It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia Seasons 1 & 2

In addition to airing higher profile shows like Weeds and Rescue Me, Showcase has also been showing some comedy gems that get overlooked, like It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia. The show revolves around the misadventures of four friends (Mac, Charlie, Dennis and Dee) while they spend their time at Paddy’s, the pub they own and work at. There have been some comparisons to Seinfeld because of the "four friends not doing a whole lot of anything” theme but it isn’t quite that simple. Here there is absolutely no attempt to give the characters any kind of redeeming qualities: they do awful things and terrible things happen to them as a result, then they repeat the same behaviour on the next episode. Plus, the ante is always being raised when it comes to subject matter, with the show finding the funny side of abortion, child molestation and terrorism almost effortlessly. And for some strange reason it never feels terribly offensive or even dark. This collection has the seven episodes that make up the first season plus the ten episodes from season two that saw a major addition to the show: Danny DeVito, as Dennis and Dee’s father. He doesn’t change things much at all, apart from adding a more familiar face, and very soon he just blends in with the other cast members. The extras are a little disappointing, with only two episodes featuring amusing commentary tracks, which are full of good anecdotes from the cast. The rest of the extras are the usual stuff (outtakes, "making of” featurette, etc.) and are entertaining enough but are short. Fortunately there are laughs aplenty in the main attraction.