“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.
