When asked to name a nine-season, incredibly popular sitcom about a close-knit group of four misguided, misanthropic friends in a major city who concoct harebrained schemes on a show that's essentially about nothing, there are now two correct answers. The classic comedy fan would gravitate to "Seinfeld," one of the most influential programs of the last quarter-century. However, there's a loyal following for a program returning for its ninth season next week on the newly-branded FXX called "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" that would think of Charlie, Mac, Dennis, and Sweet Dee before Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer. How has working from the same comedy playbook as "Seinfeld" allowed "Sunny" to have (at least) as long of a run? And what lessons could be learned by other showrunners from both hit shows?
The ridiculous inventions and truly awful planning of a character like Charlie (Charlie Day) felt comedically of the same cloth as the door-crashing Kramer (Michael Richards)—the man who invented the manzier and the man who invented kitten mittens bow at the same altar of inspired lunacy. Dee's (Kaitlin Olson) constant ribbing by her friends and failed love life felt akin to Elaine's (Julia-Louis Dreyfus) character model of misery. Mac (Rob McElhenney), like George (Jason Alexander), often seemed to be the lynchpin for failure when it came to his friends' best-laid, truly moronic plans. Even as Danny DeVito's character, Frank, became a more prominent one in later seasons of "Sunny," the antagonistic way that his arrival was often greeted echoed Wayne Knight's Newman from "Seinfeld."
It's not just that these characters were similar; they were the only ones who really mattered in these comedy worlds. "Seinfeld" had David Puddy (Patrick Warburton), J. Peterman (John O'Hurley) and Larry David's amazing impression of George Steinbrenner but the writers were very careful to keep the show focused on its core quartet. We didn't get revolving doors of girlfriends for Jerry and Elaine didn't adopt an adorable orphan. Similarly, "Sunny" has supporting characters that recur like the creepy McPoyle family and the waitress (Mary Elizabeth Ellis) openly stalked by Charlie over the entire run of the series, but none of them last long, nor do they have the importance of the central performers. "The Waitress" doesn't even get a name.
That insular sense of comedy that refuses to recognize the rest of the fictional world enhances a brand of comedy that could arguably be called misanthropic but that always allows the viewer the last laugh on the characters. We never learn much about anyone else in the life of Paddy's Pub because Charlie, Dennis, Dee, and Mac don't think much of anyone else. They are thoroughly in love with themselves and tolerate the rest of the world only in the ways that they can do something for them.
Like when "Seinfeld" started to comment on the claims that it was about nothing, "Sunny" is recognizing its own reputation. In one of this season's upcoming episodes, "The Gang Squashes Their Beefs," the Paddy's Pub pranksters will attempt to make amends to those they've hurt. I half-expect to see Jackie Chiles defending them.
Season Nine Premieres: Wednesday, 9/4/13, 10pm EST, FXX
Brian Tallerico is the Editor of RogerEbert.com, and also covers television, film, Blu-ray, and video games. He is also a writer for Vulture, The Playlist, The New York Times, and Rolling Stone, and the President of the Chicago Film Critics Association.