Saturday, September 18, 2010

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Is Obnoxious Fun

     It has been nine long months since FX has aired a new episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (there was a Christmas special released on DVD, but way over priced for something so short). I missed the gang at Patty's, and I'm sure many other viewers did, too. That's why it's so nice to have them back.

     The sixth season premiere was entitled, "Mac Fights Gay Marriage," and it vamped on many different types of marriages. Mac (Rob McElhenney) ran into The Tranny, whom he had previously been with, and was glad to discover that she had gotten her male private parts removed. Unfortunately for him, instead of calling him after the surgery, as he had hoped for, she went and got married. And so Mac begins a crusade to break them up, finding a bible and preaching of the evils of homosexuality.

     Frank (Danny DeVito) and Charlie (Charlie Day) learn of this so-called gay marriage, and ignoring Mac's complaints, decide to apply it to themselves. Charlie needs to see a doctor, and so tries to convince roommate Frank to marry him to get on his insurance. Frank is resistant; we eventually find out because he doesn't want to be the girl in the couple, nor does he want to see Charlie as a girl. Here's a little bit of the dialogue:
Charlie: We'd be two cool, straight dudes married together.
Frank: Oooh. Well, I never thought of it that way. Two dudes getting married, that doesn't seem very gay.
     Once he realizes it's just going to be two straight dudes, he doesn't see anything gay about it and is ready to go through with it. I wonder how long this plot will last.

     Meanwhile, Dennis (Glenn Howerton) and Dee (Kaitlin Olson), after hearing of Mac's problem, decide that they should be married, and look up a brother and sister they were interested in a long time ago. Dee's crush has gotten fat, but she sleeps with him anyway. Dennis takes it a step forward and takes his girl to the courthouse, where they are soon wed. I assume this new union won't last very long, because next week's episode is called "Dennis Gets Divorced." That's probably for the best, because by the first evening, he was getting tired of her.

     That's what It's Always Sunny does. The main characters are more self-involved than the Seinfeld gang. They act only in their interests, not caring a bit who they hurt along the way. Not a one of the main characters ever exhibits the slightest bit of remorse. Though past mistakes do sometimes come back to haunt them, they always escape those situations unscathed and go right back to what they were doing before, never learning any sort of lesson. The random recurring characters that drift in and out are just as shocked at their behavior as we the viewers are.

     For some people, it's loathsome television. For myself and plenty of other fans, it's hilarious. No, you can't feel for the cast, but you have to see what they're going to do next. Modern television has brought the anti-hero to the forefront of many a series lately, but none quite like this gang from Philly. It's one of the worst sitcoms out there, so bad that it's great. Like a train wreck, it's hard to look away.

     So I suggest you don't fight it. Tune if for new episodes of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Thursday nights at 10pm on FX.


Article first published as TV Review: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Is Obnoxious Fun on Blogcritics.

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