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Smallscreen - It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia was created by Rob McElhenney about four friends (played by McElhenney, Charlie Day, Glenn Howerton and Kaitlin Olson) who run an Irish bar, "Paddy's Pub", in Philadelphia.

The series deals with a variety of controversial topics, including abortion, gun control, racism, sexism, religion, slavery, sexual harassment in education and gay rights.

The themes of the show are:

* The gang is vain: Each character has, at one point or another, displayed extreme forms of pride or shame concerning their physical appearance or sexual appeal.
Examples: Dennis fasts for days after being told his face looked fat; Dennis is against Paddy's becoming a gay bar, but relents after gay patrons compliment his looks; Mac becomes upset that other boys in his childhood gym class had been molested while he hadn't; Dee attempts to seduce a priest after being told that she's "too old" to do so. A somewhat recurring gag involves one of the gang being complimented on their appearance and responding with a reassurance-seeking "Really?"

* The gang is also uninformed: They seem to have little, if any, knowledge of politics. In one episode Dennis ran for comptroller without even knowing what it is. They usually go on pointless capers in the hope that they will result in a self-serving outcome. One of many examples would be when Dennis and Mac "trained" Charlie to take an incredible amount of punishment, in the hopes of winning money from an organized street fight. Another example is during "The Gang goes Jihad" episode in which none of the gang can properly describe the conflict in Israel despite claiming to know its ramifications.

* The gang is very dishonest: At varying times members have lied about things like having cancer, suffering from disabilities (both physical and mental), being a Vietnam War veteran (Charlie), their sexual orientation and their ethical or religious views, all for the sake of personal gain. In most episodes these character flaws result in unhappy endings for the main characters as well as the innocent bystanders caught in their path.

* The gang is very competitive: Conflicts that arise from their mutually competitive natures are the basis for many plots. This has ranged from competition over women between the guys, Dee proving she is as strong or competent as the others, who can steal more things, or even who can amass the most religious followers.

* The gang loves to argue over each other: In almost every episode, the entire gang, or most of the gang, gets into an arguing match in which they try to shout over each other. Notable instances are the fight in Paddy's bathroom between Charlie and Dennis over Charlie faking cancer and the entire gang arguing over who might've been responsible for their potential deaths in "Charlie Gets Crippled."

* The gang always pays the price: If no good deed goes unpunished, the price for the gang's (mis)behavior is living in a constant state of purgatory, plain and simple. To paraphrase Newton: every action has an equal and mortifying repercussion, wherein someone gets run over or shot. The classic long-running sitcom 'Married... With Children' shares many of the overarching character qualities: not a single redeemable trait to be found. The major difference between them (and most other "famously irreverent" situational comedies) is that the gang has an irrepressible and unrelenting zeal for digging their own graves and then lunging, head-first, into them.