Let’s Break Down That Season 17 Press Release!

So you probably didn’t hear it here first (because this is a fan blog not blessed with press materials and I unfortunately have a job that takes up too much of my time), but Season 17 now has an official airdate: July 9, 2025!

Why this date is what it is is anyones guess (honestly, I thought if it wasn’t premiering in June it was going to be released as part of a Fall TV lineup instead), but now that we finally have a hard-date, we have official information as well! So let’s not dwell on this fairly extended hiatus that still has a few months to go (with July as 17’s airdate, it’s officially the longest hiatus between two seasons that Sunny has ever had) and instead dissect what delicious information came along with the airdate announcement!

We’ve known for awhile now that Season 17 would be premiering with Episode #1705, Sunny’s half of the Abbott Elementary crossover, entitled “The Gang Fucks Up Abbott Elementary,” and based on minor information we’ve gathered about that episode, I had been speculating for a bit that this episode might stray from Sunny’s filming style and instead mimic Abbott’s docu-style format, and we now have official confirmation of that, via a sneak peek at the episode, featuring talking heads and everything!:

Fellow fans of Sunny’s traditional filming medium who have no interest in the crossover shouldn’t feel turned away from this Premiere though, because the press release revealed we will once again be getting a double episode premiere. We don’t know which episode will accompany the crossover just yet, but Abbott fans who stick around for the second half-hour will surely be in for quite a treat, regardless.

Funnily, the biggest shocker of this announcement is not the date or the double premiere, but the time Season 17 will premiere: 9:00pm EST. This will be the first time ever that Sunny has aired earlier than 10:00pm EST. Will this just be for the premiere due to the crossover appeal of the first episode? Or will Sunny settle into a brand new timeslot for Season 17’s entire run?

Well, re-branding seems to be exactly what’s in store for this Season, as the press release teases that the Gang return to “shamelessly shed their "niche" label for grander aspirations…change[ing] everything about themselves to appeal to a broader audience.” Could this 9pm timeslot then be meta in-itself? (I’m definitely already reading it that way—a 9pm timeslot typically appeals to a wider audience than a 10pm one.)

But don’t worry too much about that claim, because the Season synopsis promises the Gang are still human beings who “crave love.. respect... conditional freedom... constant adulation... histrionic amounts of attention... non-stop gratification... and unfiltered, slaphappy eroticism” and will chase down all of these whims along with their ever-hungry pursuit of money and social privileges. So it sounds like the Gang we know (perhaps with the desperation cranked up a notch? And somehow more erotic than anal beads!?). 

Plot highlights from FX for this season include:

• Exploiting cross-network promotion to increase market share. (This could be meta about Abbott bringing in more views for the premiere OR an actual plot point about the Golden Bachelor Live, honestly.)
• Using one of the Gang as a scapegoat to avoid a PR backlash. (Could this be connected to Thought Leadership: a Corporate Conversation? Surely whatever scam they’re pulling there cannot end well)
• Risking everything for a handshake with the Saudis. (Now this one escapes me.. anyone have any ideas?)
• Bending the laws with side hustles to pad their pockets. (This could and may apply to multiple plots, as it’s something the Gang are prone to do, but my first thought here is definitely Mac and Dennis Become EMTs, re: using an Ambulance to deliver for Postmates)

(Of course, make sure to check out the Season 17 tab here on the Paddy's Pub Blog for all of the plots we're aware of to-date!)

And I’ve saved my favorite thing about this press release for last, because what many official articles passed over (either unknowingly or electively) was the fact that this release was sponsored by “Rhino Dynamo, a premium pleasure pill.”:

Via FXNetworks.com

What’s Rhino Dynamo, you might ask? Well, it’s not technically anything, as it does not exist. It seems that the sponsor of Season 17’s announcement is in fact a fake product, most certainly used for enhancing sexual pleasure. 

