"It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" (2005) TV series 2005-????

Creator:

Rob McElhenney

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

It's "Seinfeld" on crack.

Plot:

Four young friends with big egos and slightly arrogant attitudes are the proprietors of an Irish bar in Philadelphia.

Plot Keywords:

Bar | Slacker | Black Comedy | Friendship Between Men | Punctuation In Title

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

 (Series Cast Summary - 5 of 38)

Charlie Day	...	Charlie Kelly (56 episodes, 2005-2009)
Kaitlin Olson	...	Dee Reynolds (56 episodes, 2005-2009)
Glenn Howerton	...	Dennis Reynolds (56 episodes, 2005-2009)
Rob McElhenney	...	Mac (56 episodes, 2005-2009)
Danny DeVito	...	Frank Reynolds (49 episodes, 2006-2009)

Also Known As:

It's Always Sunny (USA) (promotional title)
It's Always Sunny on TV (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

USA:30 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Certification:

Hungary:16 | Australia:M | Singapore:M18 (seasons 1 and 2) (season 3) | USA:TV-MA

Company:

Bluebush Productions

Trivia:

During a convention interview, star Glenn Howerton was asked why his character was named Dennis, whereas Charlie Day and Rob McElhenney's characters are named after themselves. Howerton responded by saying that he wanted to distance himself from his character as much as possible.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: Some camera angles in various episodes of season 2 revealed the 'top' of the 'Paddy's Pub' set and the studio lighting above.

Quotes:

Dennis Reynolds: How much cheese have you eaten today?
Charlie Kelly: How much cheese is too much cheese?
Dennis Reynolds: Any amount of cheese before a date is too much cheese!
Charlie Kelly: I had a lot of cheese, I had a block of cheese.
Mac: You had a block of cheese?
Charlie Kelly: I got really, really nervous I just started eating cheese
Mac: [annoyed and confused] Does that calm you down?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Jeopardy!: (#26.33)" (2009)

Soundtrack:

Temptation Sensation

The best show currently on cable TV!

I have said it before, but one of the joys of summer is watching summer shows , knowing that they aren't being given even the slightest chance of survival. In most cases, these shows are being deservingly dumped in the summer because most of them are terrible. Surprisingly, "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia", which premiered earlier this month, is not terrible. Even though it seemed like it might have been, it ended up being one of the better shows to come along so far in the 2000s. The show is about four friends who own a bar in Philadelphia. At first glance, it doesn't seem like anything special. The owning a bar scenario has been done several times before in a variety of other sitcoms including "Cheers" and the recently canceled "Grounded For Life". However, since the show is more clever and much funnier than the previous sitcoms who have used the device, one can forgive the lack of originality.

What makes "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" better than any other of the sitcoms that are on today is the clever writing. The writing on sitcoms these days is beyond awful. The writing on "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" is great. In fact, if the show doesn't receive an Emmmy nomination for writing, there is no justice in the world. The three episodes that have aired so far have been incredibly well written and unlike with most sitcoms, the dialogue doesn't seem like typical sitcom dialogue. The dialogue comes across as natural as opposed to coming across as forced like on network sitcoms and other cable comedies. The writers are also the stars and executive producers of the show, which gives them almost complete control. Let's hope the writing staff doesn't change. I'd give "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" 9/10. It's one of the best shows one is ever likely to see on cable.