons, which might be why season 16 (the first season since starting the podcast) felt like a return in style (and sometimes substance) to those earlier episodes. Modern "Always Sunny" still remembers its roots, which might be why it's stayed fresh for far longer than the average sitcom.