“It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” (9 p.m. Central Thursdays) is getting so crazy that even the FX network seems jittery about it, running so many “mature content” advisories that you’d think it was screening “Hobo with a Shotgun” instead of a half-hour comedy.
Not that I blame them; Thursday’s Season 7 premiere, “Frank’s Pretty Woman” — the first new episode since December — featured Charlie vomiting geysers of blood; Frank becoming smitten with a dirty, coke-snorting hooker; and the newly diabetic Mac shooting insulin into his belly while chowing down on a Glad garbage bag full of chimichangas.
“Always Sunny” makes “Seinfeld” — the pioneering show in the “characters who never learn or grow” genre — look like a bland, run-of-the-mill sitcom by comparison. Seven seasons in, it has resisted the urge to soften its obliviously self-centered Gang of Five and give them some positive traits. (Actually, in the season premiere, Charlie argues that Frank has at least one positive attribute: When he finds a box of jeans washed up on the riverbank, he shares them with Charlie.)
Between Frank and Charlie’s boiling of denim, Mac’s gaining of 50 pounds (yes, Rob McElhenney literally put on 50 pounds for the sake of the role), and the prostitute stumbling into a high-end clothing store and pouring liquor all over the place, “Always Sunny” is laughing- and snorting-out-loud stuff. It’s the only scripted show on TV that shocks me with what it dreams up. You can be at the end of a horrible day, tell yourself you won’t laugh at “Always Sunny,” and you’ll still laugh (when it’s at its best; it’s had a few misfires through the years, certainly).
It’s also the only show I can think of where the actors deliberately make themselves look worse, rather than better. After the season premiere of “Parenthood,” critics commented on Haddie’s and Amber’s regrettable new hairstyles, the implication being that the show’s stylists dropped the ball. But when I watched the episode, I just thought it was a case of teens going through a bad hair phase, as can happen in reality. As viewers, we can’t imagine a show purposely making its stars look worse. (It’s a cliché that when a TV character is told “You look like hell,” they usually still look better than those of us watching from our couches.)
“Always Sunny” is the exception: The gang always looks hilariously bad, and we all understand that’s part of the joke (along with the disgusting dive bar they operate and their insanely unkempt apartments). Mac wears a shirt that’s way too tight for his new physique and spills salsa on it. Charlie wears head-to-toe denim, covered in blood. Dennis looks OK, but his smug self-delusion shines through; he thinks he still looks 20 (actor Glenn Howerton is 35), and he’s arguably the biggest jerk of the group because, unlike the others, he seems smart enough to know better. Frank looks so bad that you have to fear for Danny DeVito’s health. Even Dee, the token female, unattractively cakes her face with eyeliner; when Kaitlin Olson pops up on “Curb Your Enthusiasm” or other shows, she’s almost unrecognizable because she’s a normal-looking woman.
There might be a point in the future where “Always Sunny” goes too far for a laugh (Seriously, McElhenney put on 50 pounds between seasons just because fat people are funnier! Absorb that for a moment.) But it’s not there yet. In the Season 7 premiere, “Always Sunny” goes just far enough to be brilliant.
What were your thoughts on “Frank’s Pretty Woman,” and what are your expectations for the upcoming season?
Comments
I loved how Mac described his recent weight gain, citing he was adding “mass” as in power. And then he was happy when Dennis’ anemia and low blood pressure overshadowed his recent diagnosis of Type 2 adult-onset diabetes (which he hilariously couldn’t pronounce). The garbage bag full of chimichangas and the insulin into the belly, followed by a trip to pick up some Tommy Bahama shirts and find some crack was hilarious. I didn’t know whether to change or laugh when Charlie was puking blood tablets, and the image of the show ending with cracked-up, drunk Roxy — who hurt Dennis’ feelings by calling him baby dick and stole the heart of Frank, who of course salvages eggs and denim under bridges in his spare time — lying dead in the hallway was priceless. That episode was tighter than dick skin.# Posted By Seth Stringer | 9/17/11 8:55 PM
By the way, isn’t Mac’s fatness what you covet. It’s a solid gut, not much flab, which would look great in swim trunks. You wouldn’t border anymore on chubby if you just ate more chimichangas.# Posted By Seth Stringer | 9/17/11 8:58 PM
And don’t forget Roy Oribson’s “Pretty Woman” playing over the top of the dead stripper as the gang walks away down the hallway. I also enjoyed how Mac and Dennis were arguing forever about who was more healthy, then they pan over to a irritated-looking doctor who was there the whole time. He’s clearly disgusted by not only their lack of healthiness but also their remarkable ignorance as to what constitutes good health. … Nah, I need to do an anti-Mac and try to lose a few pounds. Some people can get away with being heavier, but it’s not healthy for me with my family background. But from a visual perspective, Mac could definitely pull off the fat-and-confident look at the pool. … I read an EW write-up on Season 7, and it’s supposed to be the most depraved season yet. I think it might finally crack my top 10 this year (all the misfire episodes from year’s past kept it right around No. 11 or 12).# Posted By John Hansen | 9/17/11 10:33 PM