A friend of mine recently confided to me that he thinks it's sometimes easier to walk away from family than friends because you had no hand in choosing your family and oftentimes find yourself with nothing in common with said family. The sense of obligation towards them comes from tradition, from rote, and also often from guilt.
But he was using family in the most traditional sense. Families, to me, do not merely include those to whom you are bound by blood and genetics, but rather they are the groups of people with whom you have a deep bond and spiritual connection. A family is who you turn to in times of crisis-- who you know you can always turn to when things get rough. Therefore, I think it is easy to argue that the strongest family bond on television right now is the family of misfits on Supernatural.
Of course, Sam and Dean are actual, blood-related brothers, and we have seen them fight and die for each other quite a few times before. But they have an extended clan who-- although they don't get to see perhaps as often as they'd like-- never hesitate to pick up a gun or a flask of Holy Water and get in the good fight, too. The family was larger once, but though it dwindles in numbers with every passing season of the show, it never seems to come up lacking: Bobby, Ellen, Jo, Castiel, and some could even argue the Ghostfacers. These are the kinds of people I'd want in my corner!
Though for those same reasons, I admit Dean kissing Jo (which for some fans was, like, "Finally!") was a bit like watching a brother kiss his sister and therefore left me with a touch of the "ickies" instead of the "awwww's!"
Now that Jensen is off the market (or at least for just a little while), I am turning my attention to the sexy crooner bad boy, Mark Salling! That boy may think I'm Twitter stalking him lately, but I think the evidence below justifies why that accusation is worth it. Let's all petition Fox to give him more solos!!
A few weeks ago, some friends and I sat around a pub not completely unlike the one in our favorite television comedy, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, pontificating on our favorite episodes and character moments in the show. Though we all started watching the show at various times-- and one friend wasn't even all caught up yet-- we found that a lot of what we thought were the stand-out moments were the same. We were very different people, from different parts of the country, and at different points in our lives, and yet we had this one very specific thing in common. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: uniting people since 2005. ...No? Too far? Oh well, then just sit back and enjoy-- because you know we do!
#5) "The Waitress is Getting Married" (Season 5, Episode 5):
- Deandra runs into an old high school flame who she dumped, only he's totally hot now and...engaged to the woman with whom Charlie is in love. Naturally, she plots to break them up by infiltrating her in their lives as "The Waitress"' best friend who just happens to spill the beans about her alcoholism and other flaws. Unfortunately for both women, though, this guy is running a scheme of his own. Meanwhile, the guys work to get Charlie over The Waitress by posting his profile on an online dating site and setting him up with various women. This is the episode in which the infamous "milksteak" first date dinner was born! Plus, any episode in which one character uses The Waitress in a scheme to get back at another character is one of pure joy. Mary Elizabeth Ellis is sadly and severely underused!!
#4) "The Gang Dances Their Asses Off" (Season 3, Episode 15):
- Charlie's illiteracy strikes again when he accidentally enters Paddy's Pub not only in a dancing contest but also puts the bar up as the number one prize. Suddenly every supporting character-- from Rickety Cricket to The Waitress to the McPoyles-- shows up to try to stick it to the most hated small business owners in Philly. The gang starts off strong but soon find it is every man (and woman!) for themselves as alliances break down and they fight for the Number 1 and Number 2 spots on Frank's "ranking system" of the most valuable employees.
#3) "The Gang Gets Invincible" (Season 3, Episode 2):
- Mac, Dennis, and Dee decide to try out for the Eagles ala Mark Wahlberg in "that football movie," while Charlie and Frank decide to tailgate the tryouts. Danny DeVito is in fine form here when Frank takes too much acid and gets trapped inside the bathroom of an RV...or so he thinks. We finally get to meet the entire McPoyle clan in this episode; Greenman makes a special guest appearance; and Dee sports some very fancy facial hair. Also, a portion of this episode was filmed right around the corner from my house, so I have a special fondness for it for personal reasons!
#2) "Dennis and Dee Go On Welfare" (Season 2, Episode 3):
- Everyone is sick of Frank's meddling and decide to go their separate ways. Charlie and Mac go on a spending spree with Frank's money upon learning he has stashed most of it in a bank account in Charlie's name. Dennis and Dee, meanwhile, decide to go on welfare "because that's what it's there for," but they learn that being able-bodied adults, they don't qualify. So first they get themselves addicted to crack. And it is because of this episode that Biz Markie's "Just A Friend" randomly pops up into my head about every few weeks.
#1) "The Nightman Cometh" (Season 4, Episode 15):
- We saw glimpses of the cast's musical abilities before, but only in this episode do their true talent shine brightly and ring out loudly, when Charlie writes a musical to impress The Waitress. Naturally the gang tries to "undermine" him by putting their own spin on their characters (such as Mac deciding his Nightman "has the eyes of a cat and does karate across the stage"), but their misinterpretation of his "metaphors" (such as The Princess wanting to bang the Boy) is priceless as well. It's ridiculously hard to try to pick out the best moments in this episode that has since been turned into a live show. Instead, just watch the episode a couple of times in a row, and you will not only be singing along and out-loud but also laughing at different parts each time!
