In these tough economic times, I’m not sure I can in good conscience tell anyone to spend $27 retail (currently $16 at Amazon) for what amounts to an double-length single episode of a current TV sitcom. On the other hand, hell, the economy needs stimulus, and if you’re inclined to blow the money this holiday season (or have someone blow it on you) you could do worse than It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia: A Very Sunny Christmas.
The plot, in a nutshell: it’s Christmas Eve, Sweet Dee and Dennis are pissed off at Frank, and they decide to teach him a lesson, Dickens-style. Meanwhile, Charlie and Mac join together to exorcise two very different ghosts from their respective Christmases past. Because this is Always Sunny, it all goes horribly, and on the way, we discover some truly disturbing (and hilarious) family holiday traditions, as well as the root of Charlie’s Santa issues. (Incidentally, I don’t recall ever seeing Charlie Day in anything else, but the more I watch him I somehow get the feeling he could be one hell of a dramatic actor too. Nice set of singing pipes on the guy too.)
The gang seems to be working with a slightly bigger budget than the typical Sunny episode, so among other things we’re treated to a twisted, Rankin-Bass-style stop-motion musical number. Another plus: because this is DVD, the episode make much more liberal use of profanity and nudity. Minus: much of that nudity is on the part of Danny DeVito. See a preview here. (Warning: Includes said DeVito-flesh.)
Of course, if you don’t want to pony up, you can always just watch Sunny tonight at 10 p.m. E.T. on FX. Speaking of which, does anyone disagree that has been the most consistently funny season of the show in a while, if not ever?