It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

[domino harvey]

Resubscribed to Hulu mainly to catch up on this show and holy God they've never done an episode as laugh out loud funny as "the Gang Goes to a Water Park"-- I was in hysterical tears by the end of it. One of the single funniest episodes of any TV show ever

[Big Ben]

The ending to that episode is one of the absolute funniest things that show has ever done. AIDS BLOOD.

[domino harvey]

If "Hero or Hate Crime?" is any indication, there is no longer anything one cannot say on commercial TV-- was this censored at all when it aired on FXX?

[Ribs]

Basic cable has actually never been obligated to FCC regulations about things like that, it was just a policy that carried over from broadcast. Beginning with American Crime Story FX has allowed pretty much any language to be used on their own shows (and I believe USA and TNT have since done the same)

[Morbii]

I’m not sure that it was a policy carried over rather than them being beholden to advertisers.

[swo17]

If "Hero or Hate Crime?" is any indication, there is no longer anything one cannot say on commercial TV-- was this censored at all when it aired on FXX?

I watched the original airings. I don't remember specifics but I do remember being surprised at some of the content they were able to get away with.

[knives]

Spoiler

Internet says that they got away with an uncensored cunt and fuck.

[domino harvey]

Spoiler

"Cunt" is not uttered once but repeatedly by several characters several times (and with the "fuck"s employed in sexual usage, including "fucking your ass"), plus "cock," "cocksucker," "faggot," and "the n word" with a hard "-er"

I'm spoilering this and knives' post because some of the words they use are legit probably worse than you'd even guess and part of the overall joke is how effective they still are at being shocking

[Big Ben]

If the channel is paid for the FCC has no legal standing at all. However all studios have a Standards and Practices department and or advertisers that they need to be wary of a they'll decide what can and can't air. Always Sunny may joke about awful things or even hint at them but it would never do something blatantly illegal (Harm a child for instance.). If an advertiser was upset with the show they could also pull ads but I've never heard of that happening recently except to Sean Hannity of Fox News for his defense of Roy Moore and we all know how that turned out.

For a less explicit example than Always Sunny I'll turn your attention to Comedy Central. The Daily Show still censors more explicit language because Standards and Practices makes them do so. Later on at night however Comedy Central doesn't care all that much and you can see a mostly uncensored (Boobs still upset Standards and Practices at three in the morning.) Jay and Silent Bob film. Another example is Turner Classic Movies which won't show Salo at any time but they'll show Fellini Satryricon late at night despite the nudity.

You can technically try and charge someone for obscenity outside of this but unless it's REALLY bad you'll be laughed out of the courtroom.

[domino harvey]

New season premieres Sept 5th, official synopsis reveals no Dennis

[Ribs]

Well, less Dennis

[domino harvey]

Yep, Howerton will appear in most of the new episodes. Also one of the episodes will be an all female reboot of an older episode

[black&huge]

Yep, Howerton will appear in most of the new episodes. Also one of the episodes will be an all female reboot of an older episode

Regarding the latter I hope it's a satire of all the manchildren who bashed the recent Ghostbusters under the guise of "because it's a remake" that residually seeped it's way into the current hatred for females in nerd adored franchises. I'm excited in general for all of it.

[domino harvey]

McElhenney no longer directing Minecraft

[domino harvey]

Trailer for the new season-- looks insane, can't wait!

[domino harvey]

The season premiere is up two weeks early on the FX+ platform

[black&huge]

Having gone through season 13 this past weekend I think it's pretty clear the show needs to end. Everyone was phoning it in, Dennis just disappeared after the clip show ep and even the all Charlie episode churned out a dull and uninterested performance by Charlie Day that it was just painful to watch.

Lastly that season finale? The worst thing they have ever done and possibly one of the worst episodes of tv I've ever seen. There's no place for that kind of seriousness in a show that did just fine taking on serious issues with their own satirical brand. They even did it all season long with the sexual harassment and gender neutral bathroom issues then all of a sudden they get serious with a dance number to try and serve the LGBTQ community but really how and why? This season was all over the place. Most everyone has other obligations behind the scenes. I think it's time to just let it die.

[mfunk9786]

Almost every comedy series ends with some kind of flourish, you really couldn't stomach it for a few minutes? I haven't seen the ballyhooed finale but people who are upset about it strike me as totally ridiculous

[Roscoe]

The finale seemed to address an issue that was raised in the last episode of the previous season -- are these people ever going to grow up and learn something? Dennis' departure was the first move, and Mac's concern about his place as a gay man and the dance number seem to continue this. It'll be interesting to see if the finales of the next two seasons (assuming they continue) carry on with this. I wouldn't be surprised to see Dee be the next recipient of some sort of sense.

The dance routine seemed problematic to me only because there had been zero previous indication of Mac having any dance abilities at all, much less choreographic talents. His strugglings with his place in the world had been brought up in the Psychiatrist episode, where he was pretty up front about how he doesn't think anybody understands him at all. Of course, the Country Mac episode made it clear also that the gang understands him -- they just don't like him.

[Petty Bourgeoisie]

Almost every comedy series ends with some kind of flourish, you really couldn't stomach it for a few minutes? I haven't seen the ballyhooed finale but people who are upset about it strike me as totally ridiculous

Mark me down as ridiculous then. It was really, really bad. Just painful to watch. Somebody needed to talk McElhenney out of this experiment but apparently nobody had the rank or the guts. So we're stuck forevermore with a pie fight in the war room!

[mfunk9786]

You can't watch the other 15 years worth of episodes and call it square? Somehow everyone survived it with Seinfeld, I just don't understand the obsession with ending an episodic comedy the way you want it to end

[domino harvey]

McElhenney posted a video from outside the Scranton office building used in the Office taunting their cast for their show being canceled (he even tagged their accounts). While clearly a joke, given the cast trailers, it looks like one of the upcoming It’s Always Sunny episodes will be the Office-related

[domino harvey]

Renewed for FOUR more seasons

[mfunk9786]

Between this series and Mythic Quest and keeping up what seems to be a rigorous fitness regimen, I don't know how McElhenney is not dead yet. He's a pretty impressive guy - that this show is far from unwatchable this far in is a feat in and of itself. It's hit-or-miss, sure, but by this point The Simpsons, aided by the limitless possibilities granted by animation, was fully unwatchable. Would not have predicted in a million years that this show would have gone the distance this way, particularly when they shuffled it off to FXX to launch that network.