Madison is a bit of a chicken. He doesn't really care for other dogs-- big or small; he really hates cats and barks at them incessantly; and now he appears to be somewhat leery of bugs-- even butterflies, the gentle and sweet ones, and even when they're plastic and inanimate.
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia started out seeming like just another crude comedy about a few dudes (and one chick) drinking away their mediocrity in some random bar. Airing on the FX Network, its cult following has managed to grow steadily by word of mouth and social networking sites, and now, in the show's fifth season and following a one-of-a-kind live tour for their breakout episode, The Nightman Cometh, the Sunny gang is finally getting some wider spread success as well. For the creator of the series, Rob McElhenney, this recognition is really not surprising: "I personally definitely saw this happening-- at some point. I think it was always just a matter of time."
"There are a lot of guys on the show; it's a very guy heavy cast," Glenn Howerton joked in agreement with his co-star and co-producer. "And you know, men just continue to get more handsome as the years progress, and I think it [the growth in ratings] might have something to do with that."
In all seriousness, though, McElhenney was cognizant of the fact that the show was going to need some time to catch on with the mass audiences. After all, these characters are one giant leap ahead of the Seinfeld or South Park gangs in their escapades, and for some, that might make them irredeemable. "The show is definitely an acquired taste," McElhenney acknowledged, "and that is certainly by design. We wanted to do something that was completely different and that you're not seeing everywhere else."
Howerton didn't necessarily have any expectations for the series, but he was adamant that they had to create something of which they could be proud and that people would enjoy as well. The show, which does often derive a lot of its humor from picking on the shortcomings of its characters (Charlie's illiteracy is perhaps the most obvious example of this, but Sweet Dee's childhood in a back brace comes to mind as well!), has also become a go-to for social commentary. McElhenney pointed out that there are "always interesting things to deal with as long as American culture continues!"
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia has grown not only in ratings and fandom since it's premiere, but also its style and its savvy within the television industry as a business. This season alone, the show has seen the addition of some gore, which McElhenney called "a coincidence," with Howerton adding: "the episodes sort of led us to those places in a very natural way. It was never by design that we intentionally set out to say 'let's show gore here.'" Also this season was an episode devoted to the business model of Dave & Busters, which set out to make fun of it in a tongue-in-cheek way, but which of course also served as a very heavy product placement for it. "Networks are always looking for new ways to incorporate advertising," McElhenney explained why the show was ultimately willing to focus an episode on such a concept. Though he and Howerton were quick to point out that following each show break with a commercial from the sponsors was not part of their plan, nor something they knew would happen or would happen again. Sunny and its gang knows the fans would much prefer to see bits about "milksteak" at their own successful restaurant and bar-- Paddy's Pub-- anyway!
Just last week, Entertainment Weekly ran a feature on the cast and creators and their unprecedented release of A Very Sunny Christmas special on DVD (available now in stores and online retailers near you!). It is a bold move for a show that doesn't quite scream holiday cheer! but the perfect move for those slightly darker, slightly more jaded fans who are sick of the same old sap. The guys pontificated on the "Why now?" of this special and its timing but the overall response from the fans really has been "Why not??"
"Every year we come up with a lot of different things we know we're never going to get past the FCC-- just in terms of the censorship of being on...cable television," McElhenney explained. "So we usually just bank them and say 'Well, maybe one day we'll be able to get away with it.' And then this opportunity was brought to us by the people at FX, who said 'Hey would you ever want to do a direct-to-DVD episode where you put all that stuff on?' And we thought that was a great idea. We had knocked around the idea of putting these characters into a holiday situation-- into a holiday special-- for a few years now. As we knocked that around, we thought it could be really interesting as a stocking stuffer to just put all that stuff that we'd been talking about for years into an episode so we can get away with whatever we want."
Since the show has found such a supportive group of fans who take to Twitter quoting their favorite episodes and/or dressing up as Greenman or the characters from Charlie's aforementioned musical for Halloween, it is no surprise that the fans are the ones who are also driving the merchandise releases of the show. McElhenney and Howerton were both animated when discussing the potential of a soundtrack for the show-- featuring all of their originals, of course! "We've been talking a lot about releasing all of the Sunny music, and it's something we're going to be talking a lot about this year just in terms of all of the Nightman stuff, the Dayman stuff, the Birds of War song from this year. There's been a lot of demand from the fans to release a CD."
