20 Things You Didn’t Know About the ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ Series Premiere
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia has run for more years than it has seasons, which is largely due to a highly in-demand cast and a global pandemic. And so, despite currently being in its 17th season, the show’s 20th anniversary is actually today.
Back on August 4, 2005, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia premiered on FX with the episode “The Gang Gets Racist.” But that particular episode is only kind of the show’s first episode as creator Rob Mac, who is referred to below as both Mac and McElhenney, depending on the time period, produced a few versions of the show before production on Season One officially got underway.
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To properly mark 20 years of Always Sunny, here are 20 things to know about the various iterations of this “first” episode…
Before the Gang Got Racist
“The Gang Gets Racist” was the first episode shot by FX after Mac agreed to make a seven-episode first season of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, but a handful of pilots preceded it. First, Mac, Glenn Howerton and Charlie Day made two homemade episodes of the show. The first was about Day’s character having cancer, and the second was about Mac’s character being attracted to a transgender woman. These ideas would be combined into a single test pilot for FX. They would then be reshot again for the fourth episode of Season One, “Charlie Has Cancer.”
Sugar and Spice
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Mac explained the origin of the series, saying he had a dream “of a guy going over to another guy’s house to ask him for sugar, and the other guy telling him that he has cancer. And instead of the friend being compassionate, he just wants to get the sugar and get out the door. I knew that nobody else would think that was funny except Glenn and Charlie. So I wrote a script and showed it to them.”
Everlasting Indeed
Mac, Day and Howerton first met each other while auditioning for the 2002 romantic drama Tuck Everlasting.
Rickety Mac
The first of the two homemade episodes took a few attempts to get right. Originally, the role of Mac was played by David Hornsby, who would go on to write for the show and play Rickety Cricket. According to the book It’s (Almost) Always Sunny in Philadelphia: How Three Friends Spent $200 to Create the Longest-Running Live-Action Sitcom in History and Help Build a Network, Hornsby was unavailable for the third attempt at the first homemade episode, so Mac jumped into the role, and it stuck.
Philly to Follow
The original title for the series was It’s Always Sunny on TV.
Go Home, Mac
The show originally revolved around struggling actors living in Hollywood, but when FX got involved, they said they didn’t like this aspect of the series, so Mac changed it to bar owners in his hometown of Philadelphia (hence the title change).
Like ‘Friends,’ But Not
For a time, the title Jerks also was considered.
The G.L.E.N.N. System?
Howerton’s character was named Glenn in the original two homemade episodes, not Dennis.
When Sweet Dee Was Sweet
The role of Sweet Dee was originally written as a much kinder, voice-of-reason character in the homemade episodes.
The Original Sweet Dee
Sweet Dee was originally played by Mac’s then-girlfriend Jordan Reid in both homemade episodes and the original FX test pilot.
Reid’s Role
According to It's (Almost) Always Sunny in Philadelphia, “In a 2016 blog post, Reid recalled one of the guys (likely Howerton) once scheduled a meeting in which she and (Mac, Day and Howerton) made a pact to stick together, no matter what, if FX wanted to make any casting changes. They all shook on it inside McElhenney’s trailer; the network had to leave all of them in place, or none of them.”
However, when Reid’s personal relationship with Mac began to unravel, “she began to feel like her place on the show was on shaky ground, too. And when the network named the three guys as executive producers and provided office space and a desk for each of the three, she wrote that she began to feel like she ‘was welcome when I was the girlfriend of the creator — but once I wasn’t, my role in creating (FX’s) new pet project was forgotten.’ Reid wrote that during a breakup conversation with McElhenney, he told her if she broke up with him, she was out of the show. She ended the romance anyway.”
Reid’s Exit
After the test pilot was shot for FX, the network asked if the three executive producers — Mac, Howerton and Day — would be willing to recast Reid. They agreed. In a 2021 interview with Mac for The New York Times, writer Ashley Spencer wrote, “Reid no longer begrudges the men for seizing their opportunity, she wrote in an email, and she and McElhenney each now say that they are once again friends.”
$200 Baby (Maybe)
The FX test pilot cost $400,000 to produce. According to different sources, the homemade episodes cost $200, $85 or nothing at all, as different amounts have been provided over the years.
Kaitlin Olson’s Condition
Groundlings alum Olson, whose claim to fame at that point was a recurring role on The Drew Carey Show during its final seasons, agreed to take on the role of Sweet Dee if the character was reimagined to be just as funny and raunchy as the other three leads.
The Original Carmen
In one of the original homemade episodes, the role of Carmen, the trangender woman Mac is attracted to, was played by Morena Baccarin, best known from the Deadpool films and Firefly.
Not Their First Choice
While “The Gang Gets Racist” was the first episode filmed, Day explained on The Always Sunny Podcast, “We never had any intention of that being our first episode.” FX made the choice to run it first because, per Mac, the network thought the episode was “more accessible” than the others.
‘The Boys Are Out Tonight, Huh?’
On the podcast, Howerton admitted that he originally wanted to cut the iconic shot from “The Gang Gets Racist” in which he’s bartending, then spins around and grabs a dollar bill while saying, “The boys are out tonight, huh?” because he was insecure about his acting, thinking it was too broad. During filming, he did the move because he was trying to make the rest of the cast laugh, not because he thought it would make it into the episode.
Starved to Death
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia debuted alongside another FX sitcom named Starved about four friends with eating disorders. Like Sunny, it got a seven-episode first season. Unlike Sunny, it did not return after Season One.
This Bud’s (Not) for You
In “The Gang Gets Racist,” you can see several signs in Paddy’s Pub for beers owned by Anheuser-Busch, including Bud Light and Michelob. This is because, before the show premiered, Anheuser-Busch offered to be an official sponsor for the show. However, immediately after the episode aired, they pulled out of the agreement, no longer wanting any involvement with the series. The rest of Season One had already been shot, and all Anheuser-Busch signage had to be digitally changed in post-production.
Not-So-Sunny Ratings
According to Entertainment Weekly, just over one million viewers tuned into the premiere. The low ratings persisted throughout the first season, which caused the head of FX to force Mac into a corner: Add Danny DeVito for Season Two, or the show would be canceled.