F/X Comedy - It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia (1 Viewer)

[ScottH]

Is anyone watching this? The first one wasn't great, but it was good enough to get me to keep watching. But I have to say it's gotten better with every episode. I'm surprised I haven't seen anything in this forum about it. If you're into the 'Arrested Development' type humor, you might like it. It's not nearly as clever and polished as 'Arrested Development', but good nonetheless.

 

[Garrett Adams]

I've been following the show as well as Starved which precedes it. ASIP so far has been worthwhile viewing. I also keep an eye open for what's playing on BBC America. Lately it's been Teachers and before that Green Wing.

 

[Scott-S]

Yes, I love both Starved and ASIP.

The problem I have is these are the first and only shows I have ever watched on f/x. Therefore, the only reason I even watched was shear luck. And so, I keep forgetting about them.

 

[Mike Slade]

I thought the first one was the best one. But they've all been pretty funny.

 

[Rhett_Y]

I know this isn't the starved topic... But man is that show freaking funny.... ASIP is ok............ Not really peaked my interest thou..........

R~

 

[Garrett Lundy]

Its good to know not all comedy requires the canned laughter of people long dead .......

 

[ScottH]

Starved is okay too, but what's ironic about that show is that I think it would be much better if they did away with the whole "eating disorder" device. I like the characters and the dialog, but as soon as they get into the whole eating disorders I lose interest.

I thought the last one was the best (when the one guy said he had cancer). I enjoyed the first one (obviously, since I kept watching), but I thought some of the racial jokes were forced and recycled.

 

[Mike Slade]

It's Always Sunny has been picked up for a second season. Starved was not.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/TV/1...eut/index.html

 

[The Drifter]

Bumping this ancient thread since I recently watched the first two seasons of IASIP. Wow - what a great & extremely twisted comedy! I'm surprised I missed this for so long; but, I have a huge back-log of shows/movies I'm watching & re-watching - so it's not surprising this slipped through the cracks - until now.

Great series, and definitely has a "stand up comedy" feel/vibe re: the characters, sets, and situations. Fantastic cast who have great chemistry together; good comic timing; and extremely clever writing. Having Danny DeVito be a main character (Frank Reynolds) is great as well. Though the show would still be funny without him, he definitely brings a comedic "history" to the show that is much appreciated.

I'm glad this doesn't have a laugh track (similar to "The Office" another comedy that started in the 200X's). It definitely gives the show a more "naturalistic" feel/tone.

Some of my favorite episodes (so far) have included:

-When an anonymous old man dies (of natural cases) in the bar, and no one has ever seen him there before or knew who he was. When his family is eventually tracked down, Dennis & Mac lie & pretend that he was a good friend in order to try to hook up with his gorgeous grand-daughter (only Dennis is successful in doing this). What sleaze-bags - LOL.

-When Dennis & Sweet Dee try to go on welfare by claiming they're drug addicts/disabled. They are unsuccessful in doing so, but this leads them to actually become addicts - LOL.

-When the gang pretended to be disabled in order to get sympathy/special treatment from people. One of my favorite scenes was when Charlie 'dressed up' to look like a Vietnam Vet in a wheelchair (even though he is way too young to have served in Vietnam) & went to the strip club with Frank (DeVito) - he was obviously basing his look/persona on the real-life Ron Kovic (portrayed by Tom Cruise) from the film Born on the Fourth of July (1989) - LOL. His line "Get me a Beer, B$#%$" to the stripper was jarring & hilarious - ha ha.

-Another Vietnam movie reference was when Charlie was running an illegal?! card game in the basement with a group of Vietnamese businessmen?!, and they unexpectedly started playing Russian Roulette - which was an obvious reference to the iconic drama The Deer Hunter (1978).

-When Frank wanted to train Sweet Dee to fight his rival's daughter in the gym. Dee ended up taking steroids & became very aggressive, and also started growing some facial hair - ha ha. The last scene of Frank knocking out his rival with a sucker-punch - and also knocking out his rival's daughter (and possibly paralyzing her) was obviously based on the then-recent & hugely popular Clint Eastwood boxing drama Million Dollar Baby (2004) - LOL.

-Great S02 finale, when it's strongly implied that Frank Reynolds is actually Charlie's long-lost biological father - LOL.

General comment about the show:

-It's funny that everyone who goes to Charlie's apartment truthfully comments that it's a sh$#-hole - LOL.

Looking forward to continuing my way through the series. I'm amazed that the show is still ongoing - it's on the 13th season! It's definitely outlasted most other shows of this type. Though it's not nearly as good as some of the more iconic '80's/'90's comedies (that I've also been watching recently), it's still very well done.

 

[TonyD]

I love this show.
It’s almost like a bizaro version of Seinfeld

 

[ScottH]

Wow, I started this thread 14 years ago. Quite the retro-bump. And I'm still watching this show, although admittedly it has fallen off quite a bit the last few seasons. I think they are running out of things to write about so the ideas keep getting more ridiculous (sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't). You're in for a treat for a while though Drifter.

