It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

I have said it before, but one of the joys of summer is watching summer shows , knowing that they aren't being given even the slightest chance of survival. In most cases, these shows are being deservingly dumped in the summer because most of them are terrible. Surprisingly, "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia", which premiered earlier this month, is not terrible. Even though it seemed like it might have been, it ended up being one of the better shows to come along so far in the 2000s. The show is about four friends who own a bar in Philadelphia. At first glance, it doesn't seem like anything special. The owning a bar scenario has been done several times before in a variety of other sitcoms including "Cheers" and the recently canceled "Grounded For Life". However, since the show is more clever and much funnier than the previous sitcoms who have used the device, one can forgive the lack of originality.

What makes "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" better than any other of the sitcoms that are on today is the clever writing. The writing on sitcoms these days is beyond awful. The writing on "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" is great. In fact, if the show doesn't receive an Emmmy nomination for writing, there is no justice in the world. The three episodes that have aired so far have been incredibly well written and unlike with most sitcoms, the dialogue doesn't seem like typical sitcom dialogue. The dialogue comes across as natural as opposed to coming across as forced like on network sitcoms and other cable comedies. The writers are also the stars and executive producers of the show, which gives them almost complete control. Let's hope the writing staff doesn't change. I'd give "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" 9/10. It's one of the best shows one is ever likely to see on cable.

Well TV sociopaths can indeed. In the same fashion as Seinfeld and Arrested development, this show deals with a group of unlikeable misfits while they engage in moronic adventures based in equally moronic impulses. The difference with those spiritual predecessors is that Sunny takes it a step further. As the tagline of the show indicates ("Seinfeld on a crack) the writers of this show not only embrace the selfishness of their characters but takes it a step further by completely severing their social awareness and empathy towards other human beings. The result, needless to say, is not only sometimes disturbing, but utterly hilarious. Here is a small introduction of each one of the characters:

-Dennis Reynolds: A malignant narcissist in its truest form. Dennis believes he is the closest to physical perfection a human can achieve. A reputed ladies man, he is not above using alcohol, lies, emotional abuse and even the implication of danger (if they say no) to get girls in bed with him. He shows great amusement by watching how other people might get hurt by his actions, even if those people are his friends or his sister (who he constantly refers to as a bitch).

-Mac: Dennis's best friend and roommate, he equally enjoys to be part of the gang's plans even if that means hurting or offending innocent people. He even benefits from Dennis's system to pick up and seduce girls, because Dennis let's Mac hit on them when he gets bored with them. Mac believes himself a skilled martial artist (Even if he has not taken one lesson in his whole life) and enjoys resolving problems with violence or vandalism.

-Charlie: Although equally impulsive and alcoholic as the other's in the gang in many ways, he is the only one who has shown he has some empathy for his fellow human being. He spends his time drinking beer or huffing glue (yes, he huffs glue). Being the most naïve from the group he is easily manipulated by the others, although he has shown he isn't above manipulating them either. He is highly resentful and is prone to violent outbursts.

-Deandra "Sweet Dee" Reynolds: Dee is as manipulative ad his brother and has been shown as only motivated by her own agenda. She is heavily picked on by the others on the gang because of their misogynistic views. Although as the other characters of the group, specially his brother, she shows no regard for how other people might be getting affected by her actions. She is highly vindictive and she goes to great lengths to make sure her schemes and her lies are being bought by the people involved.

-Frank Reynolds: An impulsive, violent and eccentric ex-millionaire he is highly delusional and carries a gun all the time. His likes include prostitutes, drugs and ham (Yes, ham). He is highly irrational and is always looking to crazier and more idiotic ways to deal with the possible issues that might arise for the gang.

This show appeals to your inner child in the way that this characters really have the mental development of a child, and you will find hilarious how they will impulsively engage in idiotic plans without showing any preoccupation of how the consequences could be for them, their friends or for the people unfortunate enough to get involved with them. Is a refreshing show because it is one of the first comedies that embraces the darkness of its characters and the comedic possibilities of having a group of alcoholic, impulsive, borderline criminal, but dim witted protagonists. These are highly unlikeable people, and their humor might offend you in one way or another, but mark my words: You will enjoy every minute of it.

This is one of the most consistently funny shows I think I ever have seen and I say that after watching another hilarious season(14). I personally re watched the whole series recently over a course of a month and its even better when you have that kind of continuity since everything is connect. There are only two other shows that Ive seen(in my lifetime) that are this consistently funny; Seinfeld and Curb. But to Its Always Sunny's credit they have made way more seasons and compared to Curb in a shorter amount of time.

This is a genuinely funny show, well worth watching, and deserving of it's high ratings on this site. It's compared to South Park for a number of reasons, most notably the enthusiasm with which it tackles socially sensitive issues and assaults them with the most extremist brands of political incorrectness --- but whereas South Park always tries to tidy up it's mess and make sure the audience knows the distinction between right and wrong, this show revels in the depravity and insanity of it's sociopathy. And it works amazingly well.

Since it's a situational comedy, there's not much to say about it without giving away the goods, but the actors all work better than any cast I've seen in a long time. It really seems like half the show is improvised and that the cast is talented enough to make it work without a hitch. The first few episodes are definitely the weakest, but still stronger than just about any comedy out there.

Highly recommended.

It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia is absolutely, without a doubt, the greatest comedy ever created! You would think that after 15 incredible seasons that it would start to get stale but it hasn't...EVERY season is just as hilarious as the others. It's amazing that show going into its 16th season hasn't gone stale yet but every year it's still as good as the one before and every year I still look forward to this wonderful show. The entire cast is so incredibly funny it's hard to say who's the best, they are all equally talented and equally hilarious. The 5 of them have literally become their characters and make it look so easy, you can tell they're all having a great time doing this show. That's why it's been on so long. Love this show so much!