How FX Forced The ‘It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia’ Creators To Add Danny DeVito To - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

TMC · 03-02-2015, 08:02 PM

http://uproxx.com/tv/2015/03/how-fx-...o-to-the-cast/

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Rob McElhenney and Glenn Howerton — who star as Dennis and Mac, respectively — were on the Nerdist podcast with Chris Hardwick this week to discuss the tenth season of FX’s It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Easily the best part of the entire podcast, however, were their thoughts on Danny DeVito, who plays Frank Reynolds on the show, and who is apparently just as drunken and insane in real life as he is on the show. He’s also 70 YEARS OLD. They were in awe of his ability to continue to drink at this age.

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McElhenney: The man is 70. What’s unbelievable … is what a 70-year-old man can do. It’s unbelievable.

Howerton: He can tie it on and stay out later than any of us.

McElhenney: I’ve been to Coachella with him a couple of times. It’s mindblowing how a human being can take that. Just the sheer length of the day coupled with whatever it is he puts in his body.

They also confessed, however, that they didn’t want DeVito — or anyone else, for that matter — to join the cast of It’s Always Sunny after the first season, but FX basically forced their hand, as they told host Chris Hardwick.

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McElhenney: We didn’t want to [bring him on the show]. We were forced into it. We had a show without him the first season, and then nobody watched it, and so John Landgraf — who is the President of FX — he called me in for a meeting and was like, ‘Hey, no one’s watching the show, but we love it and we want to keep it on, but we don’t have any money for marketing. We need to add somebody with some panache that we can hopefully parlay into some public relations story just so we can get people talking.’

We were really reticent to add anything … that might destroy the chemistry of the show. They started knocking around different names and Danny’s name came up, and we said, ‘I guess that kind of makes sense.’ …

Howerton: We were reticent to adding a “name” to the show, because we kind of liked that we were no-names …

McElhenney: Our first reaction was like, ‘No. I don’t think we want to do that.” And they were like, ‘Well, OK. Then the show is over.’ And we were like, ‘Oh, well, DeVito, huh?’

It’s not a decision, obviously, that they are unhappy with today. In fact, DeVito has brought a lot to the show, as Howerton explained on the podcast:

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Howerton: It terms of the kind of names that were being thrown around, Danny was perfect. He’s made a career out of playing … despicable characters. Our characters are kind of despicable, but we like to think that they’re lovable in their own kind of way. Danny’s one of those guys with a very unique career who has played so many despicable people and yet, everywhere he goes, you’d think he always played the happy Uncle or the lovable Dad. People LOVE that guy … he’s such a lovable, likable person, that you can sense the warmth and likability underneath all of the despicableness, and that’s the reason why people like him so much, besides the fact that he’s really Fun Size. People like Fun Size things.

Despicable but lovable fun-sized boozer? Sounds perfect for It’s Always Sunny.

TMC · 05-31-2015, 01:46 AM

http://whatculture.com/tv/10-classic...-seasons.php/7

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5. Frank Reynolds – It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia was a pretty funny show in the first season, but it really took on a new life and came into its own in Season 2 with the introduction of Frank Reynolds.

Played by Danny DeVito, Frank is introduced in the Season 2 premiere as Dennis and Dee’s father. But what might at first seem like a lame attempt to have an established actor boost the show’s popularity quickly becomes one of the series’ wisest moves.

Frank totally embodies the spirit of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. In the midst of a midlife crisis, Frank is absolutely insane, growing more and more mentally unstable throughout the series. Even though he’s the oldest member of the gang, he’s far from the wise old man character dealing out advice.

He’s constantly exploiting the gang and insulting his kids, always cracking jokes about Dee’s looks. This is a character who, we later find out, would buy for himself the Christmas gifts his kids wanted in order to see them suffer. Meeting this guy, it’s pretty clear how Dennis and Dee grew into the sociopaths they are today.

Yet Frank is a pretty vital part of the show’s cast, and going back to the first season, the series feels so empty without him.

king of comedy · 05-31-2015, 07:11 AM

I'll have to see it from the beginning.

05-31-2015, 07:11 AM	#3
king of comedy Member Forum Veteran Join Date: Aug 31, 2012 Location: New Jersey Posts: 5,140	I'll have to see it from the beginning.