Season 1-12

Experiencing the show…

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia is an American (longest running) sitcom and satire. Unlike most sitcoms, it does not have a laughing track and the characters act deranged and evil most of the time. The element of humor is invoked through their absurd actions and the consequences of those actions. Our main characters are:

1. Dennis (The bar owner and “the looks”)
2. Mac (The bouncer and “the brains”)
3. Charlie (The janitor and “the wildcard”)
4. Dee (The bar-tender and “the useless chick”)
5. Frank (The investor and “the muscle”)

Note the second adjectives above are literally present in one of the episodes. Yup, talk about satire. This show just gets it.

I had a blast with this show. The comedy is definitely dark but it never crosses the line of being disgusting. The satire is brilliant and the show is self-aware of itself and the tropes it uses. It occasionally breaks them too which are the most fun episodes to watch personally.

I found myself watching the episodes when I didn’t have the energy to do anything productive late in the evenings. It is an easy show to follow, yet most episodes leave you with a thread to pull. I love such shows which always have a point to prove.

The show is entirely episodic in nature however there are a few recurring characters and we see them evolve (or precisely devolve). The people around our main “gang” constantly get screwed over in different ways and are constantly worse off as they are frequently caught in the fire that the gang has ignited. Examples of such characters are:

1. The Waitress
2. Matthew Mara (Rickety-Cricket)
3. The Lawyer

Finally, in terms of best seasons, I believe Season 5 is peak comedy, Season 4 and 7 are great watches too. Most other seasons have few banger episodes amongst others which are still worth a watch. There aren’t many episodes which made me feel “bored”.

The theme it revolves around

Always Sunny is not afraid to tackle difficult topics. The show is a social commentary on multiple facets of life like economy, human rights, gun laws, marriage laws, race, mental illnesses…the list goes on. It challenges the public opinion on such difficult-to-talk about topics. At times, it also puts forward alternative takes for either of the radicals to consider their stances. The gun laws and social media episodes are the best example here.

As the gang is “deranged”, nothing is off the table. This is such a perfect setup that the show has to explore human society and break the collective fictions. Nothing stops either of the characters from breaking the law because of the episodic and non-permanent consequences. This gives us many amazing insights into the functioning of human society.

Despite all of this, the show and its writing is genuinely funny. I found myself laughing and enjoying along with thinking deeply about human society as a whole. Therefore the show is an embodiment of social satire portrayed through comedy (Modern day stand up comedians like Trevor Noah also seem to borrow similar tactics but IASIP has been doing so since 2004).

The thoughts I had during and after completing it

Without repeating much from the previous section, I found myself thinking deeply after most of the episodes ended. The show made me realise few restrictions which we just accept as rules but aren’t really. It made me ask questions which I generally didn’t have much insight into.

Further, I realised that the show wants you to be a clever watcher. It wants you to read between the lines. There are references sprinkled throughout where some of the plot only makes sense if you have read between the lines and touched on the deeper meaning of the show.

Negatives

It is hard to talk about the show negatively. However, I do have few nitpicks personally.

Few episodes challenge the “American lifestyle and references”. Me not being from the same culture found them hard to follow. I cannot hold the show accountable for this disconnect but it is a negative nonetheless.

Further the show does have a non-zero miss-to-hit ratio. Again, you’ll call me critical for no reason because most shows have it. Considering the amount of episodes as well, IASIP gets some pass here but I still had to watch few not-so-good episodes which will have to count.

Ratings: 9/10

Arguably the greatest sitcom of all time.