Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia - "The Night Man Cometh"

And so after 13 episodes, we have come to the long-awaited The Night Man Cometh, a rock opera as epic as Tommy and as dorkily complex as The Wall. It truly is a show that will define a generation of theatergoers.

So perhaps I'm overstating it. All in all, this was a solidly funny episode that was saddled with some unrealistic expectations; between being the season finale, reviving one of the show's best jokes, and being unintentionally forced to save a weak season it seems as if the burden "Night Man" had to carry was somewhat excessive. That being said there was a lot to like, from the distinctively Sunny homonym joke about the Night Man's desire to enter "that boy's hole" to Charlie's directoral power-tripping.

However, it all felt a little thrown together. The musical itself felt rushed and somewhat unfulfilling, with most of the good jokes having been given away relatively far in advance. I also feel like it was missing one or two truly classic Sunny moments.

But why dwell on the negative when there's so much more here than in most of what we've gotten this season. All in all its been a long, tedious, and disappointing march from Charlie screaming "Wild Card!!!" to Mac's wondering who the musical was versus. In between, there hasn't been much to reward those of us who first came on impressed by the show's comic inventiveness, free-wheeling feel, and ability to shock. While "Night Man" succeeded as an individual episode, it didn't seem like the kind of course reversal the show needs. Ideally, the season would have ended with an episode strong enough to make it seem like the rest of the season has been some kind of aberration. Instead, it seems like these good ones may become more and more unusual.

B+

Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia - "The Gang Cracks the Liberty Bell"

Sorry things have been quiet around here, apparently there was some kind of national vote or something? Anyway, I'll have my Gossip Girl review up soon, and next week I'm hoping to pick up Pushing Daisies to replace Mad Men (tear). So anyway, with that out of the way onto the review!

I've been reading Sarah Vowell's new book, The Wordy Shipmates, which is all about the Puritans. One of the early essays is about what happens when sitcoms try to present very special episodes about American history (classics include The Brady Bunch and Happy Days, both of which did Thanksgiving episodes). So it seems somewhat appropriate that this week's Sunny carries on that grand tradition. Unfortunately, it also carries on this season's tradition of not being very funny.

Vowell's essay is partially about how difficult it is to enjoy these kinds of episodes once you know a lot about history. I admit that I ran into this problem, specifically with all the Sweet Dee is a witch jokes. Maybe its just me, but I've never associated witch hysteria with Revolution-era Philly, almost a hundred years after the Salem panic of 1692. The slave jokes also felt a little weird to me. However, I almost wonder if they were making fun of the way sitcoms tend to play history as broad as possible when they do concept episodes like this. Perhaps they were driving at some sort of meta-commentary on the sitcom form in general? Or (and I think this is more likely) they were just making fun of Dennis, Charlie, and Mac - the tellers of the story - for being total idiots.

The rest of the episode doesn't really seem to support either thought. Instead, Mac and Dennis are up to their usual schenanigans; trying to get on the good side of British General Rickety Cricket. Cricket falls for Dee, who is uninterested until he promises her lots of money and an English manor. Meanwhile, Charlie and Frank end up with a bunch of guns that don't work.

I had hoped that the reason why the last few episodes were weak was they had been so focused on making this concept episode awesome. At the very least, I thought this episode might break the pattern of saminess that has made the last few episodes so bland. Ultimately, however, this felt just as paint by numbers as the rest of them; they just used a different brush. The jokes were a little better, especially Rickety Cricket getting his head blown off, but it still wasn't nearly as funny as seasons 1-3. Even the aforementioned head-blowing-off wasn't nearly as much of a showstopper as it should have been.

So what's happening here? How did a show that was once so funny become so tedious to sit through? I think its problem may be that its lost a bit of its freewheeling edginess. This show has always been best when its been plugging horrible, horrible issues into sitcomy contexts. And mocking "the historical episode" seems like the perfect way to do that. Yet here was none of the subversiveness that has marked the show's best moments. Instead, it feels like each episode draws the show closer to redundant shtick, be it Frank's scheming, Dennis and Dee's vapidity, or Charlie's Charlieness. We've definitely hit some kind of wall here, and if cracking the Liberty Bell won't get us over it then I don't know what will.

C+

Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia - "Sweet Dee Has A Heart Attack"

More like Its Always SLUMPY In Philadelphia, amiright?????? (Raises hand for high 5).

But seriously, folks, this show has been off in a big way this season. I didn't blog about last week, but it was not very good. And this week was equally bleak. I'm not quite clear what's happening here. Maybe they are focused more on the big, gimmicky late episodes like next week's 1776 one, or the upcoming Night Man extravaganza. Or maybe they've simply found their formula and are just running with it. But whatever's going on, Sunny needs a course correction and fast.

