Search

Home > Sangre Celestial > ‘Marginalization in the mainstream’ keeps ‘Always Sunny’ on TV
Podcast: Sangre Celestial
Episode:

‘Marginalization in the mainstream’ keeps ‘Always Sunny’ on TV
Category: Arts
Duration: 00:00:00
Publish Date: 2025-07-29 19:00:00
Description: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, TV’s longest running live-action sitcom, premiered its 17th season earlier this month. Debuting in 2005, it revolves around five people (known as “The Gang”) running a failing bar in Philly. Each week, they concoct ridiculous schemes to get ahead. Always Sunny is the defining American sitcom because it satirizes the dark side of human nature, argues M.H. Miller , features director of T: The New York Times Style Magazine. He describes the premise: “It takes the basic framework of a group of friends who own a bar in Philly, and this blue collar lineage of American sitcoms that goes back to Cheers and Roseanne and things like that, and it just elevates it to these deranged levels of people who are so incredibly selfish and narcissistic that every interaction they have just devolves into chaos.” The show has taken on incest, cannibalism, sexual assault, and often race. Five episodes, including a parody of Lethal Weapon with characters in blackface, were pulled from streaming after Disney bought FX. “The issue among the fan base … about certain episodes disappearing is like, how do you make any kind of qualitative judgment about what is more offensive than something else? And if you're going to pull that thread, then none of the shows should exist. I think a lot of people probably find cannibalism pretty offensive as well,” Miller says. One of the main characters, Dennis, is a Ted Bundy-esque man who outwardly seems functional and charming, “but he is a psychopath possessing the dark triad of psychiatric problems and is strongly hinted at to be an actual serial killer,” Miller describes. But he finds it weirdly admirable that the show finds humor in those traits, he says. The most disgusting member of The Gang is Frank (Danny DeVito), the dad of twins Dennis and Dee, Miller points out. Frank went to Vietnam to open a sweatshop where workers faced horrifying conditions, such as having to eat a stew made from cats. “There’s an amazing disconnect by how debased that character is and how beloved a figure Danny DeVito is in our culture,” he says. One episode alludes to the fact that Always Sunny hasn’t received more recognition. The show has been nominated for Emmys, but for Outstanding Stunt Coordination, not acting or writing. Part of that reason is that the show is difficult to like, Miller says. “I think there's great acting, and I think some of the jokes are … the hardest I've ever laughed at — at anything that's been on television. I don't think everybody sees it that way. … It's marginalization in the mainstream that has kept it going because it's an act of defiance, almost. Because other people would say, ‘Well, we haven't gotten nominated for any awards for this thing we're doing. We should stop.’ But that's not why they do it. They do it because … they're just deranged, and it comes from this place of extreme love for each other.”
Total Play: 0

Users also like

10+ Episodes
Bienvenido a .. 80+     6
10+ Episodes
Perdón por .. 300+     10+
200+ Episodes
La Parroquia 1K+     20+