Does it Hold Up: It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia
Generally speaking, these blogs are focused on shows from the past, usually ones that have long since been cancelled and are being viewed in a purely reflective sense. However, as of its most recent renewals, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia has taken the title of longest running live-action sitcom. Right now they’re sitting on 14 seasons, with four more already ordered. Considering that it started back in 2005, that means the show has been running for 16 years, 12 more than the vast majority of sitcoms even dream of attaining.
This seemed like a good chance to take a dive through the recent history, seeing not only how the older episodes still work, but how the newer ones have changed or adapted with the times, if at all. That’s why over the past few months, Sunny has been my default show to watch when relaxing, slowly working my way through the whole catalog for the first time in a long while.
Oh the tolls of my chosen occupation.
The First Season
Like most shows of it’s kind, Sunny starts out a bit rough. That’s not a damnation or indictment, the vast majority of sitcoms need time to find their footing, discovering the best comedic balance for their premise and cast. Then there’s the matter of the cast themselves gelling, and the characters finding their niche, plus one of the greatest tools in a comedic shows arsenal isn’t present yet: the callback. Running jokes that act as connective tissue are either still in their infancy or non-existent, and long-standing character traits haven’t been baked in fully.
The first season is almost a testing ground, a place to prove there is potential to do more when given enough time to expand, and on that front Sunny (can’t help myself) shines. For how new everything was and the clear constraints of their budget, the cast still managed to deliver tons of hilarious moments. It made you wonder what these folks could do with some time to get everything honed and a bit of actual cash to burn.
Normally the first seasons aren’t quite so unique to the show, but in Sunny’s case it definitely warranted its own section, because with Season Two the shows cast became what it would be known as for the next 13+ seasons.
That’s when we got Danny Devito in the mix.
Post-Frank
There’s a fun interview floating around online of Rob McElhenney telling the story of how they originally didn’t want to have Danny Devito join the cast, and while I am curious to see what sort of show that might have been, I doubt it would have been one that matched Sunny’s current record. Not because the rest of the cast isn’t amazing on their own, but Frank Reynolds is more than just a way to add an amazing comedic actor with decades of practice into the mix.
Frank genuinely changes the base dynamic of the show. Not out of the gate, granted. When he first comes in, Frank functions as a pseudo-voice-of-reason, but that facet falls away swiftly. Instead, Frank soon becomes a way to gently introduce more fantastical elements into the show. The gang no longer has to worry about their schemes being profitable, or even sensible, because Frank’s money removed the need for financial struggles. If the writers wanted to add a more fantastical angle to a story, Frank made a handy vessel, whether he was tripping on hallucinogens or getting amnesia from falling out a window, his perspective can become one that supports all manner of unreality.
In perhaps his oddest role, though, Frank acts as a humanizing force. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia makes no bones about it’s premise; the show is about watching these characters that are sincerely terrible people and that’s where a lot of the humor comes from. Still, there is a dance to it, the protagonists can’t be so completely unlikable that the humor is lost, and in that regard Frank works as an excellent counter-balance, being the one who goes to far and is called out, setting the rest of the gang as having at least some limits.
Once Frank hits the cast, there is still some smoothing out to do as everyone adjusts, but honestly the show found pretty smooth sailing somewhere in Season Three and didn’t really look back. That isn’t to say it stayed the same, however.
The Slow Growth
A few blogs back I talked about grappling with status quo in longform storytelling, whether to let your characters evolve, knowing it will mean some stories have to eventually end as they grow past them, or keep them the same, be it through ignoring past growth or having no growth occur. At first glance, Sunny seems to be taking from the Seinfeld model, using characters that simply do not learn, grow, or change; they begin each tale as awful people and end it just the same.
But this is where slowly marathoning the show gave me a greater sense of clarity, because Sunny actually does let its characters grow, just at an incredibly slow pace. Spoilers for later seasons, if you aren’t already caught up.
While there are a lot of small examples, like the gang adjusting their language and yelling down their own prior jokes from years past, or even seemingly large ones like Dennis’s child that are occasional plot factors, nothing quite encapsulates this like Mac’s evolving understanding of his sexuality.
At the start of the series, Mac’s interest in muscles and fitness results in a running line of clumsy gay jokes. Over time, however, it steadily becomes clear that Mac actually is gay and just not ready to accept it. The series plays with this for years, having him occasionally seem to come to terms with his truth, only to suddenly backstep without warning. Then, just when it seemed destined to be a forever running gag, Mac came out of the closet for a lottery ticket and… stayed out. It took years upon years, but Mac did grow and change. In the Season 13 finale, this storyline led to one of the show’s few powerful emotional moments not predicated on humor, and it stood all the more for how rare such occurrences are.
There are small pieces like that for most of the characters, Dennis’s ability to feel emotions, Dee’s career aspirations, Charlie and The Waitress; things that shift a little bit at a time, marking the growth of the characters even as they appear to remain static. It’s part of what makes the later episodes still so enjoyable, the knowledge that even 14 seasons in, there’s still room for surprises and change.
I went into this one pretty well knowing the answer, and, as expected, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia holds up very well. It’s a show that knew what it was from the start, and just had to find their groove. If you enjoyed back in the day, then it’s definitely worth a rewatch, or if you enjoy dark comedy but somehow missed this sitcom, maybe give it a shot. There’s still a great time to be had down at Paddy’s Pub.