(And if the idea of boner pills seems vaguely apt or familiar to Season 17, it’s because the Gang getting involved in a sex-enhancing product was what this Blog’s guess for the Season 17 finale, at the time dubbed “White Board Episode,” plot was about… and the guess that, despite Rob’s claim that no one had made correctly, ended up earning us access to all of Season 16’s scripts! How interesting!!)

It’s probably safe to say that Rhino Dynamo is the function of some plot in Season 17, if not a major component of the finale, The Golden Bachelor Live. (And could the warning not to take more than 1 in a given 24-hour period perhaps be a further plot hint? I defer to our notes from Charlie’s chicken scratch.)

...I could not be more excited. 

P.S. FX has also announced the following as It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia’s social media accounts for Season 17: Facebook: @alwayssunny; Instagram: @alwayssunnyfxx; TikTok: @FXNetworks; YouTube: @FX; Threads: @AlwaysSunnyFXX; Official Site: https://www.fxnetworks.com/sunny 

As some may notice, this does not include the website formerly known as, and still colloquially called, Twitter.  Unfortunately this is a strong indication that @alwayssunny on Twitter will remain an inactive account for the upcoming Season. (In my own experience, checking or turning notifications on for their Instagram page is the fastest way to get new official information as it becomes available.) 

Psst. Did you notice the new blog URL? ;)

- Seth

Season 17 Episode Titles Reveal Quite a Bit!

Last week the WGA gave us the credited writers for each episode of Season 17, only dropping the production codes along with them and, presumably, leaving us with a wait for a press release to get the episode titles... Well, thanks to some sleuthing members of the fandom, it looks like the WGA does have the episode titles... they've just hidden them in the recesses of their Project Confirmation section. 

The Episode Titles for all of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia are listed alphabetically, so you have to scroll through all 160 of them to find the new ones... for ease of viewing, I've screencapped and compiled the Season 17 titles in alphabetical order: 

So many things stick out here, it's hard to know what to focus on and where to start (well, at least we can move past Thought Leadership, as we got that episode title reveal a few months ago)... 

Perhaps one of the biggest standouts, just on first glance, is the episode title: "The Golden Bachelor Live". Back in October, we saw some crew photos which revealed a new logo for Season 17, notably featuring cursive font and a rose graphic, nestled on black silk sheets, which evoked "bachelor vibes" from fans. With this episode title reveal it seems that those vibes were very much intended, and a Bachelor-type parody is happening this season. 

Another notable episode title is "Overa[g]e Drinking: a National Concern," as we found out back in November that an actress from Overage Drinking: a National Concern was on the set of Season 17 this season. This episode title all but confirms she is indeed returning as her character from that episode. 

Obviously there's a lot more to dig into here, the Dog Track for one, seems it could be related to some prior dog-related spoilers we received, and it's interesting to note that Season 17 will be giving us out first "Mac and Dennis" episode since Season 11, but instead of diving into all of that here, I am going to fix up the Season 17 Updates Tab and include each named episode there, which will link to a separate page with all of the information and speculation we have for each episode. Make sure to check over there, shortly, to get all the information we have for each episode, as well as in the future for any minor updates! Of course, major updates will get their own blog post ;)

-Seth

WGA Credits are up for Sunny 17! (And there's a lot of Charlie Work!)

 I've fallen into a routine every day at lunch time. I open a browser on my phone, type in "WGA," let it autofill to the Sunny page and load in to see the same "154 Episodes" glaring back at me. 

Yesterday after my routine check, I ran a private poll among some close friends to laugh out some of my frustration knowing it could be months until we get any updates on Season 17 (due to the premiere date being months out). The poll had two simple choices, asking my friends to pick whether we'd get Season 17 writing credits or the mere ~existence~ of Glenn Howerton's upcoming Netflix show, Sirens, writing credits first. 

Today on my lunch break I noticed I had a notification that my 24-hour poll had concluded, and the results were in: Sirens, as voted by my friends, would appear before Sunny 17. Honestly, probably, I thought— yet still I pulled open a browser, typed in "WGA," and let it autofill to the Sunny page. But today, instead of "154 Episodes" appearing on my screen, "162 Episodes" glared back at me. My heart leapt into my throat, completely caught off-guard and anxious to confirm what I already knew this change meant—Season 17 writing credits were up.  

