A quick review of last night’s “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” coming up just as soon as Mahoney is my favorite “Police Academy” character…
When I heard that “Game of Thrones” producers – and serious “Always Sunny” fans – David Benioff and D.B. Weiss had written an episode of this show, I briefly wondered if they would try to tailor the script towards what they do for HBO (say, with a Dennis sexposition scene, or with Liam McPoyle doing a Littlefinger riff). For the most part, though, when long-running shows bring in Very Special Guest Writers like this, the goal is to make something indistinguishable a regular episode (you tend to notice style variances more with Very Special Guest Directors). And “Flowers for Charlie” felt very much like an “Always Sunny” episode, by way of “Flowers for Algernon.”
Now, it also happened to be a very funny latter-day episode, particularly as the rest of the gang assumed Charlie-like traits like a fondness for huffing gasoline. It’s also always fun to have Charlie take on airs, even if – unlike the similar “Algernon” episodes of “NewsRadio” and “The Simpsons” – his intelligence wasn’t actually increased.
In all, Benioff and Weiss got the characters and the formula down, and even added some nice comic touches outside the basic “Algernon” structure, like Mac and Dennis’ overly flirtatious dance to Chicago’s “You’re the Inspiration.” I don’t know that they want to think about quitting their day jobs just yet, but if “Game of Thrones” ever has to go on pause while waiting for more story from George R.R. Martin, they may be able to do okay as sitcom writers.
What did everybody else think?