It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia is perhaps the wildest American sitcom, now running for 18 years as of 2023, following the lives of five horrible human beings doing horrible things to each other and the people around them. Starring Charlie Day, Rob McElhenney, Glenn Howerton, Kaitlin Olson, and Danny DeVito, It's Always Sunny has recently premiered its 16th season that has lived up to the reputation that the sitcom has set for itself since 2005. The new seasonis just as appalling and entertaining as the last, reminding us yet again, that it is one of the greatest and most consistent modern sitcoms. The series has never held itself back from any topics, tropes, or episode formulas — dipping its foot in every genre imaginable. It has explored every weird and wacky avenue possible from severe drug use, underage drinking, cannibalism, kidnapping, torture, murder, and, well, musicals! However, in all 166 episodes, there has only been 1 true musical episode, and it is about time we got another one.
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"The Gang Turns Black" Is 'It's Always Sunny's Only True Musical Episode
"The Gang Turns Black" is an episode that unpacks white privilege through the gang living a day in the life as a Black person after getting struck by lightning and waking up in Black bodies. It is a highly controversial episode that doesn't exactly stick the landing. But while it doesn't work as a comment on race, it does work as a musical episode, with the cast singing and dancing to multiple musical numbers. The segment ends with a hard-to-process finale, where Charlie who has swapped bodies with a young boy, is shot multiple times by the police as they assume the toy train he is holding is a firearm. They click their heels together, reminiscent of Dorothy's bid to get back to Kansas in The Wizard of Oz, and we come to realize that it was all a dream. Charlie, Mac, Dennis, Dee, and Frank are just as we found them at the beginning of the episode, and as they always have been — selfish, narcissistic, and ignorant.
'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'Needs Another Proper Musical Episode
If you're a fan of the show, you will remember one of the most iconic episodes — Season 4's "The Nightman Cometh," where the gang created and starred in Charlie's rock opera which does in fact feature multiple musical numbers. The cast partakes in the play that they later learn is actually Charlie's grand proposal to the Waitress (Mary Elizabeth Ellis), which reprises the Dayman song that Charlie and Dennis had created in the previous season. This episode garnered great popularity and success, showing that the cast has a knack for creating songs and performing them in a hilarious way, which makes for some of the funniest and most re-watchable moments of the series. There are many different instances of musical numbers throughout the show, the majority being penned by Charlie Day, including the surprisingly impressive Spider Song in "The Gang Tries Desperately to Win an Award." The number showcases, yet again, Day's impressive musical talents that consistently remind us of the subtle intricacies of It's Always Sunny.
American Sitcoms Love a Musical Episode
Similar to other American sitcoms of the same comical nature like Family Guy or Community, It's Always Sunnyhas set itself up for musical episodes to be completed within the bounds of realism. Both Family Guy and Community have dipped their toes in a musical episode or two in their time, one of the most memorable being in theGreendale Community College-based sitcom entitled "Regional Holiday Music." It follows the group trying to stay together during Christmastime as they get bombarded by their college's Glee Club, with each slowly getting lured into the singing ensemble against their will. The episode closes, leaving them together to watch Abed's (Danny Pudi) favorite, Inspector Spacetime, as he intended. The episode, in Community fashion, pokes fun at the cult-classic Glee with the ammunition of seven musical numbers.
Generally, musical episodes in sitcoms and other television genres are often a hit or miss. They can easily, with the wrong songs and cast, lean too far into the absurd and be a drag to watch. We have witnessed in other long-running TV shows, that some musical moments can be a time-stamp for when the writing went off the rails and sometimes be interpreted as a clutch for straws to bring something new into a failing season. On the other side of this, a musical episode can also bring out the best in a comedic group — the actors' inner theater kids coming out for a weird and wacky ensemble showcasing their range of comedic ability, and in turn, becoming some of the best, most popular episodes of a show. This is clear in It's Always Sunny, in both its full and partial musical episodes.
It's Always Sunny'smusical episode proves that it can be a vehicle for the social commentary that they often contribute to, but also translates well to the more personal family values that Season 16 has leaned into. The most recent season has proved that It's Always Sunny hasn't lost its roots after such a long time on air, and therefore a musical episode, reminiscent of episodes like "The Nightman Cometh" and "The Gang Turns Black," fits right into the direction that the show is headed. The format of a musical episode aligns perfectly with the new season, in keeping things new and fresh without straying too far from the series' unpredictable nature. In fact, in the past five years since the first and only musical episode premiered, it is quite unbelievable that we haven't had another one since. Let us cross our fingers for Season 17.