I rushed to quote my own poll (letting my majority voters know they were wrong was the priority), and then went back to report the news to various friends and social media, excited to discuss the list of writers on the eight episodes in Season 17. Of course, if I had any self restraint maybe I would have waited to post about it for the first time here, so people would actually read this blog, but alas I do not have any self control when it comes to yapping about news for this show... Though, now that I have the time to sit and make a blog post with an annoyingly long and personal lead-in, here are the official writing credits for Season 17:  

Via WGA.org

What stuck out to me almost immediately was the number of times Charlie Day's name is listed here. Seven times. Out of eight episodes! That's insane, truly. Because while we know Rob, Charlie, and Glenn always do an "RCG Pass" on all of the scripts (that is, they review and revise each script for both plot and characterization), one of the three of them being a credited writer on all but one episode in a Season hasn't happened since Season 1, in which Rob was a credited writer for 6/7 episodes.

Charlie teased last month that he thinks Season 17 is one of their strongest in years, which in hindsight is pretty funny to claim for a season he wrote so much of (though, I'm sure accurate). 

The second thing I noticed about these credits is that there are absolutely zero solo writers, a first for any season of Sunny (though Seasons 4 and 15 come close with only one episode, each), and a striking difference from Season 16 for which only the RCG episodes had more than one writer credited. Does that mean Season 17 might have a different feel from 16? Maybe some more cohesiveness between individual storylines with Charlie threading through almost all of them? Maybe...but maybe not. 

It is Sunny, after all, and many of the things we've picked up about the various plots definitely seem to be more classic "weekly schemes" as opposed to an over-arching storyline... so perhaps everyone was just simply meshing well with each other in the writers room this year and didn't want to separate after breaking scripts. 

And, in case you missed it, we were already aware Glenn wouldn't be on any scripts this year, so the lack of his name among the credited writers isn't shocking, and it also doesn't indicate that he had no input in the writer's room this season, because he definitely did. And Glenn's former assistant and "rock," writer of Dennis Takes a Mental Health Day, is interestingly paired up on an episode with Charlie this season, notably #1701, placing him at the bookmarks of the last and latest seasons. 

But it should be noted that #1701 is the first episode in production order and doesn't necessarily equate to Episode 1. In fact, it likely is confirmed not to be Episode 1, as Rob has hinted the Sunny half of the Abbott Elementary crossover will be the Season 17 Premiere (which is #1705). 

Seventeen... Eighteen!?

After Rob recently announced Season 17 would not be coming out until this summer, I wondered if the long stretch of time between filming wrapping and airing was due to a longer-than-usual amount of time needed in the editing room or if the summer airdate was simply a decision of the Studio ... and it seems we might already have the answer to my speculation.

Rob has revealed in new exclusive interview with Rolling Stone Australia that editing for Season 17 is not only well underway, but almost done:

As is typical, Rob and Glenn (and most definitely Charlie, as well) are involved in the editing room for the new Season, and based on what Rob is saying, they're almost done! (So much for my theory that one or two of the episodes might need a lot of post-production.) So it seems like the long wait time for the season is due to FX (or Disney) preferring to have Sunny air as a summer show. And while it's a little bit of a bummer that there will be a full two years between 16 and 17 (when there doesn't seem to be a real reason for it), it might already be confirmed that we won't have to wait quite as long for the next installment!

Because, yes: Rob does go on to mention that FX was actively contacting him about the next season of Sunny. We already knew Season 18 was on the horizon, as Sunny was renewed for four more seasons back in 2020, and the WGA shows the season as "going forward" via showing Rob listed as Executive Producer for the Season that has yet to exist, but this seems somehow much more concrete. They're already talking scheduling!? 

