Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: The Complete Season 8 Blu-ray Movie Review

Stormy Weather?

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 23, 2013

Is there a support group for people who just never quite “got” Seinfeld? I consider myself a person with a fairly good sense of humor, and any number of sitcoms through the years of all different types have appealed to me immensely, but I have to say that for whatever reason Seinfeld simply wasn’t one of them, not that there’s anything wrong with that. (See? Humor. I have it.) And so when It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia was being touted as “Seinfeld on crack”, that was obviously not an advertising campaign meant to woo me personally. The good news is that It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia tickles my personal funny bone much more consistently than Seinfeld ever did, though truth be told, I still wouldn’t place the series in my top tier of comedy favorites. This may make me tragically unhip or at the very least, an old fuddy duddy, but there you have it. The series takes a gaggle of highly objectionable characters and throws them together in a series of often off-putting adventures that are admittedly frequently very funny, in a very black comedic way that actually reminds me less of Seinfeld, despite that series’ gaggle of narcissists, than it does of shows like the old Sarah Silverman Program, shows where completely self-absorbed folks have absolutely no moral compass other than whatever figurative shiny bauble in front of them is currently making their internal needle point to “true north”. There’s also a certain South Park-esque quality to It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, due not so much to Philadelphia’s cartoonish ambience as to its relentless pursuit of taboo subjects. My colleague Casey Broadwater has reviewed the previous Blu-ray releases of the series, and it’s interesting to note that even he was less than blown away by It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: A Very Sunny Christmas, the first entry in the show he wrote about. By the time Casey wrote his It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: The Complete Season Seven Blu-ray review, he had thrown down the gauntlet and drawn a line in the hardscrabble Philadelphia gravel (or something like that), wondering if he could ever hang out with someone who didn’t like the series. I’m assuming that means that maybe I’ll be kept out on the porch of the Broadwater home, available for a brief tète á tète or two, but not allowed into where the party is really happening. (See? Humor.)

For those who want to catch up, if only partially, with the dysfunctional troupe at the heart of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, I highly recommend reading Casey Broadwater’s reviews of previous Blu-ray releases:

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: A Very Sunny Christmas Blu-ray review

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: The Complete Season 6 Blu-ray review

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: The Complete Season Seven Blu-ray review

The Gang, which consists of twins Dennis (Glenn Howerton) and Deandra Reynolds (Kaitlin Olson), Mac McDonald (Rob McElhenney), Charlie Kelly (Charlie Day) and Frank Reynolds (Danny De Vito), continues to be hilariously narcissistic and completely impervious to any societal norms of what moral behavior should consist of. Family bonds tend to exploited quite a bit in the series this season, with the season opener dealing with Dennis and Deandra having to decide whether or not to euthanize their comatose grandfather, a former Nazi, and a later episode being built around Charlie’s mother’s announcement that she has lung cancer. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia absolutely never wallows in false sentiment, however. The show is inevitably constructed out of bad behavior, and the humor derives from just how bad the behavior will become.

What is repeatedly obvious in this season is just how morally bankrupt not just The Gang, but even most of the hangers-on, are. For example, in the “Pop Pop: The Final Solution” episode which opens the season, the Reynolds twins’ attorney (Brian Unger) is smarmily unctuous, out to simply pull the plug on Grandpa Reynolds one way or the other so that he can collect his fee and finally get away from the family. In the “Charlie’s Mom Has Cancer” episode, Mac’s mother (Sandy Martin) has one of the best punchlines of the entire season when Charlie can’t figure out how his mom (Lynne Stewart) could have lung cancer when she never smoked, and even Charlie's mom herself, who should be a figure of some sympathy in the episode, turns out to not be above reproach. A subplot in that episode also finds Frank in rare form, trying to prove that he’s still mentally capable of outsmarting his family (if only he could remember where he put his shoes) with a series of highly questionable activities, including exhuming his (maybe) late ex-wife.

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia often plays like the ugly stepsister of Cheers (and full disclosure alert, my sister-in-law was Production Manager on that show for the bulk of its run). While Cheers certainly had its fair share of machinating narcissists, it also had a certain sweetness of spirit that Philadelphia never ever even tries to emulate. Paddy’s, like Cheers, is in fact a place where everybody knows your name, but you kind of wish they didn’t.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: The Complete Season 8 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: The Complete Season 8 is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. As Casey Broadwater mentioned in his reviews of previous seasons, Philadelphia straddled the high definition era rather awkwardly, producing its first several seasons in standard definition. This native HD presentation continues the tradition of the last few seasons, with a generally very solid, if not exactly spectacular, presentation. The image here is usually very clear and well defined, especially in brightly lit daytime scenes. There still tends to be slight murkiness in some of Paddy's shadowy interiors and some darker sequences like the hospital scenes where Pop-Pop lies comatose. Contrast seems to be intentionally pushed at times, leading to glowing, effulgent light in brighter scenes. Colors are very natural looking and are nicely saturated. There are some very minor issues with aliasing, most noticeable in quick establishing shots of the Philadelphia skyline.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: The Complete Season 8 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: The Complete Season 8 features a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix which is probably a bit of overkill, given the series' fairly unambitious sound design. The mix here is resolutely anchored in the front channels almost all of the time, thought the sparkly, insanely happy sounding theme music and some of the incidental music occasionally spills into the surrounds. Fidelity is excellent, rendering dialogue and the occasional ambient environmental sounds with authenticity.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: The Complete Season 8 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentaries, which are all very funny at times if not overly informative, include:

  Pop-Pop: The Final Solution with Rob McElhenney, Charlie Day and Glenn Howerton

  The Gang Recycles Their Trash with Rob McElhenney, Charlie Day and Glenn Howerton

  The Maureen Ponderosa Wedding Massacre with Rob McElhenney, Charlie Day, Glenn Howerton and Josh Drisko

  Charlie's Mom Has Cancer with Charlie Day and Glenn Howerton

• Deleted Scenes (1080p; 4:41)


• Gag Reel (1080p; 7:09)


• Lady House: The Lost Premiere (1080p; 6:16) is a typically tasteless and hilarious takeoff on old sitcoms, centered around Charlie's and Mac's housemate moms. Think The Golden Girls meets Married With Children and you'll have an idea of what to expect.


• Frank Reynolds' How to be a Warthog (1080p; 1:32) is a faux infomercial. At least I'm hoping it's faux.


• Fat Mac: In Memoriam (1080p; 2:04) looks back on the heftier version of Mac.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: The Complete Season 8 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: doesn't quite tickle my fancy as much as it evidently does others, but it is undeniably a scabrously funny show a lot of the time. My personal issue with the series is that there is literally no one to root for: these are all despicable, scheming losers. That's great fodder for black comedy, but it might be nice to shed a little light on the proceedings, at least once in a while. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia continues to push the envelope rather dramatically (and/or comedically) and shows few signs of slowing down now eight years into its dysfunctional reign. This Blu-ray offers very good video and audio and comes with some enjoyable supplementary features. Recommended.