And hey, if www.dicktowel.com is actually getting sales, there is no telling what else will come next! Lucky fans who were in attendance at the LA stop of The Nightman Cometh tour were screened the season five finale "Flipadelphia." With weeks to go before that episode airs wide, though, pre-orders for the official competitors' tee the gang wears in the episode have already begun! With fan-driven campaigns like these, there should be no stopping the Sunny gang from (finally!) receiving nominations next awards' season!
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia airs at 10 p.m. every Thursday night on the FX Network.
And come back tomorrow when I pick my Top 5 Episodes from the series so far!!
Buried under a mountain of dick jokes and sweaty, hairy men, the one shining go-to for laughs in Universal Studios' Funny People was supporting actress Leslie Mann. No stranger to the boys' club, Mann is a graduate from the Apatow school but has proved herself to be more than a worthy opponent when stealing scenes regardless of whether or not the man behind the camera was in her family. Though she has been in this business for almost twenty years, Mann has only been getting the critical acclaim she so richly deserves in the last few.
Mann can be seen playing both funny and surprisingly serious alongside Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen in Funny People, out on DVD next Tuesday, November 24th. However, she is not the only fearless female in comedy finally getting their due; she simply leads the list.
Sure, the obvious choices would be Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Sarah Silverman, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Kathy Griffin, but let's face it: all of those women have been front and center in the spotlight for at least a few years now. While that shouldn't take anything away from their particular brand of humor or their wicked smarts, there is a whole other generation coming up with Mann who are worthy of sharing her company.
Kaitlin Olson is best known as Deandra "Sweet Dee" Reynolds on FX' It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, where she, too, is the lone female in a bar filled with neanderthal-esque man-children. Though the role could have easily become the stereotypical matriarchal type that just rolls her eyes and wags her finger disapprovingly at the boys', Olson's own knack for sick and somewhat twisted jokes at her own expense made her part of an ensemble instead of simply fading into the background. She has more recently parlayed her penchant for zingers into film roles in the independent relationship comedy Weather Girl as well as the upcoming Amy Adams helmed Leap Year.
Wanda Sykes toured the country doing stand-up comedy for years, but though her fellow comics called her one of the funniest in the business, she didn't become a household name until much more recently. Her own, self-titled (Wanda at Large) show was short-lived, but once she popped up on The New Adventures of Old Christine as the sassy best friend and moral compass for the title character, Sykes found herself with legions of new fans. Splitting her time between that sitcom and her own late night talk show just means double the chance for audiences to be splitting their sides with laughter.
Two years ago, there was a comedy on-air about a group of misfit blue collar workers who decide to get rich quick by robbing Mick Jagger (The Knights of Prosperity). The show fell flat amongst most audiences, but one actor stood out among the rest: Sofia Vergara. Now, it is two years later, and Vergara has found herself on another television comedy, Modern Family, playing the second (and much younger!) wife to Ed O'Neill's character. Vergara may be a repeated offender on Maxim's Hot 100 list; she may have a thick accent; and she may be a natural blonde, but both of those things only worked with her to surprise everyone with her natural aptitude for comedy. Thanks to her impeccable timing and ability to hold her own opposite comedy greats, her role on Modern Family is not simply a ditzy, one note trophy wife; instead she steals focus week after week.
Chelsea Handler says what is on her mind whether she is delivering a monologue to a live studio audience, writing a book about past relationships, or interviewing the very person of which she is making fun. Handler manages to ride the line between sassy and just plain abrasive, though, mastering it in a way that certain female comedians before her could not. Always opinionated and never one to fall victim to filters (either self-imposed or imposed by her network), Handler goes up against a handful of other comics on her own show every night and always manages to come out on top.
Danielle Turchiano is a Los Angeles-based freelance Writer/Producer. She has worked on over a dozen independent film and television projects and self-published her first novel, “Stars in their Eyes,” in November 2007. She is a self-proclaimed pop culture addict who contributes to various entertainment news sites in addition to this blog. Her love of television started at an extremely early age, and despite growing up with only the seven-channel options of rabbit ears, she managed to learn enough life lessons to write a book of autobiographical essays entitled "My Life, Made Possible By Pop Culture" which is currently looking for a publisher. Though her early years consisted mainly of "Saved by the Bell," "California Dreams," and "Friends," she has since expanded her television interests to the point where a friend in college once told her she watches "so much reality TV that it makes [his] eyes bleed." Until she gets her own television show, or her book becomes #1 on the Best Seller list, she may consider that her crowning achievement.
Also this season was an episode devoted to the business model of Dave & Busters, which set out to make fun of it in a tongue-in-cheek way, but which of course also served as a very heavy product placement for it. "Networks are always looking for new ways to incorporate advertising," McElhenney explained why the show was ultimately willing to focus an episode on such a concept. Though he and Howerton were quick to point out that following each show break with a commercial from the sponsors was not part of their plan, nor something they knew would happen or would happen again. Sunny and its gang knows the fans would much prefer to see bits about "milksteak" at their own successful restaurant and bar-- Paddy's Pub-- anyway!
