It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

TV

by Craig D. Lindsey

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
B
Thurs., 10pm. FX

Larry David is one sorry, bitter muthafucka. And this time I don’t mean that in a good way.

The first few episodes of the sixth season of Curb Your Enthusiasm sadly confirm what a longtime fan like me has been trying to overlook since the pitiful fifth season: The man has officially run out of hilariously uncomfortable ways to piss people off.

The season opener has him pretending to show up for a party he knows damn well he missed, not once but twice, with mixed results. This episode also introduces this season’s running storyline, in which he welcomes into his home a homeless, stereotypically loud black family named—you guessed it—the Blacks. From reading that sentence you’ve probably already come up with all the social blunders the perpetually socially incompetent David commits in these people’s presence.

David seems to be going through the motions, recycling the same bad manners, cringe-worthy gags and gallows humor that were consistently, outrageously funny in the first four seasons. I still hold out hope he’ll get a second wind this season and return to being the sorry, bitter muthafucka we all know and love.

Those vain, selfish sum-bitches on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (practically the bastard children—and I mean that in every sense of the word—David never had) fare better with the funny in their third season.

Scaling back on the South Park-esque social satire and rampant, squirm-inducing blackheartedness, the show is now equipped with a tight, snappy rhythm (which is surprisingly provided in some episodes by director/former child star Fred Savage) and a hyper-absurd comic lunacy. In the second episode they even manage to squeeze in a hilarious cameo from a former Cosby Show cast member.

While second-season addition Danny DeVito still looks out of place playing the grumpy, gun-toting elder to this young cast of Philly-based pricks, he effectively jibes with the show’s profane, cranky tone. Besides, when it comes to playing ol’ dirty bastards, Larry David ain’t got shit on Louie De Palma.