 

[The Drifter]

Continuing to watch IASIP; I just finished S03. Truly sick & demented - but extremely funny! Some of the many stand-out episodes:

-When this "gang of idiots" has a great opportunity to sell the bar (which doesn't seem to be making much money anyway) to a real estate developer who wants to buy the bar & the surrounding property, and then redevelop the area. They initially want to take his incredible offer, but then stupidly (and typically) ruin the deal by trying to screw with the guy & get more money, etc. - when the amount of money he offered was certainly much more than the crappy property was worth - LOL. So, he takes the offer off the table completely. So, then, to try to intimidate him - Frank (DeVito) gets his old "Do-wop" 1950's group together, and these leather-jacketed cronies go to the businessman's house. Frank then tries to get the least-threatening & the weakest-looking of these old guys to "scare" the businessman by scowling - and, the businessman - not at all intimidated - says something like "What are you going to do, old man?!", and the old guy promptly dies of a heart attack. Later, the gang is seen putting his ashes into a fire - LOL.

-When Sweet Dee wants to become a famous celebrity; so, due to her & Dennis' twisted thought process(es) - believes the only way to achieve this is to make a spectacle of herself by being drunk in public, etc. So, she's standing in line with Dennis in order to get into a club, and passes out in a drunken stupor before getting in - on top of numerous filled garbage bags - LOL.

-When the gang decides to dress up as police, in order to shake down/steal from unsuspecting civilians - ha ha. My favorite sequences in this episode is when Charlie decides to dress up as Al Pacino from Serpico (re: the long hair, sunglasses, and hat), and also tries to talk & act like him - LOL. The homage(s) to the film & to '70's crime dramas (TV shows & films) in general re: the music, stop motion cuts, etc. were great - ha ha.

 

[The Drifter]

Slowly making my way through IASIP. Recently finished the 6th season & the Christmas special. Wow. The later episodes of this show are even more twisted & f#$#%#-up than the earlier seasons - and that's saying a lot! Some stand-outs:

-The episode where Dee was a 'teacher' - LOL. One of the funniest sequences here was when Dee took her class to a 'field trip' to their bar - and showed them the gang's very low, low budget take off on the Lethal Weapon series, Lethal Weapon 5 - which was extremely funny & very non-PC - ha ha.

-When Sweet Dee is pregnant & everyone is trying to figure out who the father is. She then says that one of the gang is the father, and the gang invite get all of Dee's ex-lovers together for a party so they can try to figure out who this is - LOL. Then, to screw with their heads, Sweet Dee "admits" that one of the gang is the father - and, whoever it was got her pregnant during the last Halloween party - LOL. The gang then try to remember what happened, but they were so collectively messed up that they keep getting the details wrong; then, after making some connections & remember some of the events, they come to the conclusion that Dennis is probably the father (ugh!)...When the confront Dee with this "theory", she finally admits that none of them & none of her ex-lovers is the father; actually, she is the surrogate mother for a couple that didn't want to go through the difficulty of child-birth - HA! HA!

-Dennis & Dee want to go to an exclusive pool in the area, and they keep getting turned down because they need someone to recommend them, and also the pool is always at "capacity". Separately, Mac & Charlie decide to find an old, abandoned, $#%$-hole of a pool & try to clean this up so they can use it to swim - with disastrous results. Frickin' hilarious scene especially when Dennis tries to "storm" the exclusive neighborhood pool and is promptly tackled by a security guard, and you hear something shatter off screen - LOL.

-The Christmas special was especially messed up, especially the scene when Frank was hiding inside the innards of a couch so he could "eavesdrop" at his old job to see who was allegedly bad-mouthing him - LOL. As it turns out, no one at his old job even remembered him...and, the subsequent scene of Frank finally clawing his way out of the couch - sweating & au naturel - almost made me lose my lunch..but was also extremely funny.

The sickest aspect of this episode was the pseudo-Claymation sequence - truly stomach-turning & cringe-worthy.

General comment about this show:

How the he$$ do the gang make any money on that dive bar they own? They're always out screwing around re: their various "misadventures" so they're not even tending the bar most of the time. And, when they are at the bar, you only see a bare handful of patrons there at any given time - and that's almost always during the day - LOL. If this were real life, the bar would have gone of of business years before..which is what makes this whole "plot point" incredibly funny.

 

[joshEH]

-Dennis & Dee want to go to an exclusive pool in the area, and they keep getting turned down because they need someone to recommend them, and also the pool is always at "capacity". Separately, Mac & Charlie decide to find an old, abandoned, $#%$-hole of a pool & try to clean this up so they can use it to swim - with disastrous results. Frickin' hilarious scene especially when Dennis tries to "storm" the exclusive neighborhood pool and is promptly tackled by a security guard, and you hear something shatter off screen - LOL.

