DVD REVIEW: It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia - Seasons One and Two

By Brian Abrams

On paper the plot sounds all too familiar: father Frank (Danny DeVito), son Dennis (Glenn Howerton), and his two high school buddies Charlie (Charlie Day) and Mac (Rob McElhenney) own a bar in the City of Brotherly Love. Dennis's struggling actress sister Deandra (Kaitlin Olson) helps out in between auditions.

If you're behind on season three of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, which premiered its first two episodes last week, then you'd probably dismiss the above synopsis as just another forgettable show on a major network. However, the FX cult sitcom is the total opposite.

A blatant and hilarious mixture of Arrested Development's postmodern zaniness with Curb Your Enthusiasm's there-goes-the-neighborhood storylines, sadly, Sunny isn't talked about among boob tubers the way one would expect. Not that I've paid attention to the Nielsen ratings lately, but I'd wager that the two-year old show hasn't yet received the viewers needed in order to stay on the cable network. But hopefully some love will be found on DVD, as, last week, seasons one and two of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia were released on a three-disc set.

What makes Sunny an upside-down version of the proverbial barroom sitcom, i.e. Cheers, is the fact that, unlike the place where everybody knows your name, nobody frequents this joint. There is no Norm or Cliff to speak of at Sunny's rundown pub Paddy's. There's only the ensemble of five – The Gang, as they collectively refer to themselves – to cut shifts early, frequent shady underground fight clubs, have encounters with incestuous brothers in bathrobes, and serve extremely underage patrons for a desperate buck.

Everyone in The Gang is a morally-bankrupt alcoholic. These four late twenty-somethings, not to forget DeVito's middle-aged crazy divorcee, are all privileged and educated members of white society. They've everything going for them, yet, due to a string of laziness and self-satisfaction, they decide to behave like total assholes. In turn, they find themselves stuck in what's ostensibly a shit-ass town with nothing to do but meddle in booze and iniquity.

On the Lifetime Channel, this show would be rewritten as a depressing learn-how-to-love-yourself alcoholics drama. In the indie film world, it's Half Nelson. On FX, it's hilarious.

Since The Gang knows they're failing as adults, it's easy for them to justify fronting as cripples to get attention inside shopping malls and topless bars. They attempt to fornicate with each other's mothers as a means of revenge for god knows what insipid reason. Season one's “Charlie Got Molested” has Mac, in a jealous rage, slapping on a pair of skintight running shorts to sexually pursue his elementary school gym teacher.

Oh, and as for Deandra's alleged “auditions,” she has none. Her acting career has failed – instead, in season two, she and her brother get hooked on crack to qualify for welfare.

I don't think Sam Malone and Woody Boyd would have run their Boston bar or their lives like this. (They were all too busy trying to schtupp Kirstie Alley and Shelley Long anyway.) So it makes sense when you approach a dozen of your best TV-watching friends, and none of them have seen the show yet. It's hardly the mainstream material found on a major network; props to FX for giving the show a third season. Maybe this DVD set will soon fall in enough laps to keep The Gang on for a while longer.