With over two years between 14 and 15, one and a half between 15 and 16, and another two between 16 and 17, could we really, possibly be going back to the old way of things and get a year (or less) between 17 and 18? If FX is already trying to calendar Season 18, the 2025-26 TV Season definitely could be a target for Sunny 18.  What's the rush? Could 17 possibly leave off with something to follow-up with as soon as possible in 18..? 

Okay, I won't get too ahead of myself on the 18 front, the news that 17 is almost edited is enough by itself! Could we maybe (hopefully) be looking at some content sooner than May? Maybe a few leaks from RCG themselves if we beg hard enough? Please?

-Seth

Another Sunny Summer

As previously reported, Season 17 of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia wrapped production on December 4, 2024. They filmed for 50 days, which was the same amount of time they filmed for Season 16. With that aligned, it didn't seem like too big of a jump to assume that Season 17 post-production would also follow a similar timeline, and as Season 16 premiered three months after wrapping filming, it seemed logical to assume Season 17 would air some time in March, looking at a Spring 2025 premiere... 

Well, that idea is now officially off the table, as Rob McElhenney announced on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Wednesday, January 29, that the Always Sunny episode of the Abbott x Sunny crossover would air in June:

In a subsequent interview with TheWrap, Rob also shared that the crossover episode would be their premiere episode. This means Sunny is, without a doubt, premiering in June of 2025, exactly two years since Season 16 premiered. 

This isn't the longest gap we've had between seasons (Season 14 and 15 had two years and three months between their premieres), but it is the longest span of time Sunny has ever spent between wrapping filming and airing: over six months. (Seasons 15 and 16, which were both eight episodes like 17 will be, aired roughly three months after wrapping filming.) 

So it's interesting, then, that Rob also mentioned to TheWrap that the crossover would be the Season premiere in order to "get it as close to when the 'Abbott' episode premiered." Could that mean, then, that there is a reason for the six month wait (unrelated to an airdate decision made by the studio)?

Glenn previously teased to me that there were some "big swings" this season, and Charlie has subsequently revealed that there was a "completely out of pattern" episode in Season 17 (not including the crossover episode). So perhaps this long period between filming wrapping and Season 17 premiering indicates some time consuming post-production work being needed? Some prior clues may reveal as much: they were working with some complex filming equipment on Heath Cullens' episode, a camera car that may be connected to some kind of Postmates scheme involving the use of an Ambulance, teased by Charlie Day earlier this month. Knowing the Gang, that's probably a scheme going up in flames (perhaps literally). There also seems to have been something filmed in the Malibu Canyons, which was on location and in front of a green screen, potentially calling for a chunk of hours in the editing room. 

So perhaps with a few complex plots requiring some heavy post-production work, June is what it takes to get Season 17 perfected. Then again, Mythic Quest (though a completely different studio and on streaming as opposed to cable) wrapped their post production in May of 2024 and only just premiered in January of this year, so the delay could simply be up to the TV gods who love dangling promised seasons in front of our faces, just out of reach for as long as possible...

I won't lie and say I'm not bummed by this news; I was definitely hoping to get Season 17 sooner than two years from Season 16, but it's also nice to have a loose date to look forward to. And aligning with 16 is actually especially nice because we know (somewhat) when to expect things: we got a premiere date announcement and season synopsis in late April, the first teaser trailer in the beginning of May, and (most of) the episode titles by mid-May. So late-April to mid-May is the timeframe to keep our eyes on for the first big chunk of Season 17 info (outside of what can be pulled out of RCG while they're on their other endeavors, of course).

What do you think of the summer airdate? Is it just a studio decision or another clue (similar to those Charlie and Glenn have given us) that there could be some pretty unique episodes this season?

It is an odd one, after all!

-Seth

Is It Frank?

On December 24, 2024, Imani Hakim, an actress mostly known around the Sunny-sphere for playing Dana in Mythic Quest, made an Instagram post surprising us with photos from the set of Season 17 of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

The very first photo she posted reveals that she’s directing an episode (and also reveals what we were most likely sure of: Dave & John Chernin are writing an episode):

Unfortunately she’s cropped out both the episode # (though that could always change prior to airing) and the Title of the episode.. so we’ll just have to wait a little longer for that reveal!

