Special thanks go out to Van Brunt for bringing this DVD set to my apartment the other day. In the past I had seen little bits of this sitcom on FX, but I never had the chance to sit through an entire episode before. I’m glad that I did because both Seasons 1 and 2 are brilliant. The writing is magnificent and the acting is very well done. I admit that the addition of Danny Devito as a regular cast member at the end of the first season threw me for a bit of a loop, but after watching a few episodes with him it was back to normal.
My buddy told me that this was a sitcom about 4 (and eventually 5) people who are just bad people – I think that’s the perfect description. I especially like the character played by Rob McElhenney who is just an arrogant, selfish jerk. It’s actually hilarious when you watch the show. And Charlie Day (who plays a character named…Charlie) does a great job at acting as the downtrodden, constantly looked over friend in the group.
There are so many great side performances in this show that it would be hard to put them all in a concise blog article. I think the McPoyle Brothers are absolutely hilarious – the best description of them would be two grown-up, extremely creepy guys (and an equally creepy family) who gross out everyone around them. They walk around in bathrobes! And then you have outlandish performances such as the character named Artemis (played by Artemis Pebdani). Artemis is an actress, but an overly dramatic actress. It plays in perfectly to the craziness that is this show.
If you can rent this box set or if you can find it at a good price, I suggest purchasing it. If you’re interested, you can watch some full episodes of this show at Hulu.com. I think there are some commercials mixed in at Hulu, but it’s still free! Anyway, I recommend this irreverent comedy to anyone looking for something different from their television shows.