Re: The case for It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
the genre is irreverent, edgy, absurdity, satire, and the most underrated sitcom on tv right now! give them their flowers!!! + my favorite iasip episodes
Anyone that thinks It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is humorless or overrated is so wrong. Like, I get it. Most irreverent comedy is too edgy and absurd to watch without wanting to gouge your eyes out. But this show is built with so many layers, so many hidden messages, and so many satirical responses to current events.
I tried really hard to start the show a few years back when I was hearing so much praise from the depths of Reddit, but couldn’t ever get past that first season. But as persistent as I was (and running out of shows to watch), I took another leap of faith as I did with sitcoms like The Office, Arrested Development, and Curb Your Enthusiasm to watch past the first season, but still couldn’t muster interest. Or the attention span to absorb. Unlike the other shows where the characters were either emotionally dirty or ethically dirty, the gang in It’s Always Sunny were the worst of both and in a unaesthetic location for me to watch.
IMDB Plot Summary: The gang, five raging alcoholic narcissists, run a failing dive bar in South Philadelphia. The gang make up some scheme for sex, money, fame, or any other terrible reason any of them can fabricate. It always goes south however, as the gang's plans blow up in their faces--sometimes even literally.
It took me a while to appreciate how the lack of self awareness in each character is what makes this sitcom especially interesting and addictive. At it’s surface, this sardonic show is about drinking, get-rich-quick schemes, and fixing the world’s biggest conflicts but each show is laced with characters recognizing and coping with their insecurities, identity crises, and morality in their arrested development. The ability for It’s Always Sunny to balance the absurdity with realism in showcasing the varying egos in the gang ranging from issues like selfishness, narcissm, to delusions is artistic in it’s own right and deserves a shot (and an award?).
I also have to credit my watch to the Kendrick-Drake Rap battle because I saw the funniest tweet attacking Drake referencing a scene in It’s Always Sunny and I was LITERALLY ROLLING AROUND LAUGHING AT THIS. I still laugh at how relevent this scene is. It also helped that I watched so many sitcoms the cast members have been in previously to get better acquainted with their characters before being thrown into the IASIP universe. Specifically Glenn Howerton’s incredibly nuanced performance on AP Bio and Kaitlin Olson’s character on The Mick were so artistic, funny, and compelling but all of that hit my algorithm hard and within a few days, literally everything popping up was a funny clip from the show. Suuuuper unavoidable.
But I was eventually really excited to see their performances on It’s Always Sunny and I was smart about it on this watch. I specifically read sources that claimed that seasons 4-6 were their favorites so that’s where I started. And I wasn’t let down because the episodes made me laugh and were the perfect background noise.
Apparently, this show was born when 3 out-of-work actors and friends, Glenn Howerton, Rob McElhenney, and Charlie Day, spent their free time with a camcorder to shoot a pilot about a group of best friends who care so little for each other. And it shows. They’re all brutally honest even in the most casual and nonthreatening of environments, allowing no BS or niceties to skim the radar while making actual political points, disguised as acrid satire.
Simultaneously, the cast chemistry moves beyond a trio of best friends into sustainable cast romances. From Charlie Day and Mary Elizabeth Ellis to Kaitlin Olson and Rob McElhenney falling in love and in marriages from early seasons, there’s undeniable element of love and support tracing such a bingeable show where these unlikable characters make their case as the best part of the show.
Anyway, these are my favorite episodes in chronological order:
The Gang Solves the Gas Crisis (s4e2)
The D.E.N.N.I.S. System (s5e10)
The Gang Buys a Boat (s6e3)
Mac’s Big Break (s6e4)
Frank Reynolds’ Little Beauties (s7e3)
CharDee MacDennis: The Game of Games (s7e7)
The Gang Broke Dee (s9e1)
The Gang Tries Desperately to Win an Award (s9e3)
Charlie Work (s10e4)
Mac and Dennis Move to the Suburbs (s11e5)
The Gang Solves the Bathroom Problem (s13e6)
Dee Day (s14e3)
The Gang Texts (s14e5)
The Gang Goes to Ireland (s15e5)
I literally can’t get enough of this sitcom, it’s so underrated and hilarious. HIGHLY recommend you watch it, especially if you liked Schitt’s Creek, The Office, Seinfeld, etc.