If the previous information I received about Dave & John Chernin directing an episode this season is correct, Imani now makes five different directors on this season (that we know of), with 4/5 directing an episode of Sunny for the first time. Five directors in a season isn’t unheard of (in fact, it was just done for Season 14, though it had two more episodes than 17 will), but this is definitely a first for this many freshman directors on one season of Sunny. (Not to mention the fact that we still don’t have confirmation on who’s directing three other episodes, one of which is the Abbott Crossover and many (myself included) are hopeful we’ll see Randall Einhorn back directing on Sunny). 

But moving on from the credits aspect of this reveal, what else can we deduce from Imani’s Instagram post? Quite a lot, it seems!

First, looking a little further at her photo of the script cover, we can also faintly see the top portion of the set list. It looks like, for the permanent sets, her episode will have scenes in Paddy’s, the hallway of Charlie & Frank’s Apartment, Charlie & Frank’s apartment, and another apartment (based on the layout and spacing, my money is on Dee’s). 

With these sets in mind, taking a look at the various other photos and videos Imani shared reveals a bit of what’s happening in her episode:

In a Paddy’s backroom, we see Imani is set up with Sunny’s three camera monitors, following along with a scene that takes place in the bar. The Gang (minus Frank) are gathered in their usual “facing the bar TV” position:

Dee is mid-sentence, perhaps with Dennis’ attention, while Charlie attempts to make sense of the paper (perhaps a flyer or portion of a newspaper?) in her hand as Mac looks on, probably at something on the TV. 

Unfortunately (though probably purposefully), no amount of enhancing is getting us a legible look at that script. However, thanks to our treasure trove of scripts, we do have a lot of familiarly with the formatting of Sunny’s scripts, and based on just the pagination and spacing of the blurry block of text in the top left corner of the script, we can pretty safely deduce that this is the cold open of the episode:

The illegible Chernins & Hakim script side-by-side with the first page of Frank’s Back in Business (another Chernin Brothers episode), which shows similar pagination.

Additionally, the blurry block in the bottom right hand corner of the page indicates a scene transition. This is either a "CUT TO:" MAIN TITLES or a “CUT TO:” another scene in the cold open. A one-page cold-open is pretty short (Celebrity Booze, with a similar set up as we see here, was a page and a half), but considering the way the Gang are poised, this very much could be a hard, fast NEWS! opening scene, connecting whatever Dee’s brought in on print to whatever Mac is looking at.

Imani also shared a few videos from set, and in addition to a 360 of Charlie’s apartment (stripped of any potential spoilers, it seems), we got a look at the camera crew setting up to shoot in an alley, in daylight and at night. While my initial thought was that they’re shooting behind Paddy’s (based on the red brick and green doors), cross referencing these videos with photos of Paddy’s alley (both in Charlie Work and The Janitor Always Mops Twice) the walls and background of the videos Imani shared don’t line up with the Paddy’s alley we’re familiar with… Of course, the Gang are no strangers to alleys, so it’s not unusual that we’re visiting one, but there’s not much to go off of here, as far as I can see. (Let me know if you've got any ideas!)

Though the alley shots certainly weren’t the extent of location sets Imani revealed for this episode. In what seems like a scouting photo, she shared a large, open complex space with wooden beams:

Based on a quick search, I’m fairly certain this space is Office #33 in Culver City. Used for a variety of productions, it remains to be seen as to how it will be used in the episode (if at all), as she provided no context or further photos which match this location.

