TV REVIEW: Meet your new worst best friends on “Always Sunny”

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It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia premiered in 2005. Seasons 1-11 can be found on Netflix (but not for long; the show will be taken off Netflix in December), and the twelfth season recently aired on FXX; the upcoming 13th and 14th seasons will be found there as well.

The plot in the first season revolved around four bar owners and part-time friends: Dennis Reynolds, a vain sociopath; Dennis Reynolds’ sister, Dee, who the gang frequently calls a bird but is as self-centered as the others; Ronald “Mac” McDonald, a devout Christian who is also a closeted homosexual; and Charlie Kelly, an illiterate slob who huffs glue and eats cat food to go to sleep.

After the first season, the show added the father of Dennis and Dee Reynolds, Frank, a greedy millionaire who divorces his wife and decides to live in squalor with Charlie, played by Danny Devito. In short, these characters are horrible people. They are horrible, manipulating, and backstabbing people. Some of the worst things these people have done are:

  • Kidnapping and terrorizing an immigrant family to give them an Extreme Home Makeover
  • Trying to tan a baby
  • Hunting a homeless man
  • Faking a crack addiction to get welfare checks
  • Attempting cannibalism
  • Impersonating officers to steal
  • Kidnapping a critic who gave the bar a bad review

You get the point.

This show is one of the best Netflix finds I have ever made. It incorporates crude, yet witty, language better than any show I’ve ever watched or know about. The acting is much better than most other comedies, especially by Kaitlin Olson and Danny Devito, who play Dee and Frank Reynolds respectively. The show follows a simple formula: the plot is foreshadowed in the beginning, usually involving some unethical get-rich-quick scheme or some other amoral activity, and it gets worse EVERY TIME. For example, in one episode, the gang tries to “squash some beef” with some enemies around town and invites them over to Dennis’ apartment for Thanksgiving. Their bickering with each other leads to a food fight; the gang leaves the apartment and locks everyone else inside with a fire spreading inside.

I recommend this show to anybody who just wants to relax and watch a hilarious, irreverent show. But keep in mind this show has several uses of foul language and references to sex. If the sometimes crude talk doesn’t bother you, watching this show will be the most rewarding 22 minutes of your day.