So, after Dee has a heart attack, the whole gang takes a quick stop at the hospital, where they find out they don't have health insurance (or in Charlie and Mac's case, that health insurance is a requirement to receive care). So, after being treated to a little Danny DeVito ass, the gang splits into their separate stories. Dee and Dennis decide to go to the gym to get in shape, which just felt like a collection of jokes that they've done before. Meanwhile, Frank somehow ended up in an institution, acting out One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (which I believe Danny DeVito had a part in). And Charlie and Mac went to work for a corporate office to get health care. I thought this plotline had a lot of potential, since the notion of those two in corporate America just seems hilarious. It also seemed like they were going to go in a somewhat satirical direction, with the world of corporations driving Charlie completely insane (incidentally, did Charlie learn how to read? Because he was able to tell who the letters were addressed to).

The biggest problem was that the comic setpieces all landed flat. There was nothing particularly memorable about the interview scene, or Dee and Dennis' fight with the instructor, or any of the shenanigans in the office. Before anything else, Sunny is a comedy, and when its not funny there's not much else to say.

C-

Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia - "Paddy's Pub: The Worst Bar in Philadelphia"

If I'm ever missing for an extended period of time, we now know that its likely because Josh Schwartz and the Gossip Girl writing crew has me taped to a chair somewhere.

All in all, it was a funny premise, but I didn't there were any truly hilarious moments. After receiving a bad review, the gang goes to visit the critic, which naturally ends in kidnapping. While Mac and Charlie try to take him to bathroom, Dennis and Dee go to his apartment in an attempt to cover their tracks, but of course they only end up kidnapping another person and locking him in the truck with the keys.

It all sounds very funny, but actually watching the episode, it was depressingly short on laughs. The only moments that stand out in my mind are Mac's roundhouse kick and Charlie eating the urinal cake. The latter was especially awesome for Charlie's commitment to continuing eating it, after Mac tells him not to, so he doesn't look stupid.

One of the big problems tonight was Frank's mysterious absence, making this the second episode this season without Danny DeVito. I think the idea of kidnapping would play in well to Frank's sketchy, criminal sensibilities (he is the muscle, after all). Without him, the balance of the episode seemed a little off.

My other problem was how easy everything resolved itself. Giving the other guy the Blueray (nice product placement) and the TV was convenient enough, but having the critic write another article in the paper about them, rather than pressing charges, felt forced. It may have even been funnier to just have Charlie's plan work (if only because Charlie's plans NEVER work). I'd have prefered some other, third option, but regardless, I understand that it was going to be hard to find a way out of this situation, but it sort of felt like they just gave up.

C+

Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia - "Who Pooped the Bed"

Yup, we just watched an episode called "Who Pooped the Bed." I've really got nothing more to add to that.

At the center of this mystery is Frank and Charlie, still bedmates when the titular turd appeared mysteriously. Mac and Dennis get involved and try to unwrap the answer, one that an econ major with an interest in poop cannot solve. That whole part in the doctor's office was amusing, especially the fact that newspaper, credit cards, and wolf hair are common features of both Charlie and Frank's diets. After that point, I did think that the storyline kind of dragged and I didn't enjoy Artemis' solutions to the mystery (save for Dennis swearing revenge in front of one of those crystal balls with electricity inside), however Frank's ultimate confession was hilarious and his statement that he did it "because poop is funny" seems like a nice summary of the episode.

Working a lot better for me was the B-plot, and not just because it featured the return of my favorite recurring character, The Waitress (I can't be expected to remember everyone's names!). Dee's lame attempts at acting like the women on Sex and the City were both hilarious and true. One of the things I hate the most about Sex and the City (and I hate many, many things about it) is how everyone tries to copy the characters from that show, so I particularly enjoyed that parody. It also had one of the funnies moments of physical comedy we've seen on the show: Dee hobbling out of the shoe store wearing her ridiculous high heeled shoes and slamming right into a car door. It may not have been poop, but it was still damn funny.

B+

Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia - "Mac and Charlie Die"

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Catching Up: Fringe - "The Ghost Network"/Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia - "America's Next Top Paddy's Billboard Model"/"Mac's Banging the Waitress"

As the rather epic title of this post indicates, I'm a little behind, for which I apologize profusely. After this week I'll be dripping with free time and able to resume normal posting activities, but until then please just bear with me. Anyway, for the sake of catching up, I've combined these two posts into one, which kind of works out for me since none of these episodes was especially interesting.

Starting with Fringe, it seems that three weeks in the show has established its formula and is intent in sticking to it. This week, that formula involves gas that solidifies when in contact with the air (leading to the Jurassic Park-mosquito effect) and a person who thinks he's having premonitions of future events. In actuality, his brain is intercepting messages being sent on the ghost network by...somebody.

