It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia is one of the most hilarious American television sitcoms I’ve seen in years that didn’t get canceled after the first season. The show premiered on August 4, 2005 on FX and is now signed to complete up to at least a seventh season with FX. Comedy Central is even airing re runs of the older seasons. The show as developed by Rob McElhenney, Glenn Howerton and Charlie Day, who also star in the show, the show focuses on the daily shenanigans of “The Gang” a group of very selfish friends who run an unsuccessful bar called Paddy’s Pub in South Philadelphia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_Always_Sunny_in_Philadelphia).
The writers and actors in this show have managed to take serious topics such as racism, terrorism, mental illness and drug addiction to a level of hilarity that I can’t quite explain. For these writers and actors to portray situations like where in one episode two characters get addicted to cocaine on purpose to attempt to get welfare money, to make that funny and acceptable for television takes talent. Adding Danny Devito to the series in the third season added even more of a fan base for the show and helped seal the deal for the remaining seasons as well. I love all the characters in the show and I think the majority of everyone I talk with about the show feels the same way about all the characters. They are all just equally important to the show and provide something valuable to the show.
The show pushes the envelope and that is what makes it stand out and so entertaining, a lot of what is seen on the show are things you would never imagine doing yourself. “Paradoxically, television’s greatest benefit is its potential to broaden our experience, to bring us to a place we could never visit, to people we could never meet, and to a range of ideas otherwise unavailable to many people.” (Petracca & Sorapure 2007, p. 144). A lot of the ideas on this show you might not want to ever experience or meet. But you can certainly watch, laugh and be shocked.
Resources
Petra cca, M. & Sorapure, M. (2007). Common culture: Reading and Writing About American Popular Culture. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.
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