It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia was, by design, not meant to be a typical sitcom. The infamous Gang toxically yelled, fought, and betrayed one another in an attempt to ensure that It's Always Sunny subverted sitcom tropes that had become too idealistic. While this kept the series fresh and exciting for so many years, it has, in some ways, grown stale.
Having lasted more than 15 years and venturing towards its 15th season, It's Always Sunny has gone through a litany of changes over the years that have come to both define its characters in more detail, as well as stray the series' identity further and further from the pilot episode.
Mac Comes Out Of The Closet
One of the most obvious and cathartic changes to come from It's Always Sunny in recent years was having Mac finally come out as gay. Mac's sexuality had become a tiresome joke by the time season 12 rolled around. It had been pointed out time and again, an,d while it's been interesting to see Mac contradict himself over and over, the joke had lost its mileage.
Season 12's "Hero or Hate Crime" episode ended Mac's running gag and gave him the prime opportunity to come out in exchange for a valuable lottery ticket. While he'd never be able to reap the benefits of its prize money, Mac's change has given him more depth and an interesting dynamic in episodes such as "Time's Up for the Gang," "The Gang Gets Romantic," and "Mac Finds His Pride."
The Gang Become Grifters
When It's Always Sunny first premiered, at worst, it was just about a group of self-interested friends willing to sell each other out. A lot of the plots just centered around simple mistakes or political topics that the Gang got caught up in.
However, with Frank's help, the Gang has become full-blown grifters trying to make easy money through a variety of schemes and plans. While this made the series jump the shark to an extent, it has given way to It's Always Sunny's get-rich-quick schemes and hilarious adventure episodes such as "The Gang Gets Trapped" or "Charlie Work."
Frank Starts Paying For Everything
One of the biggest things that helped bring It's Always Sunny into more outrageous and spectacular territory has been Frank's various business ventures and bankrolling. His character in the series, being an, entrepreneur of a currently unknown business venture, has been used to justify some of the Gang's more complicated adventures.
As Dennis put it, he came in with an endless supply of money and "financed all this bizarre behavior." His various business ventures with guns, real estate, and the poorly named Frank's Liquids have also facilitated some of the Gang's most direct political debates and instances of infighting.
The Series Gets Better Production Value
The original pilot for It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia was made with just $200, and, as reported on by the Los Angeles Times the creators still don't know how they got. Even after getting greenlit, many of the early seasons still maintained a more naturalistic and muted feel that contributed to how crude and grungy the early stories felt as a whole.
However, as the series became more successful, its production value grew. While more funding has helped make grander adventures like the Gang's cruise and skiing trips, it's also noticeably passed on to the lighting and background design for the series. This has made everything look brighter and cleaner, altering the mood of the series subtly yet noticeably away from its messy roots.
Dennis Becomes More Manipulative
At the beginning of the series, Dennis wasn't a nice guy, and he had done some pretty bad things, but he was far from the monster that he is today. At worst, he was just a womanizer who let his sexual desires get the better of him, such as how he slept with The Waitress behind Charlie's back.
Since then, Dennis has started using cameras, traps, "tools," and the infamous D.E.N.N.I.S. system to manipulate women. With that in mind, it should also be noted that Dennis has started scaring away women more these days. He used to be the romantic alpha of the group, but he now gets shot down almost as often as Charlie used to.
Dee Stops Being The Voice Of Reason
Rob McElhenney has admitted that when he first wrote the series that he didn't know how to write women. The original pilot just had Dee be the prerequisite voice of reason just nagging and waving her finger. In a series meant to be about bad people, it was a little dissonant and even disappointing to see Dee not join in the crudeness early on.
With Kaitlin Olson's push to make Dee more like the rest of the Gang, her character has become substantially more interesting and one of television's best female sitcom characters. This has led to key gags like making her the "bird," having Dee constantly compete for everyone's attention, and her various outlandish and offensive characters.
Charlie Finally Gets Together With The Waitress
It's Always Sunny's oldest and longest-running storyline had Charlie constantly compete for The Waitress' affections, but to no avail. It's been crushing to see Charlie get rejected over and over again, though it's been understandable given his aggressive approach. However, after finally bringing her confidence low enough to sleep with him, he instantly regrets his decision.
He began a long-term, live-in relationship with someone who not only wants to change his life drastically, but who also barely has any more respect for him now than she did at the beginning of the series. It's a great payoff to a long-term story that has re-invented some interesting dynamics for the series.
The Gang Ruins Rickety Cricket
If anyone ever needs a good time stamp for It's Always Sunny, they should look no further than Rickety Cricket. Over the years, the Gang has taken so much out of the poor guy's life, either corrupting his spirit with their schemes or inadvertently scarring him. When he debuted, Matthew Mara was a practicing priest.
He left the clergy and became homeless after Dee said that she loved him only to change her mind, after which he had his legs broken by the mob after the Gang introduced him to drugs, and he suffered further issues after an apartment fire that Dennis locked him in.
The Reynolds Start Seeing The Ponderosas
In "Mac Fights Gay Marriage," the series introduces the Ponderosa family, a brother and sister that Dennis and Dee were in love with in high school. They immediately get into some very messy relationships with them. Dennis marries Maureen Ponderosa, only to divorce her and have her alimony payments and increasing cat transformation be the bane of his existence.
Dee had an affair with Bill Ponderosa who was going through a lot of demons in his life. While she has stopped seeing him, Bill has become a near regular in the series, mostly to accompany Frank as one of his best friends. Maureen would, unfortunately, die in season 12 due to events that totally weren't the fault of Dennis.
The Gang Got Old
One of the most subtle yet noticable changes in the series is just a pure byproduct of its long, ongoing run. While It's Always Sunny was always meant to be a counter to Friends, it still helped that the series centered around hip, young twenty-year-olds during its early years. Now that the Gang is deep into their 40s, it's a little sad to see them become more and more out of touch with modern society.
While that's a key theme, it just makes their thinning friend circle and lifestyle more noticeable. Even when they go back to the club every now and then, it's hard not to think of everyone progressively becoming like Frank during his debut. The series is genuinely becoming less like an evil version of Friends and more like a modern-day Archie Bunker story.