I was laughing my ass off in almost every episode in season 11 because Dennis seemed to be at his absolute peak antisocial personality. Most of the show was coherent and flowed well. The characters were narcissistic, scratched libs and constantly concern trolling each other. Things were largely grounded in reality.
Then season 12 and up, things just got weird and tiresome to watch. Like things just happen back to back and everything is grandiose. The character development is undeserved because they cram in so much shit in 20 minutes (like the episode of Mac coming out as gay is just Frank yelling the same thing for 20 minutes then Mac dances. Come on. They had a whole season to build up to it and instead they just did this shit). It feels like I’m watching Uncut Gems but instead of being stressed out, I’m just annoyed by the wild stories and annoying characters. Like the one episode of season 16 parodies the anal vibrator chess scandal because the scheme is…?
And now the gang is soft as hell and actually getting offended as opposed to be socially conscious for their own agendas. And honestly, I think they could’ve dulled out the characters if they played it out right, like with how Dennis wanted to be a family man, that’s a valid path to make him less antisocial and misogynistic, and proceed to do this one by one for each character then ending the show.
I felt like the little commentary they had about the post-9/11 zeitgeist in the early seasons was funny and subtle at times. But it seems like the trump era really made everyone fucking annoying. Somehow they managed to fumble the plot line about the gang being responsible for the boater coup at the capitol which should’ve flowed naturally with the show.
I mean it's absurd that the show had it's creative peak like 11 seasons in. There's obviously going to be a point where it gets worse. Like 12 good seasons is much more than what most shows get.
Mac coming out as gay
That was built up cover like 10 years.
I think about this scene from season 16 a lot
it's still funny to me but I have like no standards and maybe watch 1 show and 1 movie a year if I'm lucky
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
The character development is undeserved because they cram in so much shit in 20 minutes
This has always been a problem the show had. Most egregious example that stood out to me was the first appearance of Maureen Ponderosa in season 6. Dennis meets the girl he dated in high school, they get married 5 minutes later and immediately he's tired of her and wants out. The show tells us that Maureen is special to Dennis, but we have no idea why. He treats her differently than any other girl, he wants a committed relationship with her, but it doesn't tell us anything about who Maureen is or rather, who Dennis believes Maureen to be before she turns out to be an annoying weirdo. So when she does turn out to be an annoying weirdo, the joke doesn't land at all and Dennis just seems like an idiot because for all we know she's always been like that, since it's literally the first time we're told or shown anything about her.
I do agree that starting with S13, it kinda lost me. I think there's 3 reasons the show fell off:
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It's been going on for like 20 years now and falling off at one point or another is inevitable. Doesn't mean the show can't get itself back together though.
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The creators are different people now than they used to be. Also inevitable when you age 20 years and make a lot of money because of your hit sitcom.
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I don't know if a show like It's Always Sunny still fits into the zeitgeist. People have kinda gotten softer in general, in a good way mostly. Look at shows like Brooklyn 99, copaganda yadda yadda but its characters are generally more caring towards one another than in shows that aired 20 years ago. Sitcoms have become less "mean", characters talk about their feelings more and it's not perceived as funny anymore to kick people while they're down, at least compared to the early 2000s. The early seasons of It's Always Sunny, even if you remove the slurs and transphobia, wouldn't be as well received if they came out today as they were 20 years ago because comedy has changed. Even cynical shows like Rick & Morty have their moments of sincerity where they show that the characters do care about each other. That's really difficult for a show like IASIP to adapt to, because the entire premise is that the main characters are the worst people you've ever met
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yeah, the shows bad now. nothing lasts forever. 11 seasons of some of the best comedy ever is an enormous achievement, in terms of quality and quantity, but it had to come to an end eventually
Death to America
Things that would be jokes in earlier seasons became scenes and things that would be scenes in earlier seasons would be a whole episode.
When I watch the new seasons I can't get over the lighting. It's a small detail Ig, but it's got soap opera lighting now lol
It definitely fell off overall, but every season has at least one good episode. The water park in season 12 (as someone else mentioned), is a true classic, and I really loved the Risk E. Rat’s pizza episode of the most recent season- if you only watch two episodes after the series peaked, it should be those two.
It went bad when Glen Howerton went full method and started taking Ozempic
The Gang Goes to Hell, which was the end of season 11 is where I first noticed the quality dipping. I still enjoyed it, except for the fucking Ireland season, but its not as good as it was. I'll keep watching though, its good enough.
Yeah it's crazy how good the show is for the first 10-12 seasons then suddenly becomes extremely cringe.
My face folded over itself into a negative dimension with cringe whenever they try to have some kind of commentary on politics, wokeness, political correctness etc. It's just so bad. That episode with Mindy Kaling is so shit. Same with that episode about gender-segregated bathrooms. That scene where Dennis talks about just repeating what woke college chicks say to him to get laid and the daddy thing after is just plain gross. Yuck.
Mac is such a funny character until the fat Mac season (I think it's 7). Then when he slims down, his personality is completely changed. This is my biggest pain point with the later seasons. He isn't bossy anymore, becomes a little meek. Later on when he is gay, he becomes extremely obsessed with Dennis. I think the way he talks and even his voice change too but I don't know why. Maybe because of some cosmetic surgery. Either way he's just not funny anymore.
I didn't expect the show to be good forever so I don't mind it falling off the cliff like that. The great first 10-12 seasons will continue to exist.
I always wanted to watch this but never started it. Don't know if I should.
No, it is really good. Like any series it falls off at the later seasons. A lot of the very late political commentary is not that funny/lib bullshit, but the episode where the gang was responsible for all of the major political developments of 2020 was pretty funny IMO, which I think this post is complaining about. But seasons 5-10 are great.
I tried and just couldn't do it, then someone told me to skip the entire first season. I loved watching it from there lol. So if you can't get into it after an episode or two try skipping the first season. Frank really brings the show together
To think that Rob only let Danny DeVito on his show because the network threatened to cancel it.
Could be. I said it was his show because he's listed as the only creator, but that's different from ownership. I also misremembered him as saying "I said no" in the interview from which I learned this story, implying executive authority, but he actually says "we said no".
It's criminal to tell people that when the water park episode is in season 12
The water park episode is a classic- one of their best because it just takes these very insular little monsters and unleashed them into a stand-alone adventure into a separate defined little world and them just thrashing against the restrictions of the park
I'll be honest, there must be some references I don't know or something, but I really didn't like that episode
Also, I haven’t watched Mythic Quest, but AP Bio and (especially) The Mick were great