Ultimately, my two big problems with Fringe are still there. First, I think in trying not to make Lost, the show has overcorrected too far in the other direction. The lack of any sort of big picture is frustrating. Four hours into Lost, we had heard the monster, seen a polar bear, and discovered that the island heals people. Heck, four hours into Alias we knew SD-6 was evil, the CIA was good, and Milo Rambaldi was a crazy inventor. But four hours into Fringe, all we know is that something called The Pattern is happening and that Massive Dynamics is not to be trusted.

Second, and perhaps more important, is the issue of Olivia. Frankly, she is just not interesting and, so far, has contributed very little to the show. Even Peter has managed to get interesting, thanks to the snark and mysterious past, but Olivia remains mopey and bland. Yet the show essentially rests on the shoulders of a character that I couldn't care less about. The show could survive its formuliac nature and lack of any big picture if it had compelling enough characters, but as of right now, it does not.

Meanwhile, Sunny unleashed two more episodes on us last Thursday, one hilarious and one lame. "America's Next Top Paddy's Billboard Model" featured some truly funny moments, including the return of Green Man. In fact, I loved just about everything about the Sweet Dee/Charlie plotline. Meanwhile in the A-story, Frank and Mac searched for models for the bar's new billboard, in Mac's case it was a search that turned into a Bachelor-esque contest, complete with clover-shaped coasters to hand out to the winners. However, I thought Frank's antics were a little funnier, especially when he threw bleach at Dennis ("anything can happen on the runway") and his takedown of Dennis' photoshoot ("I'm no longer turned on by mules)

The second episode, "Mac's Banging the Waitress" was a rare miss, likely due to the fact that Dee and Frank were completely absent. The resulting episode had some funny ideas (both the "best friend" competition and the idea of Mac banging the Waitress were concepts that seemed solid) but no real laughs. Ultimately, it was an episode that sounded better in concept than in execution.

However, I'd say neither of them were real classics, and I think that so far this season has yet to match the inspired levels of hilarity and outright evilness that the previous seasons of the show have reached. Hopefully that will change with this week's episode (which looks all kinds of promising).

Fringe: B- Sunny - "Next Top Model": B+ Sunny - "Mac's Banging the Waitress": C-

Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia - "Mac and Dennis: Manhunters"/"The Gang Solves the Gas Crisis"

Apologies for the lateness of this review. That's why I'm the blog's Wildcard!

But seriously, folks. Sunny is back after a landmark season last year. And with a special hour long edition. I may be in the minority but I actually hate it when they run two episodes back to back. Its only a 13 episode season and it went by so fast last year.

Nonetheless, these two episodes brought the funny. In the first, Mac and Dennis decide to emulate "The Most Dangerous Game" by hunting poor Rickety Cricket. I love that they manage to keep bringing him back and somehow make his life even worse than they left it last time. A highlight was Cricket's run up the fire escape. Of course, Rickety starts doing better under the tutelege of Frank, who seems to confuse his own history with that of Rambo.

Frank was also the inspiration for the B-plot, Dee and Charlie becoming convinced that they've tasted of human flesh and found it sweet. I enjoyed this storyline more than the other one and it generated my favorite moment of the episode, their arrival at the morgue with a hot plate.

While Manhunters was good, it was The Gang Solves the Gas Crisis that won the evening for me. The mayhem here was inspired and I loved Mac, Charlie, and Dennis defining their roles as, respectively, the Brains, the Wild Card, and the Looks. Add in Frank as the Muscle and Dee as the Useless Girl and you've got a can't beat team. The scene in the bank was priceless (why don't you bang all three of us!) and the ending was hilarious. All in all, this was an excellent start to the season.

Mac and Dennis: Manhunters - B
The Gang Solves the Gas Crisis - A-

See you guys in a half hour for the liveblog!

Another Always Sunny Interview

Ahead of tonight's season premiere, the guys from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia sat down with Paste magazine to talk about this season, being portrayed as jerks, and almost getting beat up in Atlanta. It seems that we're going to see the return of Greenman, an episode set in 1776, and a Nightman musical. Be sure to check out the premiere tonight at 10 EST on FX.

Always Sunny Interview/Preview

The guys from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia stopped by the AV Club for a nice interview that included a previews of Season 4. Here are a few highlights:
Charlie Day (Charlie): "Wait 'til this season. There'll be some more music coming. There's a musical on the way. Charlie's opus. And the gang performs it."
Glenn Howerton (Dennis): "We have a very exciting episode called, "Mac and Charlie Die." I'm excited about that one. Pretty epic episode. We've also got an entire episode where we try and sell Paddy's [Pub] as a historical monument in Philadelphia. And so, in order to prove that Paddy's has a tremendous amount of historical significance for the birth of our nation, we actually flash back to the year 1776. Almost the entire episode takes place in the year 1776. So it'll basically be our characters in corsets, and baggy half-pants, and flowing shirts. [Laughs.] Pointy hats, and things like that."

Be sure to read the entire interview here and catch the Season Premiere of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia this Thursday on FX.