A local radio station in my area frequently plays a clip of Charlie's "white trash"-rant from this episode during morning drive-time:



Also...the new season is now filming as we speak:

(Obvious question: Will he hang dong?)

 

[WillG]

Wow, I started this thread 14 years ago. Quite the retro-bump. And I'm still watching this show, although admittedly it has fallen off quite a bit the last few seasons. I think they are running out of things to write about so the ideas keep getting more ridiculous (sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't). You're in for a treat for a while though Drifter.

The most recent season was especially weak as it was very obvious the season was structured around the cast’s other projects (especially Glenn Howerton who was completly absent from at least 3 episodes). Only the escape room episode I would consider being up there with other classic episodes.

 

[WillG]

(Obvious question: Will he hang dong?)

Will he also smell crime before it happens and then engage in full penetration?

 

[The Drifter]

Very funny - Thanks for the responses. I'm definitely onboard for watching every episode of this show, but it will take me a while to get to the current seasons.

 

[The Drifter]

Caught up with Season 12 of IASIP, and found the latter seasons to be just as funny - if not funnier - than the previous ones. Some high-lights from Seasons 10-12....or low-lights - depending on how you look at this - ha ha:

-Sweet Dee is in a funk & isn't bathing, eating well, or doing much of anything. And, the gang decides to encourage her to turn her "depression" into a stand-up comedy monologue - LOL. So, she is going up on stage & talking about being dirty/smelly, and that rodents/insects are writing "clean me" in the dirt in her %$# - LOL. Extremely sick/stomach-turning, but hilarious as well.

Right after one of her monologues, she has a follow-up comedy act called "Landslide", an obese comedian whose "act" (if you can call it that) entirely focuses on juvenile bathroom humor - LOL. And, his first joke was mocking Dee, by saying something like, "That was a real skinny-@#$ white girl!!! I've taken #$#%@ that are bigger than her!" - LOL

At the end of the episode, Dee is told that she has gotten so popular, that she will be flown in private jet to appear on a famous talk show. However, at the very end Dee is surprised to find out that all of the events (the stand-up comedy show, the "Landslide" comedian, the alleged talk show appearance, etc.) were all a set-up by her "friends" in order to get her out of her depression - LOL.

-When Dennis was investigated for allegedly killing his cat-like ex-wife. It was hilarious how the whole episode was structured like a true-crime doc. TV show - LOL. Very funny how they made a big deal of investigating the crime & naming Dennis as the prime suspect...and then at the end, it was made obvious that the ex just fell off of a roof and died as a result of her own stupidity/carelessness.

I was rolling when they did the re-enactment of the ex coming to the bar to get money from Dennis, & Dee pretended to be the wife dressed as a cat & hissing, etc. - LOL.

-The gang goes to a water park, and sickening hilarity ensues:

Charlie & Dee get stuck in a water slide (due to knowingly being too big to go on the slide), and all of these kids get stuck behind them. Finally, there are so many people that they get propelled out - but not before some of the kids have had "accidents" while stuck - LOL.

Frank pretends to have a fatal illness so he can get to the front of a long line. Very tasteless & reprehensible.

Frank stupidly wants to go on a water slide that hasn't been completed yet, and when he slides down this there is no water going down the slide- so his back gets completely scratched up. After he lands in the water below, he bleeds all over the place - causing the entire area to evacuate - ha ha.

 

[The Drifter]

Finished watching S13 of IASIP & completely disagree that this was a bad season. Yes, it may not have been quite as good as previous ones - but was still very funny & tasteless, as always. Many funny episodes/scenes included:

-Dennis suddenly appearing out of nowhere at the end of episode 01, to "replace" the life-sized doll that had been "standing in" for him for the whole episode - LMFAO!!!

-Frank being taken to task by having a driver's license that expired in 1984 (ha ha), and having to take a driver's ed class with teenagers Frank then enlists the aid of one of them to help him pass the driver's test, and under false pretenses takes him to a "Fantasy" game gathering at someone's conservative home. When the kid walks in the door with Frank, he immediately says, "This place is weak." - ha ha.

-Dee becoming friends with two wealthy, late 30-ish/early 40-ish blondes, but then having a falling out with them when they make a comment about her being single - LOL. She then decides to get "revenge" on one of them by sleeping with who she thinks is the woman's much younger boyfriend/husband - but is actually the woman's son - hilarious

-Dee mentioning that she liked being the only female in the group, while at the same time not?! realizing that all the guys do is dump on her and/or treat her with derision & thinly veiled contempt - ha ha.

-The argument about who should be using which bathroom in the bar - hilarious & sick. Don't watch this episode while eating.... uuuggghhh

-The "running joke" of having the same waiter that the gang always dumps on (initially seen in an earlier episode at an expensive restaurant) also be seen in this season as a steward on the flight that Dee took, and also a waiter at a baseball game they went to. This guy has taken so much crap from the gang over the years, but can't escape them - LOL