September 28, 2024
Jack Gruber/USA TODAY
Rob McElhenney (right) gave fans of 'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia' a glimpse of the writers' room, sharing a picture of Charlie Day outlining the next season finale. Above, McElhenney presents at the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards with his wife and co-star Kaitlin Olson.
Television star Rob McElhenney issued a challenge to fans of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" while teasing the upcoming seventeenth season of the long-running show.
The actor and writer, who co-created the FXX sitcom, posted an image on X, formerly Twitter, of co-star and writer Charlie Day writing a plot outline on a whiteboard. The post asked readers to "figure out what this episode is" within a day, offering a prize of $100.
Day's handwriting is not very easy to make out, with few legible words like "Gang" (the term used for the main cast of characters) and "Frank" (the character portrayed by Danny DeVito). The illegibility was a detail that fans seized on for jokes, as Day's character in the show is infamously illiterate.
Unfortunately, McElhenney said Friday that no one responded correctly, joking that even he had difficulty following Day's outline despite writing the episode with him. But the actor did clarify that the episode in question is the finale for the show's next season.
I just reviewed all responses and while there were some really creative answers, unfortunately no one got anywhere close. To be fair, I wrote the episode with him yet still couldn’t quite follow his outline. You’ll have to watch to find out! It’s our season finale! ☀️ https://t.co/RgW0ve78EB
— Rob McElhenney (@RMcElhenney) September 27, 2024
Instead of rewarding someone $100, McElhenney shared the scripts of the show's sixteenth season through a Dropbox link later that night as a consolation prize.
McElheney added that the screenplays were "bare-bones, shorthand documents" between collaborators who have worked together for about 20 years and "not exactly examples of great screenwriting begging to be emulated."
"It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" is the longest-running American sitcom of all time. While the premiere date for its seventeenth season is not set yet, actor Danny DeVito told Deadline in June that filming would begin in September.
