Between the firing of Dan Harmon on Community and the endless retooling (and eventual cancelation) of Up All Night, NBC has filled the current TV season with dread and frustration. But it wouldn’t be the first time a show has been in trouble. With that in mind, here are five great shows that nearly jumped the shark but managed to rebound and reclaim their former glory.
Today, Sean "Puff Diddy" Combs began shooting a guest spot on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, which is crazy. It's hard enough to believe that Puff Diddy would ever intentionally go to Philadelphia, let alone act on a cable television comedy. There's no word yet on if he's playing himself or a character almost exactly like himself (like in Get Him to the Greek), but assuming he is, he's probably in town to scout a certain retarded not retarded retarded not retarded rapper.
The Best Sitcom Episode Ever Tournament is pitting 32 of the greatest episodes of funny TV shows ever produced against each other in a single-elimination winner-takes-all (well, takes-nothing) competition. Every day, we're putting up episodes for you, our loyal readers, to vote on. Today: Arrested Development vs. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and WKRP in Cincinnati vs. Fawlty Towers.
Arrested Development — “Pier Pressure,” January 11, 2004 It's next to impossible to have a favorite Arrested Development episode when they all intertwine and play off each other so well, but "Pier Pressure" is certainly a good place to start. It has so many things that make AD great – [...]
Always Sunny's Kaitlin Olson and Rob McElhenney are expecting their second child, and considering that the first one became a plotline on the show (complete with a guest-star-heavy witch hunt for the father of the baby), it's worth wondering whether Sweet Dee will be expecting again as well. Or maybe instead, in the wake of Fat Mac, we'll get to meet Fat Dee? Imagine the two of those actors coming home from the set, still in their fat suits, to feed a tiny Fat Baby. I can't even think about it, it's too beautiful.
Just a warning before you read David Hornsby's New York Times profile: you're probably going to feel like a huge pile of laziness when you're through with it. “I’m like a decathlete without the body,” Hornsby explains. “I have literally had the thought lately: ‘Geez, I wish I didn’t have to sleep.” Which would free up a lot of free time, considering that Hornsby is currently Rickety Cricket on It's Always Sunny, the star and head writer for CBS' upcoming How to Be a Gentleman, co-creator and voice actor for FX's new show Unsupervised and a voice on Nickelodeon's Fanboy and Chum Cum. Oh, and last week Hornsby [...]
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia star/co-creator Glenn Howerton fired off a tweet today asking fledgling writers to send him scripts. Here's the tweet:
Got a great feature length screenplay? Send to IASIP 10201 W PICO BLVD BUILDING 41 SUITE 300 LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90064-2651
While it seems like most established TV and movie writers are constantly avoiding reading bad scripts from desperate struggling writers, Howerton is welcoming it and hoping that he finds a diamond in the rough. He wants an original feature or pilot script that he could possibly produce and develop, and it's open to any genre besides horror. Howerton recently produced his first movie, [...]
FX announced its fall schedule, so thankfully we'll have some answers when our less frequent blog reading friends ask us: "When does Always Sunny and The League return?" The answer: October 11, 2012 or to be more catchy with it "10-11-12." Like last year, they'll air at 10:00 and 10:30pm respectively. Unlike last year, they'll be followed by a revamped version of BrandX with Russell Brand. Hopefully, revamping means it will be just be another episode of Sunny or The League.
The Best Sitcom Episode Ever Tournament is pitting 32 of the greatest episodes of funny TV shows ever produced against each other in a single-elimination winner-takes-all (well, takes-nothing) competition. Every day, we're putting up episodes for you, our loyal readers, to vote on. Today: Curb Your Enthusiasm vs. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Taxi vs. Fawlty Towers.
Curb Your Enthusiasm — “The Doll,” November 4, 2001 It’s possible that there are other shows that would feature their main character beheading a doll, getting a rash on his penis from the hairs of that doll’s head, and accidentally giving a little girl an inappropriately erect hug all in one [...]
"Hey guys, why are all the urinals filled with rocks?" Are there any sweeter words with which to start an episode of a television show? I highly doubt it. Urinal fillers aside (they ran out of ice, Charlie explains), last night’s episode of It's Always Sunny struck a nice balance between meta and realistic, in addition to being dark. Baby funeral dark. Having finally gotten paid for her surrogate services last year, Dee went buck wild and bought herself a baby blue Vespa. Equally as foolish, Dee decided to claim the baby as a dependent on her tax return. “You guys all better eat a dick, because Sweet Dee [...]
This blooper reel from season 6 of Always Sunny asks the tough questions (repeatedly, until someone stops cracking up in the middle of the answer). Namely, where do the dicks go that get cut off from someone's bodies? And what would you do with them? "Pickle 'em," says Frank. Duh. As with all quality blooper reels, this one occasionally feels like you're just watching the gang hang out with no cameras. Just kicking back at Paddy's, sometimes being visited and enlightened by Rickety Cricket, Mrs. Mac, and the McPoyle brothers, bless their milk-drinking souls.
The eighth season of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia premieres tonight at 10pm on FX, which is very exciting! But this week also marks the release of the seventh season of that same show on DVD. Why networks insist on releasing full seasons of TV to DVD only two days before the new season premieres is beyond me. Don't they want to give folks a chance to catch up? No? Well, whatever. Always Sunny is not Breaking Bad, so you'll probably be just fine if you watch tonight and then catch up on last season next week. It'll still all be funny and fucked up, I promise.
Duels or “classy show-downs” as they are often called by no one, have been solving hot debates for ages. They're useful for delivering crowds a champion, through often unpredictable means (just ask Alexander Hamilton). Television loves a surprise, so what better way to measure and battle elements of TV than with a duel? Here, we will battle two characters in an imaginary contest of wills. Sometimes a winner will be crowned because of pertinent facts, and sometimes in spite of them.
This week? Frank Reynolds vs. George Bluth Sr. for the title of World’s Worst Father
This week’s duel will leave the mothers out of it. Like a bad call at a championship little [...]
We talk about Community, Parks and Recreation, and Louie pretty much on a daily basis here at Splitsider. Ask any 10 random visitors to the ‘site, and they’ll likely say one of those three is their favorite current sitcom on TV. So, for the sake of that disappointed, “of course it is/they are…” feeling you get when you see the Beatles at the top of a best bands of all-time list, I didn’t include the two NBC sitcoms and the FX whatever-it-is. There has to be at least SOME intrigue. So, I present to you, the 10 best sitcoms of 2011…not named Community, Parks and Rec, or Louie.
Considering the rank grotesqueness of recent child pageant shows like Dance Mom and Toddlers & Tiaras, it’s both fitting that the It’s Always Sunny gang should find themselves in charge of one, and hard to imagine of how they could possibly make them more off-putting. The answer is, of course, to declare child pageants the greatest tribute to patriotism this side of the Pledge of Allegiance. "We can do whatever we want with our kids and that's our right as Americas," Dennis declares when Frank reveals that he kind of, sort of, maybe got himself embroiled in the child pageant circuit with a known “kid diddler” for a partner.
