Believe it or not, before Glenn Howerton was the "Golden God" Dennis Reynolds on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, he was a struggling musician with a very different kind of hair.
Long before the gang at Paddy’s Pub existed, there was That 80s Show Glenn Howerton.
It’s one of those weird pieces of TV history that feels like a fever dream. You might remember the promos. Big hair, neon lights, and the heavy burden of trying to live up to the massive success of That '70s Show. Most people assume it was a direct spin-off. It wasn't. Honestly, that’s just the first of many things people get wrong about this short-lived Fox experiment.
The Corey Howard Era: Not Your Typical Prequel
In 2002, Glenn Howerton landed the lead role of Corey Howard.
Corey was a musician living in San Diego, working at a record store called Permanent Record, and trying to figure out his life in 1984. If that sounds familiar, it's because the show used the exact same creative DNA as its predecessor. It had the same creators (Bonnie and Terry Turner), the same vibe, and even the same "circle" transitions.
But it wasn't a spin-off.
There was no Eric Forman. No Kelso. The only real "connection" was a vague mention that Corey was Eric Forman’s cousin, but that was basically a throwaway line to get people to tune in. Even though the show tried to lean on the nostalgia of the 1980s, it felt less like a lived-in world and more like a costume party.
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The cast was actually pretty stacked for a show that only lasted 13 episodes. You had Chyler Leigh (pre-Grey’s Anatomy) as June Tuesday, a punk rocker with incredible spikes, and Brittany Daniel playing Corey's ex-girlfriend. But even with a solid cast, something felt off.
Why That 80s Show Glenn Howerton Didn't Stick
Timing is everything in Hollywood.
In 2002, the 1980s weren't "retro" yet—they were just recently over. Imagine someone trying to make a sitcom today about the early 2010s. It feels a bit too soon, right? The nostalgia hadn't fully cooked. People were still trying to forget shoulder pads, not celebrate them.
Critics at the time were brutal. They called it "That '70s Show Lite."
The jokes often relied too heavily on "Look! It's the 80s!" tropes rather than character-driven humor. While That '70s Show succeeded because it was about a group of friends who happened to live in the 70s, That 80s Show Glenn Howerton felt like it was about the 80s first, and the people second.
The Cringe Factor and the "Always Sunny" Silver Lining
If you go back and watch clips now, it’s surreal. Seeing Glenn Howerton play a relatively "normal" guy—a struggling artist with a soul—is a far cry from the narcissistic sociopath we’ve grown to love on Always Sunny.
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But here is the wild part: we might not have It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia without this failure.
Howerton has admitted in interviews that the paycheck from this show, along with the frustration of the traditional sitcom format, helped fuel his desire to create something totally different. He met Charlie Day during the audition process for That 80s Show. They didn't get cast together there, but the connection was made.
When That 80s Show got the axe after just one season, it left Howerton free to start filming pilot shorts with Charlie and Rob McElhenney on a hand-held digital camera.
What Really Happened Behind the Scenes?
The show was a mid-season replacement, which is usually a bad omen.
Fox put a lot of money into the production. The sets were elaborate. The music licenses alone—think Devo, The Clash, and OMD—must have cost a fortune. But the ratings just weren't there. It premiered to about 12 million viewers, which sounds great now, but back then, it was a disappointment. By the end of its 13-episode run, the audience had halved.
It wasn't just the ratings, though. There was a lack of chemistry.
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Sitcoms live or die on the "hangout" factor. Do you want to spend 30 minutes with these people? With Corey and his friends, the answer for most viewers was "not really." The show felt manufactured. It lacked the grit and the authentic "boredom" that made the Wisconsin basement in That '70s Show feel like home.
A Quick Look at the Stats:
- Premiere Date: January 23, 2002
- Episodes Produced: 13
- Network: Fox
- Setting: San Diego, 1984
The Legacy of a "Failure"
It’s easy to mock the show now, but it’s a fascinating time capsule of early 2000s TV.
It represents a moment when networks were desperate to replicate "lightning in a bottle." They thought the formula was: Time Period + Young Actors + Multi-cam Setup = Profit. They forgot that the secret sauce was always the writing and the specific, weird energy of the performers.
For Glenn Howerton, this was his "bootcamp." He learned what didn't work. He saw how the "sausage was made" in big network TV and realized he wanted to own the butcher shop instead.
If you're a die-hard fan of the "Golden God," tracking down the few grainy episodes of this show online is a must. It’s like seeing a prototype of a classic car. It’s clunky, the engine stalls, and the paint job is garish, but you can see the potential under the hood.
What You Should Do Next
If you want to see the evolution of Glenn Howerton's comedy, don't just stop at Always Sunny.
- Check out A.P. Bio: This is where he perfects the "frustrated intellectual" vibe that he started to toy with in his early years.
- Watch the movie Blackberry: His performance here is legendary and shows just how far he’s come from being a "slacker musician" in a record store.
- Re-watch the first season of Always Sunny: See if you can spot any of that "network sitcom" energy he was trying to exorcise after his time on Fox.
The story of That 80s Show Glenn Howerton isn't just a story about a failed show. It's a story about how sometimes, getting your dream job and having it blow up in your face is the best thing that can ever happen to your career.
Without Corey Howard, we might never have had Dennis Reynolds. And that would be a true tragedy.