Season 17 Frame-by-Frame Trailer Breakdown !!

Today we got the Season 17 trailer, and with it a ton of clips we can use to finally start piecing together with the scraps of information we have from filming! In this post I'm going to break down each unique shot from the Season 17 trailer and connect frames (and certain lines) to their relevant episodes (or plots, if episodes are too far of a reach), based on various assumptions in an attempt to conclude or predict the upcoming plotlines, so, SPOILERS AHEAD!

First of all to start with the finale, the central focus of this trailer, The Golden Bachelor Live is indeed a “real” ABC episode of The Golden Bachelor, (as confirmed last month by Glenn) complete with Jesse Williams hosting the episode. We can match a woman Frank is eyeing, named Cock Chewah (a Hawk Tuah reference, clearly…), in many clips from the trailer, effectively linking this episode to many shots outside of those that seem obvious to the filming set of The Golden Bachelor:

Frank and Jesse Williams

"Cock Chewah"

Frank with Chewah and Charlie (ready to flip!)

Based on these shots and the name of Frank’s favorite contestant, we can very much 100% confirm that the “White Board Episode” is this episode, The Golden Bachelor Live!, and therefore the finale, complete with a “visit” (in Mac and Dennis’ apartment, likely the most “TV ready” of the three apartments) as likely what is noted in Charlie’s handwriting:

So, in connection with this idea, we can deduce that the Gang are preparing for some kind of visit/the dinner pictured above. In a shot of Dennis, we can clearly see the same table set up behind him, indicating this belongs to the same episode:

Dennis looks glammed up and has papers in his hand

However, in the next shot, you can see Dennis' hand holding the same papers in front of the rest of the Gang, indicating this the same scene:

It seems like this lines up, with the table set up and the fact that it looks like everyone here is portraying a type of character, likely to stand out for their appearance on The Golden Bachelor, but the most jarring part of this shot, Charlie's bald head and absent beard (we were aware a beardless Charlie Day existed at the end of 2024, and had a suspicion that might have been part of this Season, but the bald head was a shock), is a very obvious break in the continuity of the prior shots... 

Similarly, in the very first shot of the trailer we see beardless Charlie in Frank's toupee, entering the apartment full of strangers in folding chairs:

The folding chairs are similar to those they are sitting in in the above shot. 

Why would the audience for The Golden Bachelor Live, shown to be a studio in the trailer (below) be in Mac and Dennis' apartment for all of this?

Well, maybe they're not (there for TGBL, that is)! Because there is one more dinner shot which shows a similar dinner set up, but gives us a better tip off:

The duster makes a return! Protecting Mac here, surely

The back of the wigged head looks to be the Waitress, dressed up as an old lady (as we saw in a BTS picture from Mary Elizabeth Ellis), which we know is from #1708, The Gang Gets Ready for Prime Time and not #1706 The Golden Bachelor Live! So it looks like there are two dinner scenes from two different episodes here. (And assuming Glenn was being truthful when he said The Gang Gets Ready for Prime Time is not a two-parter with the Golden Bachelor episode, it is two entirely unconnected plots.)

(Corrections were made to the above Golden Bachelor and Prime Time predictions, based on obtaining more accurate production code knowledge)

And with all that being said, there is one thing obvious to me that is not relevant here... The fact that "Cock Chew(a)" is the name of a person means it is not, in fact, a form of viagra (boner pill) as I had predicted. But based on the original press release being sponsored by a “Rhino Dynamo” pleasure enhancing pill, this concept of a viagra-related plot existing must belong somewhere in the Season… Did Dennis give us a clue in the trailer? 

Dennis tells Dee his scent is of a testicular nature...

