Currently in its 11th season with a 12th confirmed on the horizon and showing no signs whatsoever of stopping, FX’s comedy of cruelty, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, could very well run into perpetuity. Like The Simpsons, the ensemble has hit upon an endlessly renewable comedic formula (put the Gang in any situation, really, and watch in horror as they wreak wanton destruction) with a vast array of possible applications. But the demented comic geniuses behind this landmark of misanthropy are only human, and playing the same role for more than a decade must wear on the soul at least a little bit, so it’s entirely understandable that they might want to pursue new work elsewhere on the side.
Deandra Reynolds, a.k.a. Sweet Dee, a.k.a. the bird-woman, a.k.a. for real Kaitlin Olson, has accepted the leading role on a new pilot for FOX called The Mick, a title I assume will be changed to something less insulting in short order. The comedy is so titled after Olson’s character of Mickey Murphy, a hard-living, hard-drinking no-goodnik who sounds not too far removed from Sweet Dee. TV Line reports that the scheduled pilot sees Mickey retreating to her wealthy sister’s palatial estate in search of a handout, but the joke’s on her; her sister has fled the country with her husband in a bid to avoid a pesky federal indictment, leaving Mickey to care for her children as a full-time babysitter. Hijinks inevitably ensue, as the flagrantly irresponsible Mickey must grow up and realize that maybe, just maybe, these kids have as much to teach her as she has to teach them.
The It’s Always Sunny spirit is strong with this one, cemented by Olson’s involvement as executive producer along with her former Sunny collaborators Nick Frenkel and John and Dave Chernin. Basic cable shall no longer be the exclusive domain of women behaving badly. As Sweet Dee herself would probably put it, “I’m going network, boners!”
(Via TV Line)
