We can all learn something from "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" visiting "Abbott Elementary"

We get it in our heads that some flavors could never, ever work together — only for their collision to yield something wonderful. Kids make these discoveries all the time. Inebriated people do too. Separately, we hope.

Placing ABC’s “Abbott Elementary” and FXX’s “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” into the same lunch tray compartments feels higher risk than, say, mixing red gelatin into your tater tots instead of ketchup. But that’s probably why anybody who watches both shows will appreciate what their respective creators Quinta Brunson and Rob McElhenney have pulled off with "Volunteers," its midseason return.

It’s natural to view the temporary mixing of Willard R. Abbott’s earnest teachers with the scuzzy simpletons who barely run the worst bar in America as, um, entirely unnatural.

Brunson’s Janine Teagues and her colleagues are nurturing educators eager to set up their under-resourced students for a fighting chance in life. McElhenney’s Mac and his partners in business and crime Charlie (Charlie Day), Dee (Kaitlin Olson), Dennis (Glenn Howerton) and Frank (Danny DeVito) are living proof of what happens when you don’t take learning of any kind seriously. Also, as any longtime “Sunny” viewer knows, the show has provided many reasons why the Paddy’s Pub gang should not be allowed within 100 yards of a school — or any child. A clip from a Season 13 episode settles that for all time.

Warning: although the following video features kids, it is definitely not for young children.

Needless to say, temporarily merging the two series stirs up excitement and fear in equal measure.

A crossover between “Abbott” and “Sunny” is unusual enough to wrap our heads around to be worth a brief consideration of this classic TV stunt’s value. Crossovers have been with us since the earliest days of the medium and serve a specific purpose. Mainly they're employed to goose a show’s ratings. “Abbott” may be critically beloved and an awards season favorite, but it also performs modestly in overnight Nielsen tallies.

“Sunny” isn’t exactly a weekly viewership powerhouse either. But it’s already the record holder for the longest-running live-action TV comedy, trucking past the count for “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet” 14 seasons when its 15th premiered. (The 16th season of “Sunny” ran in 2023; it is contracted to air through its 18th.)

So, yes, this could be an instance of two shows with passionate fanbases crossing the streams for the chance to grow their audiences. (Also, factoring in delayed viewing yields better numbers for each. Lots of people watch both shows on Hulu.)

There might also be a whiff of executive engineering about this crossover since FXX and ABC are corporate cousins under the Disney umbrella. (Olson is also toplining her own ABC series “High Potential.”) However, Brunson and McElhenney shared in interviews leading up to this “Abbott” midseason premiere that they sparked the idea on their own during a backstage meeting at the Emmys.

Even if we didn’t know this, the “Abbott" + "Sunny” team-up would still feel something special at a time when most series’ intersections are presented as part of a comic book movie roadmap or branding events within the same producer’s universe. Marvel, we’re looking at you, but DC played the game too.

The CW’s “Arrow”-verse made annual events of its heroes fighting crises on various shows – a treat for the fans but a pain for anybody dropping in for a taste of what those shows were selling.

This, though, reminds us that a worthwhile crossover can still be the result of a fanciful concept hatched over party cocktails.

Lisa Ann Walter, Chris Perfetti, Sheryl Lee Ralph and Charlie Day on "Abbott Elementary" (Disney/Gilles Mingasson)

The outcome clearly required a lot of sober planning. Maintaining the defining characteristics of the selfish, venal “Sunny” personalities without losing a drop of the feel-good nature fueling “Abbott Elementary” requires care, even though the thought of the “Sunny” barflies meeting these teachers isn’t outside the realm of possibility. They all live in Philly, and they’re all Eagles fans.

Every urbanite knows that a variety of disparate worlds and cultures often exist within the same city’s limits and that for reasons practical and shameful some people never venture into certain neighborhoods. “Abbott” features the largest primarily Black cast on network TV, whereas the ensemble in “Sunny” is white and rarely crosses paths with Black characters without it turning into some kind of travesty.

The Paddy’s gang doesn’t do anything that doesn’t somehow benefit each of them, meaning the volunteer stint that brings them to Janine’s school probably isn’t being undertaken out of the goodness of their hearts.

Melissa Schemmenti (Lisa Ann Walter), the only teacher among them who can sniff out low lives without much effort, clocks them immediately. But that doesn’t disqualify the Paddy’s crew from helping . . .as much as inept clowns can.

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Crossovers are ratings stunts – there’s no getting around that – and sometimes they can ruin a season's flow with their “Very Special Episode” standalone feel. Some of that comes into play here, because how can it not? There isn’t much that those of us provided with review episodes can or should reveal that would ruin its surprise except to say that this half-hour has an entirely different perspective and some backstory McElhenney pledges will be revealed in a few months when the “Abbott” teachers come to "Sunny."

The prevailing sentiments in this episode, though, are that nobody is entirely useless or beyond redemption with patience and the right guidance. The “Abbott” writers, with a little help from the “Sunny” staff, strategically pair each character with the personality most likely to tolerate them. Sheryl Lee Ralph’s Barbara Howard and Janelle James’ Principal Ava Coleman enjoy the best showcase of the half-hour, although Olson’s Sweet Dee is memorably true to what we know of her in a turn that catches Janine off-guard.

There probably isn’t much of a Venn diagram overlap between these two shows' viewerships now, and both creators doubt there will be much of one in the future. “Sunny” was never a family-friendly show, and from what McElhenney and Brunson tease about its FXX-appropriate response to this “Abbott Elementary” entry, don’t expect it to soften up for the under-21 crowd.

The Paddy’s gang is proud of its ignorance and refusal to learn anything of lasting value. But the success of their odd partnership with a grade school across town might be an inspiring lesson for other shows to find their perfect mismatch and make it work.

"Abbott Elementary" returns at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 8 on ABC. Episodes stream Thursdays on Hulu.