Standing on a doorstep, Dee points out Dennis’ scent, to which Dennis informs her that he is sporting “testicular fluid” to “drive females wild”. But, this of course could be some kind of…home-harvested testicular fluid (more on what that means here), because Dee's reply to Dennis asking if he's trying to attract humans is certainly telling:

(so what exactly Rhino Dynamo is remains to be seen)... BUT what we can pretty confidently deduce from this moment in the trailer is that the female Dennis is looking to “drive wild” is very likely Tammy, from Season 1’s “Underage Drinking: a National Concern”, based on behind the scenes photos we obtained a few months ago:

Jaimie Alexander spotted filming on October 31, 2024

Dennis and Dee are wearing the exact wardrobe Glenn and Kaitlin were spotted wearing at the same time, in the same filming location, as they are in the above scene:

Glenn and Kaitlin filming on October 31, 2024

So, without a doubt this scene belongs to the Tammy callback episode, Overage Drinking: a National Concern. And, if you took a look at the post I wrote when I broke that news, you might notice that I mentioned David Hornsby, as Cricket, was filming around the same time Jaimie Alexander was on location filming as Tammy...and we also got a look at him in the trailer!

Cricket with Mac

So can we definitively conclude that Cricket is involved in Overage Drinking? Well... still, not really. Because while they filmed around the same time, the Sunny team very much could have purposefully filmed all of their on-location (not on a set) scenes in the same span of time, taking different directors with different characters in different locations for different episodes, across a few days... and given another shot from the trailer, we might actually be leaning toward the idea that this Cricket scene is not Overage Drinking.

The Waitress, holding a flyer, with Charlie

Because the background of this shot of the Waitress looks eerily similar to the background of Cricket's location... And moving past the fact that this would indicate the Waitress is now properly homeless (rip girl), it seems likely that Mac and Charlie are together, visiting this tent city, in which they confront Cricket and the Waitress, respectively, as part of the same scene. And noticing the flyer in the Waitress' hand and pointing out another shot she's seen in in the trailer, pieces start coming together...

The Waitress, seemingly having kicked someone to the ground in Paddy's

This scene, surely, must be connected to what I have been calling the "girl fight" episode, Thought Leadership: a Corporate Conversation, and therefore seems a much more likely candidate for the first shot of the Waitress, which is then-likely connected to the Cricket shot (unless, of course, they have multiple episodes taking place in that tent city with side characters, which you can't rule out being possible). 

But how do we know this fight belongs to Thought Leadership? Well, there's quite a few tells, based on both credits and BTS pictures. First of all, we know Thought Leadership is Episode #1704, thanks to the director Zach Knighton sharing the front page of the script on his Instagram! And as to credits for #1704, there are many female stunt performers attached, including a stunt double for Mary Elizabeth Ellis (the Waitress) and Kaitlin Olson (Dee), who is also seen fighting in the trailer:

Dee fighting a woman in the same atmosphere as the Waitress

In addition to the stunt performer credits, we also saw some BTS photos from a guest actor, who confirmed he was in Episode #1704, and is helpfully spotted in the trailer behind Dee in another shot!

Thanks, Blake!

We get a good shot of the Guys reacting to the fights, of varied reaction:

And then we also know, from more BTS photos on Zach's Instagram, that this episode features the Gang in blue matching vests, linking a few more moments from the trailer to this episode:

Considering how the show typically goes, and the name of the episode almost always being a punchline, it seems highly likely that we should be tracing these shots of the episode in reverse as I've presented them to put a plot together... What starts as an attempted "thought leadership" gift of Paddy's Pub ends up devolving into a (girls') fighting ring, to which the Waitress eventually gets wrapped into (probably to make some money). This episode seems like a lot of fun, and considering it looks like the bar is selling some merch again (peep the guy in the Paddy's shirt behind the Waitress), I would not be surprised if this episode is also where The Lawyer makes his return!

The Lawyer in a dingy, cluttered office and missing an eye from Royal McPoyle's assault

Of course, there's no way yet to directly connect this shot to any episode (just yet), but considering Paddy's Pub: Home of the Original Kitten Mittens ended in his right to 100% of any merch Paddy's sells, and the Gang setting up shop for their t-shirts, perhaps the fast food is a distraction/bribe Frank has brought by to keep him off their necks... (or maybe he's covered in hot sauce, because how the hell is that B-plot gonna come into play?)

