“It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” has always been good at playing the underdog – or even the dead dog, like the one that once fell out of a coffin during a baby funeral on the show. It takes pride in being mangy and scraggly and not up for a game of fetch.
Creator and star Rob McElhenney‘s anti-sitcom is driven by disgust at the phoniness of less funny, more popular shows. With near-total creative freedom, the series has become one of FX’s biggest hits. (FX president John Landgraf once gently suggested that McElhenney change a child molester priest into a child molester coach, but that’s it.)