After five successful seasons of comedy television, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia will
return on FX for its sixth season on Sept. 16th. There’s always the
dreaded time in a TV show’s life where it starts to go downhill. It’s Always Sunny escaped any major
criticisms in its fifth season and yet, when people start seeing the number “6,”
they tend to get worried. So here are a few reasons why there is no reason to
jump ship on this classic, but relevant, alternative comedy show.
1. The Loveable Losers Syndrome: You
know this show is something special when you take a step back and realize that,
even though these people are the worst kind of people imaginable, you’re still
cheering them on by the end of the episode. They’re ignorant, self indulgent, and
act on ridiculous impulses that children could avoid, yet all their trouble
stems from a desire to make things better. All the damage they do is to either
improve their shitty community or their even shittier lives. There’s a peculiar
blend of innocence to the gang that brings you back week after week and season
after season.
2. The Dumbest of the Dumb:
There’s a lot of different ways to analyze comedy. One of my favorite ways to
look at it is through a spectrum that ranges from dumb comedy to smart comedy.
Most comedy falls in between this spectrum. Either something is funny because
it’s stupid (Dumb and Dumber), funny
because it’s smart (The Daily Show),
or somewhere in between. The characters on It’s Always Sunny are the dumbest of
the dumb. There’s no designated voice of reason for the show and it leads to
one of the most radical styles of comedy that you’ll find on television.
3. The Young Talent: Yes, Danny
DeVito (Frank) isn’t young. However,
the other four members of the gang are. Obviously Charlie Day (Charlie) will be
the first to make a significant jump outside of the show. He’s an audience
favorite, and his appearance in the recent RomCom Going the Distance proved that he is supporting performance gold.
However, don’t write off the rest of the cast. Rob McElhenney (Mac) and Glen
Howerton (Dennis) are the main writers for the show, and one day we’ll see
their writing ability outside the television medium. It’s not a stretch to imagine
that the entire cast has an exciting future ahead of them.
4. The Low Budget: There
isn’t a cheaper show on television that has gained the popularity that It’s Always Sunny has. The main cast
consists of just five characters and most of the show takes place in a dimly
lit pub or random locations around Philadelphia. It’s a tremendous achievement
once you look at the all the incredibly mediocre shows that have twice as many
cast members and ten times the budget. It’s
Always Sunny proves that if the writing and acting are good enough, it will
find its audience regardless of budgetary restrictions.
5. The FX Comedy Lineup: FX
has assembled a great alternative line-up to combat NBC’s Thursday night monopoly
on comedy television. Their new shows, such as Archer, The League, Louie, and Terriers wouldn’t have been possible without It’s Always Sunny. All of these shows are doing well, critically
and economically, and still have an audience out there that has yet to discover
them.
6. The Writing: When
looking back, fans of the show will find it hard to imagine a world without
“Green Man,” “Kitten Mittens,” “Nightman Cometh: The Musical,” or an indestructible
junkyard cat named Jack Bauer. When talented outsiders break into “the machine”
of cable television it’s always an exciting thing. A recent interview with The Sounds of Young America reveals that
McElhenney and Howerton never took a screenwriting class in their lives. They
have no technical training when it comes to writing, but this doesn’t mean
they’re amateurs. They are pounding out a unique style of comedy greatness that
wouldn’t be possible under the standard constraints of television writing.
While their characters might be making the world worse one step at a time, the
writers are making their fan’s lives that much funnier, one episode at a time.