+ Brian Unger shared a video to Instagram, sharing that he has a stunt double, and in the background you can make out that his episode features Charlie's mom, Bonnie, played by the late Lynne Marie Stewart:

And speaking of lawyers, though many were probably hoping we would go a Season without, it looks like Uncle Jack is back in play:

Jack in Charlie's apartment

We can only make out Charlie across from him (though clearly there is someone else seated next to Charlie), and given the fact that the man repeats outfits as if he were a cartoon, matching this moment to an episode would be based purely on luck and vibes (I'm shooting with Overage Drinking, cos why not throw something out there). 

...and now I have to circle back to the testicular fluid, because if the dog semen doesn’t belong to the obvious dog-titled episode, The Gang Goes to a Dog Track, what do we know about that episode? We don’t get anything from the few filming BTS shots we have on-location, but we do have this interesting shot in the trailer, in which Frank is treating the twins like dogs:

With the collars around their necks and the people behind them waiving cash around in what looks like a pool hall, it would be amiss not to conclude this is part of Dog Track just based on the vibes. So this episode, then, seems to be a plot the devolves just like Thought Leadership, if not even more, and seems heavy on commentary and meta. ("B" plot? I don't know! One of the lawyers here maybe? Could be hot sauce? Cricket in this ep instead? ermmm.. TBD!) 

You know what I do know, though? I want to kill Frank for putting Dennis and Dee in literal trash bags and forcing them to perform (probably for money), but I'll settle for putting him in a coma instead:

What? That's just the Guys looking good in tuxes? Fine, here's a body:

Ok, that's not Frank, but these shots do all belong to the episode, Frank is in a Coma, which we know for certain due to getting a pretty big leak of information for. But it doesn't seem like anything revealed in the trailer can be attributed to the "A" plot with Frank and Dee, except maybe this solo Dee shot?

Dee says "pick it up grandpa"

But this moment seems much more likely to belong to Mac and Dennis Become EMTs:

Mac becomes an EMT to.. pick up guys

But he ends up saving lives!?

Which we've always assumed was the Postmates-using-an-Ambulance plot, the EMT aspect being the front for the guys to use an ambulance to deliver for Postmates, but based on the trailer it very much seems that that is the "B" plot of this episode, belonging to Charlie and Dee:

Dee screams "Yes, Chef!" at Charlie among a row of customer orders in the ambulance, somewhat mirroring one of the very first shots we got of the Season, in which Charlie is yelling "Yes, Chef!" in his apartment (seemingly at Frank):

The top of Frank's head is spotted before Charlie turns

Which means Mac and Dennis, like, legit "become" EMTs? This has changed my idea of this episode quite a bit, but I am still just as excited to see how it all goes wrong (and now, how the hell they end up going down this path, is it to help get Charlie and Dee (and Frank?) access to the ambulance?). 

...well, lets just hope no one (or everyone!) is in that ambulance during this moment

And other than The Gang Fucks up Abbott Elementary scenes, for which we got a few more (but generally understand the premises is following the "removed" footage from the actual Abbott episode and therefore don't need to say too much on it here), that covers the extent of what we've got! There's only a few things we can't really place, which again leads to this idea that there is obviously a major lack of whatever "Prime Time" is supposed to be, if it is not part of The Golden Bachelor Live. (Does anyone have any idea what belongs there if it's not TGBL????)

Perhaps we will find out a little later! Charlie Day is set to make an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel tonight, so fingers crossed we get another little batch of info to add to what we know so far :D

This season is looking insanely chaotic and incredibly fun, I am beyond excited for every single one of these episodes. 

BONUS!

Thursday night, during a new episode of Welcome to Wrexham, FX aired a cut-for-cable version of the trailer, which included two additional shots:

Mac says "It's about getting back to basics, before we were all pampered and soft"

Mac is wearing the same shirt Rob was wearing in the "first day" picture he shared back in October, indicating this could belong to The Gang Goes to a Dog Track, seemingly the first episode they filmed. 

And also, move over bald, beardless Charlie and let the rest of the Gang join you!

Obviously this should belong to The Gang Gets Ready for Prime Time, due to bald, but whatever the hell this actually is about is anyones guess... the terrible aftermath of Dennis trying to rein everyone in? Lmfao