What she did additionally share, however, is probably the most exciting photo the fandom got their hands on: another photo of the monitors for Sunny’s three cameras, this time in an unfamiliar space:

In the scene, the guys are in tuxes, bowties included. Charlie is on his cell phone, looking and pointing to Mac, while Dennis holds a drink tray in front of a bar (much fancier than the one at Paddy’s) in a room that looks to be a formal function. (Based on the walls, ceiling and chandeliers, and carpet in the room, my best guess is they’re in a ballroom/hotel event space.) We can also see behind the guys on the C Camera monitor that there are a few bartenders, likely event staff, dressed in vests, and on A Camera monitor, to the left, there are a few well dressed extras. There’s not much else we can gather from this photo, but knowing Sunny, if the boys are dressed nicely in a classy place, it’s surely related to some scheme.

Considering the elegance of the ballroom, and the upscale nature of Office #33, it’s probably not a huge reach to believe the two are connected, and therefore assume a portion of the plot takes place at an event of some nature. 

Now, if you went to take a look at Imani’s Instagram post today, it may seem like what I’ve covered is the extent of what she revealed from on-set, but, interestingly enough, she actually shared and then deleted one more behind the scenes look at this episode. In this photo we finally get a look at Frank, where the entire Gang are gathered in Charlie & Frank’s Apartment for a photo:

It’s hard to miss the smiles and Imani in the middle tipping off that this is a behind the scenes photo, but it’s even harder to miss the fact that their plates of cake are clearly cut from the “person” lying in the hospital bed..!? 

Donned in a hospital gown and still strapped up to monitors (that are hopefully monitoring nothing), the cake person lying in the bed, while jawless, seems to bear a striking resemblance to Frank…Considering what we can see of the hair, the fact that it’s Charlie and Frank’s Apartment in which the cake-body lies, and the fact that Danny is posed on his own side next to it, it’s hard to argue that it’s not supposed to be Frank. (The fact that this picture was deleted a few hours after it was shared and after the fandom had started speculating may only be further proof of this.)

Though it’s hard to tell exactly what Kaitlin is wearing in this photo, she’s clearly in black, and the boys are still wearing their tuxedos (though now bowtie-less). But can we assume Cake Frank and these wardrobes are directly connected through a scene and not just two parts that came together for a BTS photo? It may be possible that RCG moved into the room for the photo and don’t actually wear their tuxes in Charlie’s apartment…However we do know, based on a Facetime call that Rob made November 21, 2024, that the three of them were actively shooting in Charlie & Frank’s Hallway while wearing the tuxes (also bowtie-less, from what we can make out), so the likelihood of this behind-the-scenes moment also being an episode moment is higher than not. So…what is happening!?

We’ve got a cold open which features Dee bringing something (news!) to the guys that may or may not be related to what Mac is looking at on TV, but likely ends up connecting, fancy venues and the boys donning tuxes among other well-dressed guests and staff while they seem to be pulled by the other side of Charlie’s phone, that seemingly ends up with them, slightly disheveled, eating a cake version of Frank out of a hospital bed in the middle of his apartment (and, at some point, a random alley). 

There are quite a few angles here, and after a few days to mull this all over, I think it's very likely that this episode has the Gang ordering a realistic, life-sized cake version of Frank in order to fake his illness and/or death. The suits and the fancy venue, then, could be connected to some kind of fundraiser the guys are putting on, or maybe just a corporate event they're crashing in order to raise (or steal) money in an attempt to find a “cure” or to prevent what happened to Frank from happening to any others—the cold open being the four of them becoming aware of both some lucrative illness and the concept of realistic cakes (perhaps Mac is just watching “Is it Cake?”) and jamming the ideas together for a brand new scheme. Alternatively, instead of becoming aware of some illness, perhaps the Gang becomes aware of something going down with one of Frank's businesses and see a dying Frank as a way to get in...

Whatever ends up happening, I really hope the Gang eating Frank's cake face is actually part of the plot (the fact that there are only five plates, despite the fact that there are seven people in the photo, might be a tip off that it indeed is…). Maybe this is one of their few schemes that is successful, and they celebrate by eating Frank…or it’s a failure and they drown their lost profits in his cake head. 

This all sounds right up the Chernins alley, and I’m seated already. Anyone have any episode title guesses? Honestly, my title of this blog could hold strong...

