Like a twisted version of "Cheers" (1982-1993) inundated with drug-addicts, diseased hookers and poop jokes, "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" — the lewdest and crudest show on cable television — has returned for its seventh season.
Following five shameless proprietors of a downtrodden Irish pub in inner-city Philadelphia, "Sunny" prides itself on taking dark comedy to another level. While few expected the deformed lovechild of co-creators and co-stars Rob McElhenney, Glenn Howerton and Charlie Day to turn into a tour de force for FX for seven straight years, even fewer could have expected the vile new developments of the latest season.
For starters, Mac (McElhenney), a former fitness buff, has gained 50 pounds of what he calls "mass," but his friends deem lard. His newfound affinity for chimichangas disgusts his narcissistic and superficial best friend, Dennis (Howerton), as well as Dennis' sister, Dee (McElhenney's actual wife, Kaitlin Olson).
Instead of going the Eddie Murphy route, McElhenney actually gorged himself between filming seasons to become a more bloated version of Mac for the show. His reasoning for undergoing a drastic physical transformation with potential health risks? He simply thought his weight gain would make for a funny plotline. Shame on viewers who thought "Sunny" would run out of ideas.
As always, each member of the gang possesses an arrogant, self-interested and materialistic mindset, yet they all have endearing and viewer-sympathetic qualities. In this season's opener, for example, the gnomish Frank (Danny DeVito) shows audiences his soft side when he falls for a crack-bingeing prostitute, Roxy (Alanna Ubach). Similarly, Charlie (Day), Frank's illiterate and hygienically impaired partner-in-crime, demonstrates his commitment to the bonds of friendship as he devises a scheme to coerce Frank into finding a cleaner, more socially acceptable bride.
Yet, the distortion of each character's sort-of good intentions forms the warped fibers upon which the show is built. Rather than aptly deflecting Frank's affection for Roxy, Charlie plans to feign sick while on a date so Frank could supplant his role. His plan goes awry when he starts vomiting fake blood all over Frank's intended match.
"Sunny" continues to push the humor envelope in ludicrous ways, eradicating the once-widely held belief that the co-creators could not maintain the show's momentum. At the start of each new season, viewers and critics alike doubt this black sitcom's potential to continue generating laughter-inducing material. Audiences, however, have yet to see much of a drop-off in the witty, flagrant brand of comedy this series has coined and perfected since its first season.
"Sunny" is not a show for the faint of heart, but the show has garnered cult status among young adult audiences for legitimate reasons. Behind every elaborate and thoroughly delusional scheme, the gang satirizes the restrictive nature of contemporary American society. While crotchety Americans internalize any perverse thoughts or behaviors, the gang members outwardly perpetrate racist, sexist and homophobic stereotypes by regularly experimenting with illicit substances and trivializing romance as a purely carnal expression.
However, Howerton, McElhenney and Day hyperbolize any grotesque acts or beliefs to such an extent, viewers have to laugh uncontrollably. Of course, some portrayals do cross the line. Anyone who watched the second episode of this season will have an image of one filthy homeless miscreant sodomizing another under the Jersey Shore boardwalk forever ingrained in his mind.
For the most part, "Sunny" is as tastefully done as a rotten-egg-and-fried-tofu sundae. Yet somehow, audiences keep coming back for more of FX's putrid concoction.
New episodes of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" air on FX every Thursday at 10 p.m.
