The Role of Authenticity in Situational Comedies

The Role of Authenticity in Situational Comedies

Having just recently aired its 100^th episode to even more critical acclaim, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia has come a long way from its humble beginnings. The creative minds behind the show have gathered a truly loyal cult following by creating an image of themselves as authentic in juxtaposition to the formulaic and inoffensive appearance of many of network television’s productions. By positioning themselves as far from the big network comedies as possible, Glenn Howerton, Rob McElhenney, and Charlie Day have been able to successfully create an underdog persona for themselves. Even though the show’s actual characters may not be relatable to audiences, the creative minds behind it have done a great job of crafting identities for themselves as down-to-earth and relatable people who just happened to stumble onto this success. The perceived authenticity is one of the show’s strongest attributes, as it reassures the audience that what they are viewing has not been edited down or filtered in any way. In the words of co-creator Charlie Day, "You have to give credit to FX for letting us operate in a bubble," he said, adding that it was "refreshing [for viewers] to see a sitcom that didn’t feel as though it went through that network machine and got watered down."¹I believe this component of authenticity tends to be overlooked when critics discuss why some shows fail where others succeed, especially with younger demographics.

Rob McElhenney described the show’s early writing process in an interview published by Variety between the first and second season in 2006. When asked about the steps necessary to write fresh television, he responded, “We sit around and drink beer and talk about what’s funny. Then we put it on TV.”² He then goes on to say “None of us know the correct way to do this TV show, really. The show came out of so much desperation, a point where we had nothing to lose, so we just try to remember that in every step of the process.” As made somewhat obvious by countless interviews similar to these, the creative minds responsible for It’s Always Sunny are far from the industry mainstays commonly associated with successful cable television. In my opinion, this adds a significant element to the program that is not present in the constantly recycled and repackaged programs put out by the major networks. It may sound like a stretch, but I believe that the story of Rob, Glen, and Charlie reinforces certain aspects of the patented American Dream. As an audience, we see this group of friends that was able craft success out of extremely limited resources by simply doing something that they love and sharing it with others. This can cause us, the audience, to develop an increased interest in the success of the show which is an important step towards gaining a loyal following.

By any conventional television standards, early episodes of the show cost almost nothing to produce. According to interviews with the creators, the show's original pilot episode was filmed with budget of less than two hundred dollars. To put that into some perspective, CBS' former Two and a Half Men star Charlie Sheen was making two million dollars per episode at the height of the show’s success. That's no typo, it cost CBS ten thousand times more to simply have Charlie Sheen on set than it cost for the entire pilot episode of It’s Always Sunny to be produced. The only real costs to them were the camera and a microphone. The show’s creators do the majority of the acting themselves, and when guest stars are required they usually find friends and family members to step in front of the camera to play the shows various side roles. For example, The Waitress, Charlie's recurring (although, unrequited) love interest in the show is played by the wife of Charlie Day, Mary Elizabeth Ellis. Glenn Howerton's wife, Jill Latiano, also guest stars in the show as Caylee, a girl whom Dennis uses as a way to demonstrate his abilities at taking advantage of women in "The D.E.N.N.I.S. System". Especially in early seasons, the characters are simply wearing clothing owned by the actors, which allows them to avoid spending any of the limited budget on costs associated with wardrobe. To add to all of this, the song which plays over the opening credit sequence, “Temptation Sensation”, is part of the public domain, which means that no royalty fees need to be paid for its use in the show. While many might see these cost-cutting measures as indications of a lower quality program, I believe that they all come together to contribute another layer of humor to the show, and judging by Sunny’s success in the key18-24 demographic, it’s safe to say that I’m not alone. We are led to believe that the worldview put for in It’s Always Sunny truly belongs to the creative minds behind the show, as opposed to the watered down, market research tested beliefs and opinions put forth by the large networks. These factors add to the show’s overall authenticity, a characteristic that I find to be one of the show’s strongest assets.

           

Works Cited

¹ Rose, Lacey. The Hollywood Reporter, "How 'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia' Reinvented Television's Comedy Model." Last modified August 06, 2011. Accessed October 24, 2013. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/how-sunny-philadelphia-reinvented-televisions-220051.

² Martin, Denise. Variety. June, 14 (2006). Accessed October 24, 2013.