- Seth

The Gang "Volunteers" at Abbott Elementary

 We've got a lot of news these past few days about the episode of Abbott Elementary that will be featuring the Gang, so let's break it down!

First and most importantly, the episode will be airing on Wednesday, January 8, 2025 at 8:30pm Eastern Standard Time, and has a run time of 32 minutes (including commercials). It will also be rebroadcast on Friday, January 10th, 2025 at 8:30pm (reason unknown, but potentially related to a Sunny announcement? Hopefully?)

According to ABC's press release of December 23, 2024, the episode is called "Volunteers" and the summary of the episode is as follows:

"Ava announces the school district is sending a group of volunteers to help out at Abbott; however, when they arrive, things don’t go as planned."

We know based on prior interviews and releases that the episode is entirely focused on the Gang, and this seems to confirm that fact! Though we don't get any hints at what might happen in the episode, we also got a shit load of stills along with the press release. So that, plus what we've already got hints about, means it's safe to say we can pretty easily deduce some of the teams-ups and plots. So let's break down what we know:

Charlie has a significant plot in the episode, and he shares many scenes with Barbara and Melissa. Checking out some press release photos we see this group together, and it looks like Charlie is also helping out in Melissa's class of second graders:

\

Melissa's kids might be better at spelling and grammar than Charlie is, so it's a bit of a worry what he's "helping out" with here... Maybe the kids are the ones helping him!? 

The press release also has a lot of stills of Mac, almost exclusively paired up with Ava, the Principal of Abbott Elementary:

In the top two photos it looks like Mac is vying for Ava's attention, and he's clearly set up in her office in the bottom two, as if they're working together... Is Mac on his way to Vice Principal? Or is he working the distraction angle while the Gang carry out a scheme behind Ava's back?

We've also got a few stills of Dee in action:

Not only is she in Janine's classroom, but it looks like she's also making a move on her man! Janine is cheery in a few of the stills, so it will be quite interesting to see how she handles Deandra Reynolds moving in on her territory...

As for Frank and Dennis, we don't get much of them "in action" from the release stills, but we do know Frank has a plot involving being trapped in a cage outside, so maybe releasing any stills of that would be too much of a spoiler! What does seem pretty clear from these press photos is that Frank and Dennis both have talking heads:

What also sticks out to me among all of these stills is the fact that the Gang are wearing many different outfits... I think that means it's safe to assume this singular episode of Abbott takes place over at least a school week (based on Mac wearing at least four different shirts), and the teachers might be getting to know the Gang a little better than we may have assumed (for better? probably for worse)!

One major question that remains following this press release is: why the hell would the Gang be volunteering? The last time they "volunteered" with kids it was by mandatory court order, way back in the Season 2 episode The Gang Gives Back (one of my favourites!), when they "coached" basketball. I'd assume that the Gang are once again being forced to volunteer, perhaps once again by court order, but why? 

Well, while the reason technically remains to remain seen, based on an exclusive promo video released by Decider earlier today we might be able to deduce what they've done:

One of the headlines on Mr. Johnson's conspiracy board reads, "5 Arrested in Connection to Baby Oil Spill," and that certainly sounds like it's connected to our guys...Hopefully we get some expansion on what kind of "baby oil spill" is so large it leads to wrecking havoc on the ecosystem (and why they were dealing with massive amounts of baby oil in the first place...), but this headline promo certainly seems to give us a solid guess as to how they've ended up as "volunteers" at Abbott Elementary—they were arrested, and are once again working with kids based on a court order. 

It seems like we've got so much information on this episode, all that's left is to get the episode itself! Wait, we need a trailer for the episode, when's that coming?? Hopefully either this Wednesday (a Christmas gift) or next (a New Year's Day surprise)!

Anyone have any good theories for Dennis' plot we seem to be lacking? Or ideas as to how baby oil gets the Gang arrested (prior cameos on the show notwithstanding...)?

-Seth